View Full Version : Licensed UQ Holder (Ken Akamatsu's new series)
SilverGlavenus
2017-08-12, 20:15
And Nagi turning into super human without any need of magic just down it a grade.
See?? I'm not the only one seeing this. I expected Thousand Master to fully utilize his magic, not necessarily a thousand spells but at least ... :D:D Nagi just straight up pulled power from his ass.
I'm kinda okay with Negi being the last boss, cause maybe UQ holder needs an even bigger and more epic final boss battle than Negima. My problem is that Negi was introduced way too soon as the final villain, along with an insanely powerful cast. I don't see how the new human girls in Touta's team are gonna keep up with that, without some absurd power ups.
UQ Holders needs more sub bosses for character developments. Negima was about Negi finding his cool badass father, and UQ Holder is about Touta saving his cool badass grandfather so ... :heh::heh:
Didn't Nagi do a no-magic run when he saved Negi's mother? Whatever happened to her?
Wouldn't be surprised if Ken forgot about Arika. I don't doubt he would have addressed this in Negima eventually but I'm not sure how he could fit her story into Holder.
Same with Asuna's backstory which is still full of holes. Now that she has almost no role in this story it will probably never happen.
Or the Master of the Gravekeeper's Palace.
Or Filius Zect.
Considering he is part of team Evil now and Santa flat-out mentioned he is not human, I think at least Albiero will eventually get some spotlight.
SilverGlavenus
2017-08-13, 07:55
I also want some more depths on Dana and her vampire race, considering how they are even superior to Eva
NapoleonDeCheese
2017-08-13, 09:02
I don't see how the new human girls in Touta's team are gonna keep up with that, without some absurd power ups.
I don't think Mizore and Shinobu are supposed to ever be useful in battle at all, they seem to be there only to supply occasional lame 'humor' moments and extra fanservice bits, like the cheerleaders or the Narutaki girls.
Frankly, from what was implied in the end of Negima I was expecting for the final fight against the Mage of the Beginning to involve the whole of 3-A, not just the same characters we ever saw over and over again. Even the anime series, both of them, and the animated movie found ways, even if lame ones, to make everyone relevant in their own final confrontations.
As for UQ Holder ever becoming its own thing at all again, I guess it depends on whether the anime is successful or not. If the franchise fails to take off as a multimedia thing, I can see Kodansha just telling Akamatsu to pull the plug, as it's not financially worthwhile to publish a manga that performs worse than the franchise that preceded it. Even so, given how the anime seems to emphasize the Negima angle so heavily, to the degree even original characters as important as Santa and Ikkuu are ignored, I wonder if even a successful anime wouldn't just send the message people wanted to see more Negima rather than more UQ Holder.
Not sure I'd want the whole Noble thing be brought up again. Not only because they clearly didn't exist in Negima, but because Dana can literally do anything, yet does nothing. At least Evangeline had the Infernus Scholasticus curse as an excuse, as annoying as it was already then.
Actually, I still have no idea what Evangeline is supposed to be, or what vampires are supposed to be, after Ken retconned the explanation like 5 times.
NapoleonDeCheese
2017-08-13, 09:43
The Nobles are too powerful as to be defeated believably if they ever become enemies, and also too powerful as to be credible allies without breaking the suspense. Yet the other alternative, them doing nothing Because Reasons (why not to just kill themselves if they see no purpose on partaking into anything anymore?) also seems so pointless it makes you wonder what was the point of bringing them up at all. Maybe Dana would have worked better as the last of her kind, or something like that.
SilverGlavenus
2017-08-13, 09:44
Not sure I'd want the whole Noble thing be brought up again. Not only because they clearly didn't exist in Negima, but because Dana can literally do anything, yet does nothing. At least Evangeline had the Infernus Scholasticus curse as an excuse, as annoying as it was already then.
Actually, I still have no idea what Evangeline is supposed to be, or what vampires are supposed to be, after Ken retconned the explanation like 5 times.
Hmm, i think Ken could use the Nobles as ways to develop the UQ cast, acting as bosses or whatever. The way it is now, Touta cannot beat MotB, especially since she has merged with Negi and Nagi.
But then again, with all the world domination and crazy battles happening and we still don't see anything about the Nobles taking actions, like you said, the Nobles must be stupidly strong to give a shit, or their world exists in some different place.
Eva was made immortal by MotB, right?? And Dana took her in and trained her, so the MotB may have some connections to the Nobles, a cast out or smth:D:D
NapoleonDeCheese
2017-08-13, 10:38
Besides, if the Nobles were so strong, why did they never do anything? I mean, it's not like their actions are recorded into public history. Even if we buy they are too jaded to do anything at all NOW, there must have been a time where they could be bothered to actually go out and do things. If they were so powerful, why didn't they take over the world, or at least leave a mark on recorded history, then?
Even the Magical World, where such things are public knowledge, never mentioned them at all during Negima. That's Dragon Ball Z/Super level of writing, where power escalation prompts the appearance of previously unmentioned guys who are so mighty they SHOULD have been brought upon before they were... but they never were.
SilverGlavenus
2017-08-13, 10:57
Besides, if the Nobles were so strong, why did they never do anything? I mean, it's not like their actions are recorded into public history. Even if we buy they are too jaded to do anything at all NOW, there must have been a time where they could be bothered to actually go out and do things. If they were so powerful, why didn't they take over the world, or at least leave a mark on recorded history, then?
Even the Magical World, where such things are public knowledge, never mentioned them at all during Negima. That's Dragon Ball Z/Super level of writing, where power escalation prompts the appearance of previously unmentioned guys who are so mighty they SHOULD have been brought upon before they were... but they never were.
Maybe it is exactly because they are too strong that they dont give a shit, much like the elves not interfering with lowly humans in many fantasies. Besides, if MotB does not pose a threat to them, they need not mobilize at all.
Perhaps they live in a different dimension or smth, seeing how Dana have a castle of her own in a middle of nowhere.
Wouldn't be surprised if Ken forgot about Arika.
oh he remembers all right, Arika's where about is one of the most asked questions after Negima ended, and Ken's answer is always "it's a secret".
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AstroNerdBoy
2017-08-15, 05:09
Translation: I retconned the character of Arika into the story and don't have any answers 'cause they conflict with what was already established and makes no sense. ;-)
I still see no reason to introduce Dana in first place
AstroNerdBoy
2017-08-17, 15:18
I still see no reason to introduce Dana in first place
To screw Eva over. :heh:
Tenzen12
2017-08-17, 16:11
I still see no reason to introduce Dana in first place
Dana-sama is glorious, why we should need some other reason?
NapoleonDeCheese
2017-08-17, 22:22
I still see no reason to introduce Dana in first place
Technically, Eva had to learn from someone. She couldn't have taught herself everything she knows from scratch, that'd turn her into too much of a Mary Sue.
SilverGlavenus
2017-08-17, 22:34
Fate, Eva and even Chamo are aware of the Witch of the Rift Dana, so we can expect to see more of her in the plot
AstroNerdBoy
2017-08-18, 09:43
Technically, Eva had to learn from someone. She couldn't have taught herself everything she knows from scratch, that'd turn her into too much of a Mary Sue.
I've recently been rereading Negima. All of Magia Erebea is credited to Eva doing research and such, all in order to survive. Negi then perfecting her technique to fight Jack. She is the sole shinso vampire in terms of how things are viewed - a final boss.
I don't have a problem with Eva learning from someone. Obviously she did that. Negima implies that she traveled the world, learning skill after skill after skill to survive after being turned into a shinso vampire and in the early days, still having vampire weaknesses to overcome. My problem with Dana is that she's the ultimate dues ex machina character.
In UQ Holder, Eva becomes a vampire so WHAM! Dana apparently kidnaps her to train her. After an undetermined number of years in Dana's castle, Eva learns to speak Japanese and whatever else, she learns how to be a doll master, learns magic, and I guess she picked up skills on how to be a fake shinso vampire. Oh yeah, and she must have "stolen" MotB's special spell called Magia Erebea at some point as well to cover for weakness that Dana's training didn't account for...or something like that.
To me, Dana's creation is to help further weaken the "final boss" Eva. After all, Eva was the the bound (via the curse) dues ex machina character in Negima. Now as a regular character, we can't have someone with that kind of power being able to do what she wants 'cause that kills the drama. So anything to make Eva weaker is done, and to me, that continued with Dana.
I've got to agree... I expected there to be other Daywalking Vampires, but Eva was final boss-tier. Dana being the one who put her there decreases the value.
NapoleonDeCheese
2017-08-18, 20:41
Well, it's a cyclic sort of thing, I believe.
At the start of Negima, Evangeline was certainly powerful, but the Eva Arc didn't really make her that impressive. Without her magic, she was fairly physically clumsy and incompetent, prone to tripping and falling despite having fifteen years to getting used to life as a human. A far cry from the hyper skilled Eva who, even with no powers and at daylight, easily defeated expert martial artists through the tournament.
It is often dismissed as her being just toying with Negi (despite the fact that, while she was toying to a degree, she also had fairly high stakes, she knew a failed attempt would probably end up with Negi moved away from her reach, and she REALLY wanted to break free already), but Volume 3 Eva doesn't mesh that well with the Top Tier to Top All Tiers Eva from later arcs. Hell, even Eva's fame is inconsistent with the fact Negi, Merdiana's top graduate and incredibly well versed on all things magical, didn't know about her before enrolling at Mahora (while much later we see Anya, who was Negi's academic inferior, DID know about Eva's reputation).
So, I do believe Eva's 'ultimate final boss' status was a retcon on itself, which made her as much of a Deus Ex Machina as Dana is now (whether that makes them both cool, makes it a case of Two Wrongs Not Making a Right, or something else altogether, is up to everyone's own interpretation). Granted, one that starts setting itself up very soon, when Eva oneshots Sukuna and bitchslaps Fate away, but still, the impression I got was Volume 3 Eva was supposed to be only a starting boss of sorts. I think I remember there was a pause in the publication after Volume 3 while Akamatsu re-thought a few things over? Maybe that had something to do with it.
Anyway, my point is Eva's shifting stature as the non plus ultra of vampires or simply just another very powerful vampire has been there practically from the start, so I don't mind that very much.
SilverGlavenus
2017-08-18, 23:58
Ken's characters' power levels are pretty inconsistent. If it serves the plot, then either the hero or the villain can receive absurd power ups.
The first time Fate showed himself in Negima, he did not strike me as a very powerful boss. As Negi became stronger, Fate's power rose constantly and he became one of the final villains.
It is as if character power levels depend on the awareness and relationships of the MC. As Negi and Touta got to meet more people, they get to see more of their comrades' or masters' strength. Eva showed her true power when Negi came to Mars and became aware of his father's team. Touta witnessed Eva power during the fight with Fate, before that I don't think he knew how powerful Eva is.
Its funny, i actually do believe that eva and fate will end up together and thats going to piss a lot of people off if it happens but at this point anyone is better for touta then eva.
AstroNerdBoy
2017-08-19, 14:23
So, I do believe Eva's 'ultimate final boss' status was a retcon on itself
I would disagree here. From the start, when Negi was given his classroom roster, Takamichi marked Eva as someone Negi could consult with. So that marks her as someone who isn't as evil as her reputation states. Immediately after volume 3, Chamo comes out and admits that Eva wasn't being serious in her fight with Negi 'cause she never hit Negi with anything massive at her disposal. And you can see that she's toying with Negi, mainly because Negi is Nagi's son and because she's not as evil as she claims. That does not negate her "final boss" status.
But more than that, from the time Eva got her arc in volume 3, she was shown as someone feared. Chamo showed her bounty on the magic world. You don't put that kind of bounty on someone who's not massively dangerous, even if they aren't guilty of a crime (as in the case of Negi and company in the MW arc). She tailed with Nagi for a bit, then fought him and lost via trickery. Nagi cursed her rather than turn her in for the bounty. This too does not negate her "final boss" status. Nagi just took the path of least resistance.
Finally, at the end of the Kyoto arc, she showed her true "final boss" status in how she dealt with Ryomen Sukuna no Kami, then forcing Fate to retreat. After that, there was no denying her "final boss" status because now we were shown fully rather than being told and shown glimpses.
Are there retcons with Eva? Yes. For starters, there's her whole association with Ala Alba. Nagi supposedly wandered alone and Eva tagged along with him. The retconned Arika was no where in this equation. I suppose during these wanderings, Eva could have met Ala Rubra, but the manga indicates that Ala Rubra pretty much disbanded as a group after the war. Eishun went to run the mage association in Kyoto. Jack went to do his fight tournament sponsorship (or whatever). Gateau was either dead or was about to die, wandering around with Asuna and Takamichi.
So how Eva became "close" associates with these folks is a retcon to me as none of the math works, more so 'cause Eva didn't know Nagi was boinking Arika. However, Eva as a final boss was never something I ever smelled retcon in, unlike her association with Ala Rubra.
Additional: I will point out another retcon for Eva -- the Magia Erebea scroll left with Jack. That screamed "retcon" from the moment it appeared and it was clearly done so that Akamatsu-sensei could work Eva into the story without again violating his established "rule" that Eva is trapped at Mahora due to the curse.
