I felt it started off well. I wouldn't say it dragged but the arcs after Natsume's arc paled in comparison. The manga explores more from the episodes with Leo and how Natsume is accused of being a murderer and burning down his town. I felt after Natsume's arc, it just dragged.
Organization Z and the "ESP", who belonged to the primary school president are out to tear down the academy. From there, I didn't really understand what was the motive behind that. To me, it was just action and fight after fight. I did like the redemption for Persona.
I never understood what were the motives the academy had in forcing students in the dangerous class to perform nighttime missions. Were they there to act as hitmen, cause accidents? Who are the academy's enemies? The anime tried to explain it, rather the beginning of the manga did. But that was all dropped.
I felt the arcs were too stretched out - too many characters. Didn't care for Luna at all or her frenemy like relationship with Mikan's mom. Art isn't its strength, but rather the characters themselves and their relationships that shine. You get to learn how Ruka and Natsume became friends and you get to see time and time again Hotaru and Mikan help each other out. Near the end Hotaru gets to bond with her older brother. I did think Persona's redemption arc made sense. I felt way more attached to our four main characters than the growing cast.
It was the execution of the ending that didn't make sense. I never got what Mikan's alice type was. It wasn't really explained. Then suddenly she never lost her alice. Did everyone have their memories erased if they left the academy? What is the purpose of those missions? Did the academy get rid of them after the elementary school principal left? Why have them now that the clone man was gone?
It felt like the mangaka got burnt out. It didn't help that the characters looked extremely not proportional. They were already drawn fine as "12-14" year olds and when they had taken the candy to age up, Natsume and Ruka's faces looked fine from the earlier chapters. I didn't like how they looked either. They looked much older than "16-17."
Honestly you come not for the plot or for anything making sense, but for the characters and how they grow wirh one another. I didn't think I'd even be remotely interested in a walking stuffed bear.
I'd say chapter 175 did pay off, somewhat. At that point, I was too invested in our main characters. I could feel the emotional payoff and how much they cared for each other. In terms of anime vs manga, I felt anime stopped too short and too soon. It couldn't dive further into the romance development or the plot with Natsume. Those last 3 chapters were disappointing and left me feeling apathetic. I felt nothing for them. It didn't answer anything and it gave you an open ended ending. Mikan losing her memory made no sense. None of it made any sense. Then they bring her back?
