#honestly this and the ending and the unfortunate implications abt child abuse

[everythingsinred]

Hi, I'm sorry, I know it's been a long time but I found an old post of yours where you say that the mangaka of Gakuen Alice said that Natsume and Mikan relationship is not safe or comfortable, did they really say that? I had no idea. What else has the author said about their relationship? I'm curious (⁠ㆁ⁠ω⁠ㆁ⁠)

hi <3

There's really no worries about ever sending me an ask, especially if it's GA related. I'll pretty much always answer <3

And that would be from the Memorial Book, where, according to some fan translations I've seen here and otherwise online (because there is no official English translation), Higuchi Tachibana said something along the lines of Natsume not getting too comfortable or sure of himself or thinking he "won." Essentially she's implying Ruka and Hotaru still have a shot with Mikan because she might change her mind about Natsume so he shouldn't get cocky or some other bullcrap like that.

I feel like it's understandable that I despise that line of thinking so I more or less ignore the Memorial Book and everything about the ending in general (excluding the Little Red Riding Hood comic and the HotaRuka crumbs). I've talked at length about why that type of commentary bothers me here. I just generally don't really care much about what the mangaka says anymore. I love her story and I love her art but her personal opinions, even about her own characters, do not matter to me at all.

I'm not sure what else she said in the Memorial Book or otherwise. She mentioned Natsume would have a slightly longer life because of Mikan's alice stone but that he'd still die young, and after that Mikan would probably be with Ruka (if the picture she drew of them together is supposed to be taken as canon). She mentioned somewhere (I don't recall where) that Natsume wasn't planned to be the "victor" but he just emerged in the lead at some point and she went along with it, which I always took to be a bit ridiculous because SHE WROTE THIS STORY. The characters lead you places but if she really preferred Ruka as the one Mikan ended up with then she should have written that from the beginning and IMHO, it was always Natsume from the start so no I don't buy that.

I realllyyyyyy don't like being negative about GA so I usually don't think about the canon ending, Memorial Book, or Higuchi Tachibana much. I love this manga with my whole heart and always will, but I really don't like it when creators rag on something fans love just to be edgy or contrary or whatnot. It makes me feel like they don't respect me for liking something THEY made, and if they don't respect me then I don't really wanna respect them. I feel similarly about actors shitting on past projects I like, but this one takes the cake in making me feel Not Great because of how much I love GA and NatsuMikan. It's just a huge slap in the face and always was, since the first time I read that comment of hers.

Since then, neither the canon ending nor the Memorial Book have existed to me.

Death of the author applies to lots of works but to me it has always applied to GA and always will!