Ken's characters' power levels are pretty inconsistent. If it serves the plot, then either the hero or the villain can receive absurd power ups.
That's true. It is a typical shounen ploy, but yeah, all the rules went out the door so that Akamatsu-sensei could have Negi fight Jack. I didn't object to it in Negima 'cause Negi was established to have the ability to learn and master at insane rates (part of the reason I believed Negi was Nagi in disguise). As an aside, we sacrificed seeing Setsuna and Kaede lead the party down into the ruins for exploration just so Negi could be shown powering up, which really disappointed me.
The first time Fate showed himself in Negima, he did not strike me as a very powerful boss. As Negi became stronger, Fate's power rose constantly and he became one of the final villains.
He did for me, but I will admit that I was partly influenced by Spider-Zero from A.I. Love You. Fate was clearly designed from Spider-Zero and I had hoped that Sensei would find a way to link Fate to Spider-Zero.
That aside, Fate's calm demeanor and ease with which he took out Eishun and broke the temple barrier all smack of high level boss. He's going through, not worried about anything 'cause nothing can touch him. Fate's actions throughout are those of someone who exerts only the power he thinks is needed to obtain his objective and nothing more. That's another reason why I had hoped he was some kind of artificially created computer program like Spider-Zero.
So for me, I just saw Fate's increasing power not as Fate getting stronger, but Fate having to exert himself more due to Negi's powering up faster than Fate expected.
NapoleonDeCheese
2017-08-19, 21:36
Takamichi marked Eva as someone Negi could consult with
As I recall, that was a mistranslation, and what the roster said was Negi was to consult Takahata in the event Evangeline gave him problems. Of course, then Evangeline manipulates things in a way Negi feels he can't go tell Takamichi, but still. At that point Eva hadn't proved herself on anything yet, I think Konoemon should know better than to trust her with guidance over the son of the man who locked her up in Mahora. Later it's a different case, but at that point?
Immediately after volume 3, Chamo comes out and admits that Eva wasn't being serious in her fight with Negi 'cause she never hit Negi with anything massive at her disposal.
A few things were rephrased right after Volume 3, which takes me back to my original post-- for instance, the Card appearing after a Pactio was something only hurriedly pasted in through a reference after the fact-- in Volume 3 we never see the Pactio resulting in a card, that doesn't come up until Volume 4 IIRC.
Eva had a card in the first, very early set of shown Ministra Magi cards, along characters who looked like they were going to be relevant like the twins (who had a spotlight chapter very early in) and Sakurako (who at first showed up very frequently almost whenever the plot needed a secondary character to comment on things, and absorbed a few traits from the original concept for Asuna's roommate) only to be discarded (pun no intended) later. I suspect she, like them, was at first intended to be one of Negi's partners in battle, fulfilling the traditional role of the early enemy turned into supporter rather than master.
I didn't deny in my prior post Eva wasn't toying with Negi to some degree, but not to such a dumbly high degree she would all but throw the fight. She had a real desire to abandon the academy back then, she had taken the effort of putting that plan in motion already, she really did want Negi's blood at that point. Even toying around blindfolded and half asleep the later Evangeline would still have crushed Negi. Hell, as martial arts skilled as she was, later Evangeline might have beaten Negi down without her magic (since early Negi was physically vulnerable to skilled martial artists, hence why he genuinely considered Setsuna a major threat even before knowing all she was truly able of).
No, the Eva from Volume 3 didn't strike me as 'final boss' material the way the later Evangeline was. That the shift took place very early afterwards (and I never denied her owning of Sukuna and Fate was the major turning point for this shift in characterization) doesn't change the fact Volume 3 Eva is kind of a joke compared to what she'd be later, power and skill-wise.
SilverGlavenus
2017-08-19, 21:38
I would disagree here. From the start, when Negi was given his classroom roster, Takamichi marked Eva as someone Negi could consult with. So that marks her as someone who isn't as evil as her reputation states. Immediately after volume 3, Chamo comes out and admits that Eva wasn't being serious in her fight with Negi 'cause she never hit Negi with anything massive at her disposal. And you can see that she's toying with Negi, mainly because Negi is Nagi's son and because she's not as evil as she claims. That does not negate her "final boss" status.
But more than that, from the time Eva got her arc in volume 3, she was shown as someone feared. Chamo showed her bounty on the magic world. You don't put that kind of bounty on someone who's not massively dangerous, even if they aren't guilty of a crime (as in the case of Negi and company in the MW arc). She tailed with Nagi for a bit, then fought him and lost via trickery. Nagi cursed her rather than turn her in for the bounty. This too does not negate her "final boss" status. Nagi just took the path of least resistance.
Finally, at the end of the Kyoto arc, she showed her true "final boss" status in how she dealt with Ryomen Sukuna no Kami, then forcing Fate to retreat. After that, there was no denying her "final boss" status because now we were shown fully rather than being told and shown glimpses.
Are there retcons with Eva? Yes. For starters, there's her whole association with Ala Alba. Nagi supposedly wandered alone and Eva tagged along with him. The retconned Arika was no where in this equation. I suppose during these wanderings, Eva could have met Ala Rubra, but the manga indicates that Ala Rubra pretty much disbanded as a group after the war. Eishun went to run the mage association in Kyoto. Jack went to do his fight tournament sponsorship (or whatever). Gateau was either dead or was about to die, wandering around with Asuna and Takamichi.
So how Eva became "close" associates with these folks is a retcon to me as none of the math works, more so 'cause Eva didn't know Nagi was boinking Arika. However, Eva as a final boss was never something I ever smelled retcon in, unlike her association with Ala Rubra.
Additional: I will point out another retcon for Eva -- the Magia Erebea scroll left with Jack. That screamed "retcon" from the moment it appeared and it was clearly done so that Akamatsu-sensei could work Eva into the story without again violating his established "rule" that Eva is trapped at Mahora due to the curse.
That's true. It is a typical shounen ploy, but yeah, all the rules went out the door so that Akamatsu-sensei could have Negi fight Jack. I didn't object to it in Negima 'cause Negi was established to have the ability to learn and master at insane rates (part of the reason I believed Negi was Nagi in disguise). As an aside, we sacrificed seeing Setsuna and Kaede lead the party down into the ruins for exploration just so Negi could be shown powering up, which really disappointed me.
He did for me, but I will admit that I was partly influenced by Spider-Zero from A.I. Love You. Fate was clearly designed from Spider-Zero and I had hoped that Sensei would find a way to link Fate to Spider-Zero.
That aside, Fate's calm demeanor and ease with which he took out Eishun and broke the temple barrier all smack of high level boss. He's going through, not worried about anything 'cause nothing can touch him. Fate's actions throughout are those of someone who exerts only the power he thinks is needed to obtain his objective and nothing more. That's another reason why I had hoped he was some kind of artificially created computer program like Spider-Zero.
So for me, I just saw Fate's increasing power not as Fate getting stronger, but Fate having to exert himself more due to Negi's powering up faster than Fate expected.
It is as you said, I can see the pattern revolving around final boss-tier characters, especially Eva. At the start of Negima, Eva was shown to be a rather powerful mage and acted as consultant-master to Negi. She was even shown to be defeated by ridiculous methods by Nagi. As Negi delved deeper and get to know more of the big guns like Jack and people from Mars, Eva slowly revealed herself to be extremely powerful.
The same can be seen in UQ holder too. At first, Eva was a teacher-sister with martial arts abilities. As Touta went to UQ, she revealed herself as the manager of the organization. Only during the fight with Fate did Touta have a glimpse of Eva's true strength.
I feel that introducing Dana and the High Vampires is a means to train-power up the characters. Seeing how strained the relationship between Eva and Touta is, and that UQ members cannot hope to match Negi's cast, this is one reasonable way to get stronger (as long as Ken executes it properly tho :D:D). We already saw how Negi owned both Fate and Eva in less than a second so there's that. :heh::heh::heh:
Tbh, i don't like Touta's new power, being a copy of Negi's Thunder Vigor Form. It is a cheap way to get Touta on an equal footing with other bosses. It seems that Negi's shadow is too large. I prefer Touta to develop his own power based on both Magia Erebea and his White of Mars blood. At the very least, Ken should have explanations for characters' strength (*cough* Nagi *cough*).
It's cheap in many ways and goes back to what I said earlier about the lack of magicbabble explaining the rules and systems of magic and how everything in Holder just works.
In Negima, Raiten Taiso was explicitly mentioned to be more complicated than just turning into lightning, as Negi was also using wind magic to manipulate the difference in the surrounding atmosphere.
Yet Touta can just do it after absorbing lightning without using any magic. And instantly to boot without having trained for it properly.
He should never have been who he is as I feel his mere existence is not only very lazy and unoriginal, it also cheapens Negi and Asuna both immensely, and I would have liked him to come up with his own set of powers unrelated to either of them. Though I suppose there is simply no way he would be able to keep up otherwise.
Unless you're a Noble Ex Machina capable of warping space-time for some reason, of course.
AstroNerdBoy
2017-08-20, 20:05
As I recall, that was a mistranslation
When the Nibley Twins retranslated the first several volumes and took out all the rewrites and mistakes, they translated the note as, "Ask her advice if you're in trouble."
A few things were rephrased right after Volume 3, which takes me back to my original post-- for instance, the Card appearing after a Pactio was something only hurriedly pasted in through a reference after the fact-- in Volume 3 we never see the Pactio resulting in a card, that doesn't come up until Volume 4 IIRC.
I think that's because the pactio cards were not yet designed (or they weren't finished). One of the non-canon chapter splash pages does show Negi with Pactio cards, but they don't look the same as they ultimately appeared.
Eva had a card in the first, very early set of shown Ministra Magi cards, along characters who looked like they were going to be relevant like the twins (who had a spotlight chapter very early in) and Sakurako (who at first showed up very frequently almost whenever the plot needed a secondary character to comment on things, and absorbed a few traits from the original concept for Asuna's roommate) only to be discarded (pun no intended) later. I suspect she, like them, was at first intended to be one of Negi's partners in battle, fulfilling the traditional role of the early enemy turned into supporter rather than master.
I don't disagree on her card being designed early and that she was probably supposed to be a partner of Negi's. However, my take on this wasn't that this indicated Eva wasn't a final boss in terms of power and such. My thoughts were that Akamatsu-sensei was going to use it as a "get out of jail free" card to allow Eva to participate more in the story while getting around the curse. Instead, he came up with other gimmicks like having the Headmaster stamp forms or creating a fake Eva.
No, the Eva from Volume 3 didn't strike me as 'final boss' material the way the later Evangeline was. That the shift took place very early afterwards (and I never denied her owning of Sukuna and Fate was the major turning point for this shift in characterization) doesn't change the fact Volume 3 Eva is kind of a joke compared to what she'd be later, power and skill-wise.
We weren't shown Eva being final boss material in volume 3, but Akamatsu-sensei kept telling it, starting with her massive bounty, the fact that she had to be cursed and her powers removed, and that she was the stuff of nightmares among mage families. We didn't see her boss powers until volume 6, but that I saw was basically visual confirmation of everything we'd heard to that time.
It is as you said, I can see the pattern revolving around final boss-tier characters, especially Eva. At the start of Negima, Eva was shown to be a rather powerful mage and acted as consultant-master to Negi. She was even shown to be defeated by ridiculous methods by Nagi. As Negi delved deeper and get to know more of the big guns like Jack and people from Mars, Eva slowly revealed herself to be extremely powerful.
The same can be seen in UQ holder too. At first, Eva was a teacher-sister with martial arts abilities. As Touta went to UQ, she revealed herself as the manager of the organization. Only during the fight with Fate did Touta have a glimpse of Eva's true strength.
From Touta's perspective, I see what your are saying. From a reader's perspective, especially one who's read Negima, Eva seems to be way weaker in UQ Holder than she was in Negima. There were theories abounding about what might have happened to make her weaker. But even in her fight against Fate, she didn't seem to be the same powerhouse she was when she briefly engaged him in Kyoto. Of course she had the element of surprise there as Fate wasn't prepared for her, but still.
(As an aside, you've reminded me that UQ Holder reintroduced the idea of Eva having a massive bounty on her head, yet that part of the story was sure dropped quickly.)
I feel that introducing Dana and the High Vampires is a means to train-power up the characters. Seeing how strained the relationship between Eva and Touta is, and that UQ members cannot hope to match Negi's cast, this is one reasonable way to get stronger (as long as Ken executes it properly tho :D:D). We already saw how Negi owned both Fate and Eva in less than a second so there's that. :heh::heh::heh:
Dana was to be UQ Holder's Jack Rackan character, so I agree with you as to her purpose regarding Touta. And yes, this made a way for Akamatsu-sensei to dip into Eva's past by making Eva some kidnapped trainee of Dana's after Eva became a (fake) shinso vampire. But because Dana is now part of making Eva whom she became, this makes Eva weaker in my opinion.
In Negima, the reason I liked Eva was because she was shown to be self reliant, yet smart. She knew she had to learn skills to survive and that's exactly what she did. Eva even talked about being "killed," but because she's immortal, she regenerates and carries on. And she apparently traveled all over the world in search of skills.
