View Full Version : Negima Episode 2 Discussion / Poll
Catgirls
2006-10-13, 17:04
Welcome to the discussion thread for Negima, Episode 2!
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HeartNana
2006-10-13, 21:19
I thought it was a good episode. The only thing i really didnt like about it was the way the animation was when Negi was talking to Asuna. The boxes going everywhere kinda gave me a headache. Aside from that, well, its Negima. Its funny cause theyre repeating things again that happened early in the manga or in the other anime like
Negi not realizing Chachamaru is a robot. Like the pactio needing to be a kiss, and Asuna being all WTF when Kamo started talking.
People i talk to say they dont like the new series, but aside from the opening song and goofy animation sometimes, i dont have a problem with it. The opening song though, by far the worst opening song for any anime ive ever heard imo.
GyroidFanatic
2006-10-13, 21:33
The only question I have was what was up with that Dracula vs. Chupacabra scene.
(And Asuna's "maho(u?)" was funny)
relentlessflame
2006-10-13, 23:44
The opening song though, by far the worst opening song for any anime ive ever heard imo.Haha! Heck no! (IMO, of course) I love the OP! The song's very "retro" if you want to use the word and, along with the accompanying animation, is probably one of my favourite parts of the show! It's funny because it's just so over-done and stylishly weird (whoever had the idea of the modern art motif is brilliant), and all the little overly dramatic "lines" and poses (along with song lyrics themselves) are just so "old sentai show" fare (compare and contrast with the "Baka Rangers" song). Plus, it's taking itself "so seriously" (if you're ignoring the whole parody aspect), and then you have things like goofy poses and the random skirt falling down. :heh: So the song is very unusual for this day and age (it's not what you'd expect at all), but that whole parody aspect is also what makes it work for me. I guess it's something I can't fully describe... maybe it's kind of like Pani Poni Dash or episode 0 of Haruhi (etc. etc.)... either you "get it" or you don't. Nothing wrong either way, though. :p
As for the episode itself, as I said in the other thread, I liked it too. (I do agree that the one scene with the boxes was a bit much, though.)
Takemaru
2006-10-14, 15:51
Opening is quite good. It's not bad at all!! ;)
HeartNana
2006-10-15, 05:56
Well, as i said, its only my opinion. The opening animation is wonderful, i have absolutely no problems with it. The numbers next to the girls is really cool.
HOWEVER, i dont like the song. The talking doesnt seem to fit in imo, and when they do get to singing, its not enough of it for me to even decide how good of a song it could be. But yeah, its definitely different, i'll give them that much.
And Asuna's mahou was indeed the funniest. I like the way they made that work out. :D:D:D
(Mahora needs to start doing release candidates... Looks like they'll be v2'ing ep 2 as well.)
The OP is pretty clever, a bit more lyrics would've been nice.
This series is really moving along quickly. I love this pace!
So uh... Why does Ku Fei drop her skirt in the OP?
is it Ku Fei ... noone have said that they was able to read the nr. in front of her and/or showed proff of that it was her
NoSanninWa
2006-10-17, 05:56
I thought it was a good episode. The only thing i really didnt like about it was the way the animation was when Negi was talking to Asuna. The boxes going everywhere kinda gave me a headache. By contrast I loved that scene. I thought it made a standard "talking head" scene into something dynamic and interesting while brilliantly capturing the confusion in Negi's head.
The opening song though, by far the worst opening song for any anime ive ever heard imo.The award for "worst OP of all time" goes to the unlicensed first season of Lupin III (http://www.animesuki.com/series.php/252.html). Honestly this OP isn't even close to that level of badness, but it does rather suck.
