(L) Negima Manga Discussion

[MidnightViper88]

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu~.....

I was a little disappointed with the ending since it still left a lot of goatse-gaping holes throughout the plot for most of the characters, and I hope it's not too late to blame the publisher for their hand in this...But I can't be arsed to complain; It was a good 9 years, and at least it actually came to an end instead of dragging on forever lost...

If I can salvage anything out of the final chapter, it would be my interest in the changes to character design to reflect respective aging/maturity (Though dammit if as a Shinobu fan from Love Hina, I can't help but find it extremely coincidental that Nodoka pretty much evolved into a near-copy of Shinobu, lastly in the looks department by the end; Reduce, reuse, recycle)...A concrete time frame wasn't given for the skip, was it? Oh well; Fanart material begins again

[TheBigBoo]

I have to agree with all of Tiresias's points.

IMO, it would have been better if the manga had a "Negima: Anime Final movie"-like ending right after the MW arc instead of this pseudo-arc that didn't solve anything and didn't make any point. In other words, the movie had actually a better ending than the manga. I found the last chapter pretty enjoyable to read though, and kinda liked the idea of a "open to speculation" ending to troll fans, regarding who is the person who Negi likes.

Also, I wasn't really sure of where should I post this, but this is a negima/megaman crossover game I've been working on, and tried to release the trailer before the end of the manga:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDhjf4hFZPk

[RRW]

Continue?
>yes
no

[Klashikari]

Originally Posted by TheBigBoo

I have to agree with all of Tiresias's points.

IMO, it would have been better if the manga had a "Negima: Anime Final movie"-like ending right after the MW arc instead of this pseudo-arc that didn't solve anything and didn't make any point. In other words, the movie had actually a better ending than the manga. I found the last chapter pretty enjoyable to read though, and kinda liked the idea of a "open to speculation" ending to troll fans, regarding who is the person who Negi likes.

Excuse me? You really mean it that the movie has a better ending?
You must be joking: while it uses a copout harem ending that smell laziness all around (which can be acceptable to some degree due to negima genre), it does not solve anything to the slightest, regarding the main plot. Instead of adding points of the main plot, the movie literally ignore them, mixing with non sense (complete memory wipe? really?) and -also- bring offscreen stuff (hello Nagi and Arika showing up out of-NOWHERE-, worse than 355 chapter?)

I can understand to some degree that the manga ending disappointed people, but to compare it with the movie is just ridiculous.

[Keroko]

I can understand leaving side-plots unresolved, since they are by their nature more easily left there, but the lack of resolving of the main plot threads (Lifemaker, Nagi, Arika, etc.) is what disappointed me the most. Off screen resolving doesn't cut it, resolving a plot includes answering the questions raised, not just showing the ending.

Though I do agree, comparing it to the movie is just ludicrous. The manga doesn't resolve plot. The movie takes plot, shreds it to tiny pieces and replaces it with a mockery of what it was.

[TheBigBoo]

Originally Posted by Klashikari

Excuse me? You really mean it that the movie has a better ending?
You must be joking: while it uses a copout harem ending that smell laziness all around (which can be acceptable to some degree due to negima genre), it does not solve anything to the slightest, regarding the main plot. Instead of adding points of the main plot, the movie literally ignore them, mixing with non sense (complete memory wipe? really?) and -also- bring offscreen stuff (hello Nagi and Arika showing up out of-NOWHERE-, worse than 355 chapter?)

I can understand to some degree that the manga ending disappointed people, but to compare it with the movie is just ridiculous.

I'm sorry for not making it clear but I meant it more in terms of structure than in terms of content. I'd rather have something like the movie, which doesn't leave a doubt that the MW was the final arc and that what you're watching/reading after it is just a quick wrapup for the series, then pretending to stretch the series for another arc, building up expectations for something serious to happen next, and suddenly giving up on that midway.

Oh, and by "ending" I'm actually counting everything since the manga and the movie split, in other words, everything since chapter 335. If you consider that, both endings are equally terribly written and forced IMO. It's bad storytelling. No pacing, no foreshadow, not a single sign that the story was slightly planned.

If you're not going to explain any mysteries or give the series a proper climax, why strech the series for 20 more fan-service chapters with nonsense stuff like Fate becoming a teacher and stupid mini-arcs filled with out-of-character actions? Sincerely, I'd rather have 3 rushed chapters that focused on Negi finding his father then 2 whole volumes about new stuff that's gonna be thrown away forever when the author abandons the story (ex: space elevator, Akira pactio, drama because of Asuna's sacrifice etc).