With UQ Holder, she's apparently immediately kidnapped by Dana in a castle full of any kind of information needed to learn whatever. And Eva's only goal was to kill Dana and escape her castle prison as she resents whatever training Dana put her through. Had we not had the implied story of Eva in Negima, I wouldn't have minded this. However, it is much more impressive to have all of the weaknesses of a vampire and have to survive in a world of humans and hidden mages than to be kidnapped by some dues ex machina entity in a massive castle, giving you years upon years to learn languages, magic, etc. in order to escape said castle.
Tbh, i don't like Touta's new power, being a copy of Negi's Thunder Vigor Form. It is a cheap way to get Touta on an equal footing with other bosses. It seems that Negi's shadow is too large. I prefer Touta to develop his own power based on both Magia Erebea and his White of Mars blood. At the very least, Ken should have explanations for characters' strength (*cough* Nagi *cough*).
I agree here. While Touta no longer irritates me like he did, he's still designed to be the Negi 2.0 character with a side of Asuna. I don't think Akamatsu-sensei ever planned to turn UQ Holder in to "Negima 2." I think he wanted to do stories like Mashima-sensei did for Fairy Tail, then as UQ Holder ended, Touta would resolve the mystery of his birth and such.
It's cheap in many ways and goes back to what I said earlier about the lack of magicbabble explaining the rules and systems of magic and how everything in Holder just works.
Oh, I think Akamatsu-sensei did that on purpose. As I said, I feel he wanted to follow the Fairy Tail model and play fast and loose with things. Establishing rules binds him and the stories he can tell. Not establishing rules means he can retcon at will while claiming it really isn't a retcon, much the way Mashima-sensei did with Fairy Tail.
In Negima, Raiten Taiso was explicitly mentioned to be more complicated than just turning into lightning, as Negi was also using wind magic to manipulate the difference in the surrounding atmosphere.
Yet Touta can just do it after absorbing lightning without using any magic. And instantly to boot without having trained for it properly.
Touta's instant mastery of everything he sees was one of those things that irritated me to no end. The only reason I tolerate it now is because Touta was created to be Negi 2.0 with Asuna 2.0 in there as well. So it is my understanding that Touta has all of the knowledge Negi had, so he just taps into that subconsciously. Or something like that. :heh:
He should never have been who he is as I feel his mere existence is not only very lazy and unoriginal, it also cheapens Negi and Asuna both immensely, and I would have liked him to come up with his own set of powers unrelated to either of them. Though I suppose there is simply no way he would be able to keep up otherwise.
Unless you're a Noble Ex Machina capable of warping space-time for some reason, of course.
I totally hear you. I think that Akamatsu-sensei always wanted Touta to be the Negi of UQ Holder. Early on, I thought Akamatsu-sensei might use this to tell the story of the curse of immortality, something I kinda felt he wanted to explore in Negima but didn't get a chance to. But even in UQH, that didn't pan out.
When all is said and done, instead of UQ Holder, Akamatsu-sensei should have just done "Negima 2" and been done with it. He could have told the story from the perspective of Asuna being gone or just picked up where Negima left off, maybe time-skipping so that the girls were done with junior high and moved on to high school. Alas, that was not to be.
SilverGlavenus
2017-08-20, 21:29
Oh, I think Akamatsu-sensei did that on purpose. As I said, I feel he wanted to follow the Fairy Tail model and play fast and loose with things. Establishing rules binds him and the stories he can tell. Not establishing rules means he can retcon at will while claiming it really isn't a retcon, much the way Mashima-sensei did with Fairy Tail.
If it is exactly as you said, then i'm really sad :heh::heh::heh:. I love both Negima and Fairy Tail, but let's be honest here. Fairy Tail's story was good, but the last arc ruined it completely. Nakama power bs trumps any logic and completely crushed any potentials E.N.D could have had. Let's just hope that Ken does not make the same mistake.
It's cheap in many ways and goes back to what I said earlier about the lack of magicbabble explaining the rules and systems of magic and how everything in Holder just works.
In Negima, Raiten Taiso was explicitly mentioned to be more complicated than just turning into lightning, as Negi was also using wind magic to manipulate the difference in the surrounding atmosphere.
Yet Touta can just do it after absorbing lightning without using any magic. And instantly to boot without having trained for it properly.
Yes, even back in Negima, I was taken aback when I saw how flawlessly Negi could execute his new technique despite only learning it in such a short time. But that can be understandable due to him being extremely intelligent. But for Touta, he is established to be a dense guy with a knack for fighting, not some genius who can come up with insane techniques. Ken also went out of his way to confirm that the Thunder Spirit that Touta fought was "on par" with Negi, and even skipped their fight with the remaining three Elementals.
Though I suppose there is simply no way he would be able to keep up otherwise.
This is what I fear the most. Making the final boss too strong can get the author in a difficult situation. Not to mention how Touta is overshadowed by Negi.
Unless you're a Noble Ex Machina capable of warping space-time for some reason, of course.
Not necessarily :D:D:D Natsu punched the life out of Zeref (who literally has the ability to warp time and space) with just his nakama power.
NapoleonDeCheese
2017-08-21, 14:08
Taking narrative and world building hints and cues from Fairy Tail on ANYTHING AT ALL is just a plain awful idea.
Taking narrative and world building hints and cues from Fairy Tail on ANYTHING AT ALL is just a plain awful idea.
well in FT fanservice is implemented better :heh:
Azumi Asakura, seiyu of Akira (more famous as Misaki Shosho of Railgun, Akira was her debut role at age 16.), got married August 18th to a common office worker, she is 30 years old
Ai Nonaka, seiyu of Konoka, got married August 21st to a “civilian” (one outside the entertainment business) “old friend” in his 40’s, she is 36 years old and will continue her seiyu career.
(Ken: Is there a Negima wedding rush!?)
Negima BD Box#3 cover is NegiXSetsuna, (#1 is Asuna, #2 is Konoka), on sale 09/20, unlike the wideban Negima covers, these 3 are probably the best Ken drawing since the days of the earlier Negima covers.
http://cdn2.natalie.mu/media/comic/1705/0515/extra/news_xlarge_negimaBOX_image.jpg
http://cdn2.natalie.mu/media/comic/1707/0703/extra/news_xlarge_NGM2_sugatami_f.jpg
http://cdn2.natalie.mu/media/comic/1708/0822/extra/news_xlarge_NGM2_tenkai_f.jpg
the new wideban Negima rerelease in comparison has so so covers IMO, however, Ken did save the best cover for the last book in the series (#19), guess who she is?
http://i.imgur.com/1uZ2IRO.jpg
and to promote the wideban Negima compilation, now buying book #1-10 will get you an Akamatsu Studio Fanbook,
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DIZfAnDVoAADuq9.jpg
to promote UQH TV and commemorate Negima BD release, they are going to repeat showing of Dai Mahora Festival (the 2005 stage show which included all 32 seiyu), the 09/02 showing at Shinjuku with schedule appearance by Ken, Asuna, and Konoka(seiyu) is already sold out, tickets still available for the 09/03 showing at Osaka with schedule appearing seiyu of Asuna, Satome, and Yue.
Ken is putting out his first artbook, “Collected Painting of Ken Akamatsu” will go on sale October 4th at 2,500 yen + tax, from the promo it included at least all 4 major works. Ai Love Stop, Love Hina, Negima, and UQH.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DINPVQHUMAAwgmx.jpg
I will be extremely tempted if it included all of Negima color works, like all 38 books cover, etc. the somewhat cheap price for this art book means I will wait for reviews when it comes out before I decide.
there will also be a new UQH guidebook, the “UQ Encyclopedia” compile by the Shonen Magazine editors and will go on sale October 6th for 920 yen + tax.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DINPVQEV4AAh6Xw.jpg
both books are open for pre-ordering, and oh btw.
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/618edSaZGAL.jpg
per Ken's twitter
- C140 done, 41 pages.
- "famous mangaka" have already been lined up to do the end card of the UQH anime (middle of August)
(wouldn't it be funny if the guest art is nicer than the original? :)
- Ken is working on a color UQH which will be the cover of Bessatsu Shonen Magazine, not this coming month, most likely next month to coincide the beginning of the Fall anime in order to hype the UQH TV.
- and there is supposed to be a short work on Shonen Magazine Weekly next month, too.
NapoleonDeCheese
2017-08-31, 12:14
and there is supposed to be a short work on Shonen Magazine Weekly next month, too.
I assume this is either another Negima short that really tells us nothing or Akamatsu grooming his next work, just in case the anime tanks and he has to cut UQ Holder's manga short.
Most likely the later since last time they did a Negima short they announced it as such from the start.
I assume this is either another Negima short that really tells us nothing or Akamatsu grooming his next work, just in case the anime tanks and he has to cut UQ Holder's manga short.
Most likely the later since last time they did a Negima short they announced it as such from the start.
Im not sure where this talk of UQ holder getting canceled came from but I see it get brought up often here and theres really no basis for it. UQH may not sell Negima levels but the sales are still good by most standards.
Also an anime's success or failure usually doesnt mean much to the original manga unless the manga never sold well to begin with which doesnt really apply to UQ Holder. So even if the anime bombs that doesnt mean UQH will magically get axed.
NapoleonDeCheese
2017-08-31, 19:03
Yeah, it may be selling comfortably for average manga standards. But here's the thing.
Once you've got two best sellers, having a series that 'just sells kinda okay' is a major step down in perceptions in a cutthroat, highly competitive, shark-eats-shark world as that of shounen manga, especially for a man who is getting older and slower and has been shifted to a publishing rate where blockbusters are less frequent than they are in weeklies. And this is a man who always has wanted to be a spokesperson for the whole manga community. I think he believes he NEEDS to stay relevant and not just in a comfort midle to lower zone.
dragon1412
2017-08-31, 21:06
Im not sure where this talk of UQ holder getting canceled came from but I see it get brought up often here and theres really no basis for it. UQH may not sell Negima levels but the sales are still good by most standards.
Also an anime's success or failure usually doesnt mean much to the original manga unless the manga never sold well to begin with which doesnt really apply to UQ Holder. So even if the anime bombs that doesnt mean UQH will magically get axed.
UQ is still no where near the axe point, that's true, but you need to remember the sales and popularity of current volumes are nowhere near when it's begin
The very fact that UQ got dropped from weekly magazine to monthly one was the point, Ken might said to be open for younger newcomer, but truth is, new series got serialized long enough to be a regular will most likely come from experienced mangaka, the actual reason might be to anyone guess, but I sincerely doubt the publisher would allowed bestseller to drop into monthly magazine if they can help it
SilverGlavenus
2017-08-31, 21:50
UQ is still no where near the axe point, that's true, but you need to remember the sales and popularity of current volumes are nowhere near when it's begin
The very fact that UQ got dropped from weekly magazine to monthly one was the point, Ken might said to be open for younger newcomer, but truth is, new series got serialized long enough to be a regular will most likely come from experienced mangaka, the actual reason might be to anyone guess, but I sincerely doubt the publisher would allowed bestseller to drop into monthly magazine if they can help it
I too am not a fan of UQ switching to monthly manga. Seeing how we now have to wait a whole month instead of one week, I expect each chapter to be a little longer than 30-ish pages. It will be very long til we get to some major plot points, but then again, we sure do not want author to rush the story.
NapoleonDeCheese
2017-09-01, 20:40
the actual reason might be to anyone guess, but I sincerely doubt the publisher would allowed bestseller to drop into monthly magazine if they can help it
Well, maybe he's just honesty unable to keep a weekly pace up anymore, especially since he has less assistants than he did with Negima. And he can't allow himself more assistants precisely because this doesn't sell as much as Negima. It's kind of a vicious circle, actually.
No, he has said that he's getting old and that he can't keep up any more. And don't bother bringing up the sales argument. Ken Akamatsu has a fortune of 1.7 million USD. He can well afford to hire a few assistants and still live comfortably.
NapoleonDeCheese
2017-09-02, 19:28
Yet he doesn't have the same number of assistants anymore, that's been said before in this very same thread. Source for that fortune statement, please? I don't think even authors who sell better than him like Mashima Hiro or Kubo Tite have reached that amount.
Edit: I've been trying to look for up-to-date numbers, but they're very difficult to find. Personal info on mangaka, overall, seems very hard to come across if you don't know Japanese, at least. Oda Eichiro, pretty much Japan's top seller now, is 'calculated' to make 26 million dollars a year (http://kotaku.com/one-piece-made-its-creator-stinking-rich-1751771304), but not only that doesn't say if that's before or after paying the expenses and taxes, but, well, even Negima at its best sold peanuts compared to a juggernaut like One Piece.
SoloPanda
2017-09-02, 20:15
Yet he doesn't have the same number of assistants anymore, that's been said before in this very same thread. Source for that fortune statement, please? I don't think even authors who sell better than him like Mashima Hiro or Kubo Tite have reached that amount.
Edit: I've been trying to look for up-to-date numbers, but they're very difficult to find. Personal info on mangaka, overall, seems very hard to come across if you don't know Japanese, at least. Oda Eichiro, pretty much Japan's top seller now, is 'calculated' to make 26 million dollars a year (http://kotaku.com/one-piece-made-its-creator-stinking-rich-1751771304), but not only that doesn't say if that's before or after paying the expenses and taxes, but, well, even Negima at its best sold peanuts compared to a juggernaut like One Piece.