The only question I have was what was up with that Dracula vs. Chupacabra scene.That's just because it is funny to see vampires and chupacabras on the screen together. isn't it? Considering that the chupacabra story is bascially an alternate version of the vampire legend it is patently ridiculous to have them fighting.
is it Ku Fei ... noone have said that they was able to read the nr. in front of her and/or showed proff of that it was herWatch the scene before for the number. (She's #12)
BillyG insists that we stick to the people we already have with the thought that we'll improve. We still had trouble encoding ._. Took BillyG around 50 times to get it to work right :< As for the OP and ED, yeah, bad quality. Our AFX guy wouldn't listen to us when we told him to fix it. But when he offered to fix it, t'was a bit too late. BillyG said that we'll just work what we have for this ep and fix it the next. Granted, everything'll be sorted out next ep.
Like our translator said, not so good quality'll probably last up till ep 3 :< So just bare with us.
starks ... on the scene before there are 6 persons ... on the scene where one drops the skirt there is only 5 persons ... and even if there were the same number ... who have said that it was the same persons?
well NSW ... i wouldn't call negima's OP bad ... only the most original and unusual ever
Wow, SHAFT are at it again. Episode 02 looked even more impressive then the first - many of the up-close shots of the characters were just damn right sexy. :3
http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/782/bscap0005sp9.th.jpg (http://img192.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bscap0005sp9.jpg)I just had to show of Nodoka.
On the topic of the OP, well.. its SHAFT all over. Single released mid' November with the first of new design pactio cards, shall have to preorder~
As for the episode, well - at first it seemed like most of it was being rushed, but thankfully that feeling went away, and i could enjoy it for what it is. Negi finding out about Eva's curse early was a good idea, & bringing Takahata more into the story is a good way to go.. Speaking of Eva', they told her backstory with a bits of emotion flying around.. thinking about how her life has been, its pretty upsetting, and i believe that this version is the first to show that of with great intentions. Also, adding Eva's feelings towards Chacha' - you can easily see where they're gonna go with that. :3
Overall i'm loving where this series is going, i just can't wait to see what they'll do after the Eva' arc has ended.
Deathkillz
2006-10-17, 11:12
better than the first ep imo ^_^
start of with the OP...unusual/odd yes...but as always it grow on me and ill actually start liking it in the end :heh:
started off well with a little fight between negi and eva...Chachamaru getting wasted in one shot and asuna acting ruder than the original series...its all good :p
well as expected my eyes have already adjusted to the drawing style of this and now im liking it...still the flash back scene seem a bit out of place in an animation sense but im sure that wont take long to adjust...
yep eva is definatly tsundere :p
Apparently, new approaches scare some people ... I'm liking the directing, lighting, and camera techniques being utilized here. The OP is unusual ... again something different - I'd rather see some exploration that fails than "the same old stuff".
This may end up being one of the more artistic shows this year.
yep eva is definatly tsundere :p
Eva' isn't a tsundere, you never see her happy side. She's just always moody~
Deathkillz
2006-10-17, 11:52
well could call it either...but she did seem to care about Chachamaru when the girl (cnt remember her name >.<) left the room...hope eva can express herself more after her arc...
Chachamaru's sense of humor is a welcomed upgrade.
panzerfan
2006-10-17, 12:08
I love the direction in this episode, it really is to me the best this year. (I am going to give best cinematography to KyoAni though) This intepretation of Negima is beyond my expectation by far. If this keeps up, Negima will be quite a sensation for this season and might steal some of Kanon's thunder.
Chachamaru's sense of humor is a welcomed upgrade.
It was always there, not just for everyone to see.
As for the OP and ED, yeah, bad quality.
It's actually not just that. It is squished. The OP from the 4:3 broadcast (http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/3021/negima4to3qm2.jpg) was the original 16:9 OP, padded to 4:3 with those bars on the top and bottom (the OP from the 16:9 broadcast looks like this (http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/5466/negima16to9in3.jpg)). This resulted in everything looking squished (like this (http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/421/negimasquishedvc8.jpg)). The same thing happened to the ED too (4:3 (http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/7426/negimaed4to3it6.jpg), 16:9 (http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/3879/negimaed16to9st7.jpg), squished (http://img286.imageshack.us/img286/9779/negimaedsquishedlm8.jpg)). :(
Edit: In case anybody without the raw wants to look at the unsquished OP before Mahora releases their third episode: Hardsubbed XviD (http://rapidshare.de/files/37107898/Negima_OP.avi.html), softsubbed H.264 (http://rapidshare.de/files/37126540/Negima_OP.mkv.html); Li Jianliang, I hope you don't mind too much that I (ab)used your translation (http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=706147&postcount=6). (^^;; )
Matt Soulblade
2006-10-17, 14:20
Im still astonished by the quality of the animation.
