Gainax Ending: Sort of, in the manga. The manga concluded with a rushed sequence that felt more like a "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue than an ending. Many dangling threads were indeed tied up, but far from satisfactorily, and the central driver for much of the action — Negi's search for his father — is resolved off-screen, between chapters and never explained. Also, several things offhandedly mentioned in the girls' epilogue paragraphs are definitely going to raise some eyebrows, like an offscreen future war against Mars.
Gambit Pileup: We still don't see it yet but from the looks of things, there's a ton of key players that are in here. Ala Alba (Negi's group) may turn out to be Unwitting Pawns or the Spanner in the Works.
They turn out to be neither, and go about their own agenda, despite attempts by multiple groups.
Gatling Good: Haruna took the liberty of tricking out the Mobile-Suit Human she created for Sayo with, among other things, chest-mounted gatling guns. Later on, she gets the privilege of manning a minigun mounted on Haruna's airship.
Genius Book Club: Yue's often seen with rather advanced books, often dealing with philosophy.
Chisame and Haruna both fit this trope, though Chisame expresses it more, predicting the paths of various other characters in regards to love with Negi.
A lot of characters dabble in this on occasion whenever there's talk of their roles as main and side characters.
Genre Shift: Trope picture. The later chapters barely even resemble the first few. The series essentially started as Love HinaWITH MAGIC, but eventually developed into an action series rivaling the likes of Naruto and Bleach. After the Magical World arc, it goes back to the old hijinks and then skips all the supposed action to tell a Distant Finale.
Asuna delivers one to Setsuna during the Kyoto trip.
Yue to Negi during the Mahora Festival trouble when he's empathizing too much with Chao and risking hesitation at a critical moment.
When Yue gets outed about liking Negi to Nodoka, she starts panicking, babbling and humiliating herself so that Nodoka won't hate her. She gets slapped and told to calm down: If love triangles are difficult, then Nodoka doesn't want to have to lose a friend on top of all the other heartache.
Later, when Magea Erebea is running out of control there comes a conga line of people slapping Negi to make him regain his senses. Rakan does it after briefly willing his body back into existence and Chisame does it twice, once when he's about to kill Godel and later after he thinks he killed Shiori.
When Princess Arika started getting too emotional and suggesting Nagi leave her in a pit of monsters to atone for her crimes, he headbutted her and asked her to elope instead.
"Get Out of Jail Free" Card: As an expression of gratitude for saving Negi and his students at the end of Volume 8, Kotaro is formally freed and is now free to hang around with Negi. It also helps that he has already performed a Heel–Face Turn.
Giant Flyer: One of the most effective uses of Haruna's power is to create a flying manta ray thing.
Giant Spider: Kotaro rides one for his fight against Negi and Asuna, but the latter quickly unsummons it with her artifact.
Girls Love Stuffed Animals: In the early-chapters, Negi ventures to the lair of Evangeline, an ancient Vampire and infamous 1000 year old mass-murderer (with the appearance of a 10 year old little girl) at the request of her servant Chachamaru, to look after her after she caught the flu. To his surprise, instead of a cobweb covered catacomb littered with skulls, he finds a brightly beautiful room filled with adorable toy animals and glowring with warm innocence. This is a glimpse into the psyche of Evangeline (who was turned into an immortal at ten), hinting that she still wants to be an innocent and happy little girl again in spite of living ten centuries of blood, violence, cynicism and hate.
Give Her a Normal Life: Asuna - Ala Rubra rescued her and had her travel around with them for awhile so that she could have a somewhat more normal life. After the death of Gateau Vandenburg, Takamichi wiped her memory somehow and enrolled her in Mahora to complete the process. She succeeded to have a normal life from then on, but then Fate ruined things.
Give Him a Normal Life: Turns out that this is part of the reason that Negi ended up living with his cousin. As a war hero, his father made enemies that still hold a grudge on him for foiling their plans. And when your mother gets wrongfully accused for starting a war, then escapes her execution by faking her death, it's probably best for you that you don't hang around her. Or live in her home world. Just look at his hometownwhen theyfound where he lives...
Giving Up the Ghost: When Negi is training with Rakan, Rakan tells him to use his strongest attack on him so he can estimate how tough he is. When Negi does and it hurts more than he expected, Rakan hits him back so hard that this ends up happening.
Gladiator Games: Negi and Kotaro enter several gladiator tournaments in the Magic World.
The Glasses Come Off: Chisame takes off her glasses whenever she becomes her Cosplay Otaku Girl alter ego Chiu. They also have a tendency to come off when she tries to make a serious point.
