(L) UQ Holder (Ken Akamatsu's new series)

[ReddyRedWolf]

I said this before. If Touta is Konoka's descendant that makes him an Aoyama by blood. Hence Shinmeiryuu.

The new character being named Shinobu and looking like hair cut mini-Motoko may be an interesting coincidence or she's related to those two.

Making her a long distant relative.

[Tenzen12]

Originally Posted by Used Can

To be honest, I'm yet to be impressed with this manga.
I don't think it's fair to compare it to how Negima started out, because Negima started a story that was completely unrelated to the author's previous work - Love Hina. And whilst it wouldn't be a stretch to say the first two volumes were "Love Hina with a shota MC and magic," the story started building its own setting quickly since the beginning of volume 3.

On the other hand, UQ Holder started with a setting that had already been laid out by the author's previous work, yet in these two introductory chapters, it has yet to do anything interesting with it. There was hardly any indication of how this story is going to handle itself in the setting, or much to hook me into the story other than its relation to Negima. In fact, in the first chapter I couldn't care about Touta, but my sole interest was in Eva's role. The little interest I had in him is that he's Eva's protégé and Negi's grandson. However, Touta as a character did little to make me interested in him. Of course, there have been only 2 chapters so far and his character is yet to be developed, but for a series that is taking place in an already established setting, I expected a bit more.

Anyhow, this is just my impression after two chapters, which don't mean much because after two chapters the story is yet to develop, but I do hope to be able to have a general idea on where this story plans to head after 4 more chapters or so. I really don't want much SoL when there are a ton of things to answer. So, I'm really hoping the pacing in this manga will be considerably fast.

I have completely opposite sentiments, First thing we got in Negima was panty shot caused by magical sneeze and generic (in bad way) tsundere. It didn't get any better when tons of underdeveloped characters appeared in main cast later. And while Negi was more interesting MC than most and despite of his inteligence being 10 years old kid had it's limitation.

UQ is better on many fronts, with Yukihime being better protagonist (yeah not just heroine, deal with it), already established theme and unique (very heartwarming) family stuff. Overaly it feels more mature and doing better job with establishing main characters and their relationship so far. It's one of best first chapters I saw.

Akamatsu did realy good job learning from his past mistakes.

[Used Can]

^Those are the crucial differences that I mentioned though.
Negima DID start as rather mediocre, but Akamatsu did build a really good setting with it.
That's why I made that differentiation between Negima and UQ Holder. The former had to start from scratch, as it in no way was a continuation of Love Hina or related to it. Negima started its own setting.
UQ doesn't have that issue. The setting has already been laid out. All that had to be done was to make good use of it, but in these two introductory chapters UQ Holder has yet to do anything interesting with it.
And well, even you're admitting that one of the best things it has going for it is Eva having focus. So, the new series needs to rely on a previously established character, who was also a fan favourite to have some standing.

As for being more mature... nah... in my opinion Negima and UQ are different flairs of shounen manga, neither appealing to a more "mature" audience than the other one, but different audiences. Negima was a harem with plenty of perversion, but it developed it's own magic setting, rules, world and plenty of other things that is what made it as popular as it became. Even the girls developed into their own thing, when they started as just plain, regular girls. Plenty of them turned out to have plenty of secrets of their own, and many of those secrets, in hinder-sight, had even been hinted early on. Negima also had plenty of shounen battle elements during its mid point, some being amazing (Negi vs Rakan) and some being very, very generic.

UQ Holder is yet to decide what type of story it's going to become, but looking at one of the first page spreads and the whole "more than moe, a burning new series" I get the impression UQ Holder will be more focused on the shounen battle thing, and well, in Negima it worked for me because I really ended up liking the magic rules and setting Akamatsu came up with, but this one seems as if it's going to focus more on sword battles and maybe sword magic too, and that doesn't really call much my attention, not to mention I'm not the biggest fan of shounen battle manga.

Anyhow, again, UQ Holder has just started, so I can't call it bad when it hasn't had time to develop its story. My sole point was that, despite having an already established setting (something which Negima hadn't), I would have expected UQ Holder to have a sense of direction since the beginning, but it doesn't. So, I'm expecting it to tell us more about itself in the follow 4 chapters, rather than just Eva and Touta walking around.