Negima sold about 20 million copies. One Piece has sold about 400 million. still Oda was making around 50 million USD a year. I don't think it'd be too off the wall to think that Ken has taken in a few million over the years.
Btw Yoshiyuki Sadamoto sold about 20 million copies of his title manga as well and he's worth about 1.7 million. Then again Evangelion was at an earlier time period where mangaka weren't making as much but his anime and merchandise are still sold today to certain types of fans.
NapoleonDeCheese
2017-09-02, 20:40
The sales of the manga must split their profits between the editorial and the author, and there are taxes to consider after that. With an anime, the intakes must be split between the animation studios, the editor, *and* the author. Akamatsu seems to have invested a fair lot on J-Comi (which doesn't seem to be very popular, as it mostly stays under the public eye. For all I know it might actually be doing a fair coin, even though I doubt it), and I once read news (on a Spanish website with no source link, so I'll freely admit it could be just plain bull) he'd also lost a lot of money he'd invested on his wife's failed personal enterprise.
Somehow, I suspect Love Hina made him most of the money he has now. Hina was fairly shorter than Negima, but I believe it actually had more of a multimedia profit. Hina's anime wasn't exactly stellar but back in the day was a fairly strong seller, leaving more of an impression on its medium than Negima's anime ever made.
http://img.2cat.org/~tedc21thc/new/src/1504624552110.jpg
So....As expected that the good ending in negima universe is being explained in more detail in this chapter. Thanks asuna for this and also there are photo of negi/chisame and eva/nagi in their wedding dress too. This is of course not happening in touta time line for sure, i wonder what happened in touta time line now because asuna wasn't there.
Finally we knew the last winner of negima after all this time. Also Eva who married nagi is the eva from negima time line.
Dude, spoilers...
And it's finally settled.
I have to say, I didn't see Nagi reciprocating Eva's feelings coming at all. But at long last, this also settles the deal with Arika.
Ruki0089
2017-09-05, 13:11
Seriously? Nagi x Eva? But what about Arika? Is she dead or something? Akamatsu Ken can't just kill her off screen like that..
Nagi x Eva ROFL
It sounds cringe as hell. I mean he loved Arika and did not look like a person who will decide to remarry somebody else later. What happened to Arika?
Considering Nagi was the previous vessel of the mage, you can guess yourself. Besides, he's a playa.
This pretty much foreshadows that the Eva of the present timeline is going to get Negi eventually, when all is settled.
Dude akamatsu developed some glasses fetish or something?
Btw i actually laughed at nagi x eva picture hahahahaha
Seriously? Nagi x Eva? But what about Arika? Is she dead or something? Akamatsu Ken can't just kill her off screen like that..
Good question. I can get pairing them, but Negi's mother deserves more mention.
Arika is getting shafted so hard it's almost laughable. It's like she only existed so Negi didn't have to be a tube baby. Or maybe Ken did have an idea what to do with her once, but simply couldn't bring it into the story.
Either way this pretty much cements the fact she is not going to play any further role either in Negima or Holder.
SleepingTerror
2017-09-05, 18:42
Wow. That just feels bad all around. Can't imagine what kind of explanation they're going to give, not a fan of pairing at all either. Picture looks disturbing the more I stare at it.
The picture on the left only somewhat makes up for it... Pretty cute.
NapoleonDeCheese
2017-09-05, 19:53
I'm not going to comment on the ships until I read the chapter, but concerning the popularity poll, wow, Kuromaru gave Kirie a brutal beating. And after the former spends so much time away from the spotlight given to the later, too.
dragon1412
2017-09-05, 21:06
Ken dig himself a serious hole this time, Nagi was never been explored much even in Negima, and this just kill any potential of Arika appearing ever in UQ, and not to said that even in Negima, Arika story was always obscure and limited as ...., heck, many people still think Arika is alive.
NapoleonDeCheese
2017-09-05, 21:21
I don't think Arika is very popular in Japan, I don't remember her ever appearing in any popularity polls, she never got any animated apperances beyond a silent two seconds cameo in the movie, and she's never even mentioned in the spinoff manga like Neo.
Akamatsu can get away with ignoring her forever if he wants to because, whether because she was introduced too late and dropped right after or not, she never had the chance to develop a Japanese fanbase. I think I've only seen like one or two Japanese fanart pieces of her, even!
http://img.2cat.org/~tedc21thc/new/src/1504624552110.jpg
I don't even.....Touta BTFO:heh::heh::heh:
I'm not going to comment on the ships until I read the chapter, but concerning the popularity poll, wow, Kuromaru gave Kirie a brutal beating. And after the former spends so much time away from the spotlight given to the later, too.
Perhaps Japan audience demanding Kuromaru more than Kirie?
Well, Kirie always get dragged attention than Kuromaru recently.
SilverGlavenus
2017-09-05, 22:07
Ken dig himself a serious hole this time, Nagi was never been explored much even in Negima, and this just kill any potential of Arika appearing ever in UQ, and not to said that even in Negima, Arika story was always obscure and limited as ...., heck, many people still think Arika is alive.
Ken pretty much fucked his own story now. I remember everything about Nagi trying to save Arika, but he just completely ditched her. And here I thought she would have a larger impact on the story.
It's true that Nagi was a vague chapter, he was neither established to be a player nor a faithful husband, so him marrying Eva is kinda bullshit. :heh::heh:
Poor Touta, he got owned in both his timeline and the other. :D:D What irritates me the most is the fact that in UQ, Eva keeps going back and forth between the three. It is a waste of time for Touta to invest in someone who can't even decide who she loves. Especially after Touta said to Eva in Dana's castle that she would love a cooler red haired guy. That makes Eva's feelings seems forced af.
Ruki0089
2017-09-05, 22:10
Normally, men won't tell their crush to love someone else... But since touta is two years old mentally when it to love... Can understand that but I won't accept it... I think I should stop reading this for a while...
NAJ P. Jackson
2017-09-05, 22:24
This manga is getting worst and worst :uhoh:
This manga is getting worst and worst :uhoh:
Yeah this had so much potential :( but now just unbearable to read.
Those nostalgia fans must be happy now they get satisfied Negima ending now. UQ Holder condition remind me to Goro Miura quote from Bakuman to Ashirogi Muto i don't really remember what he said but basically he was saying to the duo when they wanted to wrote script according fan wishes for don't listen to every fans demand and should focus to write your manga your own.
He might was bad editor but he do have point.
Ruki0089
2017-09-06, 00:32
Will fans in Japan rage...? Don't know but I hope they will... This story become so ridiculous...
Just one picture caused this much of an overreaction? This thread went to shit really fast.
people were speculating the final LM (female apostle form) Negi and Asuna defeated was Arika. without seeing the raw I have no comments, except we know LM originally was a female before possessing people to extend her life.
since Kuromaru won the poll, there will be a Kuromaru (female version) pactio card included within the November Bessatsu Shonen Magazine to hype the UQH TV series. depend on the design of the card I might be tempted to buy one. (price of a single magazine might be the cheapest way to get an official pactio card ever.)
there is a special limited edition UQH 14 cover
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51Gdu-hUnhL.jpg
Well, if that's true then that explains why they are tearing up.
Random14
2017-09-06, 09:45
When is this series actually going to get moving again? Its just several years too late to really care about Negi's story (after how Negima ended). Not that Touta is a great character but not interested in unsurprising flashbacks, to an alternate timeline at that.
So Chisame still wins the war, not a surprise. I am a bit curious how they got together, with how tsundere she can be most of the time. Wonder how many were crying at the wedding reception. Um, so that's yet another alternate Nagi and Eva? Unless Arika is just gone and then Nagi remarried (Negi having to call Eva step-mom is a hilarious image, though probably a nightmare for him). Well, it was always weird that that future Eva said she'd go timeline jumping to find an available Nagi.
I just remembered, afte these events Eva went to find another Nagi in a different timeline who was available.
What a waste of time, saliva, and your poor finger toes you have done, many of you.
NAJ P. Jackson
2017-09-06, 12:36
I just remembered, afte these events Eva went to find another Nagi in a different timeline who was available.
What a waste of time, saliva, and your poor finger toes you have done, many of you.
Kinda makes her cheap to settle for leftovers. Any Nagi will do for her. Doesn't matter if she doesn't have history with him so long as she gets his D.
NapoleonDeCheese
2017-09-06, 12:48
I just remembered, afte these events Eva went to find another Nagi in a different timeline who was available.
What a waste of time, saliva, and your poor finger toes you have done, many of you.
My guess is the Eva who returned Asuna to the past is the Yukihime from Holder. She already knew that timeline's Evangeline would marry Nagi, so instead of getting in the way she went away to find her own happiness elsewhere. I'm mostly sure she doesn't necessarily mean she's aiming for another Nagi, that'd just be a classic Evangeline way of saving face by insisting she won't give up.
SleepingTerror
2017-09-06, 16:33
Well, if that's true then that explains why they are tearing up.
Not true for me, Eva and Nagi just make a cheap, awful pairing :/
Absolutely no development on their end, and if UQ didn't ruin Eva's character already, this would have.
AstroNerdBoy
2017-09-06, 17:15
Nagi x Eva ROFL
It sounds cringe as hell. I mean he loved Arika and did not look like a person who will decide to remarry somebody else later. What happened to Arika?
She's a retcon character as far as I'm concerned. When you read Negima and examine the timeline of events (not talking about multi-verse timeline stuff), Arika only works during the war on the Magic World. After that, she stops working as a character because of Eva. Eva hung out with Ala Rubra long enough to become trusted by them despite her supposed evil ways. During all that time, no Arika. Eva traveled with Nagi for however long. During all that time, no Arika. Indeed, there's so little Arika, Eva didn't even know about her until Al mentions it during the Magic World arc.
Then there's Negi. Negi is conveniently born about the same time that Nagi is possessed, only his mother disappears about the same time. So Negi grows up an orphan. He never thinks about his mom, only his dad. Apparently the villagers never talk about Negi's mom either as they are shown to frequently discuss the Thousand Master. In fact, Negi doesn't seem to even realize he might actually have a mother until Arika is introduced as a character in the Magic World arc. Then suddenly its no longer just his dad, but it's mom and dad. :rolleyes:
I'm told that Akamatsu-sensei is frequently asked about Arika and his answer is always the same - its a mystery. To me, that translates to, "I really don't have an answer because anything I come up with clashes with stuff I've already established. So forget Arika and lets move on to something else."
NapoleonDeCheese
2017-09-06, 19:14
In fact, Negi doesn't seem to even realize he might actually have a mother until Arika is introduced as a character in the Magic World arc.
Which is rather dumb on itself since Negi is a smart boy, possibly the smartest boy in his world after all he ends up pulling. He should have mastered such a difficult concept as 'everyone is supposed to have a mother' at some early point of his life.
Then again, nobody else in Negima or UQ Holder seems to have a mother either, except for Yuuna and hers is dead, so...
dragon1412
2017-09-06, 20:57
Enough about Arika, It is not as if Nagi himself don't have enough already, try think back about Negima again, how much do we actually knew about Nagi himself anyway ????
All we knew is, he is Negi father, the thousand master who took down the MoB and .... that's it. Nagi was never explored much even back in Negima, why he does the stuff he does, when was MoB take over,.... none of them were ever explained, in fact, the whole save Arika from council pretty much took half of Nagi screentime in Negima
NapoleonDeCheese
2017-09-06, 21:09
We don't even know if Nekane actually got to know Nagi at all during her childhood. How was Nagi's relationship with the rest of his family? Come to think about it, why isn't Nekane by her uncle's bedside and then by his welcome party anyway? Surely they had enough time to call her before, they knew they were going after Nagi, the least they could've done was preparing her to either cope with his loss or celebrate his rescue.
Yeah, why wasn't Nekane at Negi's wedding too?
NapoleonDeCheese
2017-09-06, 22:47
Well, all we get to see of Negi's wedding so far is only a picture showing him and Chisame, and I doubt we'll get much more of the ceremony than that.
I wonder if we'll at least get one final mass stripping sneeze.
Just saw the raw. So the excuse for not telling us how Negi ended up marrying Chisame, how Nagi ended up marrying Eva and other things, was because there wasn't enough pages as Dana pointed out. :heh:
dragon1412
2017-09-07, 01:29
Just saw the raw. So the excuse for not telling us how Negi ended up marrying Chisame, how Nagi ended up marrying Eva and other things, was because there wasn't enough pages as Dana pointed out. :heh:
as much as Ken trying to make this a joke, I simply can't even laugh at that.
Ruki0089
2017-09-07, 01:36
Then in next chapter... We got another plot twist... In happy ending timeline, Negi and others have to face new enemy that more annoying than Life maker...
AstroNerdBoy
2017-09-07, 02:25
Which is rather dumb on itself since Negi is a smart boy, possibly the smartest boy in his world after all he ends up pulling. He should have mastered such a difficult concept as 'everyone is supposed to have a mother' at some early point of his life.
