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

[SleepingTerror]

Originally Posted by Fwarlord

Badass? She's just become more responsible toward those around her instead of just being a spoiled brat and dumping all the work to others like in Negima. In the prequel, she just made Negi do almost everything while laughing haughtily and looking down all everyone, including her classmate. While here in UQ Holder, she tries to shoulder all the burdens to protect Touta and her people from dangers. Maybe that's why she looks weak to you. People tends to become tired when taking care of their family instead of fooling around, after all.

LOL. Evangeline trained Negi. Dumping work on others? That is called training.
"Tries" is a key word. She tries and ultimately fails, and Touta has to step in. The equivalent of useless, except for the part where she keeps Touta in the dark, which is more a problem now than solution.
I loved that Evangeline. The one who could hold her own ground. The one who gradually warmed up to everyone because life as a prisoner isn't fun but once you've got a gang of friends it can be. She offered a darker perspective on solutions. She balanced out Negi. Perhaps the character you describe is not at all bad on her own, but she is no Evangeline. I simply don't see how a fighter like her could have evolved into this. And no, "tired" doesn't cut it.

Originally Posted by Tenzen12

Also MILF is better than VAMP, that's basic knowledge.

Best argument yet. Would it have been that hard to write her as both?

Originally Posted by Se7enSword

Agreed. She's a shadow of her former self.

Thank you. It's more disappointing than aggravating, to be honest.

[AstroNerdBoy]

I like Eva. She was another tsundere type in Negima, who played up the evil vampire-mage bit out of guilt over the things she'd done in the past.

That said, I do like the more "mature" Eva, but I do remember being a tiny bit disappointed she didn't go full mama bear on Nagumo, but I will say that Eva's true form shows more attitude than her UQH form does. As Yukihime, Eva often looks tired to me, as if worn by years of worry. As her true self, she has attitude. To quote myself from my review of chapter 29.

Seriously, while I’ve not had a problem with Eva in her Yukihime guise, Eva in her true form sitting back and observing things, only helping when it suits her purposes, is the Eva I love. That attitude of hers is what I’ve always liked about her.

For the entire fight, she was perched on that large boulder-rubble, watching. With Touta right in front of her, she was in a position to defend him if needed. So, when Touta got tossed the Gravity Blade, mama bear watched with keen interest to see what her cub did. When Touta defeats Nagumo, mama bear is proud, but with her usual “hmph.”

As I've said, I don't have a problem with the Yukihime guise. But Eva's true form is the one that comes off as more powerful, and certainly has more attitude and sass.

[DerGilga]

Originally Posted by AstroNerdBoy

That said, I do like the more "mature" Eva

Admit it, you're in for the oppai.

-----

Well, I did translate the spoilers for half a year, (ok bad translation),
I shared the Interview with Akamatsu,
and in general just trying to have a nice time.

But when after two years I give my opinion about that annoying special princess overmaster only once, the post gets deleted. And the actual reason I'm so disappointed, no warning, no infraction, no pm. I don't even know why it got deleted.

But hey, everybody has its limits. I'm done. Please perma ban me.

[quigonkenny]

Originally Posted by DerGilga

But when after two years I give my opinion about that annoying special princess overmaster only once, the post gets deleted. And the actual reason I'm so disappointed, no warning, no infraction, no pm. I don't even know why it got deleted.

I'm not even a mod and I can tell you that. It's because the mods are doing their job. No one is interested in your opinions on other forum goers, this is not the place for it, and it's probably against the forum rules. If you've got personal beef with someone, take care of it with them.

[Hata]

Originally Posted by Hata

08/06
Akamatsu Studio after 1.5 months rest, restart drawing UQ.

09/20
first deadline for UQ on BSM

Originally Posted by Hata

UQ 127 progress is slow, but Ken claims he is not worry, which was last week, when all he did is 19 pages total, today he mentions that the chapter is only 1/3 done after a month of works with with half a month to go, and he has to speed up again.

from that I estimate the chapter will should have close to 60 pages? no telling if Ken will cut it short now.

09/14 Ken calculates he needed to do 5 pages a day until deadline to make the quota for the new first chapter

09/16 declaring the new first chapter to be 63 pages, Ken “hopes” he can finish page 40 by the end of the day, OTOH, the color page for the front cover of BSM is done and turns in.

[quigonkenny]

Originally Posted by Hata

09/14 Ken calculates he needed to do 5 pages a day until deadline to make the quota for the new first chapter

09/16 declaring the new first chapter to be 63 pages, Ken “hopes” he can finish page 40 by the end of the day, OTOH, the color page for the front cover of BSM is done and turns in.