Seriously. This thing ownz. It just pwnz everything, the fast fights, quick development, you blink and you lose some important scene. Its like that, this is way too great.
And I still think that Takamichi looks like Archer <3
Runningkid
2006-10-17, 16:12
Im still astonished by the quality of the animation.
i second that, the animation is good, altho not as funny as the 1st the art is great.
they amde the opening so much like u see in a film which is great!
Darklightz
2006-10-17, 17:17
Hmm,this serie also seems darker than the original,and they haven't even begun to get on the serious stuff.
It's a shame we couldn't see more of Chachamaru,she rocks!
blitz1/2
2006-10-17, 18:08
Episode 2 was good! Looking forward to more.
ordnance11
2006-10-17, 21:07
Time 19:48
Are those Nazca lines?
ZODDGUTS
2006-10-17, 21:33
By contrast I loved that scene. I thought it made a standard "talking head" scene into something dynamic and interesting while brilliantly capturing the confusion in Negi's head.
Same here I liked that scene I had no problems with it. Maybe it's because I'm already used to Shinbo's directing style.
Are those Nazca lines?
lol I also noticed that. Very clever using the racing track to do that.
Really liked ep 2 we got to see emotion from Eva as to what she's has to deal with being Immortal and not ever being able to grow up to an adults body but to stay in a kids body forever.
... Nodoka looked cute too. :love:
BTW I liked the opening song better then the other Negima series OP. Also liked how they showed everybody in that way rather then a lame kissing scene for each one like the first Negima series did.
Edit: Also want to add the action scenes in this episode were great unlike the first Negima series which were really lame. My only worry is can Shaft continue having great animation for the entire season. There's a lot of things going on in each scene including in the background i.e. like the Dracula VS Chupacapra scene. Oh well even if the animation does go down they'll fix it in the DVD release like they did for MoonPhase.
Guardian Enzo
2006-10-17, 23:07
Well, this is really pretty wonderful, IMO. I was searching for one word that sums up why this is so much better than the Xebec version, and I found it - style. This series has it in spades, and the old version - though it had it's charms - was pedestrian.
I love the OP, I loved the frames when Negi and Asuna were talking, I adored the texting scene in homeroom... I even love the Baka Rangers. The quick cut style, the coloring, all of it - stylish to the max. And we haven't even gotten to the good stuff (Kyoto, Kotarou, etc.) yet. I'm hooked.
The OP is excellent. Definitely unique. Really cool, too.
More importantly, this episode was excellent. I really consider it an improvement over the previous episode. Like someone said, there were just a few too many boxes in Asuna's and Negi's playground conversation. However, the animation just gets better and better, generally, in any case.
Dislikes: the classroom scene was goofy, as usual. It's like this whole anime has matured in its remake, but the classroom conversations are the only thing left of the previous Negima's fluff. However, since they weren't trying to introduce every single student, the scene definitely came off better than the previous episode's. Oh, and the random overdramatic end narrations are still weird, though that's nothing compared to the Baka Rangers segments.
Anyway, I really like how they're handling the plots. They don't just kind of start one plot up halfway through the series like they did the previous Negima. Eva, Asuna, Konoka and Setsuna, and Nodoka are developing concurrently, although the former two are being focused on more than the latter two (notably, however, the latter two are being developed equally, which is very nice!).
And I'll just say clearly say the fact that the animation is very, very excellent improves my enjoyment of the anime considerably.
So yeah, I am definitely considering picking this up. Like somebody else said, it might just be able to take some attention away from Kanon.
