Mahou Sensei Negima!
Negima! Magister Negi Magi

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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.

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.

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

I FINALLY FINISHED IT!. Wow, its hard to believe that this manga started in 2003 and now over 10 years later i'm here writing a review wondering why the hell i didn't start reading manga at 4 years old instead of playing on my dreamcast or whatever.

I saw this manga catching my eye not long ago and since then i have marathoned it from start to finish and I am telling you now, its worth it.

Now I'm not personally good at writing reviews so I'll just drop a few things here:
> Give it time for the story to start - at the beginning it's a ... lot of ecchi and things you would easily predict just by reading the description but seriously, i started laughing so hard at some of the stuff later on.
> Some of it the pacing was a bit too fast but that is by my own personal judgement
> Reading the whole thing isn't a waste of time, the whole thing is great and the ending gives a sense of closure ( However there is some stuff that i feel wasn't explained properly but I'm hoping that will be explained in the "sequel" of UQholder )
> Just a quick warning - UQholder isn't that much of a continuation of 90% of characters in MSN but rather a story of a descendant of Negi
> Really the only things i have a complaint about is that some of the characters felt excluded for the majority of the storyline but i can't exactly blame them due to the MAHOUSIVE cast (geddit?)
>The story is VERY good in my opinion however there's no way you could tell that by looking at the description. Don't be deceived!

Final Verdict: If you are a patient reader who likes a bit of ecchi then you should read this! But then again who am i to decide? Give it a try, i think personally it is a very good manga. Besides if you don't give it a try you might end up regretting it because the description does the story no justice whatsoever.

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

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.

I've read this manga numerous times and it still holds the spot of my favourite story of all time in any medium.
...Maybe i'm a bit biased, but so far as i can tell it is also one of the most intelligent stories i've ever read or seen.

Do not be fooled by this manga's apparent nature, or how it starts off. This manga makes the biggest 180 you will ever see in a story. Once you're in the latter half of the series you'll hardly recognize it or the characters anymore, as so much has changed. There's an even bigger change once you ... graduate from Negima, and move on into the world of UQ Holder, which is 80 years after the end of Negima, in a changed world.

If you want a bite-size taste of this manga and how it changes, check out the OVA's: Shiroki Tsubasa Ala Alba, and Mou Hitotsu no Sekai. They blew my head off it's socket and forced me to have to read the manga. The ova's will spoil part of the plot, so be aware of that in your decision. (The original 2 full tv anime series are complete garbage, do not use them to compare to this manga)

Some people are off-put by the bizarre nature of it, and tendency to oddness, apparent skirt-pulls (seemingly unjustified plot additions), and things that could solve all the problems but don't because that would be boring... However, this manga is a testament to Ken Akamatsu being a meta-writer of the highest calibre. Literally every element in Negima that would normally equate to what some people would call "bad story writing" is something he does it intentionally, and utilizes circumstance and characters to identify it as such. The point of it was to show that in the real world, things will broadside you without warning, situations can be completely unfair, or solutions may be just barely missed because they weren't looking in the right place. Pay close attention to tiny side comments and details in the environment, as they often tell a narrative of their own and answer questions you likely had. Some stuff you may even want to research if you're unsure of what a reference is or where something came from (there's a lot of wiki info, and information books for this manga).


->   Story:   brilliant, but procrastinated in the beginning   <-
Overall the story does have it's flaws, like anything, but if you can embrace the style, you'll quickly stop caring. Mahou Sensei Negima! is by no means an ordinary manga. It is written with such meta-knowledge, trope abuse, and fiction satire, that the story is completely unapologetically itself. Negima is a very eccentric manga. It is a wide-spectrum story which crosses countless genres and themes: from mundane school life, to underworlds, to complete other worlds, and even hits of sci-fi. This is a story that will have you on the edge of your seat wondering what the world will throw at you next in the endless chain of events leading them from place to place and into problems of epic proportion and forced to handle it.