The Glomp: More examples than you could possibly list.
Goggles Do Nothing: Negi's pince-nez glasses, too small to work, sometimes absent, never commented on ever.
Go-Go Enslavement: Captured girls tend to end up in skimpy fetish outfits, especially Asuna. With Wilhelm he says he wanted to set the mood properly for Negi's heroic rescue while with Fate Averruncus he probably didn't even realize how weird the clothing is since it seems to be just a grown up version of the formal attire she wore when used as a weapon before.
Going Commando: During the Kyoto arc, Asuna has to find new clothes after the ones she wore were turned to stone and shattered (she herself was immune to the effect). She is midway through a fight with a massive army of demons when one of them remark on her boldness, and she realizes in panic that she forgot one particular article.
Goldfish Scooping Game: Negi and Asuna play it during their Chapter 77 date. Asuna isn't too good at this so Negi tries to help her... but this being Negima, he grabs her where he shouldn't and they end up in a position strangely resembling a certain infamous two-digit number.
Good Versus Good: Most arcs end up being this in some form or another, as almost every antagonist turns out to have a rather justifiably heroic motivation, although their methods are usually uncomfortably pragmatic. The exception is Psycho for HireTsukuyomi, who's just a mercenary hired by a group who have great qualms about her but can't afford to turn down her service.
Great Big Book of Everything: Yue's artifact, Orbis Sensualium Pictus, is a book containing all information on magic, including spells, items, beasts, and even artifacts. The fact that it's a magic artifact conveniently removes the Great Big part of trope, condensing it into a small book. It also has access to classified information, which is quite valuable.
Great Big Library of Everything: The school library; both lampshaded and played straight. It's a city-sized underground library so massive that Mahora actually has a school club dedicated to exploring it.
Great Offscreen War: Twenty years before the start of the series, the three big nations of the Magic World went into a global conflict known as the Great Mage War. Negi's father and his group participated in it, but the flashbacks only show glimpses of their battles and the aftermath of the war when the Floating Continent of Ostia collapsed.
Greed: Every time Chamo makes a successful pactio, he gets fifty thousand ermine dollars. No wonder he keeps pushing Negi towards making more.
Grey-and-Gray Morality: None of the villains (save perhaps Tsukuyomi) are outright evil and often have understandable justifications for their motives, even if their actions might say otherwise. The main crux around Negi's growth as a character is that the concepts of good and evil aren't set in stone, and sometimes the person you're opposing might actually have very good reasons for doing what they do. For example, he hesitates when fighting Chao because the goal she's ultimately striving is for noble, even if her methods are not. Negi eventually decides to declare himself the villain in order to shed his hesitation in fighting her. When he defeats Chao and later Fate he devises his own methods into achieving their goals without the collateral damage their plans would've incurred.
Groin Attack: When Setsuna stumbles across an 'enemy' (Negi) in the bath, she instantly goes for the groin attack. This becomes a Funny Moment when she realises who it actually is.
Group Hug: During an early chapter, several of Negi's students hug him simultaneously and sandwich his head in between their boobs again as they do so, also providing the Trope Namer moment for Marshmallow Hell.
Grow Beyond Their Programming: Hakase is impressed that Chachamaru not only punched her out, but started developing emotions and feelings such as love.
Hacker Cave: Chisame's Magitek pactio item can create a perfect hacking space for her inside a Tron-like area complete with surrounding screens, numerous floating keyboards and seven electronic helpers. Her own room surrounded by monitors probably also counts.
Hadaka Apron: Setsuna's yuritastic 'Cosmo Entelechia' dreamworld features Konoka in this.
Half the Man He Used to Be: When Quartum awoke after Fate was knocked unconscious he instantly headed for the attacker's position cut Chachamaru in half and stabbed her with a flaming spear, the latter of which nearly hit her AI core and killed her. Right before things get even worse Negi awakens, bursts into the scene and stomps all over him, cutting him in half as a bit of karmic punishment though this is no more fatal than what happened to Chachamaru.
Hammerspace: Used constantly, especially because the pactios allow the partners to summon "artifacts" out of nowhere. Also used for Hyperspace Arsenals such as Mana's, and Setsuna's wings.
Hammerspace Hideaway: Kaede's Artifact is a cloak (essentially a flat piece of tattered cloth) that can hide several people inside... it does have a fully furnished house in there after all.
Hand Behind Head: Many characters do this when they become embarrassed.
Hand-or-Object Underwear: Since girls tend to end up without clothes around Negi, they frequently have to resort to covering themselves with their hands.