I loved the second episode--the OP is stylish, although when I compare it to ShoujoQ or any of the Pani Poni Dash openings, it's just nowhere near as catchy. I can safely say Negima's OP is just not going to get stuck in my head the way some anime opening themes get. But maybe they'll change the OP as the series goes on, I think Paniponi had three completely different openings if I'm remembering right.
I like Shaft's version of the Eva arc so far though, the scene with her and Takamichi and the glance she gave Negi when she looked back at him in the hallway were just perfect. Just that glance did a better job of conveying emotion than most of the first Negima series did.
cynicalicious
2006-10-18, 01:54
This series is one million times better than the original horrible anime that Xebec ... made ... and I use that term loosely. I can understand that those with a very narrow view of the series won't like it, but I don't really care what they think. If they hate it so much, then they won't watch it. So I'm not interested in their opinions.
Considering how often animes will totally run away from their source material, and considering that Shaft has done a great job of keeping the 'feel' of the manga, if not following it too closely, I'm happy. Would I have loved an anime that followed the manga identically? Maybe, but then again, if it looked like crap in a bucket, maybe not.
I like the new take on the series. I'm looking forward to see where they take it after this arc. I'd *like* to see dog-boy come into the series, and I'd love to see a new take on Kyoto, but we'll have to wait and see.
Episode 2, like episode 1, was very entertaining. And that's all I really ask of a series like Negima. I'm not really looking for them to split the atom or create great works of literature. I'm just looking for something to entertain me for 24 minutes every week. Works for me.
I like the OP, watched it twice before watching the episode itself.
So far this new Negima hasn't done anything but impressed me, the whole series is very stylish, the kind of what I like. Too bad that Funi didn't wait for this instead of that first series. I wonder are they going to pick this up, they have that other similar Akiyuki Shinbo series, Tsukuyomi ~Moon Phase~.
It looks like that Eva is probably going to have a bigger role than in manga, or maybe Shinbo just have a thing for vampires. :heh:
Noticed the Nazca lines too.
Someone was asking about Kotarou in the Generic Discussion thread... I found a character design for him in an early release pic that seems to indicate he'll at least make an appearance.
http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=710461&postcount=380
Funimation is doing a pretty good job of marketing "Negima 1.0" --- their packaging is nice and their ads pretty well done. They also have the Moon Phase release (which I just got) and it is quite a nice package as well. Better quality paper, printing, bonuses, etc.
Both Geneon and Funimation seem to be upping the ante with R1 releases.
Although I'm happy that they're focusing more on action and story, I'm already starting to miss the comedy. There is a limit to how "dark" you can make Negima or any comedy series and I'm hoping they won't over do it; at the core, Negima is a (or originally was a) harem/ecchi comedy, after all.
I'll lower my expectation a little bit and expect to see serious episodes from now on, I suppose.
Someone was asking about Kotarou in the Generic Discussion thread... I found a character design for him in an early release pic that seems to indicate he'll at least make an appearance.
http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=710461&postcount=380
Yeah, i remember seeing him in that image so long ago.. but i never clicked on when the actually show started. With the show going for a more action type of scene, you can already tell that they'll keep him in just like in the manga.
Furudanuki
2006-10-18, 09:30
Given the buzz surrounding this new incarnation of Negima I figured I should take a look. I'm up to volume 11 of the manga but I never watched the first anime version, so I can't make any comparisons. After watching this episode my reactions have been mixed. I like the way they are trying a different approach to the story material, and the PPD influences are fun. The "Baka Rangers" endings are also a big plus for me. But I can't shake a nagging worry that this version has the potential to wander too far into "shounen action" territory at the expense of the comedy and character relationships that attracted me to the manga in the first place. Action is fine, but I want to be given reasons why I should be interested in the characters and care about what happens to them before they start angsting or whacking on each other.
Two issues regarding this episode in particular. The music-video style rapid scene cuts give me a massive headache. There are times when I would like to take the "artist" who first popularized this technique and run them through a wood chipper feet first. Unfortunately this seems to used in every form of visual media now - I had to close my eyes during several of the action scenes in "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" because it was literally making me sick - so I can't fault Negima too much. And several people have praised the artwork and animation, so I have to assume there was a problem with the version that I watched. The colors were murky and the overall picture seemed slightly blurry at times. Might have been due to a sub-par raw or some encoding issues, since the animation/visual impact of the first episode was pretty good, even if it wasn't what I'd consider stellar. I'll probably wind up getting a raw for comparison just to be fair.