Well, if he's done with the color cover, they'll be able to finish the rest of the pages that much faster, since that's all he'll have to worry about.

[Hata]

09/17 done up to page 39, but finished all backgrounds for all 64 pages,

09/20
finished 50 pages, the rest 14 pages backgrounds all finished and only needs to put in characters,

09/21
due day, going nuclear, but by using a Japan public holiday (09/22 Autumnal Equinox Day) Ken is stealing a day to continue working.
*since none of the editors from the publisher will be working the immediate day after the deadline, turn in the work on time will only mean nothing will be done on it during the holiday, or you can say Ken sacrifices his holiday to get the works done, and this is not the first time Ken using this technique.

09/23
UQ new chapter 129 is finished, magazine cover+front 3 color pages+60 regular pages, including fan service of “all members”.

pre-order for UQ book #12 limited edition on Amazon is over.

10/09
BSM November 2016 with UQ chapter #129 goes on sale.

2017
scheduled UQ animation.

[AstroNerdBoy]

Cool. He did get it done with some last moment push.

[Diluc]

Spoiler 129 has out
That's mean time for Good ol Astro to write daily chapters summary in his blog.

[amtro]

Daily? I guess you mean weekly. And no, UQ Holder is a monthly now, so expect chapter spoilers once a month at best.

[AstroNerdBoy]

Originally Posted by Roxis

Spoiler 129 has out
That's mean time for Good ol Astro to write daily chapters summary in his blog.

True! Hopefully, CR is still simulpubbing this. I think October 10 in Japan is when the new chapter is published. Assuming Kodansha sent the pages to CR well in advance, then the Twins would have time to get things translated.

Originally Posted by amtro

Daily? I guess you mean weekly. And no, UQ Holder is a monthly now, so expect chapter spoilers once a month at best.

Yep. But there shouldn't be any break months though. Well, in theory.

[Hata]

Spoiler for 129:

confirmation:
there are 64 pages in the chapter (from BSM cover), and 1520 spoiler pages so far.
as leaks by Ken chapter starts with services
(interesting all go totally nude except Asuna, with underwear left so her hands are free to dash out punishment,)
Al made the gravity sword.
there will be some kind of paid all member services project, details will be out next month.

new info:
NTR complete, Tota sees how Eva was happy with Negi, and accepts it. (from the exact same scene in Negima ch. 137, but you see the gorgeous smile from Eva afterward.)
Lifemaker’s initial name is ヨルダ·バオト. (Yoruda·Baoto, probably name after Yarudabaoto, a super god robot after apotheosis in Super Robot War.)

note:
as someone acutely notices, on the chapter splash page, it was UQ Holders! #129, Mahou Sensei Negima! 2, as Ken no longer need to shy away with the obvious.

in the flashback you can tell the character design, especially Negi, Ken tries to use the Negima earlier style.

the spoiler pictures come out 30 minutes after Titans, which is impressive, (I thought it would be days after like SM) this means UQ is still pretty much in high demand, however, they are not originally from 2ch or reddit… but whoever is doing Titans spoiler is obviously also taking it up.

there are actually not that much story progression, in the end of chapter we were back in UQ timeline, so I will skip the blow by blow (Tota took lot’s of them) description, people should be able to find those pictures in the usual place after a delay, (I see they are already reposted to reddit and 4chan already.)

P.S.
per twitter, Ken just had his meeting with the anime director and script writer, as he said, next year would be busy.

[AstroNerdBoy]

Thanks for the info!

[Robotech Master]

I know Yue's got that 'A-cup Angst' and all, but damn that's a shapely torso.

Dat color cover tho. Trying to recall all names and faces: I know that's Makie and Akira there, are the other two Ako and Yuna?

[Hata]

Spoiler for 129:

even if this is probably twice the normal monthly page count, (so far I read 63 out of 64) no wonder Ken was not scare and only start to work on it one and a half month ago, most of the materials are all Negima flashback, and majority of them Ken didn’t even bother to change the camera angle,

and for such a long chapter, was surprising lack of substances, some fan services in the front of the chapter to keep readers interest, Ken had mentioned he purposely stay away from fan services started from the end of Negima and most of earlier UQ, so this is obviously a reversal of trend, the middle are basically rehash for new readers/old readers who forgot about the earlier part of Negima, and in the end a few pages of stating Tota’s goal and resolve, like I said, beyond confirming Kurobou was made by Al and Lifemaker has an initial name, no new stuffs, this whole chapter might just turns out to be mind attacks on Tota to try to get him give up and had nothing to do with real world back at the race track.

