Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: UQ Holder! Magister Negi Magi! 2
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Showsni
 Posts: 641 |
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The latest episode really didn't make much sense after cutting the Dana arc which explains why Eva liked Tota in the first place... Well, I guess with only 12 episodes they had to lose a large swathe of the material. Poor Santa!
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GhostStalkerSA
 Posts: 425 Location: NYC |
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I'll agree with that last bit. But again, apparently Akamatsu had the winner planned for a while, was writing the final chapters based off of that choice, and didn't rely on a fan choice of any kind to choose who the winner of the Negibowl would be. The interview came out at the end of last year, but I didn't hear anything about the info contained within until I was reading an /a/ thread on a Holder chapter earlier this year, a couple months before the manga had the reveal, and then I spread that info around as much as I could. I considered myself a fairly big Holder fan, but admittedly didn't go out of my way to find info on it, since I hadn't heard anything special included about said limited edition volume. Probably would've if I knew what kind of info would be in that memo book. Correcting a fanon rumor about said poll would be a good thing, I would think. Still, I get where you're coming from about lack of info, and nothing coming out until years later, in a special edition extra that was only released in Japan and whose info was not translated until months later. Of course that would feed the rumor mill. |
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NapoleonDeCheese
Posts: 26 |
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Akamatsu made a lot of mistakes with Negima's resolution, but writing his own choice of a winner girl instead of submitting to popular consensus was not one of them. You shouldn't let mob rule overrule your own vision for guiding a story.
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GhostStalkerSA
Posts: 425 Location: NYC |
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Agreed. Now all he has to put up with on that choice are the obligatory hordes of shippers complaining about how their favored girl lost. I admit I was pulling for Nodoka (or the Nodoka/Yue OT3), but Chisame was a good choice and made sense after what happened in parts of the Magical World arc. |
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GhostD
Posts: 1000 |
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What some fans on certain forums I visit are actually complaining about with regards to Chisame is that while she isnt a bad choice her character and relationship with Negi wasnt as developed as the others. After the Magic World arc she sort of faded back into being just one of the girls but this is mostly to Akamatsu ending Negima the way he did. |
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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Chisame is not a GOOD choice, she only "makes sense" because of the Magical World arc which was so ham-fisted that it was horrible. (and altho the original target was Asuna, I expected Negi to end up with the tsundere (because: LOL-Akamatsu) since Chapter 1) He could have swapped Ako & Chisame's roles in Magic World and changes needed would have been minimal. And it would have made MORE sense since Ako actually is the "nurse" character. Also, even tho I too was pulling for some variation of Nodoka/Yue combo (despite knowing it wouldn't happen), I'm more salty with Magic World that Sakurako got left out. There's so many characters that COULD have been developed better in that arc, but instead we get MORE romantic focus on Chisame. ugh Chisame needs to NOT be a Negi love interest because actually her MOST entertaining bits are her interactions with the mouse sprites (who basically go away when Negi is around). The most awesome bit in the entire manga is when they give her directions right before running out of power. 
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GhostD
Posts: 1000 |
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Pretty much this. Hell I wouldnt even mind if it were Ayaka if he didn't choose Yue or Nodoka. Akamatsu's logic escapes fans more often than not |
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GhostStalkerSA
Posts: 425 Location: NYC |
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I dunno, I despised the Ako arc of the Magical World, and Chisame was always one of my favorite characters so I had no problem with her winning.
