For me Ken Akamatsu is a legendary mangaka.
However Ken Akamatsu works gets an anime Adaptation thing doesn’t quite as well. In fact, his works don’t really translate well into anime. For example, the Love Hina manga is a solid romcom manga with great comedy that is actually funny, solid romance, likable characters that get developed and does a great job exploring the theme of love and achievement. However, the director for the anime decided to take everything that made the manga good and turned it into a bottom of the barrel, poor animated, unfunny, and cringe-worthy romcom anime that has no at all.
Another example of this is Negima which not as bad as the Love Hina it’s still pretty lacklustre adaption overall. The first Negima anime done by Xebec was is a decent show on its own that has good and emotional moments however when you start comparing it to the manga you will soon find out it’s a terrible Adaptation as it skips a lot of chapters as well character’s not even having the right colour to the censored fanservice. As for Shaft Negima the only one that I actually liked are the ovas because not only it’s followed the manga perfectly it was still a great watch for both the manga readers and newcomers. Expect for the Negima Final Movie which was shit. As for the Negima!? TV series is fine but also pretty boring due to the series being reduced to a comedy gag filler show after a certain set of episodes and it got boring fast. Now I personally don’t mind filler as along its done right as well being entertaining to watch but Negima and Love Hina filler are not even that good at all.
Now we got UQ Holder. Ken Akamatsu latest anime adaptation.
Is this anime any for newcomers for the Negima franchise?
Is this a good adaptation of the manga?
Or it’s just a forgettable shounen series.
We will soon find out the answer.
Story.
The story in UQ holder is set 80 years after the events of Negima. It follows a young boy named Tota Konoe who is the grandson of Negi Springfield, aspires to leave his village and life live in the city of Shin-Tokyo which has a tower structure rising into space. When he gets mortally wounded by a bounty hunter coming after guardian. He soon discovers that he has been made into an immortal vampire by Yukihime, who is actually a 700-year-old vampire mage Evangeline A.K. McDowell. From there Totua picks up another boy named Kuromaru for the journey and they go to a place outside Shin-Tokyo where Yukihime leads a secret society of immortals called UQ Holder. From there Touta embarks on a unique adventure.
UQ Holder is a fun mess. Am not saying the story is bad or anything, in fact, the story is kinda good overall that has a lot of good things in it which I don't want to spoil. However, the problem I have with the story is the show likes to skip quite a lot of chapters from the manga. If you fan of the manga you will not like this show as its skips some important chapters such as the Santa/Sayoko Arc. Another problem that I have with is that its some of the arcs are rushed especially in the tournament arc in episode 10 where the pacing of the show goes way too fast and because of that the tournament arc ended up being really rushed and kinda leaves the viewer feeling unsatisfied.
I will give UQ Holder Anime Adaptation this. The story itself was left unchanged from its manga counterpart which is shocking because the Negima anime didn't even bother adapting the rest of the manga halfway through.
Overall while the story UQ Holder had a lot good things in but ultimately gets crippled by skipping certain important chapters of the manga as well as having rushed pacing and because of that the story of UQ Holder as slightly above average at best.
6/10
Characters.
The characters in UQ Holder were pretty enjoyable but they could have been a lot better and had a bit more character development
First, we have Touta. I personally liked his as a character. Yes if you compare to Negi from the Negima series he is quite a typical but he has a lot of charm in terms of his personality. I also really like his character interactions towards other characters like Yukihime, Kuroumaru and even Negi himself.
Kuromaru is an interesting character. This character battle style is very similar to another Negima character that we all Negima fans love Setsuna as they both use the Shinmei-Ryu sword technique. One of the things that I liked about this character is the whole Yatagarasu as all the members from the Yatagarasu are genderless before they turn 16 where after that they can choose to be a male or female. Another thing that I liked about Kuromaru is his/her character interactions with the cast and there are usually great because at this point Kuromaru and rest of the characters in this are confused about the Kuromaru's actual gender.
As for Evangeline or Yukihime. She’s still the loveable and badass character that we all love from the Negima series.
The rest of the characters are not memorable due to them having lack of screen time.
As for characters from the Negima series they are the same likable characters that we all love however they could have treated some of the Negima characters a lot better like for example Asuna who a great loyal partner for Negi is now being reduced to a Deus ex Machina type of character. I won’t tell what episode it happens but watching that episode made me quite sad because I really liked Asuna in the manga.
Overall the characters are enjoyable and likable but they could have been a lot better than they actually are.
7/10
Visuals.
Compare to Love Hina and Negima the visuals are a big step up for the most part.
The character designs were good and faithful to its manga counterpart. The actual animation is smooth and surprisingly consistent. The fights, for the most part, are well animated as well having a lot of tension. As for censorship unlike the Negima anime the show gives a big fuck you to censorship because of the show, for the most part, pull no punches when it comes to the fanservice and blood. Not bad J.C Staff
The only flaw with the visuals is one sometimes characters go a bit off model and the whole censorship when certain characters is just cringe-worthy but to be honest I rather have than a fucking extreme shot of Asuna panties that has a bear in the middle of the very first episode of Negima Xebec version.
Besides those flaws for the visuals, the show is pretty great visually.
8/10
Sound.
The soundtrack is nothing special, to be honest. Yes, it has some good tracks but the most part it’s pretty forgetful.
The opening Happy Material is a great opening and I think it’s the best version of the song even surpassing the original Happy Material from the original Negima series which was already great, to begin with.
The ending theme Steady Go it’s a nice catchy song that fits well with the show.
As for right now, UQ Holder doesn’t have a dub but I hope it gets one soon.
I love to see Laura Bailey voicing Evangeline again because she did a masterful job at voicing Evangeline.
7/10
Final Thoughts.
I liked UQ Holder for what it is. Yes, it has its problems such as skipping certain chapters of the manga to a certain character’s being underdeveloped but compare to other Ken Adaptions from the past it does a fairly alright job of adapting the manga as well be a pretty enjoyable show on its own right.
If you looking for an enjoyable shounen series that I recommend UQ Holder to anyone however if you are a Negima/UQ holder fan such as myself who read the manga then I advise approaching this show with caution.
Final Score 6.5/10