(Paru did mention about moving to a polygamy legal country to solve all the problems, but we digress…)

(Asuna handles Negi like a captured cockroach and doesn’t bother to put clothes on right away, familiarity with Negi is obvious.)

and more about the that name,
ヨルダ·バオト (Yoruda·Baoto)
LifeMaker

ヤルダバオト (Yarudabaoto)
a Super Robot War robot which suck off the pilot’s life energy and can transform into god form. (神化 Shinka) was derived from an alternative Gnostic name for the Demiurge, creator of world.

ヤルダバオート（Jaldabaoth）
Gnostic archon also known as "Yaltabaoth" or “laldabaoth”, maker of men.

notice the slight different Japanese spelling in all three? good chance we are basically talking the same thing, except we don’t know where Ken got his name from, directly from Gnostic is certainly possible, but so far lifemaker has nothing to do with lion or snake, and LM IMO starts up as a good guy.

[quigonkenny]

Originally Posted by Hata

Spoiler for 129:

even if this is probably twice the normal monthly page count, (so far I read 63 out of 64) no wonder Ken was not scare and only start to work on it one and a half month ago, most of the materials are all Negima flashback, and majority of them Ken didn’t even bother to change the camera angle,

and for such a long chapter, was surprising lack of substances, some fan services in the front of the chapter to keep readers interest, Ken had mentioned he purposely stay away from fan services started from the end of Negima and most of earlier UQ, so this is obviously a reversal of trend, the middle are basically rehash for new readers/old readers who forgot about the earlier part of Negima, and in the end a few pages of stating Tota’s goal and resolve, like I said, beyond confirming Kurobou was made by Al and Lifemaker has an initial name, no new stuffs, this whole chapter might just turns out to be mind attacks on Tota to try to get him give up and had nothing to do with real world back at the race track.

(Paru did mention about moving to a polygamy legal country to solve all the problems, but we digress…)

(Asuna handles Negi like a captured cockroach and doesn’t bother to put clothes on right away, familiarity with Negi is obvious.)

and more about the that name,
ヨルダ·バオト (Yoruda·Baoto)
LifeMaker

ヤルダバオト (Yarudabaoto)
a Super Robot War robot which suck off the pilot’s life energy and can transform into god form. (神化 Shinka) was derived from an alternative Gnostic name for the Demiurge, creator of world.

ヤルダバオート（Jaldabaoth）
Gnostic archon also known as "Yaltabaoth" or “laldabaoth”, maker of men.

notice the slight different Japanese spelling in all three? good chance we are basically talking the same thing, except we don’t know where Ken got his name from, directly from Gnostic is certainly possible, but so far lifemaker has nothing to do with lion or snake, and LM IMO starts up as a good guy.

Spoiler for response:

Probably comes from the Gnostic meaning (though SRW is probably where Ken first heard the name). I don't think it's meant to match the Gnostic portrayal all that much vis-a-vis snakes and lions or even inherent evil. Jaldabaoth in Gnosticism is the "god" who created man, which in and of itself would carry some similarity to the Negima/UQH portrayal of LM, given that she created the natives of Inverse Mars, or at least their most distant ancestors. It's also the name of the god of the Lusitanians in Arslan Senki, though there they spell it イアルダボート, if JP Wikipedia can be trusted. Also according to JP Wikipedia, the SRW kana spelling above (which matches, minus the word divider, the UQH spelling) is an alternate spelling for the Gnostic deity.

[AstroNerdBoy]

Yeah...

Spoiler for 129:

A lot of the Negima stuff is rehash, which I had no problem with. Obviously, there are going to be new readers, so this will bring them up to speed. For me, I liked seeing what Eva was doing when Nagi rescued her. I still want more info about her time with Ala Rubra.

[Diluc]

Chapter 129
It went from nostalgia to bloody shock.
Did Touta time traveled into the past or he was in illusion world? Hard to tell but Eva reaction made Touta sound time traveled.
Now, i wonder who is Al exactly it turned out gravity sword and Al did not get along well since the sword resented him.

[Homura7]

Admit it guys. None of you expected Eva go from an adult with the body of a loli to a wondrous sex bomb. Even if the later part is a result of age pills.

[Ultragunner]

I really want a chapter where Touta actually went back in time and meet Negi when he was in Mahora