Well, one of the reasons I had my "Negi is Nagi in disguise" theory was the impossible lack of references to Negi's mom. In my mind, this would only be reconciled if Negi was Nagi, thus explaining why no one ever spoke of Negi's mother.
Then again, nobody else in Negima or UQ Holder seems to have a mother either, except for Yuuna and hers is dead, so...
Well, if I think about it, Akamatsu-sensei doesn't do parents well. In A.I. Love You, I don't think we ever saw parents. In Love Hina, parents were referenced, but we never saw any parents. The best we got were siblings and I think a grandmother cameo.
Enough about Arika, It is not as if Nagi himself don't have enough already, try think back about Negima again, how much do we actually knew about Nagi himself anyway ????
All we knew is, he is Negi father, the thousand master who took down the MoB and .... that's it. Nagi was never explored much even back in Negima, why he does the stuff he does, when was MoB take over,.... none of them were ever explained, in fact, the whole save Arika from council pretty much took half of Nagi screentime in Negima
In that light, we never learned a great deal about anyone in Negima. We got glimpses of different characters, but Akamatsu-sensei is always careful not to explore characters too closely. I've long thought that he does this because it gives him more freedom as a writer. Just telling us bits about Eva's past makes Arika a problem retcon character simply because Eva knew nothing of her, mainly 'cause she was never around and was never discussed.
So you are right in that we don't know a great deal about Nagi on a personal level, but we did get to see his past exploits and why he earned the title of Thousand Master.
We don't even know if Nekane actually got to know Nagi at all during her childhood. How was Nagi's relationship with the rest of his family? Come to think about it, why isn't Nekane by her uncle's bedside and then by his welcome party anyway? Surely they had enough time to call her before, they knew they were going after Nagi, the least they could've done was preparing her to either cope with his loss or celebrate his rescue.
Yeah, why wasn't Nekane at Negi's wedding too?
Haha! Nekane. Now there's a forgotten character. The official English translations for a couple or three volumes did us no favors either when the translator/adapter at the time decided to "localize" things and turn Nekane into Negi's actual sister. But then the Twins came and rescued us, but by that time, Nekane was almost gone from the manga.
Well, all we get to see of Negi's wedding so far is only a picture showing him and Chisame, and I doubt we'll get much more of the ceremony than that.
Speaking of which, this wedding comes off to me as another retcon, unless it shows that we are in some other timeline. After all, in Negima, Chisame was a recluse in the aftermath and merely an adviser to Negi, not his bloody wife. But much as happened in Hayate the Combat Butler, what the manga-ka wants, the manga-ka gets when it comes to their ship.
Just saw the raw. So the excuse for not telling us how Negi ended up marrying Chisame, how Nagi ended up marrying Eva and other things, was because there wasn't enough pages as Dana pointed out. :heh:
as much as Ken trying to make this a joke, I simply can't even laugh at that.
Yeah, neither can I.
just saw the raw. So the excuse for not telling us how negi ended up marrying chisame, how nagi ended up marrying eva and other things, was because there wasn't enough pages as dana pointed out. :heh:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Kazu-kun
2017-09-07, 05:09
Speaking of which, this wedding comes off to me as another retcon, unless it shows that we are in some other timeline. After all, in Negima, Chisame was a recluse in the aftermath and merely an adviser to Negi, not his bloody wife.
And why can't she go from adviser recluse to wife after a few years? Negi looks quite older in that wedding picture, so it's probably supposed to happen some years down the line after the Negima epilogue.
dragon1412
2017-09-07, 05:35
Chisame is fine to me, we was kind of foreshadowed it a lot, especially in the magic world arc back in Negima
NapoleonDeCheese
2017-09-07, 07:22
Well, if I think about it, Akamatsu-sensei doesn't do parents well. In A.I. Love You, I don't think we ever saw parents. In Love Hina, parents were referenced, but we never saw any parents. The best we got were siblings and I think a grandmother cameo.
I think we actually got to meet Mutsumi's mother, didn't we? The anime also showed both of Shinobu's parents IIRC, but then that wasn't made by Akamatsu himself.
So the excuse for not telling us how Negi ended up marrying Chisame, how Nagi ended up marrying Eva and other things, was because there wasn't enough pages as Dana pointed out.
... that's not funny or cute at all, that's just plain infuriating. Seriously, f**k that guy.
Hey, Dana passed the photo of Negi and Chisame's wedding to Kirie. I wonder if that's hinting at something.
NAJ P. Jackson
2017-09-07, 09:09
Hey, Dana passed the photo of Negi and Chisame's wedding to Kirie. I wonder if that's hinting at something.
Yeah, she's their secret love child.
All we knew is, he is Negi father, the thousand master who took down the MoB and .... that's it. Nagi was never explored much even back in Negima, why he does the stuff he does, when was MoB take over,.... none of them were ever explained, in fact, the whole save Arika from council pretty much took half of Nagi screentime in Negima
But as far as I presume there were not any romantic feelings between Nagi and Eva from Nagi's part. I mean there was...Zero :(
dragon1412
2017-09-07, 10:47
But as far as I presume there were not any romantic feelings between Nagi and Eva from Nagi's part. I mean there was...Zero :(
yeah, that's it, for the record, we only got 2 scene of Eva interact with Nagi in Negima, and both was like 2,3 pages:heh:
NapoleonDeCheese
2017-09-07, 15:08
Heh, I think Negima Neo had more interactions between Nagi and Eva than the actual original manga ever had. Now, Neo lists Akamatsu as a plotter, so that extra content might have been his idea for all we know.
SoloPanda
2017-09-07, 21:12
heh nagi looks worn out like she just wore him down and he gave up and married her in the end :D.
on the battle
Did Negi tear out Nagi's freaking heart and came along and just patched him up?
As far as the pairings go, I don't really have a problem with it. I'd like an explanation on Arika but I don't expect anyone to just live alone forever after their spouse dies. If she is dead Ken really should have dropped that bomb somewhere in the first story. If they just said back in Negima when Negi was living alone in the village that his mother died in child birth and his father went missing, this whole thing wouldn't even be an issue and everyone would have moved on from it years ago.
silenceblade
2017-09-07, 21:38
Frankly the whole harem thing was really stupid. A ten year old kid with several 14 year girls? At the very least his partner wasn't Asuna or Aki (my least fav heroine).
Isn't Negi immoral? How does that ending even make sense. Also the way the mage of beginning dies and how Nagi survived could have been done a lot better (feel cheated).
NapoleonDeCheese
2017-09-07, 21:47
If she is dead Ken really should have dropped that bomb somewhere in the first story.
I suspect he just hadn't made his mind up on whether he'd actually kill her off or not by that point.
SilverGlavenus
2017-09-07, 22:30
At this point, one simply does not apply normal logic to Ken's story anymore. Logic, as in how the story progresses and not the crazy battles:heh::heh:
But still, I can't even remember Arika's face. Now that I think about it, if all the characters did not have hair, I would say they are almost identical.:D:D
AstroNerdBoy
2017-09-08, 06:38
At this point, one simply does not apply normal logic to Ken's story anymore. Logic, as in how the story progresses and not the crazy battles:heh::heh:
But still, I can't even remember Arika's face. Now that I think about it, if all the characters did not have hair, I would say they are almost identical.:D:D
I think Akamatsu-sensei has acknowledged that he has a limited character design range. A lot of characters look very similar, save for the hair. Change their hair and its like, "Who are you again?"
SilverGlavenus
2017-09-08, 10:32
I think Akamatsu-sensei has acknowledged that he has a limited character design range. A lot of characters look very similar, save for the hair. Change their hair and its like, "Who are you again?"
If that is truely what the author said, then I'm afraid it only adds to how some characters are standing in the shadows of others.
IMO, one of the ways to revitalize the plot would be to enable Touta to come up with a power of his own and step out of Negi's shadow, instead of using Thunder Vigor. Also, Touta wanting Eva to reciprocate his feelings while understanding her love for Nagi is a waste of time, considering how it hinders the plot and makes him an undecisive character (at least for me).
On a side note, I only saw the raws of chap 140 but I'm pretty sure Negi crushed Nagi's heart, and Nagi is later revived. Is that even legit ??:heh:
AstroNerdBoy
2017-09-09, 02:19
If that is truely what the author said, then I'm afraid it only adds to how some characters are standing in the shadows of others.
I think he acknowledged it in one of the Negima volumes because Akira looks so much like Motoko from Love Hina and Chisame/Asuna look a lot like Naru.
On a side note, I only saw the raws of chap 140 but I'm pretty sure Negi crushed Nagi's heart, and Nagi is later revived. Is that even legit ??:heh:
It is officially being called a miracle. But it took Nagi two years to recover in a coma after Konoka did her healing thing on him.
As an aside, I should be writing my review, but my work day is finally over and I'm desperate for sleep. So tomorrow it is.
The implication is that Ialda restored his heart. Also, Negi didn't crush it, Nagi snapped his fingers and it disappeared.
silenceblade
2017-09-09, 07:25
Is the Mage of the Beginning's power mainly light or darkness based? Originally I thought she was darkness but looking it throughout the series it seem to be light based. Although she has power in every element it seem she specialize in the "white of mars".
Negi's power is obviously the power of darkness (a technique based off the Black of Venus) so it is obvious that while powerful it is not directly connected to the MoB.
On the other hand Asuna's "white of mars" everyone is after. Not only is it extremely powerful there are a lot of unexplained mystery. It could be stated it is the most powerful magic in existence. I want your opinion on the "white of mars".
SoloPanda
2017-09-09, 07:52
Is the Mage of the Beginning's power mainly light or darkness based? Originally I thought she was darkness but looking it throughout the series it seem to be light based. Although she has power in every element it seem she specialize in the "white of mars".
Negi's power is obviously the power of darkness (a technique based off the Black of Venus) so it is obvious that while powerful it is not directly connected to the MoB.
On the other hand Asuna's "white of mars" everyone is after. Not only is it extremely powerful there are a lot of unexplained mystery. It could be stated it is the most powerful magic in existence. I want your opinion on the "white of mars".
I think she's like Touta and can use both. The dark magic that Negi uses is based off hers and she's the original user of Magia Erebea. She also uses Asuna's white pretty often as well.
SilverGlavenus
2017-09-09, 08:01
Just finished the chapter. So basically if MotB will only move to a new host if the new host manages to defeat the current one. Nagi crushed his own heart, thus ending her curse once and for all. That's ... actually clever, but only if the character is not immediately dead when his heart got gouged out.
Also, MotB true form differs from flashbacks and current UQ form. I wonder who is the host in UQ universe ???
Is the Mage of the Beginning's power mainly light or darkness based? Originally I thought she was darkness but looking it throughout the series it seem to be light based. Although she has power in every element it seem she specialize in the "white of mars".
Negi's power is obviously the power of darkness (a technique based off the Black of Venus) so it is obvious that while powerful it is not directly connected to the MoB.
On the other hand Asuna's "white of mars" everyone is after. Not only is it extremely powerful there are a lot of unexplained mystery. It could be stated it is the most powerful magic in existence. I want your opinion on the "white of mars".
Even after all this time, Ken still hasn't bothered to specify what the difference between the White of Mars and Royal/Ancient Magic is. This is one of many things that never made sense.
Ialda is the progenitor of Asuna's entire family. Naturally, she should have the White of Mars yet has never demonstrated it and constantly needs Asuna and Touta for her Cosmo Entelecheia ritual. At the very least she clearly doesn't have Magic Cancel. Arika might have had it considering she broke through Nagi's barriers, but she simply could've done that will raw power.
It could be possible she can't use it because she is no longer in her original body. Maybe its power manifests with different abilities in each generation.
I keep thinking about the name Yaldabaoth and Gnosticism and how it applies to Negima. Sometimes I even wonder whether she is the Lifemaker at all and isn't just using his powers, as it was the Code of the Lifemaker with which the Magic World was made.
Considering the Code of the Lifemaker seems to possess powers she herself doesn't have, and dialogue in Negima seems to imply that the Code only worked once they captured Asuna, it just gets stranger.
I just wonder if Ken is even going to bother explaining. I was certain he had a plan in Negima at some point, but now that the focus is on his new author's pet he probably considers it irrelevant.
The "White of Mars" takes many forms depending on the user. In Ialda's daughter it was used to form the base for the pactio system. In Arika it could negate and shred through all manners of barriers and shields. Asuna's has the power of destruction and creation of magical constructs. Negi's can destroy clothing. Touta's is more similar to Arika's again.
Ultragunner
2017-09-09, 12:07
well, at the very least Eva got her life-long wish in the "Happy Ending"
But then, she fell in love with Negi in the current timeline? :heh:
I thought the only differences between the two worlds is that Negi got possessed instead of completely defeating MotB (due to the absence of Asuna)?
well, at the very least Eva got her life-long wish in the "Happy Ending"
But then, she fell in love with Negi in the current timeline? :heh:
I thought the only differences between the two worlds is that Negi got possessed instead of completely defeating MotB (due to the absence of Asuna)?
That's the problem to me, these last 2 chapters have made me feel like ken is a cuck who is just trying to appease all his fans. He reminds me of the authors on royalroad who listen to fan comments instead of writing his OWN story. Also why this is called UQ holder in the first place is beyond me since that has turned into a true negima sequel now.
