Mahou Sensei Negima!

[Perriner]

Man, I never expected to see the old Aquastar stuff on here. Crazy seeing these old credits pages, with familiar names (even my own). Godspeed to all you folks, if you find yourself reading this.

 

[rokegle135]

@Perriner
You translated negima back in the day

 

[Perriner]

I used the AQS forum pretty extensively, and helped edit some of the last chapters AQS did for Negima. Also helped on CSR with Jace.

 

[mdp9000]

Starts off pretty good. The comedy is awesome. The battles aren't the greatest.

 

[Ruttsu]

At last I'm finished. ITS BEEN SO LONG!!! IM TRULY HAPPY THAT I READ THE MANGA. I feel so old now...

 

[GuiltyIncest]

Great series from the past, and for those looking for a very good battle harem series I suggest this for you.

 

[StealthMomo]

This is a low key classic. A relatively simple but emotive art style, a continuous and natural shift in tone from beginning to end. What starts out as a potentially average harem comedy quickly turns into shonen battle manga/sci-fi-fantasy without losing the harem comedy element. Snappy writing, a large cast with interesting characters and a sense of fun throughout.

This story has a happy and satisfying ending. And the spin-off, UQ Holder does a good job of bookending the Springfield family legacy. Hats off to Ken Akamats-sensei.

 

[emMeBi86]

...did all of Negima just disappeared nighttime? I swear I was reading it like 10 hours ago, almost halfway through...

 

[namcp2704]

FUCK NOT THIS ONE. NOOOOOO

 

[Luchoo]

Bro... I put this in re-reading some weeks ago. I'm now ready to start and... there's nothing

 

[BakedBanana]

Bro... I put this in re-reading some weeks ago. I'm now ready to start and... there's nothing

Guess you'll have to read it on less savory websites. Definitely recommend it, this manga is a 10/10.

 

[Luchoo]

Guess you'll have to read it on less savory websites. Definitely recommend it, this manga is a 10/10.

Already done. It's good as I remember it, wich is rare.


CHIU-SAMA IS THE GOAT!

 

[BakedBanana]

CHIU-SAMA IS THE GOAT!

MY MAN, Chiu/Chisame is one of the best. Though I still think Yue is my favorite character out of them all.

I really do need to give it a reread myself so I can prep myself for UQ HOLDER!.

 

[alacaelum]

MY MAN, Chiu/Chisame is one of the best. Though I still think Yue is my favorite character out of them all.

I really do need to give it a reread myself so I can prep myself for UQ HOLDER!.

Chiu, Yue, and Nodoka... those are the girls that stayed in my memory.

Truth be told, as years passed i started to dislike Negi, he is too flat a character... he has his moments truth be told, and some very good ones, but when he was too goody two shoes was when he was at his worst (and i came to dislike a lot how a 10 years old somehow surpassed 99% of the entire world in a matter of... a few months).

But when this series focused on the girls... oh man, those were the best moments, Negi became too much of a demigod, but seeing this world with the girls, I could truly feel the peril and shenanigans.

And Yue's "Hogwarts" arc is to this day one of my favorites.

Don't know if you read UQ Holder, so I will put it in a spoiler tag... don't worry, is just my opinion I won't spoil the story for you, but you can chose to read my opinion later... I am a little disappointed with it, it has good moments, and overall it is at worst a 7/10, but at its best is only an 8, I feel it... "looped" a little too much, and personally the art suffered a downgrade in the character design side and texture.

 

[BakedBanana]

Chiu, Yue, and Nodoka... those are the girls that stayed in my memory.

True. Like most of the characters were memorable since they had their moment but those three (also Eva and Setsuna, I had a soft spot for those two) were just the best. It also helped that they were all distinct, you could look at these manga panels and know who's who from just a glance, not many harem manga could pull this off.

Spoiler: Images from chapter 333 and 346

Source: chapter 333 and 346

Also here's a little treat, someone actually colorized one of the pages above and parodied the other with Touhou and it looks beautiful! It's what I'm using as my banner too.

