Gakuen Alice ep.20

March 27, 2005 | 39 Comments

Wow, can someone please check if Hell is frozen over? I'm so used to seeing Mikan suffering within this series that seeing so many good things happening to her at once is a bit of a shock. It helps that the animation in this episode is unusually good. I think I'll be quite happy if the series had ended with this episode because the story has a nice resolution feel to it, with everyone being happy in the end. I'm not sure how weird it'll be to see everything turns bad again in the next couple of episodes. I also noticed that this is the first time Natsume laughs like a normal kid. It's quite a change from the manga where he doesn't even smile that much. Anyway, please note that I had difficulty understanding some of the dialogues in this episode, so if I make some mistakes, please let me know.

The episode begins with Tsubasa informing Mikan that the attendance level for their attraction is 3 times higher than last year and the customers are still rolling. It seems people find the RPG to be really interesting after all. Meanwhile, Narumi-sensei is seen looking at Mikan from afar while holding what looks like a brown envelope. Cut to a flashback where Narumi-sensei visited Mikan's grandfather. It's obvious now that the envelope is a letter addressed to Mikan from her grandfather. Back to the present time, Mikan, Kokoroyomi-kun, and the rest of the gang are seen on the rooftop trying to see the parade on the street. Mikan thinks that the whole thing looks cool but laments the fact that it's quite far from where they are standing at the moment. As if right on cue, Hotaru suddenly appears, riding in what could be the solution to their distance problem: a flying swan bike.

However, since Hotaru is being Hotaru, she decides to enjoy the more close-up view of the parade on her own. An unhappy Mikan decides to return to the classroom with Nonoko and Anna and in the process gets to see Natsume's and Ruka's fangirls cooing over the two boys. Mikan is confused about this and is therefore informed by Anna that the girls are trying to ask the boys for the 'Last Dance'. This is a dance event that happens at the dance party where supposedly the girl and the partner who have last dance will be in love with each other. Unfortunately, Mikan doesn't seem to understand the concept of love. Never mind that, she doesn't even know whom she'll have the last dance with. Meanwhile, Natsume is finally fed up with the entire fangirls and decide to take a walk outside. Mikan tries to ask Ruka what is wrong with Natsume but for some reason Ruka is also being evasive.

Fast forward to what is possibly a couple of hours later, Mikan and Tsubasa are seen in a group ceremony to award the winners of the School Festival. During the ceremony, Mikan gets to see the three Principals for the first time and is surprised when she knows that one of them is a little kid. Jinno-sensei is not happy when he sees Mikan being noisy but before he can say anything further, Serena-sensei whispers something to his ear. It turns out the teachers have found out that Narumi intends to give Mikan the letter that her grandfather wrote. Upon hearing this, Jinno-sensei becomes angry because the act is against the school rules. Narumi, however, argues that he wants to keep the promise he made to Mikan. He believes that the school will have no future unless teachers can be trusted by their students.

Meanwhile, the award ceremony continues outside the building. The first award up for grab is Class championship. And the winner is Gijutsu-kei group (Hotaru's class). As a reward, the group receives 10,000 rabbits. The next award is for the King championship. The winner is a Gijutsu-kei boy who invents some kind of hair product. Unfortunately, there is no winner for the Queen championship but Mikan is very happy when she finds out that Hotaru is the winner of Rookie of the year award. The biggest surprise of them all, however, is the winner for the Special award, which goes to Mikan's group, Tokuryoku-kei. The group are ecstatic about this because it means people like their RPG. Mikan's good luck then continues when she encounters Narumi-sensei who gives her the letter from her grandpa. I guess good things do happen to good people who perseveres.

The second half of the episode begins with Natsume helping Yoichi to light up the Dance Party's fireplace. Meanwhile Mikan is seen inside a dressing room still reading the letter from her grandfather. Hotaru quickly reminds her that the dance party is about to start so she better change into her Angel look-alike costume. Once the two go out, Mikan gets to meet Tsubasa and Misaki again. Tsubasa blabs to everyone that Misaki fell over during last year's last dance. Misaki retorts that the incident happened because of Tsubasa's lead or lack thereof. Once Tsubasa and Misaki leave to get some food, Nonoko-chan gushes that the two look like a couple. Anna-chan believes that it must be the effect of last dance. The still confused Mikan tries to ask which person Nonoko and Anna want to dance with. She gets her answer right away when both girls ask Misaki-sensei to dance with them.