Hands-On Approach: During Negi's and Asuna's practice date, Kamo spies on them to make sure all goes "well". After a rocky start, it finally looks like they're having some harmless fun with the Goldfish Scooping Game until Kamo decides that he's having none of that and telepathically tells Negi to invoke this. A very hesitant Negi reluctantly does so, causing awkwardness for both parties.
When Negi was a little, he indulged in self destructive behavior, believing that if he was in enough danger his father would come save him. Nothing happened and he eventually gave up, after which his entire village was burned and the inhabitants petrified by a demon.
Asuna's example is perhaps more psychologically devastating since she was used as a human weapon for over a century when she was still mentally and physically a little girl, burning out all her emotions. She was forced to make an entire country fall from the sky and of the people that finally rescued her, one died in front of her and another vanished.
Harmless Freezing: Asuna gets encased in a block of ice and recovers within minutes. Even Eva is impressed.
Harsh Word Impact: When Chisame tries to cling to Yuuna being normal Takane contradicts her with It's the truth!, a statement which seems to impale her.
Healing Hands: Since magic is usually distributed from the hands, this is a given. Konoka uses these whenever she uses her healing magic.
Heaven: According to the Cosmo Entelecheia wielders of the Code of the Lifemaker, those dissolved by it go to a garden where they meet all their loved ones. Also, humans (or those not born of the Magic World) leave a body behind. For some reason, this reassurance makes him all the more creepier.
He Is Not My Boyfriend: Asuna gets teased often about her relationship with Negi and nobody is convinced by her denials.
Hermetic Magic: And traditional Japanese magic, too — an almost unheard-of combination at the time the series first appeared.
Heroic Willpower: Although Negi certainly qualifies, Rakan takes the cake. The man willed himself into existing.TWICE!
This seems to be the secret behind Rakan's power: Every once in a while (such as when he takes Negi's point-blank Thunder Tempest and Nagi's Thousand Bolts) he uses the silent incantation "Willpower Defense" to survive things he really should not be able to survive. The reason Negi's Titan Slayer attack is able to stun him even briefly is that it was delivered at the end of a brutal series of attacks, so he didn't have time to muster his Willpower Defense. At least some of his endurance is due to decades of combat experience.
Hero Insurance: Despite all the damage caused to Mahora Academy, nobody ever seems to pay for it. Taken even further in the Magic World, where Negi's fight with Kagetoro levels several buildings.
Hero Unit: Lampshaded in the Battle of Mahora with Chao's robots; referenced by name, even.
He's Back!: At one point in the Eva arc, he flies away believing the others, especially Asuna, are in danger because of his presence. He comes back after meeting Kaede, however.
Heterosexual Life-Partners: After Sayo joins the cast, she's rarely seen apart from Asakura since the two have become partners. They apparently form a close relationship easily since Asakura was seated next to her unknowingly all along.
A lot of characters don't refer to Chamo by name. Evangeline more or less calls him "a thing" and Chisame called him "small animal".
Kotaro never calls Yue by her name unless it's sarcastically. This gets turned around on him when Evangeline refers to him as a dog instead of his name.
Hidden Eyes: After Asuna's tragically unexpected and sudden death at the end of the first animated adaption, Konoka is shown sitting alone, her bangs obscuring her eyes and the rest of her face a near-blank.
Hide Your Lesbians: Setsuna and Konoka are heavily implied to be lesbians, but it is never stated outright. The "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue states that both Setsuna and Konoka get married in 2017 and we see a picture of Setsuna holding Konoka bridal-style, but it doesn't directly say that they married each other.
Hikikomori: Chisame was already a bit of a shut-in, but the epilogue says she became a full-on hikikomori after graduation.
Hired Help as Family: Setsuna was brought on as Konoka's bodyguard while they were young, but they quickly became good friends. However, when Konoka got into an accident and Setsuna was unable to save her, Setsuna decided that she couldn't properly protect her if she was treating her as an equal; Konoka, however, just wanted her friend back. Ultimately over the course of the manga they manage to regain their friendship and eventually get married.
Hit Me, Dammit!: When the false Takahata engages in a fight with Asuna and Yue backing her up, the latter dares him to hit her if he has the stones to since she's his former student. He's more than happy to oblige. As Yue recovers from the hit, she surmises that the Takahata they're fighting is a fake since he would never do that.
Hitodama Light: The ghost Aisaka Sayo usually isn't wreathed in hitodama, but can produce them if needed.