She was one of the first found by Negi after they were separated after the incident at the gate port, and consistently gave him advice throughout their journey in the Magical World. Hell, it was her taking care of him when he was struggling with mastering Magia Erebea when they met Rakan, and her chibi form that slapped him out of his Erebea fueled killing rage when Godel told him about what happened to his mom and he was about to kill him. She did say that she wanted to be his advisor after they returned from the Magical World when talking about her future to Chachamaru as well. And that's just stuff off of the top of my head. I can understand why other people are disappointed, but their reasoning rings hollow to me. Probably helps that I was a Chisame fan from her intro chapter. |
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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Right, but ALL of that is simply "writer's fiat". She wasn't with Negi because SHE found HIM, she was with Negi because HE found HER (and in the end, THAT was only because she was CLOSEST). YOu could argue Chachamaru is "better" for that reason. I'm saying every SINGLE thing you noted could have been done by Ako if they'd simply had Negi find HER and Chisame had been with Akira. Heck, with everything that was previously established about Chisame, she frankly shouldn't have even GONE to Magic World. There's no way she was on-par with ANY other member of Ala Alba, and really only represented a major liability to that group. (especially since her artifact is USELESS in that environment, as proven) Considering that he meets with Chachamaru really quickly, it would have made more sense for all of the things Chisame did to be done by Chachamaru and just remove Chisame from the arc entirely. Or, at least give the whole Magia Erebea thread to Ako because (as I said) she's the NURSE character. (that's literally noted as her role at school and related to her pactio) |
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NapoleonDeCheese
Posts: 26 |
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Ako was one of my least favorite girls and I'm actually glad she didn't win. Out of the whole 'petite girls with self-reassurance issues they grow out of' section of the character roster, I liked Natsumi and Nodoka, but never Ako. I never liked her Nagi drama, it was hard to buy her slavery time as a pitiable situation when she spent most of her panel time there taking relaxing baths in a luxury environment, and there always was something unnerving about the way she was so mindful of her own inner turmoil but was so slow in the uptake when it came to others' (she was one of the most responsible parts in the Sports Festival fiasco, since the plan literally hinged on her, and then she stupidly treats 'Negi has feelings of his own that must be respected' as some big epiphany when her whole character arc was about her own feelings that should be respected).
Also, Ako was kind of a crappy nurse. "Oh no, I faint at the sight of blood, I guess that makes me qualified to look after this guy who gets constantly involved into bloody fights where he's pummeled to a pulp". And once Konoka's around, Ako's mostly irrelevant as a healer; as for her boosts, that's something the cheerleaders could have done if they'd gotten their pactios in the story itself, and frankly I'd have prefered any of them over Ako. At least they were livelier and weren't always wallowing in self-pity.
They literally weren't expecting to have much trouble in Mundus Magicus at that point, that's why the attack at the Gateport took them by surprise so badly. Now, if you want to talk about bone headed decisions, there's bringing Akira, who literally had no powers whatsoever at all, to the attack on Fate at the ruins of Ostia, where she surprise surprise achieved nothing at all but being another useless target. But that was around the point Negima jumped the shark for real. One thing to consider with Chisame is, other than Asuna, she's one of the few girls who actually can put their foot down and point out when Negi's being stupid and doing selfdestructive crap instead of going along with it or putting a weak resistence like most of the more submissive girls. Negi always was a martyr complex-ridden selfdamaging person who needed to be delivered harsh words and even the occasional slap every once in a while to get him come to his senses. I always found the scene where Negi rampages as a monster telling; while Nodoka and Asakura are ineffective in holding him back, it's Chisame's brand of harsh discipline that can get him to stop and regain his senses. Now, granted, this is something Asuna can do as well. But the problem with Asuna ended up being, not her being related to Negi, which like I said before was not something necessary to write in, but the fact she had too much baggage based around her past, which was a more important part of her character. Before getting in with anyone, Asuna just had to sort out exactly who she was and where to go with her life, and that would have needed more time and writing effort than Akamatsu obviously ever wanted to give anything in Negima past a point. As for Ayaka, while I love her, as she was she was no good romantic option. Akamatsu made her too much of a joke, sadly, and a character like that doesn't make for a good romantic partner. I'd have played her up as Asuna's rival and, even if she can't be as strong as her, she'd still be somewhat in the same league, the Vegeta to Asuna's Goku physically speaking, even if obviously anti-magic is not an option to her. Once Asuna shows she can casually make a fool out of Ayaka without even realizing it, that's a moment I always hated for ruining their former dynamic, where they were more or less even in a fight and terms of combat usefulness potential (again, magic cancel aside). Had Ayaka been left in way earlier and keep her own level through training it'd have done a lot for the character, I think. She can't be as strong as Kaede, but she still could be a competent fighter using smarts and wealth, sort of like the team's Batman. |
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GhostStalkerSA
Posts: 425 Location: NYC |
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Wow, this is pretty much my opinion as well. Thanks for posting that so well that I don't have to say it myself. |
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jr240483
 Posts: 4378 Location: New York City,New York,USA |
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That is not exactly accurate! lets not forget that the whole "their related" notion doesn't work for harem series when it comes to couple pairings. after all in the tenchi muyo OVAs which is considered to be the grandfather of all harem series had two of tenchi's love interest to be his aunts. his OVER 700 year old aunts to be exact! also the prequel never once said that asuna and akira were related. just because they have the same tsundere persona don't necessarily mean their related. also even if they were, i could actually see it happening since it have shown on both mangas that all of the Springfield men subconsciously have a liking for older girls aka a big sister complex which is why i wasn't surprised of tota's feelings at all. hell i wouldn't have been surprised if negi ended up having subconscious feelings for nekane which i would have no problems with at all. |
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NapoleonDeCheese
Posts: 26 |
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Tenchi is an exception, one that over time has become more of a cult anime than anything else (you can't really said the latest Tenchi releases have exactly taken the industry by storm), and one that mostly perseveres only because Kajishima struggles with teeth and claws to keep it alive. Most harem series are okay with teasing incest, but they almost always will stop themselves from going all the way out because that's still a big taboo in the mainstream. Even Oreimo of all things had a last moment copout despite Kirino technically winning, but "lol, nope, we're going back to being siblings now". Unless we're also counting the very obscure and rather vaguely phrased (at least in what I read of it) short story that came out later on. Which most of the fanbase doesn't even know about. I'd say to Love Ru has had a large share of incest shipping, but it's all onesided and that series can't have a concrete resolution to save its life no matter how many times it's revived.