Negi using Royal Magic has never been confirmed.
His sneezing is based on the Flans Exarmatio spell.
His great grandmother confirms it in the final arc in the gravekeeper's palace.
Negi inherited and was an unknowing user of royal magic.
His great grandmother confirms it in the final arc in the gravekeeper's palace.
Negi inherited and was an unknowing user of royal magic.
The Master calls him her descendant and nothing else. She doesn't confirm anything.
Negi's half-finished statement is in fact half-finished, which leaves it open for multiple interpretations. Her identity remains a complete mystery. She could be his grandmother, his great grandmother, his great-great grandmother or she could be Amateru herself. You keep pulling massive assumptions out of nowhere.
Negi being Arika's son alone does confirm him a possible candidate for being able to use Royal Magic, but nothing more. Certainly not the specifics of his magic.
Random14
2017-09-09, 17:05
Well, Negi's got divine-level luck. A harem of really powerful fighters (I almost feel sorry for Cosmo Entelechia, being beaten up by students not even a third of their age in most cases) and his father just happens to miraculously survives. On top of the Chao deus ex machina from the original Negima ending.
Figures that even on her wedding day Chisame is still frowning (and wearing glasses). Wait, so that other picture, did "main timeline" Eva marry Nagi after the Negima epilogue, or was that from yet another timeline? I thought I remember the future Eva (the one with Chao who greeted Asuna) said she was going to find an unattached Nagi or something. And no mention of Arika of course. In some ways I would have preferred for Negi to just have one parent (which happens often in stories), his mother just ended up making Negi even more powerful (though having that bloodline is really important for UQ, given Touta "inherited" that unique skill, even if imperfectly).
Why were they at that Kyoto place again? I kind of forgot by now. At least Touta's not down in the dumps again after hearing how awesome Negi was (again). I wonder where Chisame ended up in this timeline (considering what happened to Negi, and even Nodaka and Yue and Rakan).
NapoleonDeCheese
2017-09-09, 19:02
Wait, so that other picture, did "main timeline" Eva marry Nagi after the Negima epilogue, or was that from yet another timeline? I thought I remember the future Eva (the one with Chao who greeted Asuna) said she was going to find an unattached Nagi or something.
I've said it before, I think the Evangeline who married Nagi was the 'good timeline' Evangeline. The Evangeline who travelled to the past from the 'bad timeline' was most likely Yukihime after the UQ Holder series ends. What does that mean for touta himself and the rest of UQ Holder, who knows, but
I wonder what was Karin's reaction in the 'good timeline' when she met Evangeline again after that long, only to find her married to some weird dude. By the way, I really hope Akamatsu at least bothers to explain where was Karin, who is loyal to a fault, supposed to be during the events of Negima, including decades of eva wandering around and then being trapped in a school. That explanation should hold true for all timelines since the divergence points all come from after the Negima plot has already started.
I wonder where Chisame ended up in this timeline (considering what happened to Negi, and even Nodaka and Yue and Rakan).
I suspect the rest of the 'bad timeline' Ala Alba are still wherever Negi and the others came out of, in the event Akamatsu needs more callbacks to keep sales afloat.
Negi using Royal Magic has never been confirmed.
His sneezing is based on the Flans Exarmatio spell.
Maybe the sneeze, but his bloodline is the only reason he survived it when Magica Erebrea turned him into a demon and then into stone. His has the Royal Magic, even if he didn't know how to use it.
Tenzen12
2017-09-11, 07:55
While it wouldn't hurt explain what happen to Arika. Assuming she is gone for good I myself don't have problem With Eva x Nagi pairing. Eva loved him and Nagi reciprocated in the end and who knows maybe it wasn't something new...
Kinda makes her cheap to settle for leftovers. Any Nagi will do for her. Doesn't matter if she doesn't have history with him so long as she gets his D.
Depends who you treat as leftovers. Is Nagi leftovers to Negi or was Negi from beginning replacement Goldfish. Putting aside alternative timelines shenanigans they both can be just Touta's replacement.
All she genuinely loved all of them with their common points as well as differences. Falling in love three times in few hundreds years makes her pretty prudent gal...
NapoleonDeCheese
2017-09-11, 16:05
The Eva who went to look for another Nagi obviously had lost 'her' Nagi and Negi already (seeing she comes from a Bad Future) and she probably has lost or let go of Touta as well. The 'good timeline' she visited to drop Asuna by already had its own Evangeline, one who was set in the path to marry Nagi after Asuna rejoined the team.
So what was the other Eva supposed to do? Getting in the way of these relationships, Negi and Chisame's and the other Eva and Nagi's? Or mope forever alone? Going away to find her own happiness elsewhere was the best and most noble thing she could do, and she did just that without troubling anyone else. I'd say that was if anything the character's ultimate redemption act, so I'm not going to blame her if she still holds to the idea of finding some available alternate Negi somewhere. I'd say she's earned it by then.
Kazu-kun
2017-09-11, 17:05
Yeah. Also I think people shouldn't get so hung up on the fact she said she was gonna look for a Nagi. That's just a manner of speech. She's gonna look for love elsewhere, but whom she finds that love with is up in the air.
NapoleonDeCheese
2017-09-11, 19:15
Eva's just too prideful to admit before others she's gonna ever quit on her search for Nagi one way or another.
now you can play 5 different UQH characters in the DMM game Battleground.
http://www.4gamer.net/games/354/G035482/20170905031/
for every reprinted UQH manga book 1 to 13, (indicated by the book sleeve advertised UQH TV anime), 1 of 5 kinds of bookmark will be included in the back of the book.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DJcOYF1UQAApV5M.jpg:small
the shonen magazine UQ Holder one shot special is out on Magazine the same date the anime debut, nothing big, another fan services filled chapter that is light on reading, mainly another take when Kirie's save point mechanism were interrupted.
kind of disappointed for the one color page, you can tell it is rush and very blend, (Ken was working on extra schedule with 2 colors, this and Besatsu cover plus the extra pages of the special this month.) especially since this is the color pages which shown skins.
the end card of episode 1 is from Hiro Mashima (Fairy Tail), wouldn’t it be interesting later on if some other mangaka’s take on Ken’s characters is better than Ken’s version?
and now you can vote for your favor Negima 3A characters, one vote a day, at the UQ site until the end of October.
http://uqholder.jp/special/vote/
no surprise the leading characters
Nodoka, Eva, Yue, Setsuna, Asuna, Konoka
in that order, all regular leaders in past Negima voting, I cast my lot with Yue, might drop some votes later on for Akira and Ku Fei.
twitter note, the seiyu for Kuromaru mentions she first read Negima when she was in ELEMENTARY SCHOOL :heh: and at that time she does not understand the mechanism/purpose of sneeze clothes stripping, but now she does, so now she gets the feeling of how ETERNAL time flies :)
AstroNerdBoy
2017-10-02, 20:07
I take it that was the Korean thing I saw floating around.
I take it that was the Korean thing I saw floating around.
yes
Bessatsu UQH cover + Kuromaru pactio card + Karin seiyu cosplay
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DLXDgYpU8AA4Kcx.jpg:large
4th Dimension
2017-10-05, 17:22
Soo, seeing as the anime is coming out, it finally spurned me to take a look at UQ Holder. I was previously putt off by tvtropes calling it darker and edgier, but it isn't that dark.
Sure this is the "bad end" future, but the minute to minute going ons are still fun.
So all in all it's doing the thing that Negima did for me. The crazy chaotic action, the humor, the mixing of magic and technology etc.
On the other hand the MC isn't really that interesting. I mean he works. And his infinite fascination with whoever cool is around is interesting, but he also feels like he simply was given power and it's kinda annoying that he gets to master everything just by seeing it. I think among the reasons for this was that the writter wanted to basically skip the growing into power part of Negima and go back to the over the top action.
Also this thing finally gave me a proper ending to Negima in Ch 137-140. The action was suitably epic IMO, and it was nice to see the 3-A in ALL THEIR GLORY once again. Also, Chisame you go girl :D, even though I'm a Nodoka fan :).
Although like others I wonder where Chisame is in this timeline. Unlike others who would go along with whatever Negi means to do, I don't think SHE would go along with whatever the mage of the begining is planning, since she is the down to earth sort.
PS. the split for this timeline seems to have begun BEFORE the whole time travelling Asuna IMO. Because in this timeline the tournament arc was won by Yue and Ku Fe, which is not the case in Negima. I wonder how did that come to be, or did some cover up happen?
PS2: I think the 140 is the last translated chapter right? How far behind is it vis a vis actual JP manga?
We're caught up in terms of translations. Chisame is likely dead at this point, given the time period, and the difference is that Asuna returned to the past in the Good Timeline and lived out her life whereas she still asleep in the UQ Holder universe. Since Asuna is still asleep here, she couldn't save Negi from being possessed. I imagine that after he disappeared to keep the MoB at bay, they were forced to move on with their lives with regrets. Yue and Ku Fei may have decided to fight in the Tournament to become stronger or something since Negi wasn't here, or a number of other reasons caused by Asuna not being along with the 3-A girls.
4th Dimension
2017-10-05, 18:47
Are we talking of the same tournament? I got the feeling they were talking of the one shown in the manga? Back then Asuna was arround.
Or do you think this one happened after it, since it wasn't limited by age. So Yue and Ku could have trained and participated at an later date?
NapoleonDeCheese
2017-10-05, 18:50
I have a hard time seeing the real Nodoka and Yue going along with this too, and yet there they are. Not to mention Jack Rakan; if a Mage of the Beginning-possesed Nagi or Negi walked up to Rakan and proposed him working for him, I think Rakan's in character answer would be 'hell no, and get the f**k outta my little buddy while you're at it!' even if he knows even he has no chance against the MOTB. I guess the case may be made for the posession also affecting them so they aren't in their right minds, but who knows. I wouldn't be surprised at all if they never reveal or deny it.
It wouldn't shock me either if the next time we see MOTB Negi he asspulls other members of Ala Alba or Rubra like Ku Fei, Kaede, Takahata or Eishun either, or members of the old Cosmo Entelecheia like Dynamis. We never were outright told he brought the whole of his forces to this fight against UQ Holder.
Because in this timeline the tournament arc was won by Yue and Ku Fe, which is not the case in Negima
The tournament shown in UQ Holder is another tournament, I think. Notice Ku and Yue look noticeably older in that flashback than they were during any Negima tournament.
I was previously putt off by tvtropes calling it darker and edgier, but it isn't that dark.
It's more like the premise is very dark, and the world is supposed to be in pretty bad shape, but then the setting keeps kind of contradicting itself with its wild mood changes. The world's supposed to be so bad after massive global disasters large areas of Japan and other countries are reduced to lawless slums... but then that very same Japan also has tons of money to burn away in planetary olympic games and a huge space program. Immortals are hated and hunted by many, a la X-Men... but then, the immortals are able to hold an open bathhouse for elite tourism with no major consequences. Immortals keep talking about how immortality is a curse and shouldn't be inflicted on others... but then all immortals we see are very well off in life, and if anything their only problem is outliving those around them... which wouldn't be the case if they, um, just turned them immortal too, which they don't... because of the other dire consequences we never get to see?
Bwuh?
4th Dimension
2017-10-05, 19:11
I have a hard time seeing the real Nodoka and Yue going along with this too, and yet there they are. Not to mention Jack Rakan; if a Mage of the Beginning-possesed Nagi or Negi walked up to Rakan and proposed him working for him, I think Rakan's in character answer would be 'hell no, and get the f**k outta my little buddy while you're at it!' even if he knows even he has no chance against the LOB. I guess the case may be made for the posession also affecting them so they aren't in their right minds, but who knows. I wouldn't be surprised at all if they never revealor deny it.
It wouldn't shock me either if the next time we see MOTB Negi he asspulls other members of Ala Alba or Rubra like Ku Fei, Kaede, Takahata or Eishun either, or members of the old Cosmo Entelecheia like Dynamis. We never were outright told he brought the whole of his forces to this fight against UQ Holder.
They do mention something about the girls being TIED with Negi. One might assume it's via pactio maybe? But then Jack was in pactio with Nagi right? And he didn't seem to have any problems punching possesed Nagi or the mage.
So yeah the whole bit with the old crew being opponents is wierd to me. In fact I kinda feel like a lot of UQ holder is kinda the middle finger to Negima because of how it came to an end. I'll make my own manga and it will have all the elements of Negima I wanted from the start and blackjack and hookers. Look my new MC even has Evelline head over heels with him, and can do all that Negi could (not really) in fraction of the time.
It's more like the premise is very dark, and the world is supposed to be in pretty bad shape, but then the setting keeps kind of contradicting itself with its wild mood changes. The world's supposed to be so bad after massive global disasters large areas of Japan and other countries are reduced to lawless slums... but then that very same Japan also has tons of money to burn away in planetary olympic games and a huge space program. Immortals are hated and hunted by many, a la X-Men... but then, the immortals are able to hold an open bathhouse for elite tourism with no major consequences. Immortals keep talking about how immortality is a curse and shouldn't be inflicted on others... but then all immortals we see are very well off in life, and if anything their only problem is outliving those around them... which wouldn't be the case if they, um, just turned them immortal too, which they don't... because of the other dire consequences we never get to see?
