User blog:Highestbounty123/HB Reviews - Mahou Sensei Negima!

As the title indicates, this is me, HB, Roger, Henderson (Don't ask) doing a review for a manga. This time, Mahou Sensei Negima! And...This may appear like mostly gushing out to it but...Fuck, is this manga good (Note I said manga).

So, without further delay, let us begin.

(Note: It has been a year or so since I read it, so I may sketchy, but I still remember it well enough)

Story
The story of Negima is...an interesting one. It can be called original to a degree, infact. The story begins with our main protagonist, Negi Springfield, a 10-year-old Mage who has just graduated, recieved his diploma, which is meant to tell him where he will go to train to become a great Mage! And it is!

An English Teacher in Japan!...Riveting! Can't wait to see how that blows up in his face.



 Shota for everyone!

As you can guess, the girls don't take him seriously. At all. Infact, I think some of them molested him by accident. So, of course, as you can guess this story is just a harem, ecchi, comedy with a unique premise and Mages. That's all fo-...!

Wait? It's not..It's not just that? Continue reading? ATLEAST 100 chapters?!...Fuck.

Ahem. Correct me on that. Because, without spoiling anything, Negima goes through...alot of development. What do I mean when I say development? I mean it goes batshit insane. Just wait until you reach the tournament arc, you will realize this manga isn't just T&A as glorious as it may seem (And it is through the ENTIRE MANGA).

The fights are...very, very well choreographed and, they are awesome all around. Featuring heroes being badass, getting bloody beaten, and standing up. Villains being awesome, getting beaten up, standing up and being awesome.

I honestly am trying SO HARD not to spoil how awesome this manga is. Because quite frankly, alot of action happens at either very crucial plot points, or at just...very important parts of the story. But, here's a way I WON'T spoil it for you. And it is called Jack Rakan...Just Jack Rakan, really.



Another interesting thing to note, is that Negi is searching for his father, who is known as the Thousand Master, due to mastering a thousand spells (I'll get to how Magic works in another segment). Now, that may sound typical and cliche and boring and...Yeah, it is not an ORIGINAL story but...It also isn't boring.

Anywho, that's as much of the story I can tell without spoiling it.

Moving on!

Characters
Fuuuuck, how do I begin with this? Negima has an OUTRAGEOUS number of characters, male and female (Guess who dominates?), and you'd think that's bad, because they'd be forgotten, right? Right?

Right?

WRONG!

Somehow, Akamatsu-sensei manages to remember them all. I mean, he doesn't get to develop every single one of them (It'd make the manga longer, which makes me wish he did), but he does give them enough development for us to identify them. Some girls get several chapters, if not more for them, and some focus solely on their relationship with our child teacher Negi.

That's not to say the others don't, because they do. And guess what? I remember over HALF the class, and cast of characters, because they are memorable. I haven't counted, but they are quite difficult to remember, but they grow on you.

Main Protagonist


Guess how awesome he is? Go ahead. I'll wait.

Our hero is Negi Springfield, as I mentioned before, a 10-year-old Mage seeking to be A) A Great Mage like his father and B) Find his father. He is assigned to be a teacher as part of his training (As questionable as that may be) to become a Mage!

Negi is a smart, polite, kind and adorable little boy, who seeks to do his best for himself and others. Of course, he must also know Magic, know? Well, he does. He begins with his specialty being Wind Magic (Not Fire? HOORAH!), but is also a quick learner as we find out as the story progresses.

Now, serious time. Negi, while he may seem like a cliche, typical shounen protagonist...He isn't. The fact his 10 seperates him from ALOT of other protagonists (And when he acts 10, it's leginimately "Awww" inducing), and the things he goes through and how he develops and grows makes you forget his age, and see him as a badass BAMF that he is.

To put it simply, I love hand to hand combat in manga and anime more than sword fighting. And guess what? He is also a martial artist (Not at the very start, but he learns), and this manga is full of it. And it is always, ALWAYS awesome. Especially with Negi, because you feel like his grown up, and see how much his grown since the first page. Yes. THAT far away. No, scratch that, from the first PANEL to the LAST panel (Was he on the last panel?), you see how much his grown, and you goddamn love it.