Akamatsu's method of storytelling is fairly obtuse, however a keen eye will spot the amount of research and dedication put into the series, from martial arts to sciences, to mythology, and history, he truly manages to make full use of his knowledge and ability. From some of the best reveals, to some of the best character exploits, Negima has it all. This manga also possesses some of the most well handled time travel continuities in any series ever (and i mean down to the finest background detail, i haven't spotted any bloopers). It's really hard to give examples, as some of the best reasons to read this manga, are in the pinnacle moments when something happened in just the perfect way that makes you fall out of your chair in amazement.

This manga probably has one of the coolest schools ever invented anywhere (and the craziest student body, they even have an aviation club; it's like a gathering of all of the #1 geniuses and unique people in the world in one place). Also one of the most epic libraries, if not THE most epic library ever designed... I don't even like libraries, and i wish i could visit and explore the depths of the Mahora Library Island every day (like their library expedition club). There's beautiful fantasy environments, sky castles, and all kinds of awesome stuff to be seen later on as well. There's almost no place in this story i wouldn't visit if it were possible.


->   Character:   outstanding!   <-
This manga has absolutely phenomenal character development, especially for how many characters it has. Negi ends up as a teacher for a class of 30, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. Throughout the manga many more characters are met and fleshed out. Negi and his students grow incredibly in ability and mind. You will see them grow from a bunch of silly middleschool girls to heroes strong enough to take on world-changing problems. Some characters come out the other end completely changed individuals, and others will remain the same, but full of memories and experiences. All of the characters are a bit insane, so don't expect anyone to react realistically to things like life or death situations; they'll usually manage to dive into it with indestructible optimism (even if it's an extremely difficult problem or fight, which they may not even win, and without damaging the suspense), but that's what makes it fun.

So many characters might seem hard to keep track of, but you'll find this to be surprisingly not the case. While you may not remember their names that well, each character has a very distinct appearance, personality, speech pattern, and their own unique abilities that no one else has. Though i guarantee you will have zero trouble remembering the impossibly badass Jack Rakan.


->   Art:   detailed and fluid   <-
On a slightly technical note, Akamatsu-sensei is one of the better artists out there for designing action scenes. Each frame flows from one to the next in such a way that you're never lost as to what's going on; there is ample indicators to interpolate it in your mind. He is also very good at drawing and maintaining environments in a sense that you can spatially orient yourself in the environment without getting lost. There are numerous spreads with absolutely beautiful scenes and scenery throughout the manga - truly valuable when exploring a magic world.


->   Enjoyment:   off the scale!   <-
I'm sure you've figured it out by now, but i love the hell out of this manga, it's intelligence, characters, environments, themes, and so on. It contains most of my favourite places in any story, my favourite characters and so on. This manga had me riding on the edge of my seat, and reading my nights into oblivion, because i couldn't pull myself out of this dangerously addicting series. I've read it 3 times now, and i get the same excitement, hype and joy from it every time. Mahou Sensei Negima is truly close to my heart; i love it to bits.

One of the things this manga does that doesn't happen often, is scaling the strength of all the characters, like fans do when they propose charA vs charB wondering who'd win. In Negima, it's a lot of fun comparing all the characters and wondering who's the strongest, who's effective against who, what is their weakness, will their weakness work against them?


...Overall this manga is really hard to judge on any sensible basis, because it pretty much deconstructs everything you can criticize of it and throws it right back at you without caring. Stories that can do that are very rare. In a modern world where so many people are picking apart technicalities of story design and standards, to have a complete fantasy that will do things like create completely broken cheat characters, then advertise they're broken cheat characters, and make you love them regardless (yes, i'm talking about the famous Jack Rakan, the impossible badass himself).

With a series like this with such a colossal towering mass of things to talk about, it's a wonder why there isn't more conversation on it, especially with UQ Holder publishing now. I can only guess it's due to the inacessibility of it, and the poor impression in which the animes have on it. Hopefully the UQ Holder anime will bring a lot of people back to this.

Read this manga, you will not regret it. I'll see you around Mahora~



PS: If you don't believe me in the complexity of this story, or want a heap of spoilers, just look at it on TvTropes. This manga's exploits are off the charts.

- Semi-spoilers -
If you want a milestone of where to expect the manga to start taking shape and showing it's true colours, it's at the Mahora Festival Arc, which starts around chapter 70.