In any event, despite my complaints about some things the show does have promise. It's on my "watch 5" list, so we'll see how things proceed from here.
iamandragon
2006-10-18, 10:19
9 out of 10.
I started MSN with the manga, then I watched the first MSN anime. Honestly I don't think neither are bad(or perhaps I simply love negima so bad that any materials related to it would look good to me...)
The second anime, is sooo much darker...even the jokes are hidden in the dark...love that bit where Chizuru explain 'sabotage'...
HeartNana
2006-10-18, 10:44
By contrast I loved that scene. I thought it made a standard "talking head" scene into something dynamic and interesting while brilliantly capturing the confusion in Negi's head.
The award for "worst OP of all time" goes to the unlicensed first season of Lupin III (http://www.animesuki.com/series.php/252.html). Honestly this OP isn't even close to that level of badness, but it does rather suck.
That's just because it is funny to see vampires and chupacabras on the screen together. isn't it? Considering that the chupacabra story is bascially an alternate version of the vampire legend it is patently ridiculous to have them fighting.
Well to each their own. Personally, i dont watch like, a TON of anime, but im just saying that from the ones ive seen/heard, this is my least favorite, which is disappointing cause ive seen some bad series with pretty good OP's.
As for the talking head scene, it LITERALLY gave me a headache. In EP3, i was perfectly fine with everything in that episode, but anything that gives me a headache from just watching it makes me umm...not want to watch it?
The artwork and voices are still off tha hook though.
ZODDGUTS
2006-10-18, 13:47
The second anime, is sooo much darker...even the jokes are hidden in the dark...love that bit where Chizuru explain 'sabotage'...
Ah I forgot to mention that yeah I found that seen to be VERY funny... Love the angle camera shot they used for Chizuru too... :bow:
The animation really is great. So is the music. I like the OP. In general, I don't see anything with Negima!? so far for me. I suppose the only thing that kind of irks me is the weird narrations in the beginning of this episode (and at the end of the first one). Unnecessary. Oh right and as for the box thing, I did think it was quite distracting but I'll let it slide. It's the first time I've seen something like that.
The narration is kind of a PaniPoniDash thing (when the alien captain would provide exposition) but yeah... thats probably one of my less favorite things about the new show as well.
Can anyone read what do those letters say in the following?
http://content.imagesocket.com/images/tmp016.jpg (http://imagesocket.com/view/tmp016.jpg)
Deathkillz
2006-10-19, 15:01
^ lol i cnt believe i missed that :p must have blinked...and whos the girl? a random chara?
I missed it too in my first viewing of the raw. I caught that in the 2nd viewing with the subtitle. The "Ow!" part flashed by so quickly that I had to freeze the screen to see what was the deal with the blurry motion, and there you have it, the pot has something cute in it, though, I don't know who she is! :heh:
Wonder if anyone could tell us what those letters read? May be then we will know who is that cute loli.. :)
The narration is kind of a PaniPoniDash thing (when the alien captain would provide exposition) but yeah... thats probably one of my less favorite things about the new show as well.
The narration for Negima?! kind of makes the show feel a bit more epic. I'd love to see at the end that it was the aliens all along... they'd have reason to keep an eye of Negi. :3
CrowKenobi
2006-10-19, 21:25
^ lol i cnt believe i missed that :p must have blinked...and whos the girl? a random chara?
I missed it too in my first viewing of the raw. I caught that in the 2nd viewing with the subtitle. The "Ow!" part flashed by so quickly that I had to freeze the screen to see what was the deal with the blurry motion, and there you have it, the pot has something cute in it, though, I don't know who she is! :heh:
Wonder if anyone could tell us what those letters read? May be then we will know who is that cute loli.. :)I found the answer in the generic discussion forum here (http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=703336&postcount=285). :D
ChronoReverse
2006-10-19, 21:26
I find the narrator overly dramatic and rather silly. However, at the same time, I like it because it just goes along with the whole feel of the show.