[Roger Rambo]

(creeps back in here after days of toiling away on a paper)

.....HAHAHAHA! The rage still burns on! Excellent!

[Sage Shinigami]

Originally Posted by Klashikari

Many mangas were canned in a worse way (Mz0 anyone?), and still were "justifiable". To consider Negima's situation as unjustifiable is quite an overstatement, but that's just me I guess.

Mx0 was cancelled though. But yeah, I agree. I'm not going to lie, the Festival arc was everything I dislike about harems aside from an annoying tsundere (no Anya? Yay!). But aside from that and randomly skipping over what happened to Nagi, this ending wasn't the worst thing ever.

And because someone posted that trailer, I'm reminded that there needs to be a Negima fighting game for the PS3. Like Ninja Storm Generations, only more fun because it has characters I'm actually a fan of.

[dragon4dudes]

Originally Posted by Roger Rambo

(creeps back in here after days of toiling away on a paper)

.....HAHAHAHA! The rage still burns on! Excellent!

It seems like the fire has cooled somewhat though.

[Merctrin]

IT'S TOTALLY CANON THAT SETSUNA MARRIED TSUKUYOMI!1!

That help?



As far as the rest of the manga goes... I don't want to speculate too much about why Akamatsu ended the series when he did, but since he was apparently aware for some time that it would be ending this week, I think he could have made better use of the chapters he produced. That said, the ending chapter by itself was relatively satisfying. It just would have been nice to see more of what he says the cast did, especially the events that Negi mentioned on the roster. Actually, most of the issues I have with the ending have to do with the amount of "tell" vs. "show".

Really, I think the only thing that seriously annoyed me about the series overall is that Setsuna and Tsukuyomi never got the page time to show off their one proper fight. ...That, and it not being outright stated that Setsuna and Konoka got together, but for those two, it's easy enough to go with whatever ending you'd prefer. Proper confirmation would have been cool, though.

Actually, wait, one more thing: What happened to Arika?

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Merctrin

not being outright stated that Setsuna and Konoka got together, but for those two, it's easy enough to go with whatever ending you'd prefer.

In the page where they mention their marriage they even show Setsuna carrying Konoka bridal style, and using actual bridal Kimono, with Setsuna wearing the male one to boot:



All in all, even though we don't have 100% confirmation that they married each other, I don't think there's much room for deniability.

[Sumeragi]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

they even show Setsuna carrying Konoka bridal style,

That could be a clue, but.....

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

and using actual bridal Kimono, with Setsuna wearing the male one to boot:

No. There is no such thing as a bridal kimono in modern days, although if one wants to be traditional, this is what one would wear:



Pure white.

[Excelion]

Anything else from Ken's twitter about the ending?

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Hmm... just read the ending and wondering which one is worse, Shaman King’s initial ending or this .

I wish they would continue this in other media like visual novel, light novel, OVA or something.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Sumeragi

Pure white.

White is not the only one. The one that posted in that image is used too.

[Sumeragi]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

White is not the only one. The one that posted in that image is used too.

That's not the point. Only the pure white kimono could be considered a bridal kimono, with all others being just regular kimonos used after the actual ceremony itself when greeting guests. In fact, personally I never seen a lavish kimono being used for the wedding. To label what Konoka is wearing as bridal is overinterpretation which has no bases behind it.

[RRW]

Originally Posted by Obelisk ze Tormentor

Hmm... just read the ending and wondering which one is worse, Shaman King’s initial ending or this .

I wish they would continue this in other media like visual novel, light novel, OVA or something.

well at least for SK we have true ending 5 years latter (and we gonna to have sequel )

[DKN117]

Man... Negima, Mass Effect 3... Any other soon-ending series planning to hit us with a sub-par / unresolvant / shitty ending?

(Eyes "Naruto" nervously)

[OverMaster]

Originally Posted by Kurush

I'm going to assume that you had no idea when you typed that.

Of course I did, and I stand by my point.

[ellifeedn]

Just to sum up everything:

* Negima had an ending that not a lot of people liked.
* Many people blame Akamatsu for the whole thing.
* His editors (obviously) had a part in why the ending sucked for many.
* Much arguing happened.

I don't think Akamatsu should be blamed for everything, but all things considered, he should carry some blame for allowing the ending to turn out like it did.