Spoiler: Image from chapter 333 PARODIED and 346 COLORIZED

Truth be told, as years passed i started to dislike Negi, he is too flat a character... he has his moments truth be told, and some very good ones, but when he was too goody two shoes was when he was at his worst (and i came to dislike a lot how a 10 years old somehow surpassed 99% of the entire world in a matter of... a few months).

It's been awhile since I read it but he did have exceptional teachers and a lot of potential with who his father was, so I can see why he became so powerful in mere months. Plus, how the author did Negi development felt earned compared to other shounen MCs, in my opinion.

But when this series focused on the girls... oh man, those were the best moments, Negi became too much of a demigod, but seeing this world with the girls, I could truly feel the peril and shenanigans.

Yeah, especially when they focused on Yue.

And Yue's "Hogwarts" arc is to this day one of my favorites.

Mine too, I kinda wish there was a spinoff or something that showed that more. The magic world side of Negima was not shown off enough.

Don't know if you read UQ Holder, so I will put it in a spoiler tag...

Yeah thanks for the spoiler warning, I still haven't read UQ Holder even though it's been on my PTR for like 6 years lol. So I'll take your warning and not check the spoiler just yet, just be ready for me to come back with a random reply in like 3 years.

But speaking of not finishing Akamatsu Ken manga, I still haven't even started Love Hina yet even though I definitely want to! Got a lotta manga I need to finish!

 

[alacaelum]

True. Like most of the characters were memorable since they had their moment but those three (also Eva and Setsuna, I had a soft spot for those two) were just the best. It also helped that they were all distinct, you could look at these manga panels and know who's who from just a glance, not many harem manga could pull this off.

Spoiler: Images from chapter 333 and 346

Source: chapter 333 and 346

Also here's a little treat, someone actually colorized one of the pages above and parodied the other with Touhou and it looks beautiful! It's what I'm using as my banner too.

Spoiler: Image from chapter 333 PARODIED and 346 COLORIZED

Yeah, surprisingly... despite the simplicity in the faces, the overall design of everyone was very distinct, if you took their hair, there were very few girls that weren't a little too similar XD, but with all the details, every single one felt unique... especially in personality, all of them were really full of charisma.

These images are pretty cool. The Touhou one must have been killer to do.

Yeah thanks for the spoiler warning, I still haven't read UQ Holder even though it's been on my PTR for like 6 years lol. So I'll take your warning and not check the spoiler just yet, just be ready for me to come back with a random reply in like 3 years.

Will be waiting .

But speaking of not finishing Akamatsu Ken manga, I still haven't even started Love Hina yet even though I definitely want to! Got a lotta manga I need to finish!

If you don't mind my opinion... depending on how big your endurance is for "trashy" harem romcoms... you may not like Love Hina, it was pretty popular back in the day, but... it does not survive the test of time, sincerely speaking.

I will stop on this and not say anything more, mind you... you still can have fun with it, just... expect really "classic" cliches.

It's been awhile since I read it but he did have exceptional teachers and a lot of potential with who his father was, so I can see why he became so powerful in mere months. Plus, how the author did Negi development felt earned compared to other shounen MCs, in my opinion.

Yeah, when he was still training and all that it was fun, but then he was cubberstomping people with decades of experience, and the world was treating him like the best thing since sliced bread... a boy, 10 years old... developing advanced magic that only the top 10 from the world could deal with, and all that... in less than a year.

I know it feels stupid from my part... but I really came to hate that part... but I would be lying if I said I didn't have a lot of fun during the Gladiator arc... some sick fights in that.

But I will say this with confidence... the magic in this series isnt the most deep in therms of mechanics, but it had some of the coolest designs, and even with me saying it isnt deep in mechanics it did have them and for the most part it adhered to them very well, i may say i dont like Negi becoming so strong so quickly, but in the context of what he did... he still was working within the parameters of those mechanics, and like you said... compared to most shounen MC that get some cheat code and just become the baddest, hottest that every chick wants to bang but are too cool to care... Negi on another level.

 

[Luchoo]

Mine too, I kinda wish there was a spinoff or something that showed that more. The magic world side of Negima was not shown off enough.

