Gakuen Alice 6 by Tachibana Higuchi: B+

From the back cover:
A series of mysterious incidents in which Alices lose their powers strikes close to home when Prez’s abilities suddenly disappear! As if that isn’t bad enough, an encounter with “Z,” the Anti-Academy organization (who might be behind the missing Alices), leaves Hotaru sorely wounded. A cure may lie outside the school, but how will Mikan and her friends get past campus security?

Review:
Well, this is certainly an action-packed volume and more Potter-like than ever, involving several instances of students defying rules and taking matters into their own hands (and sometimes making things worse).

We’re probably supposed to admire the plucky bravery that makes Mikan declare she’s going to fight Z and help Hotaru, but seriously, how?! Still, I liked the reasons that made both Luca and Natsume decide to help her. Too, I like learning more about Hotaru—turns out she’s the kind of seemingly detached person who secretly relies a lot on the steady happiness of those around her, a personality with which I can completely identify.

While the plot to thwart the invaders and save Hotaru is the main focus, there are a lot of other questions and tidbits floating around, too. Things like Natsume overhearing some faculty talking about Mikan and also shirking an assignment from headquarters in order to help her, some mysterious girl who once lived with Luca and Natsume, Hotaru resolving to investigate the Academy’s treatment of Mikan, some possible recognition of the invaders from Z, and the fact that one of them may’ve recognized Mikan… At times, it can actually get to be rather too much, and part of why I’ve ennumerated all those things here is to help me keep track of them and see whether they’re adequately resolved in the future.

So far, this series has been pretty episodic, though there’ve always been some continuing threads woven throughout. Are we finally coming to the start of something more epic, or will this all be resolved tidily in a volume or so and we’ll be back to watching Luca frolic with woodland creatures?