"There are some rules every Gakuen Alice writer follows. And I mean every. Or rather, some stereotypes." Your guide to reading GA fanfiction and understanding the stereotypes of this weird world.
Presenting: Gakuen Alice - Just a Stereotype
There are some rules every Gakuen Alice writer follows. And I mean every. Or rather, some stereotypes.
First, Mikan's hair is always auburn, and her eyes are always hazel.
Her alice stone color, or heck, her aura "color" in general, is always tangerine, or orange, or some kind of color that contains a mix of red and yellow.
Natsume's hair is always raven, or black, or ivory, or a dark black color. His eyes are always crimson. Occasionally the less skilled authors call his eyes red. (lame-o!)
His aura "color" is always crimson, red, or some kind of bloody color.
Natsume is forever cold (I did a quick search of Gakuen Alice stories with summaries containing the word "cold" - there were a total of 4 pages) and distant. He can be a playboy sometimes, rich, cocky, and arrogant (ahem, this word is so not overused, it just appears in almost every single story), but is fiery and passionate like the fire he possesses. If he's royalty or from a different country, he's almost always Chinese (why the heck China?).
Mikan, on the other hand, is bubbly (attention: kids, do not try this at home, do not imitate, I repeat, do not copy or imitate in any way, you see it far too often), loudmouthed (*cough*), cheerful, bubbly, happy, bubbly, carefree, bubbly, angelic, bubbly, all-smiles, and have I mentioned bubbly? And just because I mentioned the country for Natsume, I just want to say that Mikan is somehow always Japan (like she's supposed to be).
The two are always depicted as opposites. (I could say "Opposites Attract", and you'd be surprised just how many stories contain that quote) Both are incredibly stubborn (or so they say), and deny their love. Mikan stutters, and shies (A/N: is there such a word? my trusty mac is telling me there is) away, while Natsume pursues and flaunts his charms.
He's athletic, lean (oh god don't get me started on this one), but strong and six-packed (not again) and has rock hard abs. Generally a pale complexion.
She's beautiful, angel-like, innocent (oh holy frack god I'm about to die), pure, cute, and the list goes on. She always has fair, white skin and big "brown orbs", and a small mouth. Always, always, always pigtails (though, of course, this is a form of respect to the author, Tachibana-sama).
Not to mention the great Natsume Hyuuga controversy - the usual physical flaw described in him is his short eyelashes, while some others give him incredibly long and luscious (gosh please) ones.
Our great NH has a tall, aristocratic nose, and MS (or in some other stories, MY – Mikan Yukihara, spoiler alert!) has a cute button nose. It's always like that one way or another. I don't get it, is this supposed to be creepy or something?
One is a genius, who skips classes and sleeps under a certain Sakura tree every single day. The other is a klutz and an idiot that sucks at Math and frequently gets in detention with 'Jin-Jin', that likes going to the Sakura tree everyday to show off her high-pitched, 'whiny' voice. I think we're all smart enough here to figure out who I'm talking about.
Natsume likes being jealous. Mikan likes having someone jealous of her admirers around her. Oh, the irony.
Names?
Natsume Hyuuga.
Mikan Sakura. (Mikan Yukihara)
Nat-kun. (and also 'Natie')
Mi-chan. (sometimes 'Mi-chi' too)
Pervert.
Polka.
Sly, perverted fox. (personally, why fox? I mean, Kitsuneme is normally described as having fox-like eyes, and here they come calling Natsume a fox. Seriously.)
Strawberry panties. Strawberry print.
Note: name calling means budding crushes. Hate means love. Ah, thy holy love-hate (shut up!)
In the more extreme cases, Natsume is angsty (A/N: there is no such word! *dodges some tomatoes thrown her way* Sorry but I had no other way to put this! Gomen) and Mikan tries to warm Natsume up. He hates himself, she's selfless in her mission to 'purify' him. Sometimes he's a little depressed (understatement), and sometimes he ends up killing himself. Sometimes their roles are reversed.
