Ranked #572

Mahou Sensei Negima! (Manga)

I watched Love Hina a bit and liked it (I sadly do not own any of the manga series) then I heard all about this series being written by the same author so I ventured into this series with an open mind and hoped for the best. 16 volumes later and I'm lovin' all of it!

Story:

The reason the story isn't ranked higher because it takes a few volumes before you get into the good stuff. But either way, this series has a nice story that is constantly evolving into something better.

Art:

Man, what a series. All the characters are perfectly designed and never look like anyone else you’ll see in the series, besides the twins. The only complaint that most people have or might have is that the art work is really crammed in there. From page start to page end, everything is pounded into the page making the story quite long to read, but I like it that way.

Character:

On average, you got 31 cute girls with unique personalities in the story. There is no way a guy can’t find a fantasy crush or a girl find a character that she can relate to. Then of course you get all the extra characters who make their appearance further along in the series. There are a lot of people to keep track of which can turn some people off, but I have a great memory to remember who is who.

Enjoyment:

Let me make this perfectly clear, I don’t read this story because it is ecchi. No, I read it because it provides a wonderful, fantasy like adventure set in real world times not some foreign dimension or country which is timeless. The story and all the great characters with a couple of laughs to lighten things up make this a fun story to enjoy.

Overall:

Any fantasy or magic type fan will get a kick out of this series, ecchi fans who just look for perverted stuff will even stop looking at that stuff and start seeing this is a good story that you’ll want to read over and over again.

Also, this series contains fantasy violence (Not really bloody and no gore), sexual innuendo, partial nudity, and some crude humor are all contained with in the volumes. So if you hate this stuff, look some were else.
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After reading love hina i decided that i would try another manga from Ken Akamatsu.
Although at first glace this manga does seem to resemble the harem romantic comedy type genre of love hina, this manga brings new and exciting elements to the table.

Although i was a bit reluctant about reading this at first, surely this manga changed my mind once i started. Ken Akamatsu was able to switch genre focuses for the most part from Romantic comedy to a more action based/sliceoflife romance style which isnt really much of a change but surely u will see for yourself. Although the ages of all the characters bothers me a little bit, the story itself is basic yet very well executed which makes it incredibly easy to get hooked and because there are so many characters, each chapter can bring a new element to the table (even if they may resemble one another).

The action element was amazingly well displayed throughout this manga. For someone like me (who doesnt see action portrayed very well in manga) i was shaking with anticipation whenever i went though the action parts of the manga. Even now as im reading the latest chapter i am dying waiting for the next chapter to come out so if its action your looking for as well as a somewhat mild romance type story then Negima is definately a manga worth reading read more

When my friend showed me Magister Magi Negima!? I was certain that it was going to be my favourite manga. This manga has a great storyline and also great artwork.

Art Work:
The artwork in Negima is oustanding as the artist can show the many emotions of characters very clearly. Also the clothes that the Charachters wears are drawn exceptionally. The Artist shading is great and makes the characters hair look natural.

Story:
The Story line in Negima is an interesting one as it is set with a 10 year old Teacher in an all girls School. The storyline always builds up the suspense which then turns into the climax. The story is not always action but it has great bits of humor in them. The story at some times can be fast paced and confusing but the writer always makes sure that the story can be understood easily. Another thing that the writer has made is that when spells are cast, they are written in Greek Letters. There are translations in the Volumes so don't worry xD.

Character:
The artist has ensured that each character has a distinct personality which people can relate to. The Characters age group differs from character and the artist has made sure that the age of the character is also included in the personality. The characters personalitys are also shown in there appearence. As well as humans, Negima has also got interesting magical Creatures. Like the Human Characters, the magical Characters also have distinguished looks and personalities. As well as Magical Characters, there are also Magical Monsters which come out breifly.

In short, Negima is an outstanding Manga to read and if you're into Magic, Humor, Romance and Action (plus a bit of Ecchi...xD) you will LOVE it even more!!! read more

A superb series about a Welsh boy who is sent to teach in a Japanese school.The story at times moves a bit fast and can be confusing to those who haven't followed it from the beginning, but the characters ooze personality, the art is great, and the villains quite entertaining. Only downside is the very perverted Ku'nel Sanders, who is stated in the manga as being both a lolicon and a shotacon. Other than that, all characters are well-rounded and interesting, from the vampire sorceress Evangeline A K McDowell to the enigmatic Fate Averruncus. Series tend to suffer from excessive fan service, but it makes up for it with lots of humour and the odd moments of angst. One of Akamatsu's best works, and very highly recommended. read more

Last year, I randomly started reading the first volume of Negima while I was at my local library. I wasn't all that impressed, it seemed to me like Harem Potter. However, I kept reading, and I am glad I did. This series has turned into something far more epic than could be expected of a manga that starts off as a romantic comedy.

Unfortunately, it starts slowly, with generic character archetypes, deviating only slightly from the typical harem plot progression. Thankfully, this does not last. It morphs from a rom com into a battle shonen, which is a smart move, and I have a feeling Ken Akamatsu only started the series off as he did because his editors wanted another Love Hina.

Once the transition is complete, the series immediately becomes far better. The stories are carefully crafted, the abilities of the characters progress believably, and the fight scenes are simply badass. The elements of rom com from the beginning become more of a subplot, and suffice to develop characters and created comic relief.