Side Characters


What if I told you, this isn't even scratching the SURFACE of the entire cast?

...This is going to break me.

As I mentioned before hand, Negima has a massive cast. Mostly girls, and they all have their own personalities and faces! (Shocker!). So, let's start with the class. The main ones you'll focus on (at the start atleast) are Asuna Kagu-..Kage-...Ka-...Not-SAO-Asuna, and Konoka Konoe, first girls he meets.

As you'd expect from a harem, the girls (Not all of them if I remember correctly) fall in love with him. Some are either through past experiences, others are through meeting him and developing and...Yeah, actually that's pretty much it. (Been over a year, I don't remembr how they started to like him! Than again, he has a cute lil' nose with his glasses).

The girls are...mostly normal. Mostly. For example, we have Mana Takamiya (One of my favorites) who is a Shrine Maiden...who knows how to wield guns. And then there's Kaede Nagisa (Another one of my favorite) a ninja. No, really. She's a ninja. Kage-Bunshin and everything, ninja. And the list just goes on and on and on and on and on and on. And on.

The thing I like most is that, while nto ALL of them get massive focus, the ones that do, get their awesome moments, fights (Yes, they fight. In a harem. The girls. Again, SHOCKER!) and even touchy moments.

(I'll tell you now, you'll love Nodoka and Yue, or was it Yuu? Yui? Yue...)

So, who else do we have? Lesse...*Scrolls through notebook with character names* Ah, yes, we also have the teachers! The big breasted teacher who is kind to Negi (Why did I forget your name?!) And the badass Mr. Nice Guy Takamichi T. Takahata (Dem T's). Of course, you can't forget the principal...What did he do again? Oh, right, he continuously did those reports and almost died from exhaustion...God, it's been a while.

Without spoiling too much about them *Looks at Takahata* It's important to note that there are others, from the Magic World. Who become either minor or major characters later on. Most notably is the pervert talking ermine (Yes, you heard that) named Albert Chamomile, or just Chamo.

He's like a..."helper"? He gets Negi to do Pactio (I'll get on that later) with the girls (Bear with me now) by kissing them (Dunno what to call this). Of course, he does it by tricking people with sob stories (My sister is dying of sickneeeeess!) and other dirty methods.

Though to be fair, he does help when he does. You either hate 'em, love 'em, wanna skewer 'em, depends, really.

Those Who Must Be Hailed as Gods
(Note, if you do not wanna hear me gush about awesome characters who are the equivlant of Gods in their manga then you may skip ahead). An extra segment, for characters who you will love so much, you will hail them as Gods. Without giving away too much, or major much, I will be talking about two of them. First one.

Jack Rakan.


That Damn Guy Who You Can Stab With Swords All You Like And It Won't Do A Thing, Dammit (Yes, that is an actual title that he has)

Jack Rakan...Jack Rakan...How does one explain, Jack Rakan? You cannot. He is like Chuck Norris. If all his facts were ACTUAL FACTS.

Jack Rakan, without spoiling too much, is the SECOND (Yes, SECOND) God you meet, later in the story. Now, aside from looking like he can walk through a building and break it down as if he's a tank (Which is an understatement), he is also the only Jack in anime or manga (Not including the awesome Samurai Jack cartoon) that I bother to remember.

For short, if you watched the video that's meant to cement that Negima is pure raw awesome on paper (And if you haven't then shame on you!), he can basically create anything, not just swords, but anything using his Magic.

Anything.

You're getting dirty thoughts, aren't you?

BUT, his epic sword summoning and Big Sword "Fuck you" to the face isn't all! For you see, he has complete and utter mastery in physical combat! (If you couldn't tell by those MASSIVE PECS) He is a God!

....

Second up

Evangeline A.K. McDowell


She may look cute now but...Actually, she's always cute. Even when she's scary, she's cute.

Evangeline Athanasia Katherine McDowell...is a vampire. A real vampire. Suck your blood immortal beast of the night. But she is a LOLI vampire (Kinda overused by this point, but always adorable) who can become an adult! (Also overused, but meh).

Now, why is she hailed as a God(ess)? Well, for one, she is reputed for being a powerful monster, so much that the mere mention of her name is like screaming Voldemort during a concert to make everyone shut up so that you can talk on the phone quietly (Weird example).