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!!!

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.

I personally think this is one of the best mangas I have read.It has a variety of different characters that after a while just grow on you.Not to mention a story that, after a while, pulls you in and keeps you wanting more.Of course it is also drawn beautifully and even makes you want to go back and reread the old chapters.10/10 in everything from me.

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 &quot;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?&quot;. 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 &quot;Train-&gt;Travel-&gt;Big Festival-&gt;Tournament-&gt;Enemy Fight-&gt;Repeat&quot; 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 &quot;How to draw a character standing stationary&quot; 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 &quot;extraordinarily fast&quot; 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 &quot;I respect this man/woman even though I don't know you!&quot; or &quot;Gee willickers! You're Strong!&quot;. It's either that or they become the center of attention way too much. If they are cocky characters they go &quot;I go beat you up now!&quot; 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 &quot;too much&quot; of one thing. For instance, a recent character who is practically the embodiment of arrogance. Not only that, but considerably the &quot;wise man&quot; 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 &quot;You can't handle the truth!&quot; to him. Again, he falls victim of the whole &quot;respectful spell&quot; and practically respected Negi when they first met.

Characters also tend to go &quot;Can I have your autograph? I'm a big fan!&quot;. Negima really does have a lot of &quot;big fans&quot; 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 &quot;respectful spell&quot; 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 &quot;adventure&quot;. 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.

Negima is a series that is near and dear to my heart. I'd like to start this review by saying that this series is not without its flaws. As others have said, the final arc has its narrative issues, the fanservice is honestly quite unneeded and sometimes off putting, and the degree to which the harem angle is played up is excessive (they didn't have to make quite so many of the girls fall for Negi).

With what I've addressed above, the question would be why I still rated it a 10/10. The answer is simple: I cannot think of a single other series I ... enjoy returning to quite as much as this one. The scale that Ken Akamatsu gives to battles, arcs and locations cannot be overstated. Everything about Negima feels "grand", so to speak. The best example of this would be the school festival arc, in which Mahora Academy truly feels like the academic city that the story describes. Akamatsu has a real talent for set design, and every location in the series feels distinct, remarkable, and beautiful. The fights are nothing to scoff at either. His illustration style lends a level of "impact" to fights, in which punches, explosions and spells are all portrayed with the intensity they deserve. In regards to arcs, which the exception of a bit of weakness and confusion near the end of the final arc, each arc is distinct and memorable with a satisfying resolution. Years after my first read, I could still tell you the gist of each arc and the events that took place in each. I especially recommend that a new reader make it to the school festival arc, I consider it perhaps the most enjoyable arc in any manga I have ever read.

Visually, the series is stunning. Akamatsu does an excellent job of designing both characters and setpieces. Every time I see one of his overhead shots of Mahora Academy, its makes me wish it was a real place that I could visit. Especially during the school festival, in which we see far more of the academy, I wound up coming across many pages that I paused on and just enjoyed the vista that we are presented with. Somehow in the process of writing a manga, Akamatsu decided to fully flesh out the details of a working Academy City, at a level of detail that I see most series hand wave away. The character design of Negima is also a triumph. As I've said before, not all of the girls in Negima get full character development, however, every one of them is visually distinct to the point that not only could I identify them at a glance, but for many of them, you can glean character traits simply from your design. There is no background classmate #15 in this series, unless you count Natsumi, but in her case her unassumingness compared to her classmates is a central character trait, and I would still argue her design is interesting and compelling. I don't think this series would have quite the magnetic draw it has on me if it weren't so good to look at.

Perhaps the strongest point of Negima are the characters. I won't deny that there are issues here too; with 31 girls in the class, not everyone gets the attention they deserve. Additionally, some of the girls don't exactly have enough of a character to focus on (I still barely know anything about Zazie). However, nearly all of the characters the series decides to focus on are some of my favorite manga characters period. I won't go into details on individual characters because even though the series doesn't focus on all 31 girls, it still has a rather large central cast, and for the most part it does a great job juggling them. What I will say is that I believe Akamatsu writes very compelling relationships between his characters and also understands what makes each of his characters enjoyable in the first place and lets them shine in their role. If you need a tsukkomi, Chisame, Setsuna or Asuna are ready to smack some sense back into you, if you need someone to go with the flow while causing some trouble along the way, Kazumi or Haruna are perfect for the job. Each character is distinct in design and personality to the point that a reader very clearly understands these roles, and it allows Akamatsu to delve into different scenarios without undermining characters' personalities or motivation, since he has a deep toolbox of characters to play with.