One of the major strong points of Negima is it's art. Despite being a weekly series, it is richly detailed and extremely clean and consistent. Everything from the panty shots to the magical attacks of combatants shows great attention to detail.

While it is no Vagabond, it is pretty exceptional for a series to be so consistently well drawn while on a weekly release schedule.

In the end, Negima is a delicious blend of well crafted stories, characters, and interesting fights. It is obvious that Ken Akamatsu cares about this work and puts tons of effort into it's execution. I highly recommend this to anyone.
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Mahou Sensei Negima! is a funny, charming, and dramatic piece of work with great characters, incredible art, humor to make you smile, and enough fan service to satsify those who are looking for it.

The best thing about Negima! is the artwork. Ken's art style changed drastically since the beginning of the manga, drawing less detail on his characters, but improving in every other way. They are brilliantly drawn, each with unique characteristics. The action sequences are detailed without using gigantic lines resembling explosions and wind to take up space. The fan service shows off a lot, but is not too overbearing.

For a magical world story, Ken does well keeping up dramatic story arcs while keeping up with over 30 characters. Each character is unique with likable traits. Ken has been able to develop over half of the characters while being able to run such good plot. The plot itself is complex, without being too complicated. With over 30 characters, there could have been many, many possibilities for this story to go, but I firmly believe that Ken chose all the good ones.

Overall, Negima! is a manga worth reading. It's able to keep you interested without making you get tired of really anything and the art is excellent which surpasses Ken's older works. read more

Alright, where should I start? Introduction? Lets go.

Mahou Sensei Negima is about a 10 year old boy who becomes a teacher in an all girl class. Not only that, but he's a mage!? Now that is something worthwhile....So I thought.

Negima is your typical harem mixed in with a supposed twist of 'adventure'. As people say it is a good series, but not as well thought of I say. Why? Well, honestly, it feels lacking the spirit of shonen despite being a harem. Ken Akamatsu just went "Here! A group of girls and a 10 year old boy who will be constantly teased in ecchi moments. I know! I'll give him magic powers! How about it? Would you like a cup of tea?". Though, as interesting as Negi looks, he bears too much of a typical archetype. For now I'll leave that off in the character section. Now lets get into the story.

-STORY-

The crucial part of every manga is the story. If it is not interesting enough, than it is revised. If it is, then it is published. The story of Negima is actually nice when you take off the Ecchi flakes and the Character nuts. I overall thought the nice concept of a boy looking for his father and grow to be like him one day. As much as I like seeing giant mechs and large festivals, if feels too out of place since it's only 2002 there. Another notable thing Ken Akamatsu does is the whole "Train->Travel->Big Festival->Tournament->Enemy Fight->Repeat" which isn't really as enjoyable as it sounds.

We are provided with nice points and concepts of magic and how it is supposedly not to be revealed and the whole run down of the story. Though the downside is that it leaves too many plot holes. The Story is indeed nice, but not as well thought out. Oh, and its comedy is very weak. But also, it is trying to copy dragon ball, though it isn't doing a very good job. It's more watered down when it comes to fight sequences.

-ART-

Alright, now this is where Negima hits hard! The art is indeed well drawn and well developed. From Anatomy, to Design, I have to say I would be utterly blown. I enjoyed the designs of the ships and monsters and overall style. But enough with the complements! The art may be great, but it gives off a rather unnatural feel to it. Take a character pose for instance, when drawn, they look and feel as if they are stiff and robotic with either hands clenched or fingers pursed together instead of a natural, relaxed, believable pose. Rather than having a normal standing stance, it looks like they were ripped off of a "How to draw a character standing stationary" tutorial. As for its perspective, it's nothing really to praise since it uses simple angles. There is an over dosage of screen-tones that it makes a Shojo manga look as if it uses less than 10 screen tones. The art also feels very computerized and too smooth for me than hand drawn and natural. Overall, it's pretty, but rather unnatural in my opinion.


-CHARACTER-

This category is what I hate the most. I could write a whole page on how horrible Negi's whole design may be despite being original. But I'll do My Summary on him.

Lets Look at the Protagonist shall we?
Negi, a ten year old boy who is a teacher and a mage learns a an extraordinary rate. Sounds normal right? Wrong. Sounds typical. Negi may be 10 and he may be a mage, but that doesn't do any good for being "extraordinarily fast" at learning. What's bad about him is that he does what practically every main character does. Pull stuff out of no where. Sure they showed him training and stuff, but at some parts later, he starts doing moves that hasn't even been shown to be learned. His character development is rushed and not cooked out well. He grows at an exponential rate that it's annoying. He learns a dangerous technique and then busts it out, then pulls out ridiculous spells that he hasn't even show to be learning. This is what I hate about some main characters. They grow too fast because they want more power and try way too hard. He is leaning towards the typical archetype.

Now lets go with the overall characters. Lets just say this. They are the freaking same. Everyone is either cocky or super respectful. It goes rather like The protagonist just pops into town and then immediately, all the characters go "I respect this man/woman even though I don't know you!" or "Gee willickers! You're Strong!". It's either that or they become the center of attention way too much. If they are cocky characters they go "I go beat you up now!" and then get their butts handed over to them. Not to mention your constant deus ex machina's in the story along with Name summoning(Character shouts name, character whose name was shouted appears).

