Comments on Mahou Sensei Negima! · 12:16am Apr 5th, 2019
I will be completely, 100% honest with you on this, so bear with me when I say the statement below:
Mahou Sensei Negima is my SECOND favorite manga ever.
Yes, you got that right. I love this series, I reread it multiple times when it was still going... but I still haven't finished it. I know, I know, don't even get me started, I just never had the time to finish it and I promised myself I would catch up to it at some point, but, uhm... anyway!
Our main hero is Negi Springfield, a 10 year old wizard who is about to finish his education. All that's left is to finish a quest given to him, which is... become a homeroom (and english) teacher of a middle school class of a prestigous academy in Japan. A class which consists of 30 (no, not a typo: THIRTY) fifteen year old girls of different sorts. This alone makes it into a comedy gold, but it doesn't stop there. Oh no, it barely starts, when one by one, all the girls turn out to either have something odd about them (one of them is CLEARLY a robot!) or will play a huge role in Negi's adventure. He was assigned this job for a reason. A very, VERY good reason.
What TRULY won me over was the cheer diversity of concepts, ideas, characters, plotlines and things happening at the same time and yet I was never lost. I was always well aware of what was going on, I memorized the characters very quickly (right now I'm a little rusty on the names, but not faces) and enjoyed the ride all the way.
So, what ideas are we talking about? Lemme put it this way- open a random idea generator, spin it a few times and I think MSN used about 90% of them. We have (deep inhale): magic, ninjas, kung-fu masters, robots, wampires, alternate worlds, mad science, religion, mythology, youkai, ghosts, furry wannabes, actual furries, miko, circus performers, anti-magic people, nurses, werewolves, time travelers, cosplayers and many, many more, including, yes, MAGICAL GIRLS! But above the fetishes, we also have a very deep plotline and some of the BEST. ACTION. SCENES. EVER! Also, there Pactio- a ritual that binds the wizard (Negi) with someone (a girl in his class), gives her some cool powers but requires them to kiss. Yes, 15 year old girl on a 10 year old boy action. Multiple times. And it's actually not creepy, more hilarious due to context. You know what context is, right? It turns cringe into comedy. I'm dead serious, it just works!
And with all of that, it still managed to pack some NORMAL stuff in as well, along with a HUGE dose of fanservice that somehow, someway, doesn't detract from the overall experience! Like, how the hell do you fit everything including a kitchen sink into a single series and make it work so well?
The answer is- you need to be Ken MADAFAKEN' Akamatsu! A master who brought us Love Hina, a series I cherished when I was a tiny new otaku, around 13 or so years old (it was 18 years ago... fuck I'm old). Love Hina was also wacky awesome and it holds up even today. Read it too. Anime was also pretty decent, though everyone shits on it constantly. Not me, I loved it.
Back to Negima. To the nitty gritty, you're probably going to ask favorites and share your own. But before that, another confession:
I love everything about this series. Literally, all of it. I wouldn't change anything.
What about the ecchi stuff? Dude, I love perverted stuff and Akamatsu Sensei is a master of it.
How about some characters you hate? There are none.
Not even one? Nope.
What about...? Yes, even her.
But what about...? Her too.
But, but isn't that one really obnoxious? Yes, but she grew on me.
And what about the male characters? They're cool, all of them.
No way, then what about Negi, he's a little boy, those ALWAYS suck! Nah, not this time, Negi is a really good character and I wouldn't change him for anyone.
...okay, fine. Are you going to pick a waifu then? Better- I'm picking FIVE! In no particular order:
Zazie Rainyday- I didn't even reached her storyline, but the design alone is just HNGH, so good! I absolutely adore her, what little she appeared before that moment I didn't read yet... sigh, I will get to it, I swear!
Ayaka Yukihiro- dangerously close to being an unredeemable creep, she quickly won over my heart when I got to see her softer side. She can hug me anytime. Also, the (pretty early) telephone conversation with Zazie was one of the funniest things I read in my life. I won't dare to spoil it.
Chao Ling Shen - ...nope, I'm not spoiling it.
Nodoka Miyazaki - I used to think Shinobu from Love Hina was the cutest anime girl of all time, then Nodoka appeared and I just couldn't handle it. Best girl, no question. Just don't make me choose between her and Coco.
Makie Sasaki - Makie is just fun. She doesn't do anything wacky, isn't all that involved in the story, but she manages to make me smile every single time. She was magical all along. Probably not.