I believe part of the reason that I love these characters so much is that the series is legitimately funny as well. Stuff like Chisame suffering through the absurdity of her normal life going up in flames, Haruna tormenting the other library girls, or the normally good natured Konaka pulling out a bit of deviousness, so many aspects of the series are played for laughs, and the surprising part is the jokes tend to land quite well. I've read a lot of manga that try to be funny, especially when they aren't mainly comedies, and a lot of the time many jokes fall a bit flat. Negima makes me laugh out loud pretty regularly, and the jokes are well placed around the action so that they don't take away the tension when you don't want them to. It's a balancing act for a shounen to handle comedy effectively, and Negima does an expert job of it.

In the end, I'll reiterate that I don't think Negima is a perfect series. However, so many aspects of it are perfect that I believe it deserves to stand among the best. I think your level of enjoyment of this series depends on your willingness to forgive its mistakes because of the things it does well, and in my case I hold the things it does well in such high regard I can completely look past its shortcomings. Negima is definitely a sleeper series that I think too many people pass over, so do yourself a favor and give it a read.

I... actually genuinely don't know what to do with this feeling... I have read Negima 3 times now from start to finish, and every time I end up feeling intensely empty inside. It feels like there has been a great party going on in my head, with tons of interesting people, and then all of a sudden it's just gone. Poof. Over.

So what makes this manga so incredibly great?

Well, first of all I suppose I should say that this is not a manga for anyone. It contains fanservice, and lots of it. It contains asspulling and occasional plotholes. It contains convenient story-telling and deus ex ... machina. As an aspiring story-teller myself, it just so happens that these are some story features that I intensely dislike, and try to avoid.

So what makes Negima different?

The answer: It is done well.
And even more than that: It is done with full awareness of what is happening. Never have I ever, ever, ever read a work of any kind where the author has been so intensely, constantly, ridiculously aware of every single trope that you can pull out of a hat. Overall, Negima is very tropey (it feels much like Ken Akamatsu is the embodiment of TV Tropes) and this quickly becomes its strength. Every time that something absolutely silly and unrealistic happens, you can expect a character to point it out. Every time that there is a plot hole or a instance of deus ex machina, this will happen. Moreover, since this is such a common thing, it does not feel out of place and contributes to a great deal of the humor of the series. As someone who loves analyzing story archetypes and clichés, Ken Akamatsu is someone I view as an ABSOLUTE GENIUS.

So, if you can get past this initial barrier, you will find a story that seemingly has it all. Negima is of course, like a number of other famous shonen manga (like Reborn, for example), known for its complete switch in tone. Unlike in many other manga, this switch is hinted at rather early, however. Someone who is familiar with Ken Akamatsu's previous works will quickly see that there is someone big in the works from only the first volume. The magic system, the Mahora Academy layout, the hints at future events all points to that the beginning is only a setup for the mangaka to be able to pull out all the stops. And once the ball gets rolling...

I will now briefly try to address what I, personally, think makes Negima great manga.

Worldbuilding: This is something that seems to be Akamatsu's secret pleasure. Throughout the course of Negima, we are introduced not only to one, but two, elaborate settings (Mahora Academy and the Magic World). Akamatsu shines with his superior research in many fields ranging from astronomy to religion to Chinese martial arts. The magic and fighting system is well-developed and makes sense, but is also structured in such a way that new elements can be seamlessly introduced without seeming like asspulls. The great variety of skills also allows for a combat balance that does not feel overly reliant on "power levels." As such, you can often see "weaker" opponents defeating those considered stronger with superior intellect or precise use of skills.
The worlds that Akamatsu show us are not detailed and imaginative, they also extend far beyond the frames of the story. During the Mahora School Festival, we're shown brief glimpses of student-driven (!) clubs related to Aviation and Military Research. The Technology Club for some reasons is running around in mechs (which is of course lampshaded by the characters). The Magic World comes with an immense world map and a history which the reader is only allowed to dip their toes into during the course of the story. All of this contributes to a genuinely engaging worldbuilding experience. We, as the reader, is constantly shown what we can expect to be surprised by next, while at the same time being assured that whatever shows up will be adequately explained to us.