Now let focus on some important characters. Some characters are "too much" of one thing. For instance, a recent character who is practically the embodiment of arrogance. Not only that, but considerably the "wise man" type of character. A character who knows everything and supposedly reveals everything gradually. The bad thing is, he knows too much and reveals too much. Rather than keeping his mouth type, he just tells the main character practically everything rather than saying "You can't handle the truth!" to him. Again, he falls victim of the whole "respectful spell" and practically respected Negi when they first met.

Characters also tend to go "Can I have your autograph? I'm a big fan!". Negima really does have a lot of "big fans" in the story.

Overall, the characters are rather annoying. Rather than rather, they are overall annoying. They tend to be less human with nearly no separate personalities and has a "respectful spell" cast on them. The only person who holds doubt is Negi Springfield, but then he is overdone and tries far too hard. Villains are cocky, but somehow hold some respect towards their enemy. Practically everyone is a pervert some way or another, subtle or not. Not one character can't go around without being;

a)Cocky
b)Over respectful
c)Perverted
d)A big fan
e)All of the above (A cocky, over respectful, perverted, big fan.)

That is all.

-ENJOYMENT-

Lets keep this short. I liked the story a bit despite plot holes. I like the Art despite the awkward poses. I hate practically the side characters and dislike how the Protagonist is made. How do you think I enjoyed this? Well, I enjoy this as much as a person who is trying to pass time for the sake of burning time. Not enjoyment. I say I have had a fair share of enjoyment from this manga.

-OVERALL-

I recommend it to be read by those who enjoy ecchi, harems and so called "adventure". I don't recommend it for those who love pure Shonen like ONE PIECE or DRAGON BALL or a character that grows at a rather exponential rate instead of let them take their time. Ken Akamatsu, honestly is trying to hard to copy DRAGON BALL. read more

Esta review también está en español.

Mahou Sensei Negima! (MSN) is over. After more than nine years of serialization, the manga created by Ken Akamatsu came to an end. So many mixed feelings come to head when something that you follow for so much time ends! But hey, I'm starting to sound like a pansy (or dramatic... yeah, dramatic is better), and that's not the idea.
Now that the manga is officially finished, it's time to do a review, to invite new people to this peculiar story, and to remind the veterans (that are quite "sensible" at these moments...) why we expend almost a decade of our time reading this...

Negi Springfield, a 10 years old welsh prodigy, has just concluded the first part of his studies to become a Magister Magi, that means, a wizard (just like his legendary and disappeared dad). The next part of his training, however, is different than anything experienced before: Negi is assigned as an english teacher in class 2-A of Mahora Gakuen, a japanese high school with only female students. Of course, in his new class, none of his students (14-15 years old girls) take Negi very seriously, and even if they kind of listen to what he says, they treat him more like a toy than a teacher.

And that simple premise is the kick off of Negima. The idea itself, although interesting, is fairly typical (even if the ages of the protagonist are swapped... usually the teacher is the older one), and a good set up for your typical harem/comedy. And that was what the higher ups want Negima to be: a similar work to Love Hina, the author's previous success. But mister Akamatsu had other plans, and although at first the manga was certainly humorous, with the passage of the chapters (many, many chapters) some battle shonen elements were gradually added, and offensive magic spells and martial arts became more and more important. This is precisely one of the most attractive points of MSN, how the harem chapters alternate with the adventure and action ones. Broadly speaking, we could say that the manga has three components: the harem part (humor), the shonen part (action) and the ecchi part (present in the previous two, although predominantly in the first).

In the harem part, there's humor and drama, and is usually where new characters are introduced, while the old ones are consolidated. As I said at the beginning, at first everything is laughs and joy, and is not until later that the interactions between the characters have weight, they begin to forge relationships, and all that.

In the shonen part, we have training and battles. However, you have to be patient: the first more or less serious fight appear in the third volume, and the action is not a predominant part of the manga until volume five, where, finally, various factions fight and magic and swords fly everywhere. When is time to fight, MSN is closer to Hunter x Hunter than to Dragon Ball, by that, I means that intelligence and strategy is more important than the power itself (although, having power helps a lot n_n). Also, each magician has a high affinity element, and a smaller domain of the others (which vaguely remind me the Nen specialization of HxH). Just to give an example, Negi specializes in wind magic, and his childhood friend Anya, on fire.

Finally, the ecchi. Is everywhere, and you should have that in mind when choosing this manga. Is in every form known to man, like public baths, hot springs, accidental falls (where hands tend to end where they shouldn't), magic that goes wrong (Negi's a wizard that can lift skirts with just one accidental sneeze, and if the sneezing is strong enough, it can disintegrate all the victim's clothes), magic that goes well (cause not everybody are well-meaning in the world of MSN), sleepwalking, and many other forms that now elude my memory.

Unlike most of the manga/anime that I saw, which always start with a few characters and then expand (and set aside some of the initials in the process), MSN introduces lots of characters since chapter one (Negi + 31 students + some teachers), obviously using just a few at first, to explore the rest later. This may take hundred of chapters, but is going to happen eventually: the girl that did almost nothing in the past, will get her chance to shine, either with several chapters devoted specifically to her, participating more actively, fighting, or whatever. And it doesn't end there, no. Later, there will be added lots of new characters, and luckily, some of them will be men.

