Gakuen Alice ep.4

November 21, 2004 | 14 Comments

Please be aware that the following episode contains violence perpetrated by a stuffed animal. Grown-ups who have fear of dolls, clowns, and stuffed animals, are advised to stay away from this one. I am not going to be responsible for the massive therapy bill you'll incur on your side once you see this episode or read this recap. Similarly, small children are advised to divert their attention away from this episode unless they want to become one of those traumatised grown-ups.

Joking aside (or not, depending on who you are), I can't be the only who think that this episode reminds me of that song, The Teddy Bear Picnic. Having said that, judging from the lyrics in the manga, it seems the song that Tachibana-sensei had in mind is actually Mori no Kuma-san. Because of this, I ended up scouring the net looking for its lyrics and along the way, stumbled upon some amusing Japanese teddy-bear related articles. These include: a literal Teddy Bear Picnic, a recipe for 'Bear in Forest' cake, and an awesome Flash animation.

Anyway, the episode begins with Mikan, Hotaru, and Tobita (Iincho) encountering an axe-wielding teddy bear. Mikan is impressed to see the doll moving around and wonders where she can find the remote control. Tobita, however, immediately freaks out when Mikan begins to touch the teddy bear and tells her that she better stay away from it. Well, I'd have said 'run for your life!!' but some people tend to underestimate situations like this. Before Mikan can fully understand what Tobita means, however, she is suddenly sent flying upwards by the bear's punch. Meanwhile, in the classroom, Mikan's future classmates are placing bets on whether or not she can make it out alive out of the forest. Natsume, however, is uninterested and is more concerned with the fact that he still hasn't been able to figure out Mikan's Alice.

Meanwhile inside the woods, poor Mikan is still being pummeled by Mr.Bear so Iincho tells Hotaru that they have to help Mikan. Hotaru, however, is seen hiding inside a caterpillar-like sleeping bag. She claims that the bag is cold, heat, and sound resistant as well as shock-proofed so it'll be safe to hide there. Heee. However, when Mr.Bear is about to deliver the final KO punch on Mikan, Hotaru calls upon a pink Elephant car which then throws bucketloads of water on top of Mr.Bear, rendering it lifeless. Hotaru then tells Iincho to put Mikan on top of another car in the shape of a giraffe. They then flee the place before Mr.Bear regains consciousness. Inside the car, Iincho explains that once upon a time, a student made a doll and then uses his alice to give soul to the doll. That doll is eventually known as Mr.Bear.

The three eventually stop for food. While resting, Mikan gets some background information on Natsume from Iincho and Hotaru. Iincho thinks that it's better if Mikan don't cross Natsume's path too often. Hotaru thinks that his fire ability is as good as any adult to the point that he can do it in an instant. Natsume also hates this school for an unknown reason. Upon hearing this, Mikan remembers how she thought that Natsume's eyes are cold. Before she can think further, however, she's surprised by the horror look on Hotaru's and Iincho's face. It turns out that a humongous chicken called Giant Piyo has appeared behind them. As a result, the three once again flee for their life and eventually manages to hide themselves from the bird. They, however, can't go back because they will then encounter Mr.Bear again and they can't go forward because Giant Piyo is still rampaging the forest.

Iincho thinks that they can pass Giant Piyo if there is Ruka around because his Alice can tame the bird. But they can't use him because he's always with Natsume. Because of this, Hotaru comes up with an idea to use Iincho's Alice to lure Ruka to the forest. Meanwhile, Ruka is seen acting cool in front of other students until he reaches a barn. Upon getting there, however, he drops his 'cool mask' and starts acting like a boy who has an unhealthy obsession with animals. His joy, however, is disturbed when two classmates find him in the barn and even more so when he starts getting strange images of animal in the forest crying, asking him to come to the forest. So Ruka immediately runs to the forest to find these animals. Upon getting there, however, he realises that the whole thing is a trap. Iincho has been using his Alice to create the hallucination that Ruka sees in his mind.

