[Keroko]

Originally Posted by Hata

ahem, you sure the only reason you don't like the Negima ending is not because Nodoka is not IT?

I can't speak for others, but the main reason I don't like it is because it wasted almost 6 chapters that could have been used tying up plotthreads. Not even the main plot stuff like the Lifemaker arc or who does Negi love, but stuff like "what's up with Zazie?" "What's the story behind Ako's scar" "How did Misora and Cocone get together?" You know, questions readers have been wondering about for the past two dozen volumes.

Originally Posted by Hata

there are always "purpose" behind a story arc, for the festival it is Negi's partner and further define Negi's relationship with some of the girls, not a final solution, but rather a tease for Negima 2, in that regard, it did its job brilliantly, all the fandom can talk about is "who will end up with Negi?"

Yeah. No. That's just a generic "I'm not telling the final answer" harem ending. Nothing "brilliant" about it. It's the biggest cliche in the book.

Originally Posted by Hata

ah, I don't see you complain when in the Kyoto arc in the inn the students were pretty much doing the same thing, could it be because Nodoka won that one?

The Kyoto arc wasn't the final bloody arc in the manga. If this was just a side-step like the Kyoto arc, we would've just written it of as a time-waster and continued reading the manga. The problem is that the manga pretty much ended with that time-waster.

Originally Posted by Hata

you yourself just explain why Ken did that, it had to be set as the BAIT for us to remain interest, remember, Ken knew he was ending Negima soon, so my argument is the sports festival is something that had to be done the way it is, and Ken did a very good job pulling it off, it serves all HIS PURPOSES, just to see how many people respond to a POSSIBLE RETURN of the manga is proof enough I think.

You'll excuse me if I don't exactly agree with the business plan of giving your fans a crappy ending filled with plotholes just to see how many will be interested in a sequel. Mostly because it means that if not enough people (how many is "enough" anyway) raise a fuss, we're stuck with it. That's just raising a big middle finger to your fans, really.

Originally Posted by Hata

nobody says the dealing with LM is unimportant, BUT THE FINAL OUTCOME IS NOT GONNA CHANGE, Negi will beat LM, I am talking what MIGHT change in a new Negima series. like I say, all those marked on the school rosters are facts already happened IN THE TIMELINE WE ARE READING, the only way Ken can change it is by creating another timeline with a time traveling backward, then it will no longer be THE timeline we are reading, etc.

Do we need the outcome to change? There's still a dozen questions about the entire lifemaster deal left unanswered to make for an interesting plot without involving time traveling shenanigans. Not to mention all the previously mentioned sub-plots and, of course, the big "what the bloody hell happened to Arika" elephant in the room.

But if we really are getting time travel and alternate realities involved here... pretty much anything can happen. That's one of the fun things and at the same time the biggest annoyance about time-travel, really.