In the analysis of (some of) the (initial) characters, the MC of this story is, like i already stated like five times, Negi Springfield, a ridiculously smart welsh boy (he learned japanese at university level in just three weeks!) that want to become a great magician. His cousin told him that he should treat the girls with extreme courtesy, and his excessively politeness, plus the innocence of being only 10 years old, prevent him from understand some of the latent feelings of some of his students... Still, innocent, shy or whatever, when problems appear, he will face anyone who threatens the security of his class, whether if they're magicians, vampires, robots, demons, gods, or whatever.
The second most important character, and main female character, is Asuna Kagurazaka, one of the many students Negi have. Tsundere with all the letters, Asuna says that she doesn't like brats, problem that last less than a chapter, and end up becoming Negi guardian and roommate. She's rowdy, violent, academically inept and sometimes noisy, yet, she's a nice, cheerful girl. Konoka Konoe's Asuna best friend and roommate. She's tender, friendly, smart (although, sometimes a bit ditzy) and feminine. She's also the granddaughter of Mahora's headmaster, and an oujou in every sense of the word (with a ginormous fancy house in Kyoto, and all). Her only real concern is that she can't get closer to Setsuna, her childhood friend, that now acts aloof and distant... Nodoka Miyazaki is a shy girl who loves books, and is the first to develop feelings for Negi. Along with her best friends, Yue Ayase and Haruna Saotome (plus Konoka), she's part of the Library Expedition Club, the group involved in the first (kind of) serious plot story. Naming more characters would ruin the initial surprise, so the last character i would bring up is Albert Chamomile, a good friend of Negi and sometimes amoral advisor (for those who have seen Ranma ½, he has some similarities with Happosai), who's also an ermine.

The drawing of this manga is good from the beginning, but throughout the chapters an evolution is obvious. The characters, the magic and the landscapes, all gain details and quality, being what most stands out, obviously, the huge number of cute girls. Also, there are spells that are just spectacular, requiring double pages to show all its glory (and having, usually, some badass magic circles).

The character design is kind of interesting. For those familiar with Love Hina, some similarities are blatant, and is obvious that the MSN took some traits borrowed from its predecessor. You don't need to be Sherlock Holmes to notice the physical similarities (and also in behavior) of Asuna and Chisame with Naru Narusegawa. Nodoka, the shy girl of Negima, is a lot like Shinobu, the shy girl of LH. Kaede and Mitsune could be sisters. If Akira bothered to let her hair down, she will be a lot like Motoko (although, in behavior, she is more like Otohime). Ku Fei, the chinese girl is very similar to Su, the indian girl. For Seta and Takamichi wasn't enough to look alike, they have to share professions too. Mei Narusegawa and Mei Sakura are clones. And with the MC? In a rather peculiar choose, Negi looks a lot like Shirai, one of Keitaro's ronin friend. Maybe the author was fond to the character... and speaking of him, Akamatsu is a declared fan of InuYasha, and decide to paid a little tribute to the Rumiko Takahashi character with Kotarou Inugami, a half demon dog-kid that's quite aggressive, yet very likeable.

But enough talk, is time for the verdict. Well, this is my favorite manga, so of course I recommend it for people who enjoy harem comedies, and for those patient enough, shonen fights. But is time to put things in the right place, and say the pros and cons, so you can decide.
Pros:
+ A giant cast, in which all the characters receive attention, mature, and do important things.
+ Unique in its combination of genres (just like tvtropes said, Mahou Sensei Negima = Harry Potter + Dragon Ball + Love Hina).
+ It's a harem where, really, lots of girls have a real shot with the protagonist (unlike most of the exponents of the genre, in which you just know who's going to win with only five chapters available).
+ The general consensus of readers of this manga and other shonens says that Negima has the best shonen battle ever. Well, that's terrible biased, but I can say that is, at least, among the best (and I'm a person who watched Dragon Ball, Naruto, Saint Seiya, Hunter x Hunter, Rurouni Kenshin, FullMetal Alchemist, and many more). This is the item that, actually, made me read this whole thing!
+ Great drawing, with an amazing evolution.
Cons
- An amount of ecchi that is disturbing sometimes (specialy taking into account the age of the protagonist).
- The real story takes long time to develop
- Many subplots open, lots of them remain without answers
- In addition to the above, a few arcs where showed, but in the end, they weren't done (being the Nightmare Circus the most emblematic case).
- The end was very controversial. Lots of important things remain unexplained, or where just hand waved.

But hey, that's it. Now it's on you to decide if this manga worth it or not. I gave what I consider the necessary tools (without spoilers, of course). Analyze the pros and cons, and see if the concept appeals to you. But the most important thing of all: if you decide to give Negima a shot, please, remember that the REAL Negima takes an important amount of chapter to get started!
Ok, that's it (this time for real), and thx for the long reading. I usually don't review things with lots of previous reviews, or works that are already popular, but this one was an special exception for me n_n
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Mahou Sensei Negima! (MSN) acaba de terminar. Después de más de nueve años de serialización, el manga creado por Ken Akamatsu vio su fin. Cuantos sentimientos encontrados le vienen a uno a la cabeza cuando algo que siguió durante tantos años termina! El vacío que, en cierta forma queda... Pero bueno, tampoco es como para ponernos dramáticos xD.
Ahora que el manga termino oficialmente, es el momento de hacer la review correspondiente, para invitar a nuevas personas a esta peculiar historia, y para recordarle a los veteranos por que estuvimos casi una década leyendo esto...