Ruka at first refuses to help them getting rid of Giant Piyo. But after Mikan told him that Hotaru is going to subdue the bird with an arrow if he won't help them, he agrees to do their bidding. A very disturbing scene then occurs where Ruka....uhm, expresses his unhealthy love for Giant Piyo. Meanwhile, Natsume receives the news from his underlings that they saw Ruka heading towards the North Woods not too long ago. Upon hearing this, Natsume looks as if he's about to kill a cow, or Mikan. Back in the forest, a group of Academy seniors come and help the juniors to contain the Giant Piyo. Once they left, Mikan and the others make fun of Ruka's animal-hugging ways by showing a picture of him frolicking with Giant Piyo and calling him Ruka-pyon. Mikan, however, wonders why before this Ruka always looks as if his cat just got killed.

Ruka explains that it's because he promises Natsume back then that if Natsume does not laugh, then he won't laugh either. He refuses to be happy when Natsume is in pain. Upon hearing this, Mikan wonders why Ruka befriended a killjoy such as Natsume. Ruka is angry and tells them not to assume bad things about Natsume when they don't know him. Anyway, the four eventually decide to return to the class. Mikan is disappointed because she still hasn't been able to find out a clue about her Alice. However, while walking towards the school, they encounter an angry-looking Natsume. Natsume tells them that the game is over and that Mikan is disqualified. He then pulls Mikan's hair and tells her that he doesn't like that she's using Ruka to cheat the game. Seeing the situation turning dangerous, Hotaru decides to throw a smoke bomb at Natsume, allowing Mikan to run away.

However, Natsume then uses his fire to surround Iincho with flames. Everyone including Ruka asks Natsume to stop his power but Natsume refuses to listen. In fact, he uses his Alice to surround Hotaru in flames as well. Upon seeing this, Mikan becomes angry and pushes Natsume to the ground to force him to stop the fire. Angered by the sudden attack, Natsume tries to fry Mikan with his power. Before he can manage to do so, however, a giant blue light suddenly surrounds the two of them and eventually envelopes half of the forest like an atomic explosion. Once the explosion subsides, Narumi-sensei appears and uses his power to subdue Natsume. He then tells Mikan that she has a wonderful Alice, one that cancels Natsume's fire attack. In other words, her Alice is cancellation. Narumi-sensei then congratulates Mikan and tells her that she is allowed to stay at the school as a student.

Impression:

I think one of the reasons that makes Gakuen Alice so entertaining is its creative reuse of several childhood stories, music, and playthings that some of us once saw, heard, or used as a child. The constant reference to Alice in Wonderland in some of the illustrations as well as the use of children song as a base for the storyline are good examples of this. I also think that Alice Academy's vast grounds (which includes the North Forest) reminds me of the big boarding schools depicted in many British popular fictions. The most recent and notable one, is of course, the Hogwarts in Harry Potter series. However, I also remember reading similar boarding school stories in Enid Blyton's books such as The Famous Five and The Naughtiest Girl in school back when I was a kid.

Anyway, I can't believe that the summary ended up being this long but this is such a good episode. I think I laughed so much while watching this episode that my stomach is in pain now. :P That scene where Hotaru is pummeled endlessly by Mr.Bear is fantastic. It's so good to see this scene animated because now I can see how many times Mr. Bear actually punches Mikan. What's even better, however, is the scene where Mikan's Alice is activated. In the manga, it's hard to guess if that power comes from Mikan or Natsume because everything is black and white and the shape looks as if it could be Natsume's power. In the anime, however, I think it's quite easy to tell that the power does not belong to Natsume. Anyway, for those who are keeping scores, here are the Alice of each kid: Mikan's Alice is cancellation, Hotaru's Alice is invention, Natsume's is obviously fire, Ruka's Alice is animal pheromone, and Iincho's Alice is hallucination.

© memento 2003