[Tenzen12]

It has direction (dealing with immortality together and obtaining happiness) just not plot yet. Now Yukihime and Touta will travel for while and explore world and enjoy their daily life. It's pretty neat if you ask me. Epic big bad can wait for later.

And just by having adult protagonist with beliveable character makes it more mature.

[kagato3]

Originally Posted by Tenzen12

It has direction (dealing with immortality together and obtaining happiness) just not plot yet. Now Yukihime and Touta will travel for while and explore world and enjoy their daily life. It's pretty neat if you ask me. Epic big bad can wait for later.

And just by having adult protagonist with beliveable character makes it more mature.

And it already is dealing with the most epic big bads an immortal will ever have to deal with apathy and boredom.

[Tenzen12]

Yep, that's how it is. I am quite confident this will be more character driven most time than by plot (or at least in half and half ratio)

[dragon1412]

Originally Posted by Used Can

^Those are the crucial differences that I mentioned though.
Negima DID start as rather mediocre, but Akamatsu did build a really good setting with it.
That's why I made that differentiation between Negima and UQ Holder. The former had to start from scratch, as it in no way was a continuation of Love Hina or related to it. Negima started its own setting.
UQ doesn't have that issue. The setting has already been laid out. All that had to be done was to make good use of it, but in these two introductory chapters UQ Holder has yet to do anything interesting with it.
And well, even you're admitting that one of the best things it has going for it is Eva having focus. So, the new series needs to rely on a previously established character, who was also a fan favourite to have some standing.

As for being more mature... nah... in my opinion Negima and UQ are different flairs of shounen manga, neither appealing to a more "mature" audience than the other one, but different audiences. Negima was a harem with plenty of perversion, but it developed it's own magic setting, rules, world and plenty of other things that is what made it as popular as it became. Even the girls developed into their own thing, when they started as just plain, regular girls. Plenty of them turned out to have plenty of secrets of their own, and many of those secrets, in hinder-sight, had even been hinted early on. Negima also had plenty of shounen battle elements during its mid point, some being amazing (Negi vs Rakan) and some being very, very generic.

UQ Holder is yet to decide what type of story it's going to become, but looking at one of the first page spreads and the whole "more than moe, a burning new series" I get the impression UQ Holder will be more focused on the shounen battle thing, and well, in Negima it worked for me because I really ended up liking the magic rules and setting Akamatsu came up with, but this one seems as if it's going to focus more on sword battles and maybe sword magic too, and that doesn't really call much my attention, not to mention I'm not the biggest fan of shounen battle manga.

Anyhow, again, UQ Holder has just started, so I can't call it bad when it hasn't had time to develop its story. My sole point was that, despite having an already established setting (something which Negima hadn't), I would have expected UQ Holder to have a sense of direction since the beginning, but it doesn't. So, I'm expecting it to tell us more about itself in the follow 4 chapters, rather than just Eva and Touta walking around.

i have a different opinion, 1st 4 chapter is not enough to bring out the story, and so what if it already have a established setting, the time is different and it's can change what we already known. What you just said is the same as :" he's got money and family, so why didn't that 3 yeasr old turn into a business man "yet. And this is Ken Akamatsu we are talking about so a hot blooded shounen fighting might not be the main theme. No offense but it seem more like you just want fast pacing manga rather than expecting a good story. I 'd rather a slow paced but well developed story rather than a story jump into the 1st major arc in just 4 chapter. And it's already have a pretty clear direction, the story of immortality, and what better way to show the feeling of immortals beside let them travel and watch many things. And if you isn't a fan of shounen battle manga, stop forcing this into a battle one, it's may have battle but who's know whether it's the main theme or not.
I do agree that the sword fight is not negima strong point, so far it's just plain hack and slash compare to awesome fist fight ( ok , Rakan is awesome at both), but then again, it could be change along the story, if Ken done his research i'd say we could expect a good sword fight.

[Sian]

Originally Posted by Used Can

UQ Holder is yet to decide what type of story it's going to become, but looking at one of the first page spreads and the whole "more than moe, a burning new series" I get the impression UQ Holder will be more focused on the shounen battle thing, and well, in Negima it worked for me because I really ended up liking the magic rules and setting Akamatsu came up with, but this one seems as if it's going to focus more on sword battles and maybe sword magic too, and that doesn't really call much my attention, not to mention I'm not the biggest fan of shounen battle manga.