Her specialty is with various areas, but her most prominent is her Ice Magic, and the magic she herself created, Magia Erebea (Last time you'll hear it because spoilers).

Now, how does she Ice Magic? By freezing things? Yes. But by also sending spears of ice, blasts of ice, and waves and waves of Ice Age at you, but, most importantly a giant "fuck you" ice spear.

She is also, among others, more major compared to other females, other than being so powerful that letting her go all out is almost cheating...Almost. Because the villains are...Yeah.

Eva is also, for the longest time, Negi's mentor, helping him become stronger. She had a run-in with his father (Hint: she may have a crush on him) which is a reason for Negi to want to be trained under her, or be close to her (Nudge nudge, wink wink. Or was it the other way around?). Badassery hails as she becomes an ally!...Albeit is kind've of a bitch at times, but ally nonetheless!

It's really difficult not to spoil things t assure how awesome they are...

Artstyle
The art in Negima is quite...unique and distinct. It begins out all roundy and fine as you see up there, but through an art shift became...square?.

It's quite hard to tell, really. But the important thing to know, is that the art grows on you, and makes you identify the manga easily.

But you wanna hear about the ecchi you found when you google imaged it, right? Wait, no? You didn't find that much? What? Mostly demotivational posters and spoilers?! Well don't google it, ya twat!

Ahem, sorry about that.

The ecchi is quite proud, I should say. As it shows the females in full glory (Kinda like episode 24 of Kill la Kill) but they lack the nips.

Apparantly, Akamatsu-sensei was told he could have as much ecchi as he wants AS LONG AS there we no nipples. He took that quite literally. Because no girls have any nipples. At all. Bare chest and everything.

That barbie doll anatomy, man...

BUT! The artstyle looks fan-fuckin'-tastic all around. ESPECIALLY the fights. Because there is actual detail in the movement of the characters, allowing you to quite literally follow every move they do. And the scale of the attacks, the combat, the fights is truly awe-inspiring.

Plus, Akamatsu-sensei does excellent work with the panels. One page can show ALOT, or emphasis on the little things that need. With a large page glorifying an awesome attack, scene or anything in particular.

It is quite charming, really. T&A (HA! Impossible) the artstyle perfectly shows characters, their expressions, fights, attacks, and good god, the awesome character designs.

Extra - Magic
This will be a short segment explaining the Magic of Negima, and a little bit about Mages.

You see, in Negima, Magic is cast using wands, incantations and Pactio/Artifacts. The incantations are in latin and (Due to my laziness) I can never remember what they say or mean.

However, they are either advanced, basic, or forbidden.

Hell, a normal human can use the simple spell of igniting their wand on fire called "Ignition" (if I recall).

Now, as for Pactio. You see, typically, two mages partner up. One is either the one who casts spells, or attacks head in physical combat. They are usually male and female.

And they usually marry.

A Pactio is done by two people (There needs to be a seal, and one needs to be a mage if I recall) kissing. Mouth and all. Which makes the contract official. The partner of the Mage gains a Pactio Card, an Artifact, which by saying the command, allows them to access an ability unique to themselves, which is based on their personality and hobbies.

They are all very interesting and fun to see. And allow for variety as well.

As I mentioned before, usually, a Mage stands and does his spell willy nilly, while his partner goes in "LEEROY JENKINS!" and defends him, as to not be interrupted.

Negi does not do that.

He does both.

Because Negi is awesome.

And so is hand to hand combat.

I may have missed things, but it has been a while. So, sorry about that.

Final Verdit
Negima is...fun. It is awesome. It is an absolute JOY. A JOY to read. So, it goes as such:

Story: 7/10

Characters: 9/10

Artstyle: 10/10

Final Score: 9.5/10.

People may be turned off at the start, due to its ecchi and harem aspects, but if you could just go on and reach the tournament, you will love it.

If not then I will gut you like a fish.

So, this was my first review. If I missed anything, I apologize. I hope you all enjoyed and good day.

Also, if you read Negima, you owe it to yourself to read UQ Holder.

Do it.

Right now.

But not before you finish Negima, or SPOILERS BEYOND SPOILERS!.