Characters: The cast is an absolute hoot, and only the 3-A class list has probably driven away its fair share of readers. How could an author possibly expect to introduce 30 different characters at once and then do them all justice by outlining their personalities to the reader? How can the reader ever be expected to remember these characters? Well, it turns out that for Akamatsu, no cast-related task is too tall because he pulls it off with flying colors.
By the end of the story, each of the 3-A girls has not only been featured and had their own personal characterization, but they've also each been given the individual spotlight a number of times (although in the case of some of the girls; they might wish to have had more screentime). The girls easily become distinguishable once you get to know them, which is something that also becomes easier with time as the artstyle is refined. And boy are they a rambunctious bunch of students. Their collective personalities are so varied and yet so perfectly compatible that there will always be at least a dozen that the reader will develop a soft spot for.
Did I mention that there are veritable s***-tons of characters besides Class 3-A?

Level of detail: This point is probably not something for the average reader. It's probably something that hits the spot between people who like shounen manga and the ASOIAF novels by GRRM. There is always something new to notice in Negima, and rushing through it will just not do. Everything from the fight choreography to lore to magic system is something that only improves with overanalyzing (which in the case of Negima might not be possible). The dialogue is littered with tiny out-of-speech-bubble lines that give further character to the cast or make you roll with laughter. And there are tons of other details that you're gonna miss.
I only realized during the second time I read Negima that Sakurako is meant to be some sort of ridiculous god-of-luck, who constantly makes bets on the most outrageous scenarios throughout the story and always comes out on top.
It took me until the third time to notice the budding and slowly progressing friendship between Chachazero and Chamo (something I only noticed thanks to UQ Holder).
In conclusion if you're a reader that likes taking it slow (or rereading) and noticing the small stuff, then Negima is the series for you.

It's hilarious: This is very much my personal opinion, and while I wouldn't claim that Negima is the funniest manga that exists (it isn't), there are still scores of moments that had me nearly cry with laughter.

It's a bundle of emotions: I've already told you that Negima is hilarious. What if I told it was also heartfelt, tragic, nostalgic and surprisingly immersive at times? What do I mean by immersive? Well, for instance, when the girls put a "serious" battle plan for how to deal with the upcoming situation, you as the reader is instantly pulled into a preparational mood. When the girls decide to host a farewell party for a certain character, you instantly get pulled into the cheerful mood.
As an overall conclusion to this section I would say this: Ken Akamatsu is extremey good at evoking the reader's empathy. Kind of similar to how some TV shows love edited laughter to give you someone to laugh with; the reader will get constantly pulled into the mood of Negima.

In the end: This is nothing more than some sort of bandaid on my conflicted emotions after finishing Negima for the third time. There are few manga that have left me so catatonic after finishing them. All I can think of is that I want more. More cheery parties. More interaction between the characters.
What do I think of the fanservice? To be honest I tend to tolerate it at best (it really does nothing FOR me), but it has also set up some of the best gags I have ever seen.

At least there is UQ Holder to somewhat keep me going. But I know I'll be back reading Negima in a few years again. And I know that this intense bittersweet feeling will once again be back.

There truly is no work like Negima.

This manga was a bit slow at first, but later on, it got way better. I liked the background for each of the characters and it was a refreshing to read.

Now, this is a good manga right here. Perfect.