Good thing Negi did end up canonically with an older girl who used to be like a protective big sister to him then, huh?
Again, it's something mostly avoided in the mainstream, and Akamatsu doesn't seem to have much use for the incest fetish. Even Kanako in Love Hina was not biologically related, and portrayed as more of an obstacle than an actual competitor with real chances (and I say this despite liking Kanako myself, my third favorite LH girl behind Mutsumi and Motoko). |
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GhostD
Posts: 1000 |
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Ep 12
Wow the Curse of Negima really showed until the climax when they entered anime original territory with how the fight ended. Hell it was almost literally screaming NOSTALGIA by having them all appear and the fight itself is nothing to how it was done in the manga mostly cos it was shortened meaning the intensity isnt as palpable. Well I guess its better than making the last arc a complete anime original. I seriously dont see this getting a season 2 after all the stunts they pulled here Last edited by GhostD on Mon Dec 18, 2017 3:51 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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I want to point out that I said Ako could take the "role" of Chisame during the Magic World arc with no real changes. I am NOT saying "Ako is best girl" or "Ako should have 'won'". Neither of them should have been the final choice IMO.
That's a cop out, the whole "training montage" before they left was exactly BECAUSE trouble could happen. HELL, they SHOULD have expected trouble since they got attacked in Kyoto and THAT was a time to logically believe there should NOT be trouble. I would agree that the SCOPE of the problems exceeded expectations, but the whole reason that Ayaka's group was supposed to be excluded was BECAUSE they hadn't "trained" for what they'd be facing. (they snuck out before dawn and tried to leave all (instead of most) of them behind explicitly for THAT reason)
No, she's the only (besides Asuna, and arguably Eva) "tsundere" that can do it in a tsundere way. As far as characters that COULD do it (in some cases in arguably a BETTER way): -Yue (she literally slaps him to his senses in the festival arc) -Kaede (she uses more "yoda" style methods) -Haruna (she doesn't with Negi, but arguably COULD since she's constantly handling the other library members) -Tatsumiya (who wasn't there but likely should have been) -Kotarou (but then you get no real "romantic" situations, which would've been fine honestly) And that's only the ones who actively went/wouldn't be totally out of their depth in Magic world. Doesn't even include: -Satsuki (who can even shut down Eva) -Chizuru (who scares most everyone, and slapped the sass out of a demon) -Chao (who granted was MIA at that point, but could've been written back in) -Hakase (who does not GaF) Chachamaru would've been reasonable, but I'll grant it'd be MOSTLY out of character. And Asakura wouldn't have issue, but she's one of the few that seems to have ZERO romantic interest/chemistry with Negi and therefore doesn't "go along with" his things so much as "doesn't really care". Seriously tho, WHY was Chisame even THERE in the Magic World training section? She is literally ONLY there to advance romantic tension. There's hundreds of other ways to make up the "dramatic" tension (Akamatsu already used several of them in all the previous arcs) and the only reason for the "let's show the damage affecting his body" was so he could do the "Chisame keeps him from dying". You can EASILY rewrite that whole sequence WITHOUT the "nursing" scenes and lose NOTHING of narrative value. |
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