An embarrassed Misaki-sensei has no choice but to pretend that he has some business to attend to. Because of this, his fangirls proceed to chase after him like a swarm of bees. Even after all of the examples, Mikan still doesn't understand the concept of 'love' because she's still a kid after all. So she decides to ask for some advice from Hotaru. This, however, turns out to be a very wrong move. Even though Hotaru has her annoying sempai and various other investors waiting to impress her, she seems to prefer the company of a plate full of delicious-looking crabs. The episode then shows another batch of weirdos: a group of older looking girls trying to ask a pissed-off looking Natsume and a scared Ruka-pyon to the last dance. The girls even badmouth Mikan when they think Ruka prefers to dance with her. Of course, Mikan becomes angry when she overhears the conversation.

She asks the girls why they badmouth her even though she hasn't even made a decision about the person she'll have her last dance with. To mask his interest in Mikan, Ruka says that it doesn't matter with whom he dances with. But Sumire then appears and scares the girls away, leaving Mikan alone with Natsume and Ruka. Natsume seems to know that his friend likes Mikan. So he pushes Ruka towards Mikan then leaves the two alone. Ruka blushes as usual but Mikan seems oblivious about this and asks the boy to dance with her for a while. So the two end up dancing together while Natsume looks on from afar. After dancing with Ruka for a while, Mikan dances with Tsubasa, leaving poor Ruka at the mercy of Hotaru. She knows that Ruka has a crush on Mikan and doesn't hesitate to blurt it out unless he brings her some food. Poor Ruka immediately agrees to deliver her demand.

Meanwhile Mikan is seen walking alone into the forest and accidentally gets to meet Natsume. She kindly greets him and asks him why he didn't come and dance together with others. Natsume, however, tells her that she and everyone else shouldn't be concerned about him. Meanwhile, Ruka, who's in the middle of fetching some food for Hotaru, accidentally spots his two friends and decides to eavesdrop on their conversation. Natsume continues to tell Mikan that she shouldn't get too close to him because there's nothing inside his head other than darkness and he doesn't want her to see this. Mikan becomes worried upon hearing this but Natsume tells her to go away and begins to name-calling her again. Mikan is angry at his attitude and doesn't understand why he goes from being nice to being a jerk. She's also tired of him name-calling her instead of using her real name.

Much to Mikan's surprise, however, Natsume suddenly calls her using her real name. She is so shocked that she ends up walking away from Natsume without any protest. Ruka, however, notices that Mikan blushes as she leaves Natsume alone. When Mikan returns to the main area, Nonoko and Anna asks why her face looks red. Mikan, however, is too busy wondering why Natsume suddenly calls her name in serious manner. She also realises that her heart is beating fast when Nonoko and Anna asks if she knows who she will pick for the last dance. A confused Mikan begins to run around in panic, inadvertently making Hotaru curious. Meanwhile, Ruka decides to have some heart to heart talk with Natsume. He asks Natsume if he'll come to the night party. Natsume refuses but he thinks Ruka should go. In reply Ruka tells his friends that he already danced not too long ago.

Ruka then tells Natsume that was the first time he heard Natsume calling a girl by her name. Natsume is embarrassed about this and pretends that he's just trying to stop Mikan from being noisy. Ruka, however, does not believe this and argues that Mikan probably want to have her last dance with Natsume. Natsume disagrees and tells Ruka that she probably want to dance with Ruka instead. So the two boys then continue to tell each other that the other should be the one who takes Mikan to the last dance. As it turns out, the two shouldn't be so self-sacrificing because Hotaru is always willing to step in and take Mikan from them. True enough, in the main area, the host announces that the next last dance will be between Hotaru and Mikan. Upon hearing this the two boys laugh and the tense situation between them suddenly goes away. The episode then ends with Natsume telling Ruka that they should go and see the dance.

Impression:

This is a really good episode that deals with various emotions of the three main characters. Mikan is clearly confused about love and it doesn't help that the two boys who are interested in her give her mixed signals. It's interesting to see the anime ratcheting up the triangle to this degree. I don't remember it being this obvious in the manga. However, it looks like Mikan has unconsciously made her choice here. Poor Ruka gets to see her blushing as well. It's also interesting to see the two boys trying to be selfless in the episode when it comes to competing for the girl. Having said that, I have this impression that underneath those pleasantries, the two knows very well that they are competing against each other for Mikan's affection. Well, it looks like they have their work cut out for them because in the end, Hotaru is the one who has the last dance with Mikan. :)

© memento 2003