And on a final note, we all love NatsuMikan. No, wait, that's MikaNatsu. I mean, NatMi. Sorry, I meant Natsumi. Oh, I'm sorry, did I not mention MikanXNatsume? Or NatsumeXMikan? Or NxM, MxN, anything?
P.S. Natsumikan is a fruit. That's why I prefer Natsumikan ;)
Ruka (or if you'd prefer, Luca, Luka and even Ruca) has cerulean eyes. There is no room for argument. Sometimes poorer writers with limited vocabulary (*cough* like me *cough*) will say he has blue eyes, but just to be accurate he has cerulean eyes. His hair is blond (and please, not blonde, blonde is for girls), and he always has a bunny named Usagi-pyon (occasionally Usagi-san).
Hotaru has violet hair and violet eyes (both of which are often described as purple), and I've even read of her with lavender eyes before. She carries around cameras and her infamous Baka Gun, Baka Cannon, Baka Nuclear Launcher, Baka Missile, Baka Insert-Dangerous-Weapon-Here, the list goes on. She supposedly shoots 'dumb' and 'stupid' and 'idiotic' people with it, but it's really just to cover up her embarrassment and often times out of sheer annoyance.
I'd consider them opposites, too.
Ruka is caring, nice, charming, and they call him Prince Charming on a silver platter complete with a white horse. It's really true with Ruka. He's gentle and loving, affectionate and loyal. Hotaru, on the other hand, is cold, emotionless, sadistic and a master manipulator. In fact she's so genius she invents her own weapons and is often described at rich, calculative and business-managing at an early age.
Hotaru is always 'torturing' and blackmailing (*cough*overuse*cough*) Ruka - always a handy camera to capture his embarrassing or handsome-looking moments, for which she sells and to both enjoy the money and the attention she receives from a blushing Ruka chasing frantically like a lost puppy after her.
Typical love-torture-chase-blush story. But we still love them no matter what. ;D
I can't help but notice most stories out there pair Anna with Kitsuneme and Nonoko with Yuu (Iin-chou), when really, neither matters. Personally, I made up in my mind from the start that Anna should be with Yuu and Nonoko should be with Kitsu (don't worry, this is just how every other author calls Kitsuneme), really because I thought pink looked good with yellow and blue looked good with brown.
Sometimes people even ignore the fact that Koko should be with Sumire and just pair him up with Anna. And no, writing should not be creative and out-of-the-box because I said so.
And another guide to names...
Anna Umenomiya
Nonoko Osagawara
Sumire Shouda
Kitsuneme
Kokoroyomi
Tobita Yuu
Anna Osagawara (often times the two supposed best friends are depicted as twins or cousins of some sort, and they almost always use the last name 'Osagawara', and never 'Umenomiya'. It's odd, ain't it?)
Nonoko Osagawara
Permy
Kitsu
Koko
Iin-chou (with or without the dash is fine, I've seen both)
A nice little guide for newb Gakuen Alice readers to quickly become accustomed to our ways ;)
Or, a nice little review for any veteran GA readers who just want to check if they are up-to-date with their knowledge :D
GUIDE TO GAKUEN ALICE FANFICTION READING
Featuring 2 years worth of experience from a little nerd cooped up in her bedroom scrolling through page after page of fan-write (LOL, fan-art! I'm just so creative and smart aren't I ;D).
"Simply deserving a kick in the stomach." - Mr. Bear.
"What is this *beep*? What the *beep*?!" - a certain red-sorry-crimson-eyed Natsume Hyuuga.
"I love your part on Ruka. And I love how describe me as genius." - creepily smiling *freaking the guts outta me* Hotaru Imai.
"Thank you for calling me angelic! :D" - forever lovely *sniff - finally!* Mikan Sakura.
THANK YOU SO MUCH! *bows*
R&R PPLZZ YOU KNOW YOU WANNA ;D *waggles le eyebrows awkwardly ;)*
GOMEN IF I WAS JUST RANTING LIKE THE USUAL ME~
DAYUM THIS RANT IS LONG AIN'T IT HUH? I EVEN HAD THE GUTS TO PUBLISH IT!
GANBATTE! GOOD LUCK TO ALL NEWBIES! FIGHTING~~