Negi Springfield, un prodigio gales de 10 años, acaba de concluir la primera parte de sus estudios para convertirse en un Magister Magi, o sea, un mago (al igual que su legendario y desaparecido padre). La siguiente parte de su entrenamiento, sin embargo, es distinta a cualquier cosa que allá experimentado antes: Negi es asignado como profesor de ingles en la clase 2-A de Mahora Gakuen, una secundaria japonesa donde solo cursan chicas. Por supuesto, en su flamante curso, ninguna de sus alumnas (que tienen entre 14 y 15 años) lo toma muy en serio, y aunque escuchan lo que dice, lo tratan mas como a un juguete que como a un profesor.

Con esa simple premisa arranca Negima. La idea en si es bastante típica, y aunque las edades estén al revés, es el planteo básico ideal para que una comedia/harem empiece. Y es que eso era lo que los editores querían que sea Negima: una obra similar al éxito anterior del autor, Love Hina. Pero el señor Akamatsu tenía otros planes, y aunque ciertamente al principio el manga era humorístico, con el paso de los capítulos (muchos capítulos) poco a poco se fueron agregando peleas de estilo shonen, en las que tanto la magia como las artes marciales son importantes. Eso es, justamente, uno de los puntos más atractivos de MSN, como se alternan los capítulos de harem con los de aventura y acción. A grandes rasgos podríamos decir que el manga tiene tres componentes: la parte harem (humor), la parte shonen (acción) y la parte ecchi (presente en las dos anteriores, aunque predominante en la primera).

En la parte harem tenemos humor y drama, y es donde usualmente (al menos, al principio) se introducen nuevos personajes, al mismo tiempo que se consolidan los viejos. Como dije antes, al principio son todo risas y alegría, y no es sino hasta mas adelante que las interacciones entre los personajes tienen peso, las relaciones empiezan a forjarse, y todo eso.

En la parte shonen hay tanto entrenamiento como peleas. Sin embargo, estos se hacen esperar: el primer enfrentamiento más o menos serio no aparece sino hasta el tercer volumen, y la acción no es parte predominante sino hasta el volumen cinco, donde hay peleas de varios bandos y magia y espadas volando por todos lados. A la hora de pelear, MSN es más cercano a Hunter x Hunter que a Dragon Ball, con eso quiero decir que la inteligencia y la estrategia es más importante que el poder en sí mismo (aunque tenerlo ayuda mucho n_n). También, cada mago tiene un elemento con el que tiene afinidad, y un dominio menor de los otros (lo que me recuerda vagamente a la especialización del Nen en HxH). Solo por poner unos ejemplos, Negi se especializa en viento, y su amiga Anya, en fuego.

Finalmente, el ecchi. Esta por todos lados, y deberían tenerlo muy en cuenta antes de leer este manga. Esta en las formas ya conocidas por todos, o sea, baños públicos, aguas termales, caídas accidentales (en las que invariablemente las manos terminan donde no deberían), magia que sale mal (Negi es un mago que puede levantar faldas simplemente estornudando, y si lo hace muy fuerte, puede desintegrar toda la ropa de la pobre victima), magia que sale bien (por qué no todos son bienintencionados en el mundo de Negima), sonambulismo, y otras muchas formas que ahora eluden mi memoria.

A diferencia de la mayoría de los mangas/anime que yo vi, en los que siempre se arranca con unos pocos personajes para después expandirse (y dejar de lado a algunos de los iniciales en el proceso), MSN introduce muchos personajes de movida (Negi + 31 alumnas + algunos profesores), obviamente usando unos pocos al principio, para más adelante explorar al resto. Esto puede tardar unos cien capítulos, pero eventualmente va a pasar: alguna de las chicas que durante más de 100 capítulos hizo poco y nada, finalmente tendrá su oportunidad de lucirse, ya sea con varios capítulos dedicados específicamente a ella, participando más activamente, peleando, o lo que sea. Y no termina ahí, por que luego se irán incorporando mas personajes, y afortunadamente para la variedad, varios serán hombres.

En el análisis de los personajes (iniciales) en sí, el protagonista absoluto de esta historia es, como ya dije unas cinco veces, Negi Springfield, un niño gales ridículamente inteligente (aprendió japonés a nivel universitario en solo 3 semanas!), que tiene como objetivo convertirse en un gran mago. Su prima le dijo que debía tratar con mucha cortesía a las chicas, y su excesiva educación, mas la inocencia que implica tener solo 10 años, le impiden ver los sentimientos latentes de algunas de sus alumnas... Así y todo, cuando hay problemas, enfrentara a cualquiera que amenace la seguridad de su curso, ya sean otros magos, vampiros, robots, demonios, dioses o lo que sean.
El segundo personaje más importante en esta historia es Asuna Kagurazaka, una de las tan nombradas alumnas de Negi. Tsundere con todas las letras, Asuna dice que no aguanta a los niños, cosa que dura menos de un capitulo, y terminara convirtiéndose en guardiana y compañera de habitación de Negi. Konoka Konoe es la mejor amiga y compañera de Asuna, también es mucho mas femenina y amable que esta. Nodoka Miyazaki es una chica tímida (bordeando la androfobia) que ama los libros, y es la primera en mostrar sentimientos por Negi. Nombrar a mas personajes quitaría un poco la sorpresa inicial de su aparición, así que termino mencionando a Albert Chamomile, amigo y consejero un tanto amoral de Negi (para los que hayan visto Ranma ½, tiene muchas similitudes con Happosai), que además es un armiño.

