Mahou Sensei Negima

They're a send-up of it, more than a straight example, I would say.

Been wondering about something. My local Barnes and Noble is good with stocking Negima!, they've always kept an inventory of the latest half-dozen volumes on hand. They always have the newest. I think volume 37—the second to last?—has been on the shelf for nearly a year. I have never seen a 38. Meanwhile the omnibus volumes have been increasing, think we went from 3 to 9 or so in the time since 37 has been out. And omnibus 9 includes something like 24-27 in it.

Did they abandon publishing the final volume of the manga to force people to buy the omnibus?

Volume 38 is so bad everyone is better off not having it. Maybe it's a public service.

Which anime adaption would you gals recommend?

None really, the manga is the way to go.

But if you like Studio Shaft level of crazy then Negima Second Season is it

The anime is not worth your time apart from one episode.

Which episode would that be?

IMO the second one is worth it for Meganekko Nodoka alone.

19. Sayo.

Arha is talking about the first anime, which is a "more faithful" adaptation, but is overall worse. The second is unfortunately not a good adaptation, but is at least amusing and you make a good point about Meganekko Nodoka.

EDIT: And it actually gets interesting and has decent fight scenes at times.

edited 18th Oct '14 1:30:11 AM by Sereg

I uh...huh. Good question. I could have sworn I've seen volume 38 before, but now that I think of it, I'm not that sure. The Omnibus editions are still steadily coming out, but beyond them, I think they have consistently had the Mahorafest volumes to The Arc which must not be named. Granted, I haven't checked in quite some time.

In a similar vein, quick question. Does the Omnibus editions include the extras included at the end of each volume? They're something I considered getting for the earlier volumes, but haven't decided whether or not to get said Omnibus because of that.

The second anime is decent I'd say, though I could never quite get over the flanderization that took place. It does have a semi-interesting if not quirky plotline, so its worth checking out. I myself don't actually mind the first anime by in large, at least up until...when did it go off the rails? Somewhere around episode 22 or 23 I think. The Sayo episode is the best thing that came out of the anime though, and its a lot better done then Sayo's own chapter in the manga proper.

edited 20th Oct '14 9:34:05 PM by SkormSnow-Strider

Oh they went off rails pretty early when they chopped out most of the content out of the Kyoto arc and flat out edited out Kotaro.

Episodes 22-23 were pretty good actually... the only ones with episode 19 that I found relatively memorable. The last episode is horribly terribad though.

edited 21st Oct '14 3:50:45 AM by Lyendith

Like NDC said elsewhere, the end of the Xebec anime did a better job at how Negi and co would deal with the prospect of losing Asuna than the manga itself did.

I haven't completely read all of Negima's manga, but from what I have heard and read about it, it was really good. It's tragic what happened with the ending. And to make things worse now there's that fake sequel that only pisses on Negima's ashes. Well, I'm planning to read the manga, at least up to volume 35 where I have heard everything began to go downhill.

Feel free to give reactions! Those are fun.

Also, at least some of the later part was still enjoyable, even if it wasn't the quality we'd come to expect, so feel free to read further if you want to.

I'd at least go to the end of 36. If you stop there, it at least feels like it ended.

I'm already at the start of volume 4, when they go to Kyoto. I have to say I have enjoyed this first chapters more than I thought I would. The "Love Hina-ish" chapters weren't as bad as I expected, the girls are really nice to Negi, not even the resident Tsundere gives him the beatings poor Keitaro suffered. The school is awesome (city-sized, a World Tree, and a library that looks like the maze of a videogame XD). And the characters, yes as likable as I've heard. Negi is cute, Asuna is one of the most likable tsunderes I've seen (shocking from the man who created Naru), Kaede is cool, Nodoka, Konoka and Chachamaru are adorable. I really like Evangeline, she's awesome and funny, and now I understand more why people refuse to accept that she and that lazy I-don't-feel-like-explaining-what's-going-on office hag from UQ are supposed to be the same person.

After reading this, the more I wonder, what the hell happened to Akamatsu to end up the way he's now? I don't buy that "Kodansha tried to take the rights away" excuse anymore. Seriously, I hate that pseudo sequel very much, even without having actually read Negima! That thing doesn't have anything resembling a real plot after 50 chapters and I dislike the characters so much that I refuse to call them by name (I call them Brainless Special Snowflake, Loser Guy/Girl, Yandere Rei Ayanami, Save Point Brat and Bland Robo Dude).

Well, I'll come to comment again once I finish the Kyoto arc !

Negima does explain why her personality has changed. 'The body affects the soul', so a younger body the personality starts to match it like Eva having a kid's temper and such. There are actually a lot of times this comes into play in Negima.

edited 17th Dec '14 4:42:24 PM by Memers

Plus it's been over 80 years. Time can change people. Even 700 year old vampires.

edited 17th Dec '14 5:00:51 PM by Archivist10

People can change, but only for the worse, and the change of Evangeline to Yukihime is living proof.

Even before reading UQ and now Negima, I knew enough about Eva's original personality to perceive her difference from her UQ self. I also was actually fine with it for the first few chapters and tried to justify it with the same reasons you do. My problem with her started when she was left in the background to only return to pull Deus ex Machina rescues and provide non-answers to the "story".

Honestly, when you put it like that, she does that in Negima too.

edited 17th Dec '14 5:20:08 PM by Memers

The Deus ex Machina rescues, yes, I know she does that in Negima, but that doesn't bother me as much. But the not sharing important information part too?

Even in Negima, almost every adult hid important info Because Reasons (and most often, like with Negi's mother and her fate after Jack's movie, it never was explained WHY, after Negi had gone that far, he STILL couldn't learn). That always was a problem once the plot became grim and serious enough and Negi became super competent enough for it to make more sense he SHOULD be given that info.

The thing is, when Eva didn't intefere until it was necessary in Negima, it was twice justified because she was an apathetic outsider AND normally limited. In UQ Holder, she does have an active stake and personal investment on the organization that worships her and looks at her as a leader, and she isn't limited anymore, so she's put in a Catch 22: she technically SHOULD be doing more to help the Crapsack World than sitting behind a desk and babysitting Touta, but also, if she does that, the narrative tension (already hurt by having Kirie the Reset Button around) is gone down the drain.

Well yes but 'Discover it for yourself, Negi' is a theme of Negima, everyone gets in on it at one time or another.

edited 17th Dec '14 5:37:06 PM by Memers