Story ~ 9 ~ Overall, the story was pretty fantastic. It started out a little shabby, but I was able to really delve into the story later on. While it may not be as good as Steins;Gate, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, or Trigun, the story in this was so well developed and elaborate that I had to read it through a couple of times to understand all of it. The story was very deep, and there many elements of it. I feel like if I say much it will be a spoiler, but... It's definitely worth reading because ... it was very well played out. From Negi going to find his father, meeting invincible people like Evangeline and Rakan, learning about his mother, fighting off Kosmo Entelekheia... It was all exhilarating. Even ecchi fans will forget about the harem and stuff and be able to appreciate the driving story.

Art ~ The art style was great. While some characters do like a bit alike (like Ayaka, Takane, and Nekane, for example), it was hard to confuse anyone. The art style was drawn perfectly, a good example of how manga art should look like.

Character ~ 9 ~ The character development was excellent. While Negi seems like the typical anime hero, he does have some more interesting qualities, such as being "a pessimistic tough nut who rejects girls and cares only about his father", even if he's only ten years old. Evangeline (also Zect) was my favourite character in particular since she was the sort of "cold badass who knows everything about the past" character, which is generally my favourite type of character in anime/manga.

Enjoyment ~ 9 ~ The magic influences in the story were very elaborate and developed, what with all the fancy Latin and Greek incantations, and the complicated explanations about different types of magic, such as Magia Erebea. The characters were all likeable in their own ways, and the story had a driving feeling. While I didn't care for the ecchi/harem content, I felt that it did add to the comedy. Excellently well made.

Overall ~ 9 ~ Overall, the manga was excellently well done. It may not be the best out there, but I would definitely recommend it for whoever likes these genres.

I just love this story. The characters are great. I hope Ken Akamatsu makes more ch. in the future. This story gets better and better!!!

Negima! is an odd series; it begins as an obnoxious ecchi comedy, but by chapter 20 or so begins a transition into a bombastic shonen battle series, with writing that is alternately brilliant and frustrating. While I enjoy this series, I am fully aware of its largest faults, and I feel I have to elaborate on these a bit first since they could be a breaking point for potential readers.

The Negatives:

The biggest elephant in the room for Negima is that, at its core, it's a harem comedy starring a 10-year-old boy protagonist. He is constantly put into uncomfortably erotic situations that would absolutely NOT ... be considered ok if genders were reversed. This bothered me throughout the series, but was eventually able to acknowledge it and move on.

Related to this, Negi's harem consists of the girls middle school class he teaches, and the majority of them eventually develop crushes on the 10-year old boy. How icky this feels can vary; one girl only develops feelings for the adult body Negi uses to disguise himself, but one of the primary side characters has a "crush" on him FROM THE BEGINNING. This is not natural or normal.

Lastly, despite not being the full ecchi comedy suggested in the first 20 chapters, elements of it remain throughout the series. Middle school girl characters constantly have their clothes blown off by magical attacks, and Negi is frequently in suggestive or compromising situations with his students/potential love interests. To be honest, i still can't figure these scenes out, because they seem so dissonant from the majority of the content. Was there an editorial demand to fit in this content? Was the author trolling the readers? Or does the author simply really, really like underage ecchi content? Sadly, i suspect it's the latter.

The Positives:

One reason I was so baffled by the presence of the ecchi content later on is because the writing in the rest of the series is very clever, and sometimes even brilliant. As an example, there is a massive arc in the middle of the series surrounding a high school festival, that is the writing equivalent of juggling 10 chainsaws. It features at least 3 separate sub-arcs all linked through time travel, with later sub-arcs fore-shadowed in earlier ones, without any plot holes or contradictions (that I could find). It also features tear-jerking plot lines, an excellent tournament arc, and an outstanding climax with a great villain with complex motives. What's even more impressive is that, based on my multiple readings of the series, later plot twists and events were absolutely planned from the beginning. It's fun to read the innocent early chapters, and see the later events foreshadowed, or background characters that later become central to the plot.

Another strong point are the characters. Yes, some of the characters are off-putting for reasons i mentioned previously, but many more are complex and well written. The biggest example is Negi himself, who is quite different from the vast majority of shonen protagonists. Rather than triumphing through sheer willpower and convenient power-ups, Negi is an intellectual first, who wins through preparation and study. It's fascinating how Negi lives in the shadow of his absent but legendary father Nagi who, based on flashbacks, is much more typical of a late-series shonen protagonist. Negi earns every one of his successes through hard work and planning, and is a great character.

