Mahou Sensei Negima! (Negima! Magister Negi Magi)

Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Magical Teacher Negima!

Japanese: 魔法先生ネギま!

More titles

Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 38

Chapters: 355

Status: Finished

Published: Feb 26, 2003 to Mar 14, 2012

Genres: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Romance, Supernatural, Ecchi

Themes: Harem, Martial Arts, School

Demographic: Shounen

Serialization: Shounen Magazine (Weekly)

Authors: Akamatsu, Ken (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 7.93¹ (scored by 35,150 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #904²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #200

Members: 73,111

Favorites: 5,036

Resources

Wikipedia

7.93

Ranked #904Popularity #200Members 73,111

MangaShounen Magazine (Weekly)Akamatsu, Ken (Story & Art)

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Volumes: /38

Chapters: /355

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Available on Manga Store
Negima!
Omnibus 1
$19.99

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Synopsis

Negi Springfield, a 10-year-old wizard who recently graduated from Merdiana Magic Academy in Wales, hopes to achieve two things—to find his missing father, who was once known as the Thousand Master, and to become a Magister Magi, someone who helps the everyday world through magic. To reach his latter goal, he is assigned one last task: to teach English at a middle school in Japan.

Much to his surprise and dismay, he not only discovers that his homeroom class consists of 31 girls, but also ends up revealing his true identity as a magician to Asuna Kagurazaka, one of his new students. Negi must now negotiate with the girl and face his most difficult challenge yet—to keep his identity a secret as he tackles magical threats both from within and outside of Mahora Academy, all the while keeping a watchful eye out for his lost father.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Mahou Sensei Negima! was published in English as Negima! by Del Rey from April 27, 2004 up until volume 27, released on July 27, 2010. Kodansha Comics USA picked up the license and published volumes 28-38 from October 2, 2012 to April 23, 2013, as well as republishing the previous volumes in nine omnibus volumes from June 14, 2011 to February 11, 2014.

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Related Manga

Alternative version:	Negima!? Neo
Alternative setting:	Negiho (Ito) Bun
Side story:	Mahou Sensei Negima! Volume 0
Sequel:	UQ Holder!
Adaptation:	Negima!? Haru Special!?, Negima!? Natsu Special!?, Negima!?, Mahou Sensei Negima!: Introduction Film, Mahou Sensei Negima!: Mou Hitotsu no Sekai, Mahou Sensei Negima!: Shiroki Tsubasa Ala Alba, Mahou Sensei Negima! Movie: Anime Final, Mahou Sensei Negima!: Mou Hitotsu no Sekai Extra - Mahou Shoujo Yue♥, Mahou Sensei Negima!

More characters
Characters

McDowell, Evangeline Athanasia Katherine

Main

Springfield, Negi

Main

Miyazaki, Nodoka

Main

Sakurazaki, Setsuna

Main

Kagurazaka, Asuna

Main

Ayase, Yue

Main

Hasegawa, Chisame

Main

Konoe, Konoka

Main

Chamomile, Albert

Main

Rakan, Jack

Supporting

Reviews

Apr 22, 2022

Evreid13

Recommended

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.

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Nov 11, 2017

WeepyDevil

Mixed Feelings

It's all right

Story - 5
Starts off as pure harem shenanigans, with bits of action poking through, then a tournament arc marks changes the primary element from harem comedy to shonen. Overall, it isn't really a particularly well written story, but you probably aren't reading Negima for complex writing.

Art - 6
Backgrounds are usually pretty bland, but as the story escapes the school setting they become more imaginative.
The action starts off lackluster but again, improves over time. No blood or real meat to the action, but it is a harem comedy.
Character designs are all right for the more well developed characters, but they're are so many girls ...

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Sep 10, 2023

abystoma2

Not Recommended

It’s amazing how you can tell so little with so much time.

Negima isn’t a story, it’s sequences sewn together to masquerade as a story. One time I’ve accidentally skipped a volume and the story made the same amount of sense it did up until that point. There is simultaneously too much happening and not enough happening at all. There is constantly some random bullshit made up on the spot, but there is barely any resemblance of a true plotline.

Most of the characters are papercuts with their introductions being all of the character arcs they get. There is no reason to do a harem with ...

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Poll: Mahou Sensei Negima! Chapter 24 Discussion buqcay - Feb 19	0 replies	by buqcay »» Feb 19, 7:17 PM
Poll: Mahou Sensei Negima! Chapter 46 Discussion Deago - Jul 15, 2022	1 replies	by KeyboardKlutz »» Aug 19, 2022 11:39 AM
Poll: Mahou Sensei Negima! Chapter 355 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) ichig0fan - Mar 10, 2012	194 replies	by KeyboardKlutz »» Jul 3, 2022 12:10 AM
Who he ends up with and how many Radtoter - Sep 28, 2021	1 replies	by asiank0ala »» Jun 4, 2022 8:24 AM
Poll: Mahou Sensei Negima! Chapter 14 Discussion R2 - Oct 27, 2017	1 replies	by Mattinator95 »» Mar 2, 2021 5:38 AM

Mahou Sensei Negima!
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