Well while I kinda find interesting their views on their own immortality, the loneliness and shift in perspective time wise.
The world building parts with MASSIVE depopulation and the Tokiyo being in ruins DESPITE being the pace where the Elevator is located never really made any sense to me. If any place would be doing well it would be the places where the elevators were IF the colonization of the Solar System is going well. If it is MASSIVE amounts of freight will be going through it offering opportunities. Same with the seeming COLLAPSE of government.
Similar were the views of the hunters that consider that there is no coexistence with the monsters... for reasons. I mean both Eve and Toka are vampires, yet I have never seen them really experience any adverse effects that might drive them to do bad things. And we have seen exactly ONE supernatural/immortal thing be up to no good. So the whole spiel felt COMPLETELY bonkers especially coming from someone who just ordered, or fulfilled the order to basically destroy the population of a shack city.
Chisame is likely dead at this point, given the time period, Well Nodoka should be too (I'm assuming Yue has some forbidden spell from her book or something) and yet here she is none worse for the wear. Then again of all of them if there is some artifact granting agelessness, she probably has found it.
You're assuming that Nodoka and the others with MoB are actually them. They act more like sapient zombies than anything. Or, you know, the Mage of Beginning created copies of them. Code of the Lifemaker-style.
And the setting is darker. In the arc with the school, not only are they there because of a string of murders with people phased into the walls, we see a couple of rich pricks homeless hunting, we learn Santa was murdered and then brought back as a ghost, Sayako kick-started a zombie apocalypse and won for the most part (she's my favorite villain for that alone) and its made clear that the poor are being stepped on and nearly killed in the case of the slums.
NapoleonDeCheese
2017-10-05, 20:10
It's kinda funny Kuromaru already has two Pactio cards while none of the other Holder exclusive characters has one.
The loyal, conflicted dark haired swordsperson always gets two, it seems.
You're assuming that Nodoka and the others with MoB are actually them. They act more like sapient zombies than anything. Or, you know, the Mage of Beginning created copies of them. Code of the Lifemaker-style.
Evangeline treated them as the real deals, even trying to appeal to them, and I think she'd know enough as to tell lifeless copies apart from actual people. Zombification is very likely, though.
Other than the change of sides, Albireo acted pretty much exactly like he did in Negima, down to the trolling. Rakan and the girls were very off, however.
4th Dimension
2017-10-06, 02:09
Oh I agree they aren't acting really like themselves.
Then again it has been 80 years and they VISUALLY haven't changed much while Yue and Nodoka got a significant boost in effectiveness. So something fishy is going on.
Allthough their old selves do poke through from time to time which leads to SIGNIFICANT mood whiplash as exampled by the recently concluded fight at the race.
Yeah. People are dying, but then again it's not like that wasn't happening in Negima. What is new is the whole everyone is poor and Earth has gone to shit...for reasons.
AstroNerdBoy
2017-10-07, 02:16
@Hata -- So AKamatsu-sensei also drew Karin's seiyuu? I saw a drawn image as well as the cosplay images.
SilverGlavenus
2017-10-07, 09:56
New chapter is out.:):)
It's nice to see some "down to earth" combat, and the quirks of the glasses guy is intriguing.
The only problem is the title of the chapter "Towards our dream", yet it shifted to another fight scene. :D:D:D
4th Dimension
2017-10-07, 10:19
They don't want to splurge ALL the plot at once, hence tea and seeing how Cutlass ACTUALLY fights.
Cutlass's time pause does look a LOT like the time pause of that Fate's catgirl from Negima.
Quote of the day:
Boss: I KNOW, let's call the Police!
Glasses: Then we'd have NO MORE police!
LOL
Ultragunner
2017-10-07, 12:39
"I hate everything in the world" face LOL
and "ignore them on the internet hahaha
well, back to the plot, I'd assume that Touta would ask Dana to teleport him back to UQ hideout? He has unfinished business with her after al...
In any cases, can we get some progression with Cutlass, please? Seeing her angry and salty face all the time ain't fun :heh:
Ruki0089
2017-10-07, 12:52
We got "level status!!"
Soo, seeing as the anime is coming out, it finally spurned me to take a look at UQ Holder. I was previously putt off by tvtropes calling it darker and edgier, but it isn't that dark.
A good part of the Darker and edgier is that it 'abuses' the fact that the plot surrounds immortals, by not pulling any pounces by doing things that would otherwise kill everyone several times over...
I started reading UQ Holder for Touta's Journey and dropped the series once it turned into a negima sequel but i am glad that they aren't having any false advertising with the anime and are letting people know straight away that its a Negima sequel. Most of the cover art says UQ HOLDER NEGIMA SEQUEL, that at least let's the anime fans know right off the bat that it is indeed a sequel and not its own story.
I started reading UQ Holder for Touta's Journey and dropped the series once it turned into a negima sequel
It wasn't ever really a well kept secret that it was a sequel to Negima (Evangeline, and visiting Negi's grave should be major hints), only it wasn't advertised as such, due to disagreements (surrounding intellectual ownership of Negima IIRC) between Akamatsu and Kodansha
There's been an update. Exactly how easy is it to hack into UQ Holders database if Evil Sis can do it too. But I could do without the guy fighting naked. And... and is that the Gamer-powers?
Well, I wasn't expecting the second flashback to come immediately after the first one, but I was still disappointed.
Holder continues to devalue old characters considering Cutlass is literally Homura, Koyomi, (Negi?) and Asuna thrown into the DNA blender with the Black of Venus to boot.
At least the side characters are finally getting some screen time.
Yukihime's Ialda class remark reinforces my belief that Ialda is just the Disc One Final Boss, and the story will continue after she is dealt with. There is still other "gods" to deal with, after all, and Ialda was just a demiurge anyway.
SilverGlavenus
2017-10-07, 21:22
Well, I wasn't expecting the second flashback to come immediately after the first one, but I was still disappointed.
Holder continues to devalue old characters considering Cutlass is literally Homura, Koyomi, (Negi?) and Asuna thrown into the DNA blender with the Black of Venus to boot.
At least the side characters are finally getting some screen time.
Yukihime's Ialda class remark reinforces my belief that Ialda is just the Disc One Final Boss, and the story will continue after she is dealt with. There is still other "gods" to deal with, after all, and Ialda was just a demiurge anyway.
I hope Ialda is not the last boss. But we all know that Ialda is not overwhelmingly more powerful than other boss-tier characters. And after all the things that happened, I don't think we should put so much thoughts on the logic. :D:D
God-class isn't new. Remember, Sayoko was considered that class of revenant because she took in hundreds of thousands of souls and it chipped away at her sanity until she was just like Negi. Ialada just took in even more.... wait, was that foreshadowing?
SilverGlavenus
2017-10-08, 10:11
Now that I've reread the chapter, it seems that Gengorou's power has something to do with games, seeing how he can "respawn" and see the stats and levels of others.:):)
Now that I've reread the chapter, it seems that Gengorou's power has something to do with games, seeing how he can "respawn" and see the stats and levels of others.:):)
That was already pretty much made clear in chapter 6. We didn't really learn anything new about him here other than the stats thing.
...and now you can vote for your favor Negima 3A characters, one vote a day, at the UQ site until the end of October.
http://uqholder.jp/special/vote/
no surprise the leading characters
Nodoka, Eva, Yue, Setsuna, Asuna, Konoka
in that order, all regular leaders in past Negima voting, I cast my lot with Yue, might drop some votes later on for Akira and Ku Fei. Not surprising to see the the first five Ministra Magi and and Eva in the lead.
As for Nodoka being in first, this is part me being a Nodoka fanboy (yes, I voted for her here) and part me being well aware of anime, I think the bigger elements of this include her:
being a likeable character in the first place;
having a popular seiyuu (Mamiko Noto) voicing her, with Nodoka being one of her breakthrough characters;
being one of the most unlikely heroines in the manga, with her actually being proven to be just as awesome as fighters like Asuna and Setsuna (heck, the main reason I checked out the manga in the first place was because I was curious about her Pactio after Xebec ruined its anime adaptation of Negima);
being a character that all-around anime fans can like (i.e. her being the only one on Animage's monthly list of top 100 anime characters when the SHAFT version came out).
One thing that's nice is that we now know 'for certain' that Eva is French (that she speaks French earlier on proved nothing since that wasn't uncommon even in non-French noble houses, specially in England and southern Italy), somewhere in Eastern France to be more exact.
Tenzen12
2017-10-09, 08:02
Good we are back to plot and especialy to UQ holders band. Hopefuly it stay that way for while with Negi cast just making occasional cameo how it is supposed be.
Anyway I love these two guys.:heh:
Ultragunner
2017-10-09, 09:44
would Touta get teleported back to HQ? :heh:
Considering Dana, that's totally plausible :heh:
and it doesn't feel right if either Cutlass wins or gets done in by those two. I'd be very disappointed if she escapes again though
Who's Negi's wife? Chisame?
SilverGlavenus
2017-10-09, 10:02
Who's Negi's wife? Chisame?
That's right. And Kirie is happy about this (implying that megane girls maybe the winners)
^Uheee, it wasn't alternate timeline stuff? I want Karin route
NapoleonDeCheese
2017-10-09, 10:13
There's been an update. Exactly how easy is it to hack into UQ Holders database if Evil Sis can do it too. But I could do without the guy fighting naked.
Cutlass is working for Negi, and I wouldn't be shocked if this Negi also has his own Chisame to do hacking for him (again, I suspect we haven't seen the full extent of Negi's forces yet, it makes sense they're saving something for future confrontations). Even if not, Chisame could've left them with enough computer expertise, or Chachamaru might be even be a mole for Negi's team out of loyalty to him (and to Chisame/Chisame's memories). It wouldn't even be the first time Chacha is brought in as a sympathetic antagonist of sorts. I don't think this is the case, mind, and the hacking will most likely be left unexplained like so many other things, but it'd still be something interesting to see.
I could've done without the butthurt 'internet' gag, which most often is the type of kind to come from authors who can't take criticism, but otherwise this was an okay chapter giving some much needed panel time to two characters (Jinbei and Gengorou, Cutlass the Edgelady still can go jump into a ditch and stay there) who deserved better. And the manservice was fine, if we took the female fanservice we can take this too, it's just fair and square.
SilverGlavenus
2017-10-09, 10:14
^Uheee, it wasn't alternate timeline stuff? I want Karin route
It is alternate timeline. Touta and co are looking at the happy ending of that timeline. The megane part is probably due to the author's fetish. :heh::heh:
It is alternate timeline. Touta and co are looking at the happy ending of that timeline. The megane part is probably due to the author's fetish. :heh::heh:
Well, for us it's the original timeline, since that's what we missed at the end of Negima.
Tenzen12
2017-10-09, 12:37
That's right. And Kirie is happy about this (implying that megane girls maybe the winners)
It's not just glasses, they have practically same personality too.
NapoleonDeCheese
2017-10-09, 15:48
By the way, so Karin didn't know anything about the Thousand Master, a celebrity of the magical world, before? That only adds to the awkward situation where she is, plot-wise. What was she supposed to be doing around the whole time Negima was taking place? She obviously couldn't be anywhere around Mundus Magicus or Vetus, at least not conscious, and not have heard anything at all about Nagi, or seen his figure if she ever was in Mars. And even so, didn't she bother to get up to date on her knowledge of the important magical figures after joining UQ Holder? None of her superiors saw fit to inform this important field agent on the subject either? How does that work at all?
the shonen magazine UQ Holder one shot special is out on Magazine the same date the anime debut, nothing big, another fan services filled chapter that is light on reading, mainly another take when Kirie's save point mechanism were interrupted.
kind of disappointed for the one color page, you can tell it is rush and very blend, (Ken was working on extra schedule with 2 colors, this and Besatsu cover plus the extra pages of the special this month.) especially since this is the color pages which shown skins.
the end card of episode 1 is from Hiro Mashima (Fairy Tail), wouldn’t it be interesting later on if some other mangaka’s take on Ken’s characters is better than Ken’s version?
and now you can vote for your favor Negima 3A characters, one vote a day, at the UQ site until the end of October.
http://uqholder.jp/special/vote/
no surprise the leading characters
Nodoka, Eva, Yue, Setsuna, Asuna, Konoka
in that order, all regular leaders in past Negima voting, I cast my lot with Yue, might drop some votes later on for Akira and Ku Fei.
twitter note, the seiyu for Kuromaru mentions she first read Negima when she was in ELEMENTARY SCHOOL :heh: and at that time she does not understand the mechanism/purpose of sneeze clothes stripping, but now she does, so now she gets the feeling of how ETERNAL time flies :)
I hope Eva will get 1st place soon
4th Dimension
2017-10-09, 16:53
By the way, so Karin didn't know anything about the Thousand Master, a celebrity of the magical world, before? That only adds to the awkward situation where she is, plot-wise. What was she supposed to be doing around the whole time Negima was taking place? She obviously couldn't be anywhere around Mundus Magicus or Vetus, at least not conscious, and not have heard anything at all about Nagi, or seen his figure if she ever was in Mars. And even so, didn't she bother to get up to date on her knowledge of the important magical figures after joining UQ Holder? None of her superiors saw fit to inform this important field agent on the subject either? How does that work at all?
