Mikan walks into Alice Academy expecting a prison and finds a found family instead, except the show never lets you forget she's a kid who abandoned everything on pure instinct. The comedy lands harder than a shoujo school show has any right to, then it pivots and breaks you with how much these characters actually matter to each other. By episode 12 you stop laughing at the bits and start holding your breath during them, watching a girl with no special power save people who have every gift except the one thing that counts.

Mikan Sakura is a cheerful, energetic ten-year-old whose best friend, the cool and clever Hotaru Imai, suddenly transfers to Alice Academy, a prestigious school in Tokyo. Troubled by rumors that the academy treats its students harshly, Mikan runs away to find her. There she learns about Alices, people gifted with supernatural abilities, and that the government built the school to train and protect them. Discovering that she has a power of her own, Mikan enrolls, and after plenty of trouble she is reunited with Hotaru. What follows is a warm fantasy comedy about Mikan and her friends' adventures at the academy, including their efforts to unravel the mysteries around Natsume Hyuuga, a troublesome student who wields fire.