Negima!?… I wanted to like this anime. I really did. In fact, I quite fancied the previous installment of Negima way back when. But, this time around, Negima just went full crazy. You should never go full crazy, just like you should never go full retard. We saw where that got Simple Jack after all. (And Excel Saga too) There is something akin to a story here, but the level of ridiculousness encountered as the plot “develops” really is too much. The story is diminished because there are simply no boundaries of insanity that are off limits. Some might like that, but I don’t.
Earning 2 points
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I don’t even know how I should grade this. I mean, when we’re dealing with full crazy, the dialogue synced up nicely. Is that a good thing? I don’t even know. The one thing I will mention is that this time around, Negima focused more on a few characters, developing them to some extent beyond their roles in the previous anime. Job well done for what it’s worth.
Earning 1.5 points
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Animation and style are fine. Luckily, for most anime this is a given 2 points. That holds true here as well. Speaking off the cuff, I’m pretty old school and don’t mind “substandard” animations/style/etc. as most people might. To make a game analogy, I remember one of my friends told me he couldn’t play FFIX because the graphics were too “bad”. That’s pretty sad. Hell, I still play games like Xenogears (which is a masterpiece) and I’ll be damned if I let the trivial mar what is by all other rights extraordinary!
Earning 2 points
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Bonus points goes to… That opening! I have to admit, this anime had the catchiest opening song I’ve heard in a while. In English too!
Earning 1 point (am I not merciful?)
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Add it all up and we have a dismal score of 6.5! Another fail for the anime universe. I recommend watching the first Negima! Unless of course you liked Excel Saga or something, then, go for it! To me, this is what happens when you do remakes. They come out like crap. What’s that say about the Final Fantasy VII remake on the horizon? For that matter, what’s with all the gaming references in this review? Frakkin Frak, GAH!!!
As always, since I’m a critic, I’ll round down my score to a 6 because that’s just the way it goes. That way it’ll be better than expected when you watch it! Till next time