You're not fair towards anything here ...UQ Holder is still in its early days with not even chapter 2 out in english yet, so it should be obvious that it haven't shown clearly in which direction it would go ... it took Negima into Kyoto if not further to show its hand as of in which direction it intended to ultimately go ...

[chaosprophet]

One interesting theory I saw in 2ch is that the place the characters currently are at is the terraformed Mars. It seems his arguments came from observing how there seems to be the capital and then lots of villages, the geography and the like. It could explain why there was no world three visible near the tower (as last chapter in Negima showed it being constructed just besides it), Eva coming from the tower would mean she came from Earth. Also this could mean in a near future the war for Mars independence would happen and would like involve all Touta's friends from his village and other he make on the way.

[ReddyRedWolf]

Well that would explain why Negi's grave is different here than in the one Asuna saw.

That could mean as far as the Solar System is concerned Negi Springfield is dead but there is no body.

[Von Himmel]

But then, isn't that a bit weird? The inhabitants in Mars already knows about magic beforehand. It doesn't make sense if they brought a couple of earthlings to Mars while it's also only 10 years after magic was announced.

[Krono]

Originally Posted by chaosprophet

One interesting theory I saw in 2ch is that the place the characters currently are at is the terraformed Mars. It seems his arguments came from observing how there seems to be the capital and then lots of villages, the geography and the like. It could explain why there was no world three visible near the tower (as last chapter in Negima showed it being constructed just besides it), Eva coming from the tower would mean she came from Earth. Also this could mean in a near future the war for Mars independence would happen and would like involve all Touta's friends from his village and other he make on the way.

Interesting theory. Pretty plausible from the standpoint that the capital is named "New Tokyo Amano Mihashira City". That does not sound like it's intended to be either Mahora, or Tokyo, as I really don't see either of them being renamed just because the orbital elevator was based there. Also Ama no Mihashira (literal translation "pillar of heaven") is the pillar Izanagi and Izanami are said to have built for for their wedding ceremony. So excellent name for a new city built on Mars as a base for an orbital elevator.

Have we seen shots of the moon anywhere? That'd be a dead giveaway.

[chaosprophet]

Originally Posted by Von Himmel

But then, isn't that a bit weird? The inhabitants in Mars already knows about magic beforehand. It doesn't make sense if they brought a couple of earthlings to Mars while it's also only 10 years after magic was announced.

No, the Magic World exists "over" Mars. Here is info from the Negima Bible and extra on volumes translated by Vetus:

Spoiler for big:

Spirit World
異界 ikai

A place not of this world, but simply a few steps removed from it – an ‘alien realm’ overlaid onto the real world, separately existing on the same space. The land of fairies and spirits; heavens and hells; all of these are considered to be spirit worlds.

A spirit world must be anchored onto the physical world. Thus, a large spirit world also requires a physical mass of sufficient size. For example, the legendary Dragon Palace (竜宮城 ryuuguujou) of Japan would overlap with a specific space on the sea bed, even if it doesn’t physically exist.

The premodern definition of “spirit world” is not a defined location, but rather a mythological ‘place’ – in other words, an explanation for inexplicable natural phenomena. In Greek mythology, the existence of the Underworld is not used to describe the man-eating monsters 3,657,830,400km below the earth, but to answer the question of why human beings cannot be brought back to life.

Illusionary World
幻想世界 gensou sekai

Phantasmagoria – “moving shadows”. A type of illusion magic which creates a spiritual, dream-like world existing within one’s mind. Thus, the world can be molded in any way its creator sees fit, even rewriting the laws of reality.

These worlds are not simply a ‘trick of the light’, but are ‘real’ and ‘physical’ in the sense that they can be interacted with.

Magic World
魔法世界 mahou sekai

Mundus Magicus – an illusionary spirit world created using Mars as a catalyst, existing as an overlapping existence on its surface, and possessing its own cultural systems: magianitas, a magic realm (魔法界 mahoukai).

This world is implied to have been created by the Lifemaker about 2600 years ago, during the Age of the Gods. It belongs to a highly unique group of worlds mainly found in Celtic and Chinese mythology; a type of spirit world which can be enter with a physical body.