Hollywood Hacking: Averted — however flashy Sceptrum Virtuale may be, Chisame never does something a real-life hacker wouldn't do. She still does type unreasonably quickly and on two keyboards at once, though.
The story really plays up the Negi/Fate subtext during the Magic World finale and after.
Yue has a lot of subtext with Emily Sevensheep and Colette, which makes her uncomfortable at one point, though Emily doesn't seem to notice what her concern is. Volume 0 has a lot of fun with this one and Haruna seems awfully amused as well. There are also hints of this with Nodoka as well, who is more than happy to share Negi with Yue.
Homosexual Reproduction: Implied. Asuna sees in the future two children who look like small copies of Konoka and Setsuna.
Chapter 311. The team's plan goes off with barely any trouble and they were able to get Asuna and the Grand Master Key away from Fate in the middle of his ritual, only to find out Fate isn't the only averruncus Dynamis revived. Shit quickly hits the fan.
Hot Springs Episode: Mostly sento episodes, though Negi and Kotaro did create one for Asuna once. Unfortunately for her, this was during her training with Eva. Eva was so furious she threw her back out into the polar blizzard she'd just escaped, wet and naked.
There's also one for the Ala Rubra Drama CD. It also involves Eishun's glasses.
Setsuna is a half-demon who specializes in anti-demonic arts.
Also Mana, who occasionally does exterminations with her, is also a half-demon.
Hybrid Monster: Some of the demons summoned in the Kyoto Arc are hybrids, as well as some denizens of the Mundus Magicus.
Hyperspace Arsenal: Referenced almost by name in chapter 276, when Mana uses an unincanted spell to reload her Desert Eagles.
Hypocrite: Negi for a long time. He believes that,"Our Magic is not omnipotent... a little bit of courage is the real magic", and yet throughout the series he keeps trying to get more and more magical power because unless he thinks he's stronger than his opponent he won't show any courage and/or confidence. Made even worse when you realize that he doesn't seem to think that the courage that his students and True Companions show isn't worth much unless they have pactios or unless he's around to fight all their fights. Thankfully, right before the final battle he finally learns to trust his comrades and take into account their courage and determination.
"I'm gonna say it!!! Number 8 on the list of "Lines I Want To Shout At Least Once In My Life"! Fire Main Cannon!!!"
I Am Not Left-Handed: Used by Chao in the Battle of Mahora arc, when Negi negates her power, she reveals she actually can use magic. Also, in the final tournament battle in the Magic World arc, done by Negi no less than five times.
During a dramatic pillow fight Yue distracts others from pursuing Nodoka by declaring herself their opponent. Later and more seriously, she pulls the line on a low level dragon and actually successfully knocks it unconscious briefly.
Kaede intercepts Dynamis when he's after Nodoka and Setsuna backs her up, forcing him to retreat.
Early in the magic world, Negi is sick from having too much mana in his body after Konoka flooded his system with it to heal his stab wound. Since he can't defend himself, Chachamaru steps up when a tiger dragon attacks. He passes out and when he wakes up she's scuffed and her clothing is damaged, but she's the winner.
Identical Panel Gag: Used a few times, like in chapter 200, when Setsuna is dead worried and suddenly switches from "OJOU-SAMA!!!" to "KONO-CHAN!!!".
Or when Ako Izumi reveals her artifact: a giant syringe that must be applied in the butt.
I Didn't Mean to Turn You On: Chachamaru feels sexual pleasure when her magic is being recharged. It's normally not a big deal since Evangeline normally does it and is pretty stingy. Negi doesn't understand, so he isn't.
Idiot Hero: Invoked and subverted all to hell. Negi is notably not an idiot by any stretch of the word (well, except for his chastity, but he's ten), and it is made perfectly clear throughout the series that he is a bona-fide genius. However, by thinking too much, he has time to worry and despair. The Rival, Kotaro, is very much an Idiot Hero, explaining that Negi needs to learn how to act without thinking. In other words, he needs "that little bit of courage." Or, in Negi's own words, "learn to be an idiot".
Ignored Enemy: When working with Kotaro, the pair tend to get distracted by their rivalry and ignore their opponents.
Setsuna With Negi during the Kyoto trip and later with Konoka.
During Mahorafest Negi is on his way to the final battle with Chao when mass produced Chachamaru lookalikes assault him with time delay bullets. Kotaro finally makes his appearance and takes over this particular battle.
"I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: During Mahorafest, when Negi becomes the Kissing Terminator; played deadly straight in Ch. 285, when it's really more of a We're Going To Beat The Crap Out Of You While Evangeline Helps You Seal Your Evil Side Fight.
