UQ Holder

As in, we aren't dropping the crappy future world for an actual trip back to Negima. This is just another fanservice feint.

Well, that's not too surprising. It'd be kind of shocking of Akamatsu dumped UQ Holders own cast, even for a few chapters, and inserted Touta into Negima. I also imagine it would be hard to make Touta "fit" so to speak with everyone in Negima, not only because its hard to make him mesh with everyone, but try and retain him as the focus while the fandom is more interested in Negima's characters. Having them both work in isolation seems to me the only real way to make it work, even if its not exactly ideal.

Wait I'm confused: What is the point of UQ Holder if it all lead back to Negima in the end?

It's more like it keeps erratically bouncing back and forth from it like it's on really bad drugs.

Who knows? Not Akamatsu!

Its like he's being pulled between wanting to do something new, while still thinking he has to try and resolve everything left from Negima because of some weird kind of obligation he has, but having not a clue about how to go about it. The fact that he's going on hiatus and into a new magazine makes it even more obvious that he's trying to sort out something, but what the hell that is, we'll never know.

He's trying to have his cake and eat it too, and the more he tries to weave UQ Holder and Negima together, the more he diminishes the both of them in the process. If he wanted to go all out with a different series, even if it took place in the same setting, he should have went with that. Otherwise, he should have done a proper sequal series that at least centered around anyone the audience is familiar with, as opposed to trying to have the new and old cast constantly try and compete with one another. Its just not working.

while still thinking he has to try and resolve everything left from Negima

I wouldn't say it feels like he has to resolve everything. As a matter of fact, I think he'd prefer to move away from Negima, but:

A- He can't/doesn't know how to make Holder into its own story (hence why the 'original' story beats usually feel derivative, the very start and the Santa arc aside- the harem hot springs miniarc even steals from Love Hina),

B- He's grown aware readership (from what I've gathered from badly Google translated Japanese webpages, even the Japanese) still wants to see Negima resolutions; those who still care enough about Negima are for the most part the ones who still stick with him, since the transition from Negima to this was nowhere as smooth as that from Love Hina to Negima.

Isn't UQ Holder intended to be a sequel to Negima? Not exactly a full independent spin-off but more of a continuation of the Negima story further into the future?

Half the time it doesn't know what it wants to be. The weird thing is, that its not marketed as a explicit sequel to Negima, and it tries (or tried at this point) to be open enough that you don't need to read Negima itself to get the gist of what's going on. The problem with the latter bit is that its a crummy way of trying to handle something that's meant to be a continuation of a previous story, because by nixing almost the entire previous cast, you're missing the point of trying to conclude anything. UQ Holder is actually worse when taken as a sequel, because it doesn't really contribute anything to Negima in the first place. If this series centered around someone who was in the previous series that isn't Not!Eva, there'd at least be something to latch on to. That hasn't happened, so we're stuck in a weird scenario where the two are pulling against each other.

Basically, its deceptive. The beginning makes itself seem like its going to be its own self contained story in the universe, and slowly becomes completely overshadowed by Negima to the point that even the newer cast has been written off into the side.

The Korean scans for 128 got me wondering, since they apparently pulled spare clothes out of nowhere, does that mean the stripping sneeze does not pulverize any clothes in the range area as long as you don't have them on? Like, if you are holding them in a hand are they okay? I'm also reminded it doesn't remove glasses or hair accesories along with everything else, which always struck me as slightly odd.

Sorry for the double post, but I just saw this in 4-chan. Assuming it is true, well...

Please, no Satou Rina as Adult Negi. Her Child Negi is excellent but her Adult Negi sucks ass.

I don't want to get my hopes up with Point 3 yet, but dayum.

edited 21st Jun '16 6:10:18 PM by NapoleonDeCheese

FUCK YOU AKAMATSU AND YOUR WORLD BUILDING!

Jesus Christ, you can't even properly manage a single story, no, single character arc and you are still on about this bullshit worldbuilding wankery?

To be fair, saying he's delegating more responsibilities on younger people while mentioning new projects should hint he's going to have others work on the other two projects, assuming that info is real. Maybe they can do better than him.

Let's just hope they may be better than the hacks who worked on Negiho and Negima Neo.

edited 21st Jun '16 6:14:33 PM by NapoleonDeCheese

Okay, now that thread is scaring me.

NAPOLEONDECHEESE ARE YOU LURKING HERE? I WANT TO SUCK YOUR DICK!

Go back to TV tropes you fucking cancer.

I have a huge crush on him. He is so smart and cool.

Guys, if that's any of you please cut it out. It's creepy.

