(L) Negima Manga Discussion

[Blank-Mage]

Kenny's right, though. Inside of 3-A, I'd say Asuna, Eva, Mana, and Chachamaru have the biggest flags. Heck, in the first Negima anime they did kill Asuna. As the (arguably) closest to Negi, that's a risk for her. Eva is just too powerful for her own good, like Rakan. Bad things tend to happen to them. Chachamaru is a machine, so that's kinda a given. I mean, she's already been cut in half and speared through the chest. Mana... I dunno. I just have a bad feeling about her.

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by Blank-Mage

He's right, though. Inside of 3-A, I'd say Asuna, Eva, and Chachamaru have the biggest flags. Heck, in the first Negima anime they did kill Asuna.

there is no Negima Anime

[AlphaDragoon]

Originally Posted by Xellos-_^

there is no Negima Anime

That's how I think about it.

Spoiler for Chapter 313:

Recent chapter was pretty brutal. Kotarou, Makie and Yue got off-panel beatdowns at a speed I've never seen before in shounen, particularly the girls. It showed them talking about how they don't give up and charging in with a dynamic angle and then the next thing we see is a HUGE lightning bolt and Natsumi cowering in terror as Quintum approached her.

Ku didn't get jobbed out nearly as bad as they did, although it was with nearly the same speed.

It's a good thing that...

Spoiler for Chapter 314:

Negi and Tertium are about to get in there and lay down the law. Negi's harem powers truly are unstoppable, women want him and men want to be him/be his friend.

[OverMaster]

Originally Posted by nines

If anyone were to have a death scene I would think it would be Chisame, she was a side character at first but now shes grown into something really important to the series and especially to Negi. With her death it could cause a major bitch fit.

Bite your tongue. I think I could eventually stomach anyone's death but Chisame's.

The largest role a character has, the largest trauma would their deaths have on Negi. Killing anyone too close to him for real would send the series into Angst Forever grounds, and that's honestly something I don't want to see.

I'd bet on Rakan's off hand comment about Negi ("You're the kind of character who dies three chapters before the series' end") to be foreshadowing, but I'd also say it's likely such a death would be a single-chapter deal before Negi's return to life for the great finale.

[nines]

Well her growth is the one for a dramatic death I prefer Chiu-sama over all the other girls but she has multiple flags risen for her to die plus she was also one of the ones who didn't go to the garden she is satisfied with her life, bad omen in those kind of situations :O

[Sin Ansem]

Originally Posted by Xellos-_^

there is no Negima Anime

Denialism was never funny.

[GreatTeacherKen]

Well Negi is really protective of his students. For much of the series he's consistently insisted that his students not join him or tried unsuccessfully to push them away for their safety, and it's only recently that he relaxed a bit on this.

Killing off any of them would probably push Negi over the edge and send the series permanently careening into darker and edgier angst territory. Honestly, at this point in the story, I don't think it's entirely necessary to kill off any of them.

[OverMaster]

Originally Posted by nines

Well her growth is the one for a dramatic death I prefer Chiu-sama over all the other girls but she has multiple flags risen for her to die plus she was also one of the ones who didn't go to the garden she is satisfied with her life, bad omen in those kind of situations :O

Hopefully it also can mean the opposite, marking her as the eventual winner girl. I mean, combined with the recent reveal of her escalade on the affection ranks...

The theme with Chisame, since her arrival to the airport to her rescue from the octopus to 314, has been she trusts Negi with her safety, and he in turn strives to protect her. It's no coincidence most of the reactions to any recent huge events involving Negi always finish with a panel devoted to her face, from his fall into a coma to... what just happened in 314. Having her killed would mean a breakdown of that 'I can protect them' theme. It marks Negi, mainly in his own mind, as an utter failure. The Negima we know and love would also die at that moment.

I agree with the poster above on Negi's personality being wrecked permanently if he loses any of his students in such a way. Say what you want about the first anime, but I thought its portrayal on Negi losing one of his closest students was spot-on. Can you imagine those two episodes of angst extended to over 50 manga chapters? No thanks.

It even would ruin his career as a teacher. I mean, what do you say to the family of a girl who died while you were supposed to watch over her at a magical alternate world?

[nines]

Ken did intend for the manga to be dark as its been said many times before and whats going on at the moment with people falling left and right it would suck for a death but for me it would be worse without one since there has been so much build up for one. The "I can protect theme" is nice for now but its already failed majorly. hes come back to save them now and he obviously has something up his sleeve but failures don't just stop because of one comeback. Soemthing bad is going to happen to one of them for sure.

But the anime depiction of how negi would handle a death is perfect but we also have the ME's dark side to bring into play which would ruin his mind he would probably get brain fryed.

[Dargor]

I highly doubt anyone will wind up having a dramatic death scene. The only way we would see one is if Ken wants a major mood change on the series, and wants to deal with all that angst and such. However, with the given enemies we have now...I don't see it. Dynamis would have little problems killing any of them if pushed, but with that contract and all, he probably wouldn't do anything. Theres Quartum, but something about him makes me think hes not long for this world. Actually, with the ones we have handed to us right now, I think 3-A will be just fine, unless the Lifemaker himself is brought back from the dead. If thats the case, than yes, someone dying would be much more feasible. As to what would happen to Negi, well, we already established what would happen.

[OverMaster]

Originally Posted by nines

Ken did intend for the manga to be dark as its been said many times before

Not so much 'dark' as 'shonen, fighting oriented'. Good guys rarely stay dead in fighting shonen. Dragon Ball being the main offender.

and whats going on at the moment with people falling left and right it would suck for a death but for me it would be worse without one since there has been so much build up for one.