Several of the girls surrounding Negi are well written as well, and by the end of the series they will all get at least a small amount of development. The main girl, Asuka, is written more as a big sister figure for Negi, rather than a romantic interest, and i appreciated this distinction. Another character, Evangeline, is developed beyond her trope of "loli vampire" and becomes an indispensable mentor figure. There is also one of the best examples of a lesbian romance arc i have ever seen in a manga, and it is shocking how sensitively it is handled considering this series' comedic tone.

Another strength is the art work. The art in this series is a digital style, but it is very well implemented. In particular, l love the way fight scenes are drawn. The action feels so dynamic, and it is obvious that real martial arts were studied to give some amount of realism.

Some Nitpicks:

As great as the writing can be, there are a few details and character motivations that are never adequately made clear. In addition, the conclusion is frustrating in how many questions are left unanswered. I read the series multiple times just to see if i missed something or skipped a chapter on accident, but no, the ending just isn't that clear on many crucial points.

In conclusion, Negima! is a rousing adventure that subverts several tropes, but lives up to others. If the negatives i described earlier don't bother you, then i fully recommend you check out this satisfying, epic adventure.

I personally don't really like mainstream manga but this was terrific... I just love how the protagonist of this anime would gradually grow stronger and stronger, then give such a happy ending by such an unexpected turn of events... The story ended where it had to and it didn't drag on like other mainstream manga...I am thinking of buying the whole series for this manga :D

I noticed I haven't done a manga review in a while. So I'm going to make a review for the manga Negima. If you're a big fan of ecchi, (I mean a LOT of ecchi) than this is the manga for you. You got school girls of every kind of characteristics and can bring a lot of great story to the manga. All though the manga isn't finished yet, it is actually a great manga to read. If you seen the anime version, than you'll notice a lot of chapters that weren't in the anime. The one huge difference is that the manga has tons ... more ecchi moments than the anime. So if you're someone who dosen't like the good parts taken out, than read the manga. But if you're the type of person who dosen't like ecchi, than you would probably love the magic spells and wizards that appear in the manga as well. It has a great story, lots of characters, and many awesome adventures. So get this manga now!

Negima is a series that had a very clear identity crisis. It starts off as a cutesy adolescent harem, then slowly transforms into a shonen action-fantasy.

Story: 7
I'm torn between a 6 and 7, because the story starts off as a usual fanservice harem with a tsundere female lead. Then the fantasy action begins around volume 3 or so, and starts to ramp up towards the middle and later parts of the series. And amidst it all, it still has time for middle school fanservice. How odd is this?

The story has quite some genuinely surprising twists that definitely caught me off guard, and I ... really wanted to rate it higher for that. Unfortunately, it goes downhill towards the end, as certain things are wrapped up quickly with not much explanation, as well as certain unresolved plot lines with other characters. That's a problem you're going to have with a series that has as many characters as this. More on that later.

Art: 8
The artwork is nice, as standard for Ken Akamatsu. You can slowly see the morph from moe harem to shonen action with each new volume. The fights are pretty fantastic and the abilities have very creative names. It would definitely be a feast for the eyes if we could get a full on anime series (and no, I'm not talking about that AWFUL first Negima adaptation).

Character: 6
So many characters, not enough time to write a decent plot to wrap it all up. The writers sure tried their best, however, but they had to add on more and more characters, and it was just too much after a certain point. The ones that they did focus on had some great character growth (Setsuna and Chisame are excellent examples), but many exist only as fluff with brief screen time.

Enjoyment: 7
I must say I did enjoy Negima for as long as it lasted. The plot twists and the growth of Negi's power and character was very fulfilling to read, even though the fanservice got a bit too aggravating and some things about the final boss character could've made more sense.

Overall: 7
It's a pretty long series with more ups than downs. You can see Akamatsu slowly trying to grow out of his usual harem genre and try something new, and yet it's apparent that something is holding him back. He did pretty well with Negima as far as I'm concerned. I'm hoping to see him dip his pen into more action manga in the future.