If anyone's got access and it doesn't bother them, you could tell that yes, I am, but I can't post since Venezuela is banned from the site. Also, that I'm flattered but... no, please, just no.

Edit:

Who is that?

The most handsome poster in all of TV tropes. He is very cool, way cooler than Touta.

Yeah, definitely creepy. Please feel free to add I'm not cooler than Touta, although that says more about me than about Touta.

I think I'm cooler than Jinbei, though, even if only because I'd have bothered to try and get out of the damn hole.

edited 21st Jun '16 6:24:24 PM by NapoleonDeCheese

...uh, okay..?

I only lurk three...er, make that two places that have anything to do with Negima. AQS went down awhile ago IIRC. Now I feel old. Speaking of feeling old, its kind of funny that Holder has managed to kinda spark some of the old Negima shipping wars to some meager extent. It hurts I tell you, hurts!

As for the chapter, do you wanna know how cathartic it is to see Albireo tear into Eva like that? I've always been biased because I really liked Al as a character, and given how much I really don't like how Eva is handled here in Holder, seeming her get shredded by a miniature black hole ala Dynamis is probably the single most satifying thing that has ever happened in this series. You're doing gods work Al. Now, unfortunately, literally.

Actually, even though its going to last probably not even a chapter, I'm kinda glad we're seeing old Mahora through a lens now. At least it can be left unfiltered from the meh that is Holder's cast. Who I still find to be very, very boring as characters. Kind of tickled they left the Kono Setsu expy in though. Kinda nice, I guess. I do have to wonder what kind of Idiot Ball Fate and Eva are holding. You'd think they'd figure out by now that a guy called the Lifemaker could very easily just create replicas of the old gang. Eva I get, but Fate being puzzled by it is kinda...stupid.

Oh, and everyone has eyes, and they don't look off model like Yue, Nodoka, and Eva's original form often times look in Holder. Cool, that was the only thing I was kind of worried about.

The bar is low. Like, XEBEC anime low. Which I could actually live with, now that I think about it.

edited 21st Jun '16 10:01:18 PM by SkormSnow-Strider

WHY?! Did we seriously need a third fucking series? Who decided that Ken Akamatsu was to punish mankind for its sins?

edited 22nd Jun '16 4:02:33 AM by Rotpar

The chapter is out.

Okay, this is not even a character assassination anymore, this is character genocide. Yue, Nodoka, Al, even Rakan. This is so sad.

....

Holy shit, it's Asuna! No, run Asuna, run! Run before Akamatsu ruins you too!

Maybe learn to manage one series before trying to do three?

Err… it's a flashback, so I guess Touta's godliness can't affect her? Unless he breaks the fabric of space and time like with past Eva…

A Negima flashback and no Ku Fei? Boooooooooooooooo!

Negi's Post Mundus Magicus stripping sneezes turned him Super Saiyan 3 and completely stripped everyone around him, even up to 3-A's graduation party. Here, he's only flipping the girls' skirts up (and isn't it funny, the last ever stripping sneeze in Shonen Magazine doesn't even show a pantyshot?). You could say this is Negi after mastering his sneezing to some degree, but the girls are still in their junior high uniforms, so this must take place before the graduation.

Adding all of that up, we can deduce this scene is taking place before the trip to Mundus Magicus.

Its the only logical place it can be. Unless Fate appears, Negi and Asuna aren't really around much leading up to graduation, so its gotta be before then. I personally want to say its after Mahora fest, but we'll see if Chao cameos.

What is going to replace Holder in the weekly, anyway?

Honestly couldn't tell you, haven't heard anything on that front yet. I do have to wonder what the hell Akamatsu is planning on doing once he gets back into the swing of things...well, as best as he can at this point anyway. The whole "mixed media projects" thing is legitimately the most interesting thing to actually happen in years. Could bomb of course, but with UQ Holder, its hard to sink much lower then it already is. Featuring characters I can actually give a fig about will help.

...Its a good time as any to catch up on the Diamond Is Unbreakable anime and My Hero Academia, the latter of which is a lot better then I was expecting.

Hata sez:

Ten bucks say it's a compilation of brief badly animated adaptated scenes and it'll never get a Western release.

I've got to say I'm genuinely perplexed at why they keep trying to squeeze so much money out of the Negima/UQ franchise when its never been that big. It's not small from what I understand, but its not Fairy Tail which is a big hit both manga and anime so it makes sense, but this is kinda like the anime equivalent of the DC Cinematic Universe; a slow train-wreck which tries again and again to become big and despite its potential keeps failing.

Surely this magazine has other manga which are popular other than Fairy Tail? ...right?