There's so much to unpack, but I'll just leave you with a huge recomendation for a series that started as a Harem series, grew into a shounen action (I repeat- the action is AMAZING!) but still kept to its roots.
If only I could say the same thing about the anime... sigh. There were a few attempts to create an adaptation, but...
The first one is just wrong. I couldn't sit through first two episodes. Not worth anyone's time.
Negima!? was a better show, but it still left me disappointed in the end. I'm not saying it's bad, in fact a lot of people loved it when it aired, but I couldn't get into it. It ditches the original story and turned into a gag-anime, which is just plain wrong. The OP is great though. And it gave us this song, so I forgive it.
There were also a few movies, but I haven't watched any after being disapointed by the two series before it. Maybe they are good, maybe not, I gave up on ever seeing a good adaptation.
...oh yeah, there's one more.
UQ Holder... sigh, I know it's an official sequel, but it lost everything that made Negima Negima and left us with a very bland looking story that looks like every other title ever, except sometimes throws cameos, further hurting my soul starving for a proper anime. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm not curious at all. I saw "that clip" and it was amazing, but other than that I don't feel like watching anymore.
Man, now I feel really down and I started so hyped. I really need to read this again. And so should you!
Reading this was a major nostalgia trip. Still need to finish this manga myself.
I've read the manga like three times, and seeing this post make me want to read again for christ sake.
If I were to pick only one waifu above all others it would be Nodoka Miyazaki, but if I were to pick more it would be those girls: Chachamaru Karakuri, Nodoka Miyazaki, Chisame Hasegawa, Ku Fei, and Evangeline Athanasia Katherine (Kitty) McDowell in her adult form (although she is damn cute in her real form too).
I loved the manga both versions, i just wish it had a serious anime adaptation.
I love how the TV Tropes page starts. "If you were wondering about that series that pops up in nearly every single article on this Wiki, here you go..."
Fantastic manga! I recommend giving the UQ Holder manga a shot too.
Huh, I might have to look into this one.
HOLY POOP someone else knows Ken Akamatsu?!?!?
Jeez i started reading his stuff back in middle school with Love Hina.
I think i got into Love Hina just when the series was just finishing and Negima Magister Magi was coming out.
Man and all the 'little' itty-bitty easter eggs that the Negima gave were so good with ...uhhh the samurai knowing the God-Cry school of Kendo from Love Hina, and how Asuna looks vaguely like Naru.
I freaking love how smart yet freaking boyish Negi was so brave and yet so scared when it was appropriate, and to completely silly scenarios. OH and i tottaly agree with your description of Nadoka.
I'm on the same boat as you where i stopped reading after Negi goes to Stonehenge + 10 chapters in that arc.
Edit: Also hooray for the Terrifying and somewhat sympathetic Loli
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Wouldn’t find it that surprising. Love Hina was basically one of the only choices for non combat harem comedy in the early days of non fan translated/non Dark Horse publishing manga. For a while the only ones in my collection were Love Hina, Ranma 1/2, Ai Yori Aoshi, and Oh My Goddess. These days I can honestly say I can’t really view Love Hina in as positive a light as I used to (Naru just annoys me to be honest), but I still look back at the series with a general fondness.
Also hate to tell you Jetto but Zazie remains a mystery until volume 34 or 35 I think.
I love Akamatsu's work. I don't know about the anime of UQ Holder, but I like the manga. Though to be fair, it did take Awhile for me to really get into it.
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Oh yeah i Only really got into Love Hina due to a cousin of mine having nearly all of the volumes.
I TOTALLY feel the same way about Naru Narusegawa (was that how you spelled it?), but also as the series as a whole.
I mean maybe it's a staple or a trope of the genre, but i hated how everyone, the girls, just like to fuck with Keitaro.
From Naru and Motoko ALWAYS thinking he's a pervert, Kitsune making situations to mess with him, Su and...sarah? always physically assault him, and even poor Shinobu always misinterprets what people say to assume the worst about him.
I think i have learned to love Love Hina more due to the fanfictions
5038531
Yeah that makes sense.
Late to the party here, but there was a brief period of time where I felt the same way. Recommendations:
A, finish Negima, because UQH's story hinges entirely around how it ended, both in-universe and in a meta real world sense, and then
B, read UQH because it might as well be titled More Negima, even if it doesn't seem like it up front. Akamatsu is set in his ways and hasn't changed a bit in any regard.
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Further information: the publishers wanted him to move on from Negima. UQ Holder was him pretending to do that, fooling approximately nobody.