El dibujo de este manga es bueno desde el principio, pero a lo largo de los capítulos se nota una evolución notable. Los personajes, la magia y los paisajes, todo aumenta en calidad y en detalle, siendo lo que más resalta, obviamente, un sinnúmero de chicas lindas. También, hay hechizos que son, lisa y llanamente, espectaculares (requiriendo paginas dobles para mostrarlos en todo su esplendor, usualmente involucrando círculos mágicos gigantes).

Lo de los personajes es interesante. Para los que hayan leído/visto Love Hina, se darán cuenta enseguida que varios de los personajes principales de MSN toman elementos prestados de LH. No hay que ser Sherlock Holmes para notar las similitudes físicas (y también en comportamiento) de Asuna y Chisame con las de Naru Narusegawa. Nodoka, la chica tímida por excelencia de MSN, se parece mucho a Shinobu... la chica tímida por excelencia de LH. Kaede y Mitsune podrían ser hermanas. Si Akira se tomara la molestia de soltarse el pelo, seria Motoko (aunque su carácter es más parecido al de Otohime). Ku Fei, la chica china es muy similar a Su, la chica india. A Seta y a Takamichi no les alcanza con parecerse, si no que tienen la misma profesión. Mei Asakura y Mei Narusegawa son, lisa y llanamente, clones. Y con el protagonista? En un suceso bastante peculiar, Negi se parece mucho, mucho a Shirai, uno de los amigos perdedores de Keitaro. Tal vez el autor le tenía cariño al personaje... y hablando del autor, que es un fan declarado de Inuyasha, decidió rendir un pequeño homenaje al personaje de Rumiko Takahashi con Kotaro Inugami, un personaje mitad perro demonio bastante agresivo pero muy bueno en el fondo n_n.

Este es el momento del veredicto. Bueno, este es mi manga favorito, así que por supuesto que lo recomiendo para las personas que les gusten las comedias harem, y para los que sean lo suficientemente pacientes, los shonens de peleas. Pero es el momento de poner las cosas en su lugar, y decir pros y contras, para que ustedes decidan.
Pros:
+ Un cast gigante, en el que todos reciben atención, maduran, y hacen cosas importantes
+ Único en la combinación de sus géneros (como dijo tvtropes, Mahou Sensei Negima = Harry Potter mas Dragon Ball mas Love Hina)
+ Es un harem en el que, realmente, muchas chicas tienen posibilidades reales (a diferencia de la mayoría de los exponentes del genero, donde la resolución es obvia con solo 5 capítulos disponibles) con el protagonista.
+ El consenso general de lectores de este manga y de otros shonens dice que Negima tiene, muy probablemente, la mejor pelea de shonens de la historia. Bueno, eso es terriblemente parcial, pero sí que está entre las mejores (y lo dice una persona que vio Dragon Ball, Naruto, Saint Seiya, Hunter x Hunter, Rurouni Kenshin, FullMetal Alchemist, y un largo etcétera). Este punto fue el que me atrajo a mí a este manga!
+ Evolución del dibujo notable (no es que al principio sea malo, pero la mejoría es soberbia)
Contras
- Una cantidad de ecchi a veces perturbadora (mas teniendo en cuanta la edad de los protagonistas)
- La historia real tarda mucho en desarrollarse
- Muchas tramas secundarias se abren, y quedan colgados sin mayores explicaciones
- Sumado a lo anterior, se plantearon muchos arcos que ni siquiera terminaron realizándose (siendo el caso más emblemático, el del Nightmare Circus)
- El final es muy polémico. Simplemente, muchísimas cosas quedan sin explicación. Algunas, muy importantes.

Pero bueno, eso es todo. Ahora está en ustedes decidir si este manga vale la pena o no. Les di lo que considere las herramientas necesarias (sin spoilers, obviamente). Analicen los pros y los contras, y vean si el concepto les atrae. Pero lo más importante de todo: recuerden que el Negima real es distinto al de los primeros capítulos!
Gracias por leer, y si apretan el botón de not helpfull, les va a entrar un virus xD read more

After 9 years, 38 volumes, and 355 chapters, Mahou Sensei Negima finally ends. Hereafter shortened to Negima!, this series is close to my heart because it's one of the very first titles I've ever read. I spend my first chapters of Negima! figuring out how the heck do non-Japanese readers manage to read from right to left. And now, nine years later, I've read several other titles. Every week or so, I eagerly await the coming of the next chapter of this series. I get impatient when Ken Akamatsu takes "research breaks," or when it's a holiday in Japan (but I don't hold it against them, don't worry). To imagine the span of time it took for this series to finish, I was in the middle of first year high school when I started reading Negima!. (The series was just a bit past a hundred chapters back then) Here I am now, finishing my second year in college, and finishing Negima!.