I Know Your True Name: Comptina Daemonia, an artifact Nodoka acquired during her stay in Mundus Magicus, was designed for this purpose. It will tell the true name of any person so long as she asks them for it.
I Like Those Odds: As part of the big flashback, The hero is saving the princess; meanwhile, the rest of Ala Rubra has to hold off the forces overseeing the execution, leading to this exchange:
Head Mook: Do I have the necessary forces? You Fool!. The guards for this event are more numerous than those you see here. There are two entire fleets stationed over a surrounding area of tens of kilometers, not to mention elite troops numbering around 3,000. You may be powerful, but even you cannot... Jack Rakan: Like I said. Are you seriously telling me you think that's gonna be enough?!
The Immodest Orgasm: Chachamaru's mana recharging apparently 'feels good.' Negi is not one to be stingy or catch the subtext in what he's doing. End result? One very embarrassed (and apparently loud) robot.
Immortality Begins at Twenty: All immortal characters seem quite young. Evangeline is a kid, the Lifemaker looks like a beautiful young adult of indeterminate gender and Negi himself seems to stop aging at about fifteen. Godel is the only one who seems to look on the bright side of the latter, thinking about how awesome it would be to be an immortal king.
Improbably Female Cast: Well, Mahora is an all-girl school (at least the part of Mahora Negi is teaching in).
In a Single Bound: True flight is apparently pretty difficult, leaving characters like Asuna to use leaping techniques. Kotaro and Setsuna are capable of flight, but often still prefer jumps.
Inconvenient Summons: Early on, Negi summons Asuna to apologize to her... but she was in the shower at the time. And then Takamichi wandered by.
Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Fate's girls are, indubitably, for the most part, characters worth the sympathy of the reader, even if they are unflinchingly devoted to Fate… and yet it seems that they can never win any fight they participate in, even if Rakan isn't the opponent.
Info Drop: It has what appears to be a joke from one of the characters (later revealed as the arc's Big Bad) when she claims to be from Mars. Yeah, turns out that it wasn't a joke.
Instant Armor: Post Ariadne Yue can instantly summon some magic armor.
Instant Awesome: Just Add Mecha!: Chao and Hakase specialize in making these, and there's an entire department on campus dedicated to mecha.
Instant Bandages: Negi tends to produce these after he's been comically injured.
Instant Cosplay Surprise: During the Mahorafest Budokai, Asuna and Setsuna get dressed while distracted. They notice they're wearing Panty Fighter gear.
Instant Runes: Happens almost any time a fairly powerful spell is cast.
Insufferable Genius: Nagi definitely counts, if "possibly the strongest man in existence" counts as genius. After all, he once told his son: "I can understand your feelings of admiration for this young, accomplished, yet super cool genius and undefeatable father who was also a hero..."
Inter-Class Romance: Konoka is basically a princess. Setsuna is adopted from a clan that threw her out and works as a bodyguard.
Konoka and Setsuna are clearly paired off. One is a human, the other is half tengu.
Kotaro views her mostly as a sister, but Natsumi is obviously crushing on him and they eventually get married after Natsumi stalks him for years.
Internal Reveal: The audience knows all along that the boy Ako falls in love with is really Negi magically aged up, but she doesn't find out until over 100 chapters later. Cue Shower of Angst.
Intimate Healing: Flabellum Euri allows Konoka to heal any injuries someone sustained in the last three minutes. While she works her magic, she disembodies, and her naked astral form hugs the patient in a decidedly languorous way.
Introdump: A very necessary one, in the form of Negi's class roster, which is reused in the tankobon as a sort of Dramatis Personae
Invisible to Normals: There exist spells that act like a powerful Weirdness Censor, stopping the muggles from noticing, say, the young English teacher flying around on his staff.
Involuntary Group Split: Almost a figurative "Rocks Fall, Party Splits" scenario as well, with a falling stone spell used to smash a teleporter, scattering its victims all across the magical world.
"It" Is Dehumanizing: Flashbacks show that some of the people who used Asuna as a weapon referred to her as an "it."
It Was with You All Along: The conclusion of the Library Island arc has Headmaster Konoemon explain to the Baka Rangers that they always had the potential to be smarter and they never needed a magic book.
Konoemon: If you could use something like this to get smarter, life wouldn't be hard. What happened today was all thanks to your own abilities.
I Will Only Slow You Down: A non-lethal example. Yue offers to let Negi go on ahead to defeat Chao on his own since she's not particularly useful to him in this scenario. He wants her to stay to listen to her reasoning on how to deal with Chao and after he does, he leaves her behind.