Mana comes from living beings, so terraforming mars would supply the Magic World that exists "over" it with Mana. But there would still exist a "real world Mars" with people brought from Earth for the terraforming who may know nothing about the Magic World and magic until later on.

[ReddyRedWolf]

Which brings to question what Mars independence war means in context.

Independence from Earth? Independence of real world Martians from the Magic World? Secession of the kingdom of Ostia from the Megalomesembria Confederation?

[aohige]

Originally Posted by chaosprophet

One interesting theory I saw in 2ch is that the place the characters currently are at is the terraformed Mars. It seems his arguments came from observing how there seems to be the capital and then lots of villages, the geography and the like. It could explain why there was no world three visible near the tower (as last chapter in Negima showed it being constructed just besides it), Eva coming from the tower would mean she came from Earth. Also this could mean in a near future the war for Mars independence would happen and would like involve all Touta's friends from his village and other he make on the way.

Spoiler:

.... But it has ocean? In a terraformed Mars not older than a century?
I highly doubt it.

Besides, the orbital station beyond the tower is shown in ch 2.

[chaosprophet]

Originally Posted by Krono

Have we seen shots of the moon anywhere? That'd be a dead giveaway.

I checked and there seems to be no outdoors shots at night as of yet.

Originally Posted by ReddyRedWolf

Which brings to question what Mars independence war means in context.

Independence from Earth? Independence of real world Martians from the Magic World? Cessation of the kingdom of Ostia from the Megalomesembria Confederation?

Good question. Second one would depend if in the future gates between the Magic World and Mars are created like the ones in Earth.

Originally Posted by aohige

Spoiler:

.... But it has ocean? In a terraformed Mars not older than a century?
I highly doubt it.

Besides, the orbital station beyond the tower is shown in ch 2.

Spoiler:

If we are talking about reality, 100 hundred years from now (the time it was supposed to be done as Asuna would awake) would still be way too early to do any kinda of terraforming. My guess Negima uses the fact that there is magic as to explain why it became possible to do it earlier. And what about the orbital station? can't there be one in Mars?

All in all I do agree that there isn't enough evidence yet to consider this a strong possibility, but I think it's interesting and could fit with what we have so far.

[ReddyRedWolf]

As for how Mars was quickly terraformed by Old World Humans it was mentioned Chachamaru was the prototype for colonization robots.

Note while Chachamaru never showed the reality bending traits of the Namba sisters in AI Love You her AI programming was based on Hitoshi and Yayoi Kobe's work.

Histoshi feared the proliferation of his Reality Module will cause wars.

Before AI Love You was cancelled Ken was toying with the idea of Yayoi possessing reality warping power herself from the Reality Module.

Perhaps these Magic Apps are a natural progression of the technology.

Magic needs Mana. Kobe AI programs need electricity like Chisame's spirit mice.

[Krono]

Originally Posted by chaosprophet

Spoiler:

If we are talking about reality, 100 hundred years from now (the time it was supposed to be done as Asuna would awake) would still be way too early to do any kinda of terraforming. My guess Negima uses the fact that there is magic as to explain why it became possible to do it earlier. And what about the orbital station? can't there be one in Mars?

Spoiler:

It would probably be easier to get oceans on Mars than it would be to get breathable air. Negima would certainly not be the first series that had an ocean on Mars while terraforming was still going on. For that matter, if you can open a magic portal between Earth and Mars, getting oceans on Mars could be fairly easy:

http://what-if.xkcd.com/53/
http://what-if.xkcd.com/54/

The only question would be can you continuously keep the portal open, and how much of Earth's oceans are you willing to borrow.

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by Krono

Spoiler:

It would probably be easier to get oceans on Mars than it would be to get breathable air. Negima would certainly not be the first series that had an ocean on Mars while terraforming was still going on. For that matter, if you can open a magic portal between Earth and Mars, getting oceans on Mars could be fairly easy:

http://what-if.xkcd.com/53/
http://what-if.xkcd.com/54/

The only question would be can you continuously keep the portal open, and how much of Earth's oceans are you willing to borrow.

there is already water on Mars in the form of ice. Additional sources of ice/water are comets.

[Krono]

Originally Posted by Xellos-_^

there is already water on Mars in the form of ice. Additional sources of ice/water are comets.

Yes, I know. I'm just pointing out an obvious possible avenue for instant ocean when you've got magic at your disposal.