I suppose I'll get to the sentiments later, and I'll start reviewing. Encompassing a series as big as Negima! in a single review will be challenging (it's the first big series I will review), but I will try my best to do it justice.

Story: 9/10

When you're talking about a series spanning 355 chapters, you'd only expect a story as excellent as it is detailed. When the said 355-chapter manga is labeled as a harem manga, you'd expect overextended story arcs with different girls. When it's also labeled as a fantasy manga, you'd expect overextended story arcs with different magical girls. Negima!, however, goes beyond what everyone expects of a harem manga (or a fantasy manga, for that matter). It's one of the best points of Negima!, so allow me to expand.

In a span of 355 chapters, Akamatsu has taken us to worlds we can only start to imagine: form an all-girls school, to areas reminiscent of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber in DragonBall, to flying machines, to magical worlds comparable (or even superior, depends on your opinion) to Hogwarts. The author has taken us all for a ride of epic proportions; while most titles stick to one story in a few fixed areas, Negima! takes us to the edges of reality. With gigantic floating library-chasms and the Red Planet all in the mix, Negima! is an imagination-inspired adventure all in itself. All these we explored because of a boy's undying dream of finding his father.

The story circles around Negi Springfield, a young boy who desires to emulate, and eventually locate, the Thousand Master (who is also his father). Simple as it may sound, the sentence above is the driving force of the entire story. Meeting his students, exploring worlds of magic and beyond--all this was due to his wanting of meeting his dad. It's amazing how such a simple thing can take a story to such great bounds.

It's also amazing how Ken Akamatsu manages to compress so much story details in a single, coherent flow of events. We have robots, mages, ghosts, Mars, teenage romance, and immortality all in one story. Having all this in a single story is already a feat in itself; to have extended it to 355 wonderfully-created chapters is something that so few mangakas have managed to do.

What prevented me from giving a 10 was the ending. Long as it is, the ending feels a little hurried. Don't let this stop you from reading, though: it's apparently designed as an open end. I guess it just happened so fast that I didn't feel enough sense of closure for the series. Either that or I was just rooting for one of the girls too much. I'm still hoping dearly for some sort of epilogue to answer all the hanging questions. For now, I will remain contented for what the ending brought me. After all, I expected ending a series this big to be challenging and hard. Akamatsu manages to do it well enough to give me a fleeting bittersweet aftertaste in my head; I'm both happy and sad that the series has ended.

Art: 9/10

I personally like clean art. Thick outlines, clean expressions and beautiful scenery keep me hooked on a series. Negima! manages to score this as well. Though not perfect, it's certainly enough to be worthy of praise. If you've read his previous work, Love Hina, and liked the art there, then you'll probably like the ones here too. It's nice to see how Akamatsu gives detail to facial expressions concerning blushing and all things related to love (trust me, you'll get it a lot here). His art style is also distinct; you'll spot his work right away. His art brings his characters to life--and seeing that his characters have so much visual detail in them, he certainly doesn't seem to hold back when it comes to making them look good.

Character: 10/10

Here's the other strong point of Negima!. Most mangakas avoid introducing too much characters in a story, so as not to get the readers cluttered in remembering who's who. Akamatsu, however, kickstarts Negima! by introducing a class of girls. Then he takes us to a magical world, and introduces even more. I haven't even mentioned the teachers in Mahora Academy yet.

Instead of being the weakness of Negima!, it is rather the strength of this series. Akamatsu-sensei manages to introduce characters with distinct personalites that characterize each one and each one alone (well, except for the twins in the said class). If you're going to do a harem, you have to give the girls distinction. If you'll do it with a class, you've got a lot of distinction to do. Akamatsu accomplishes this by two ways: personality and power. He gives each character a distinct habit or trait that is his or hers alone. Above that, he also gives them a unique power (this is a fantasy manga with mages, after all). And might I add that this was done excellently.

Enjoyment: 10/10

After everything that's happened, I find it hard to put the story of Negima! down. It's been an long, entertaining ride through the world of Mahora Academy and beyond, and it's been fun seeing a young boy grow up to become the great, respected mage he wanted to become, just like how much of a great mage his father was known to be. I spent a few minutes each week of these past few years reading Negima!, seeing the story progress bit by bit and seeing how Akamatsu gives life to characters both lovable and respectable. He manages to turn mere students of some girls' school to saviors of two worlds--both the human world and the magical world. Akamatsu also manages to make one heck of a good lead character. Negi looks like a boy (well, he is a young boy after all), but certainly acts like he's on a level well beyond himself. I'll be honest with you people, and say that I didn't feel like I was reading a harem manga at all; rather, it was more like reading a story of self-discovery and self-improvement. It's the story of a young Negi Springfield on a quest to find his beloved dad, and in the process he was finding out the good things he can do for the ones close to him. Likewise, his students find out there's much more to their cute little English teacher, and slowly (although Negi barely realizes this) the teacher himself teaches his students lessons well beyond English--in fact, well beyond school at its entirety. He slowly guides his students in find out who they are, and that they can be so much more than what they think themselves of.