YES, I remember being particularly trapped by the worldbuilding that was just glanced upon when the girls got lost on magical world. Oh and magic world being on top of Mars? Teen me thought that was mental and the coolest shit in the world!

I got a bite of a thought out world and then there was no cake! you're only telling me they hunt dragons and defend against bounty hunters? Show me! Definitively shaped my standards for fantasy-fiction.

But I will say this with confidence... the magic in this series isnt the most deep in therms of mechanics, but it had some of the coolest designs

I remember those gorgeous thunder spears, and that one time they showed what a "magical mine" was like. Really cool.

Then he started eating that shit lol

Another thing that I haven't seen mentioned is the really good architecture. I was never just background and I spend my time dissecting those places, when I found out they were mostly 3D I thought "well that makes sense" really big open detailed spaces rule. Those backgrounds really tied the immersion for me.

 

[alacaelum]

I remember those gorgeous thunder spears, and that one time they showed what a "magical mine" was like. Really cool.

Then he started eating that shit lol

Brat was eating high-caliber battery magic like it was potato chips.

I remember him breaking magic with his hands, it was so sick for me the first time.

Another thing that I haven't seen mentioned is the really good architecture. I was never just background and I spend my time dissecting those places, when I found out they were mostly 3D I thought "well that makes sense" really big open detailed spaces rule. Those backgrounds really tied the immersion for me.

Akamatsu has an amazing sense of scale, the building felt like a building, not square cardboard cutouts put there just to pad up the background.

The scale itself is already incredible... but the details... GOD THE DETAILS... there was an entire story being told by the architecture alone.

Sure, most of Mundus Magicus was kinda standard "what if Rome", but there was a lot of buildings with forms and sizes that would be impossible without magic.

Eva and Albireo's hideouts are still some of the best sci-fi fantasy buildings I have ever seen, and the best part... just looking at the images, I could easily understand how their layouts were.

 

[Elaborate]

I rate Mahou Sensei Negima a 9.5/10, rounded up.
It's main flaw is that there just isn't enough of it. 355 chapters is too little.

Apparently the author wanted to make high fantasy shounen battlemanga like HxH for a change, but he was told to stick to the "pervy comedic romantic pseudoharem" genre, like his earlier work 'Love Hina'. His response was to craft a work that started out as a pervy romantic pseudoharem, and kept its trappings throughout, but gradually shaded into high fantasy shounen battlemanga in kind of a 'boiling frog' situation.
This was an awesome decision, it turns out, because the combination is dynamite.

The rich fantasy worldbuilding of the high fantasy part combines and contrasts with the rich character development of the romantic pseudoharem genre. The typical lack of plot-important female characters in a shounen is remedied by the fact that the story takes place at a girls' school (for pseudoharem reasons) so the author mostly only has women to work with in the first place. The cliché harem tropes are undercut and lessened by the fact that the MC is literally 9 years old and not really interested in girls. Meanwhile the cliché shounen stuff is balanced and diluted by the need to make it somehow result in pervy comedy.

At one point epic kaiju mecha stomp around and shoot beams... that strip people's clothes off... and I think that's beautiful.

A particular highlight is the Pactio system, whereby a person can become a mage's pseudo-familiar, gaining a useful superpower and a cool art noveau card. By, of course, sealing the deal with a kiss, because pseudoharem.
My fave character is Jack Rakan, the memetic bastard, though Fate Averruncus and Evangeline McDowell are stiff competition.
Romance-wise, my favourite part is probably the lesbian subplot between two class members.
Meanwhile, my favourite part of the plot is probably the time-travel Arc.

The manga ended too soon; you can tell that at least an entire Arc was skipped, where the MC was meant to explore Hell/Venus, and the underutilized members of the class was supposed to have their own moments of characterization.
The shounen manga 'UQ Holder' takes place in the same world, and it continues the manga in some ways, but honestly it's meh. It just doesn't have the pervy comedy that tied it all together and somehow gave it charm.

In conclusion, MSN is a great reading experience, with novelty value equivalent to at least 0.4 Homestucks, and you should overlook its cringe parts and go read it, wherever it's available nowadays.