Why? If anything, there was buildup for a resolution and a victory until the clones showed up. And now things SEEM to be turning back that way. We will see, but if anything, going GRIM 'N GRITTY seems to betray the series' spirit.

The "I can protect theme" is nice for now but its already failed majorly.

Ken has aimed for a reconstruction rather than deconstruction of the old shonen cliches so far. Meaning he'll subvert them from time to time, but destroy them doesn't fit his game plan until now. And one of the core shonen themes is 'Succeeding at the face of adversity and winning despite all the chips seeming down'. Specifically, it's the very spirit of Negima. Ruining all that with a cruel death just to make the characters to suffer would be a spit on what fandom has come to love of the series... just to turn it into what? An Emo Naruto clone? I'll pass if that ever happens.

hes come back to save them now and he obviously has something up his sleeve but failures don't just stop because of one comeback. Soemthing bad is going to happen to one of them for sure.

The thing that should happen is more than ONE comeback, though, since Asuna still needs her foreshadowed moment to shine, and even Nodoka might be of some use yet if she wakes up in time. Since, you know, that was supposed to be more team centric than many other manga where the lead is the only character with any actual usefulness.

And dude, honestly, "something bad" already HAS happened to far too many. Enough already, at least for now. Good writers don't abuse the Drama Bomb to the point it loses effect and just jades readers.

Actually, with the ones we have handed to us right now, I think 3-A will be just fine, unless the Lifemaker himself is brought back from the dead. If thats the case, than yes, someone dying would be much more feasible.

The Lifemaker would need to be the absolute last enemy, with all the cards we've been dealt for now, so I don't think he'll be reviving until we see the return to Mahora and exactly what Negi's plan is. Otherwise, major anticlimax.

[Von Himmel]

Chisame's dead...damn, that makes me remeber that kimigabuchi's doujin @_@

And dude, honestly, "something bad" already HAS happened to far too many. Enough already, at least for now. Good writers don't abuse the Drama Bomb to the point it loses effect and just jades readers.

I think the effect for us (readers) of this drama is not as big as it should be. We always got foreshadowed that everything will be fine in the end after something bad happened. For example, Rakan's death...we know that there's a possibility that he will return, hence we're not that sad when the event happened. As for Chao...eventhough she said that she will return to the future, we still have many people who supported the idea that she will return there's too much positivity in this manga

[OverMaster]

Originally Posted by Flyvedelta

there's too much positivity in this manga

Actually, that's what makes me to cherish it so much. In this age where the rule of cool seems to be wangsty and edgy and over dramatic and tense, Negima is (was?) one of the few hit series that remembered how to actually have fun and make you feel good while not apologizing about what it was. A real Feel Good spot in a sea of Me Too Serious Bizznezz chores to read through.

[GreatTeacherKen]

I agree with OverMaster, because the Mundus Magicus story arc has gone for a long time already and there's already plenty of drama and action going on the moment what with the entire world being in danger and the other Fates showing up to make things worse.

I'm not ruling out the possibility nor am I completely against such a plot development but killing off a character now, especially one of Negi's students, would just be needless and too devastating to Negi's psyche and likely result in a Bad End.

I also like how although the series has gotten more serious story wise, it still retains its sense of humor. I'm not against depressing stories, but I'd rather this series not turn into such a story because I like its humor.

[OverMaster]

Yeah. I would be all over an Akamatsu series that started dark and sad and remained that way, but Negima shouldn't be shoehorned into becoming that series. If he wants to write a dark drama, he should do in another series, not to ruin this one with such a depressing mood swift.

[Dargor]

Originally Posted by OverMaster

Yeah. I would be all over an Akamatsu series that started dark and sad and remained that way, but Negima shouldn't be shoehorned into becoming that series. If he wants to write a dark drama, he should do in another series, not to ruin this one with such a depressing mood swift.

You are absolutely correct on that mark. In fact, if he did indeed want to take this series in that direction, Negima, as we know it, would be over. He'd probably have to change the name up a bit too, and all the other things that go along with a overhaul of a series. Will that happen, no, probably not. Would it work? Well...that depends. Lets just say it would take a level of storytelling and ect I have yet to see in most of manga and such. Otherwise, I just don't see it working. (Not to mentioned a pissed off fanbase for the most part.)

[Moczo]

Well... that was a bit of a downer chapter.

Ah, well, we already know a little bit of what happens in 314, so it's not as bad as it could be. And I seriously doubt anyone who's gone down is actually dead. For starters it has been stated that sending a Mundus Vestus human to Cosmo Entelecheia leaves a body behind, so presumably the worst that's happened is some people have been sent and can, therefore, be gotten back.

[chaosprophet]

Originally Posted by quigonkenny

Nagi and/or Takamichi have the largest death flags. No one in 3-A is at all likely to bite it, at least traditionally, even near the end of the series...

I tend to take as serious things Albiero says when he sounds serious. And back when he tells Eva that Nagi is indeed alive somewhere, he says after: "But... Evangeline, you... It's possible the day when you hope to meet him again will never come." (Volume 12, ch 103, page 10) If he gets that prediction right, it's a death flag for Nagi or for Eva.

[Shadow5YA]

The only place I can think of for Nagi to be MIA without being dead is Cosmo Entelecheia.

[Moczo]

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

The only place I can think of for Nagi to be MIA without being dead is Cosmo Entelecheia.

.... ... ... ... that makes so much sense I wonder why I never thought of it before now.