I don't know how may readers managed to reach this part of my review, instead of just going TL;DR. My review is this long because I give Negima! this much praise and thanks as it gives us readers its last chapter. It was nice to see how each student ends up in the future, and it was certainly great to find out what the young mage manages to accomplish in the end. But beyond all awe for the characters, I find myself even more awestruck at how Ken Akamatsu delivers a story of epic proportions and manages to keep it as entertaining as it was when its first chapter was published. Alongside Ichigo 100%, this is one of my first mangas to ever read, and just now surely one of the first big series I managed to finish all the way to the end.

In the end, Mahou Sensei Negima! gives a permanent place for itself in the list of the great mangas of the decade. It's a bittersweet feeling to see it conclude, but all stories do end (even if they are open-ended). To end this review, I quote from the last page of the last chapter:

"True magic results from courage of the heart. Boys and girls, be ambitious. One step can change the world."

Congratulations to Ken Akamatsu for the nine years of success, and a big thank you to him for taking that one step, which in the end gives us a story that spans nine years and several worlds. I can now say that I grew up with Mahou Sensei Negima; even more, I proudly say that I saw it grow to become the great story that I thought it should become back when I read its first chapter. read more

Ken Akamatsu’s Negima is widely regarded as one of the best (currently ongoing) fighting shounen. This is usually attributed to its many cool characters, great fights and large amounts of fanservice.

But that’s a lie.

The series starts off as a harem manga revolving around a young Welsh boy named Negi Springfield. He’s an apprentice wizard of a mage guild sent on a mission: he is to travel to Japan and become a teacher in an all-girls high school. What all of this has to do with wizardry is never really made clear. Though he is told that he will be punished (by being transformed into a small rodent) if any of his pupils find out he’s a wizard.

(Though the last part isn’t true. He actually gets found out by several of his classmates pretty soon and I have it on good authority that the has yet to face any repercussions for it.)

The series takes a really long time to get going from there on out. The class that our young teacher’s been assigned to has a whoppin’ 31 pupils. While this may seem overwhelming at first it turns out that they all fall under very familiar shounen-archetypes: you have the spunky tsundere who sports twin tails (named Asuna rather than Asuka), a katana-wielding stoic girl who’s actually really shy deep-down, a cripplingly shy girl who can’t speak 2 words without stuttering and a Chinese kung-fu girl who speaks broken English. The series takes its sweet time introducing many of the characters and quickly gets repetitive in that regard. It’s almost as if Akamatsu is worried that the audience won’t understand that a shy girl is shy if she’s not blushing and stuttering in every scene she’s in. This goes for all the girls in Negi’s class. Akamatsu makes laughable attempts at injecting depth into his characters but they remain caricatures in spite of it.

Another big reason why it’s difficult to take these characters seriously is because of the constant nudity. There’s tons of fanservice in this series, usually as a result of Negi’s attempts to use magic backfiring on him. Fanservice isn’t bad in and of itself; but Negima is beyond excessive in this regard. It’s made worse when Akamatsu has it seep into scenes that are supposed to be poignant. It just kills the mood.

Yet another problem with the huge cast of characters is that only a handful of them truly matter. The 3 girls in Negi’s class who are most important to the plot are as follows:

- Asuna Kagurazaka: the aforementioned spunky tsundere with twin tails and an infatuation with an older man (gee that doesn’t sound like a certain Evangelion-character at all).
- Evangeline A.K. McDowell: A loli vampire who is more powerful than all the other students combined but whose power is sealed off for reasons convenient to the plot. She quickly becomes Negi’s (not so) reluctant mentor.
- Nodoka Miyazaki: The aforementioned shy girl who serves mostly as Negi’s primary love interest. She's also really a really powerful mage without knowing it or something.

As far as characters goes, these three are the most important. Characters who are in any way related to either of them get a little bit of screen time every now and then, while characters that aren’t are, for all intents and purposes, background decoration that don’t matter.

The biggest problem with the series, however, is protagonist Negi Springfield himself. He is, to be blunt, a Mary Sue. He is can master techniques that take a lifetime to learn in a matter of days, has a whole lot of raw power and every single character who isn’t a villain either adores him, likes him, is tsundere for him, looks up to him or respects him. Speaking of characters who adore him: virtually every girl in his class loves him in varying degrees. Many a chapter is filled with tons of superfluous dialogue between the girls talking about how cute/awesome/annoying-but-not-really Negi is. Keep in mind: Negi is TEN YEARS OLD.

Visually the series is adequate. Akamatsu deserves props for making the many characters instantly distinctive from each other (aside from twins) and backgrounds are detailed enough without cluttering the page. The downside is that most of the fights scenes look awkward: they mostly boil down to either large beams being shot or having a character wielding a weapon stand around in an awkward position surrounded by ‘’sparks’’ to indicate places where they’ve attacked. Very poor ways to disguise the non-existent choreography.

So Negima fails both at having likable characters and having cool battles. And since these are the two main reasons why people read fighting shounen, there’s not much left to recommend. It’s honestly quite baffling that the series has garnered so much love when it’s nothing but fanservice, overblown archetypes and bad fight scenes all held together by one of the biggest Mary Sues in all of anime/manga. People looking for a good fighting shounen should just stick to Naruto, Psyren or Fullmetal Alchemist. Better yet: switch to seinen series like Battle Angel Alita, Blade of the Immortal and Vagabond all of which deliver both in excellent action and stellar writing. It also helps that these series show nudity in small amounts and on moments when it’s relevant. Ken Akamatsu could learn a thing or two from that.
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