Ranked #1526

Negima!?

Negima!? is not to be confused with Mahou Sensei Negima!. They're part of the same universe, but are completely different stories. Negima!? is produced by SHAFT, and their crazy experimental presence is definitely noted in this show.

Story: Negima!? takes a completely different direction from its counterpart, deviating from the manga storyline. The first episode opens up with the final battle between the Thousand Master and Evangeline McDowell. Evangeline gets turned into a loli form and we then start the story with Negi Springfield. Negi starts his teaching career over at an all-girls school. The crazy mischief starts when it's revealed to his students that Negi is really a magician.

Note that this show is for comedic purposes, and should not be taken in serious comparison to the manga storyline. The plot paces itself fairly well and we get a lot of insight on the lesser known characters in each episode.

Art: SHAFT's strange art style is presented in the form of Negima!? The character designs are crisp, the art is fluid, and we get some colorful environments all around. Some of the characters look a tad bit different than their counterparts in Mahou Sensei Negima! but it still works in perfection.

Not to mention they make some excellent work of Asuna's hair.

Sound: The soundtrack of Negima!? is nothing too special. It has some nice quirky music during the episodes and transitions nicely when it gets to the 'dramatic' parts. What stands out the most is the OP of Negima!? The song is sung by the various voice actresses of all the students and has several different variations. Not to mention a full length song of the OP was in episode 19.

Character: Unlike the Mahou Sensei Negima! anime, Negima!? gives plenty of screen time to all the girls in the class. For such a large cast of characters, we get to see everyone participate in the anime. We also get introduced to some new characters in Shichimi and Motsu and a few others. From Shichimi's strange body contortions to Motsu's epic "...in a good way" line, this dynamic duo is probably the highlight of the characters.

Enjoyment/Overall: Some people hate this series because it's not part of the Mahou Sensei Negima! line or it's crap because SHAFT ruined everything, but I thoroughly enjoyed this series because it has its funny moments and because it's a different approach to an already on-going series.

Unfortunately, subs are nearly non-existant as Mahora Academy simply reduced subbing to one episode per 7 months after episode 20. Whatever the case, we're down to waiting for these slowpokes or for Funimation to release their DVDs. Hopefully they won't trash Negima!?'s dub... in a good way. read more

If you liked Pani Poni Dash, you don't even have to bother reading the rest, you'll likely like the show. If your a fan of Negima the manga, your probably not gonna like this and you might want to delete any episodes you have on your harddrive (I mean return the dvd you bought, of course that's what I meant). I walk a middle ground here as a fan of both of those series, however, it did get boring for me as it continued on.

Now, if you think you knew the characters from the series, you'll only be half right (for the most part) the characters are altered to be more humorous. For example, Asuna's search for the chupacabra (which is probably the worst depiction of the creature I've ever seen and yes I know that's the whole point of the joke). A few new characters are also introduced, but we all know how filler characters are.

I suppose I should get this out here quickly, the story is altered. Instead of attempting to follow the plot of the manga then ending on a horrible filler ending (like its predecessor), it doesn't even try to the follow the manga and makes a whole new story revolving around a powerful magical artifact. This is kind of a double edged sword, atleast its not as bad as the filler ending in its predecessor, its not as good as the original story.

The focus of this series is comedy and action, which sounds good in theory. The comedy, however, sometimes gets cringe worthy or boring. The action doesn't meet up with the bar set up by other fighting animes that have done some crazy sh*t (its a little dull in comparison, but others might still find enjoyment in them).

Now, the English dub (all sub lovers can probably ignore this) tries to be authentic by giving all of the British characters accents (just the British ones). This would be ok, if Negi didn't sound so whiny and weak. Sure, he's ten years old, but he's ends up sounding whiny and like a wimp. In the manga, he had a little more balls.

Overall, its an ok show and half the reason of my middleish rating was being fan of the manga. If you like gag comedies and action and wondered what happened if they were merged together, you got this show. If you can't stand the weirder kind of Japanese humor and a few jokes you sometimes can't fully get, you might want to look elsewhere (quick little note: pacing could be better).

Go Baka-Rangers! (.....I hate myself for doing that).

P.S. I like to just add, I think another problem was the feeling it was not Ken Akamatsu's work, but more the work of Akiyuki Shinbo.

P.S.S Anyone else confused they made a new manga series to go along with this? read more