You have these super-serious shonen fights between Eva and Nagi in the flashback scenes drawn and animated in gory detail in a thick solid style.
Interspersed with that is the normal styling of Negi and his scenes. Abolutely vanilla anime style.
And then all of a sudden you have this disjoint with the colourful and light classroom banter with the students.
And then the largest discrepancy is how Eva tends to be accident-prone. It throws a wet blanket over the whole "dark evil vampire" part of her.
The narrator just completes the package by giving yet another completely disconnected style.
Negima!? is very clearly not Negima!
Well said! :heh:
The narrator is my favorite for he pokes fun of every thing that represents the previous Negima anime adaptation. He hasn't spared anyone from that sarcastic humor. For inexplicable reasons, the only thing he seems to have a weak spot for is Kamu-kun .
P.S. Thanks CrowKenobi-san!
I found the answer in the generic discussion forum here (http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=703336&postcount=285). :D
To be more informative, that's the main character Saati (ie "Thirty") from one of Akamatsu's pre-Love Hina works, AI ga Tomaranai, translated into English as "A.I. Love You (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.I._Love_You)".
When I saw the "... ?!" at the end, for some reason I had a mental image of Aitoma done by SHAFT (rather than Xebec). It would probably not be much like the original, but at least it'll be interestingly different.
I posted this in the Noein thread (http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=26643), but you guys might be interested to know that this shot from ep 2:
http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/3283/negima00py3.th.jpg (http://img153.imageshack.us/my.php?image=negima00py3.jpg)
is a homage to Noein ep 1:
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/7707/noein01pk3.th.jpg (http://img222.imageshack.us/my.php?image=noein01pk3.jpg)
Shaft worked on Noein, though not the first ep from where this image is taken. I'd say the initial shots of the Evangeline/Thousand Master battle was a nod to the OP of Noein.
I posted this in the Noein thread (http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=26643), but you guys might be interested to know that this shot from ep 2:
http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/3283/negima00py3.th.jpg (http://img153.imageshack.us/my.php?image=negima00py3.jpg)
is a homage to Noein ep 1:
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/7707/noein01pk3.th.jpg (http://img222.imageshack.us/my.php?image=noein01pk3.jpg)
Shaft worked on Noein, though not the first ep from where this image is taken. I'd say the initial shots of the Evangeline/Thousand Master battle was a nod to the OP of Noein.
Haha, I was surprised too when look at that technique. It was like dejavu and I thought I saw it somewhere and then I remembered it from Noein.
Kisuke06
2006-10-20, 11:30
Another very good episode. The animation is really good, the OP and the ED are very nice. And the development, even being very quick, it's not bad(in fact, I tought it was very good).
I'm looking forward to more. :D
The animation was the bomb. All sorts of crazy stuff happened between cut scenes.
All looked like a Negima movie!!
The new version explores with depth on Evangeline's issues, and the despair she feels on being locked or frozen in the body of a 10-year-old forever.
The first series did not look upon this, but I must presume that in the manga does Evangeline references on her cursed state.
Let's see- Eva's just sexy and mischievious and yet manages to be too cute and sensual at the same time.
The animation is commended. Watching the battle between her and the Thousand Master is a mind breaker. Still angles, cel-shaded animation, fast-motion cynematics, and dark hue shadowing imprints the fantasy and gloomy on that duel.
I see that came up with many changes on Eva's persona.
Virtually most of the silliness from season one is gone. Damn! Even the Thousand Master's onion trap is gone!
But in exchange we are allowed to see that Eva's concern and appreciation is more evident and warmed-up, than it was for season one.
Eva has this weakness to the onions and garlic, and Negi could learn that to take her out of comission.
And heeding from the words of Takamichi, looks like Eva's is the real stuff of an evil being worse than the Devil not to be set loose on the world for season two.
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