I don't remember. Did she really not know who Negi was? Nagi I would understand since he wasn't really known on this side of things. But Negi practically built that elevator.
Excepting that, I guess the reason Karin was not at Mahora, was that as immortals they tend to loose touch from time to time, because it's a fucklong time. And Eva seems to me as someone who tends to be bored by things being the same all the time.
So, I guess she lost sight of Eva before she ran into Nagi, and then Eva spent like a decade at the last place you would expect Eva to be pretending to be just a schoolgirl.
Regarding the Anime Adaptation, upon checking the english credits, both the Konoe sisters and Santa seem to be out of count.
It may be better to expect them to not appear in the adaptation.
They're not going to neglect Santa. He's actually important.
4th Dimension
2017-10-10, 01:30
Ehhh. If you skip the Mahora arc and maybe limit Colonel Sanders' involvement, he really becomes a background character.
What he really is is the straight man to the crazy. And given how much compression they might need that might not be needed.
They're not going to neglect Santa. He's actually important.
just remember, the seiyu list including Asuna and Negi, that means they probably were targeting the anime to end around Chapter 134! and they already spend a whole episode just on the first chapter alone, even with the assumption that the TV series will go 24 instead of 12 episodes, this will be a massive rush job, so the Santa arc is not likely to be included, and a pity on that since Santa arc is the one I enjoy the most of all the UQ story.
==========
episode 2 end card is done by Hiroyuki, of the "Aho Girl", “Managka and Assistant” fame, kind of interesting his Japanese wiki listed Akamatsu as the mangaka he respects.
Screw that. I'm here for the Sayoko arc. That was lit.
4th Dimension
2017-10-10, 07:43
Disappointment: a critical part of watching any Negima adaptation as a fan.
SilverGlavenus
2017-10-10, 07:49
Hmm, guess I should wait till the anime finishes airing. Waiting each week for an episode seems not worth it.
Screw that. I'm here for the Sayoko arc. That was lit.
Santa sacrificed for Mizore existence?
Yeah, never understand this logic:uhoh:
then why the hell you introduced us Santa ken:frustrated:
4th Dimension
2017-10-10, 09:33
Well Santa might as well have more roles to play in the manga, and I like how his outlook on the whole training and such changes etc., but yeah if they think to CRAM 100+ chapters of this into 13 episodes somebody is getting cut. And unfortunatelly it seems someone has decided that the fan service and harem is a KEY ingredient.
Seeing the alternate happy ending crashed my ship of TotaXEva.
Finally we get to see Jinbei and Gengoro fight for real :D other than being happy go lucky in the entire serie XD And if my boi Santa wont be in the adaptation im gonna riot!! He is the real bro XD
Ultragunner
2017-10-10, 10:04
^why crash that ship though? :p
Touta is still hung up on the 16 year old Kitty, and until MotB is defeated, neither of them would ever be able to move forward
in all honesty, a harem end should be the goal :p
I mean seriously, they are immortal, social norms and sh*t just don’t apply to them :heh:
Kazu-kun
2017-10-10, 10:09
in all honesty, a harem end should be the goal :p
I mean seriously, they are immortal, social norms and sh*t just don’t apply to them
Eva deserves better than a fucking harem ending. Even Negi was willing to settle down with Chisame. If Touta can't do that much, then he's not worth it.
Well Santa might as well have more roles to play in the manga, and I like how his outlook on the whole training and such changes etc., but yeah if they think to CRAM 100+ chapters of this into 13 episodes somebody is getting cut. And unfortunately it seems someone has decided that the fan service and harem is a KEY ingredient.
More than a little is going to get cut if they try to squeeze 100+ chapters into a single cour. That's just not feasible. Instead of presenting us with Negima characters right off the bat they should have just stuck to this season introducing the Numbers and ending on the Sayako arc, with a teaser to Negi later on...
Wait, didn't they cut the introduction of the girl who wanted to ride in the Solar Race arc?
Yep, Chap002, introducing Shinobu, was skipped.
SilverGlavenus
2017-10-10, 11:41
Yep, Chap002, introducing Shinobu, was skipped.
Noooo, I like her design
She appears in the OP and has VA, so she may show up later, already as a maid or something.
SilverGlavenus
2017-10-10, 12:11
^Nice. :D
My problem with the ToutaxEva ship is that it is ambiguous and confusing af. Eva's love for Nagi could've been more understandable if Touta hadn't told her that she would fall in love with the " red haired guy". While at the same time, Touta is stuck in "Well, I can understand that" and "But I still love her", it makes me wonder if that's from his personality or just his inexperience in life, since he is just several years old.
Or, considering his burgeoning relationship with Kirie, he just likes the lolis. Or the Tsunderes. Past Yuki was pretty Tsun to him.
4th Dimension
2017-10-10, 16:27
Or like gramps he likes down to earth hikimoris?
Ultragunner
2017-10-10, 20:41
Eva deserves better than a fucking harem ending. Even Negi was willing to settle down with Chisame. If Touta can't do that much, then he's not worth it.
Well, of course Eva deserves a "true" good ending. I'm willing to trade the harem end for Eva :p
And on that note, Touta is not Negi. Like I have said, mortal values can't really apply to immortals (duh :heh:), the harem is within reach :heh:
And why not? Let UQ Holder be something unique among the plethora of harem series that only dance around unless it's the ending :heh:
Of course, this is just my opinion :heh:
So far Eva'so been the one pushing the harem angle. She is also pretty aware that a person can love more than one person. So the question is she just messing with him or not.
Or like gramps he likes down to earth hikimoris?
Gramps did have the best taste, you have to admit.
4th Dimension
2017-10-11, 02:58
Well, I like Nodoka a bit better, BUT who he chose is an excellent choice seeing with how much crazy is he surrounded.
Touta is still a child and he has his harem. Also, Eva is older than Touta, so I dont ship her with Touta. My ship EvaxNegi or EvaxFate :)
4th Dimension
2017-10-11, 08:30
EvaxFate
Because in absence of Negi, Fate was thirsty for some Magia Erebia action, so he decides to go to the source?:p
Well, I like Nodoka a bit better, BUT who he chose is an excellent choice seeing with how much crazy is he surrounded. Very similar opinion here. I clearly understand the reason Negi chooses Chisame (be it the Magic World arc or Chisame being this manga's equivalent to Akamatsu-sensei's hot cosplayer waifu). However, I wouldn't be surprised if Nodoka was a very close second.
EvaxFate :)
When i first started reading UQ Holder i had never read Negima (this series got me into the original series) and i was actually rooting for Touta x Eva but as the series went on i found myself really hating the indecisiveness of Eva and i started hating her character as she was MUCH better in Negima. Sure she cares about Touta but as we have seen thus far, hes 3rd place in her heart (as shown earier when she kissed him and said she loved negi more). She acts more like a teenage in UQ Holder more then she did in Negima if that makes sense.
She reminds me of those girls in real life that pine for the perfect 6 pack, blond hair, blue eyed guy when the best guy for her is the one she just friendzoned for being too "nice" and then after she gets cheated on by the "perfect guy" she turns to the guy she friendzoned years ago to comfort her, yes this is exactly the type of girl eva is.
Honestly i hope this does end with an EVAxFATE pairing, i would love for her to get her just desserts and not get any of the 3 for being so damn indecisive but thats just my opinion and i know a lot of people especially on these forums will stick up for eva regardless of what she does.
Sure she cares about Touta but as we have seen thus far, hes 3rd place in her heart (as shown earier when she kissed him and said she loved negi more).
dont mix family with love. I know she loves him but she still sees him as a part of family and her family is always 1st place in her heart....
also, in the manga Touta loves her but I think his love isn't real love. I mean he is still a child...
Edit:sorry for mistaking
SilverGlavenus
2017-10-11, 22:08
i was actually rooting for Touta x Eva but as the series went on i found myself really hating the indecisiveness of Eva
You're not the only one :D:D. Had Touta not met her in the past and told her that she would love a cooler guy than him, her actions would have been more understandable. But I'm amazed that I am pissed at her indecisiveness, while being okay with the indecisiveness of harem MCs. I guess it comes down to expectations :heh::heh:
I hope Eva will get 1st place soon
let me repeat, the vote is once a day until the end of October, right now it is basically a dead heat between Nodoka and Eva for the top spot, Setsuna and Asuna fighting for the third place, Chisame! holding steady at 5th, Yue and Konoka rounds out 6th and 7th, everyone else is far behind, so if you want to have something to say about places 1st to 4th, go vote.
cast my lot for Ku Fei today, next is Akira on my list.
Ultragunner
2017-10-12, 01:08
You're not the only one :D:D. Had Touta not met her in the past and told her that she would love a cooler guy than him, her actions would have been more understandable. But I'm amazed that I am pissed at her indecisiveness, while being okay with the indecisiveness of harem MCs. I guess it comes down to expectations :heh::heh:
Well, to be fair, her life has been nothing but chaos (except for those years in Mahora), and in UQ's current timeline, none of her love interest has turns out right:
_ Nagi: he had already been married by the time she met him. He's presumably dead in the current timeline
_ Negi: currently being possessed by Iida, who is also Eva's ultimate enemy. Not to mention Chisame was probably still Negi's best girl in UQ's timeline i.e. no win for Eva
_ Touta: the two shared somewhat a sweet but short intimate relationship. Eva has since been alone, dragging through several miserable centuries all by herself. Thus the relationship between Eva and Touta is now quite twisted and complicated :heh:
Touta could be considered to be her first crush, yet it could also be argued that Eva is his "family" :heh:
In any cases, I understand Eva's conflicted mind right now. How can she move on to anything when Negi is doomed with Iida?
You're not the only one :D:D. Had Touta not met her in the past and told her that she would love a cooler guy than him, her actions would have been more understandable. But I'm amazed that I am pissed at her indecisiveness, while being okay with the indecisiveness of harem MCs. I guess it comes down to expectations :heh::heh:
Touta's not really indecisive tho, he knew what he wanted and tried to get it but eva shot him down multiple times already. I really do hope that he moves on from her as the other girls are better for him at this point. Would be so great if it came down to touta choosing eva or the harem and have him choosing the harem making yukihime end with fate or being alone, god that would be just desserts.
Ultragunner
2017-10-12, 09:37
again why Fate x Eva though? the two barely have any chemistry, and Fate got his head totally wrapped up with Negi :heh:
4th Dimension
2017-10-12, 13:52
Well as I said, the only reason would be him being thirsty for some more Magia Erebia action, and Eva is kinda the only possible source of that with Negi out of the picture.
But yeah that ship doesn't make much sense, but eh.
NAJ P. Jackson
2017-10-12, 13:56
Well as I said, the only reason would be him being thirsty for some more Magia Erebia action, and Eva is kinda the only possible source of that with Negi out of the picture.
But yeah that ship doesn't make much sense, but eh.
That's a terrible reason to ship them :eyespin:
Ultragunner
2017-10-12, 17:25
Well as I said, the only reason would be him being thirsty for some more Magia Erebia action, and Eva is kinda the only possible source of that with Negi out of the picture.
But yeah that ship doesn't make much sense, but eh.
Fate is not “thirsty” for ME, he is for Negi :heh:
Kazu-kun
2017-10-12, 23:05
So far Eva'so been the one pushing the harem angle. She is also pretty aware that a person can love more than one person. So the question is she just messing with him or not.
Eva's pushing Touta away because she's full of personal issues and unresolved feelings. It's not like she wants some shitty harem ending. She just doesn't think she deserves happiness. UQ Holder characterizes Eva as someone full of guilt and regret after all.
silenceblade
2017-10-18, 09:59
Why did Eva and Fate made clones of Negi and Asuna? Based on what I saw they only needed Asuna's power so why add Negi's DNA into Touta? The Black of Venus and White of Mars cannot coexist in one person, that is why Touta can't use magic. If they needed Negi's power couldn't they made a clone with only his DNA (Eva is also a Magia Erebea user). Why isn't Touta being corrupted by Magia Erebea like Negi was? Is it because Touta is a vampire like Eva?
Endscape
2017-10-18, 10:07
I think they were planning on making Touta the Lifemaker's next body.
He would certainly make a good prison for him. He's immortal, so if he does manage to put Ialda into Touta somehow, they could make sure he stays in there, and since Touta's body is incapable of using magic, and his Magic Cancel is half-baked at best, Ialda would be near powerless.
Ultragunner
2017-10-18, 11:17
well, perhaps we will learn about when Dana and Chamo show us what really happened in the current UQ timeline, and of course after Cutlass is dealt with :heh:
SleepingTerror
2017-10-18, 21:01
I was lazy and not in a manga reading mood so when I finally decided to catch up on UQ I realized I had... One chapter to read. Wow. Anyway. Seems like everyone is still in shipping mode ^^'
I love these two and I demand more screen time with them. Part of the beauty of UQ is the different kinds of immortality and it should be explored more. I get why the Negima flashbacks had to be done but I'm relieved it's over. God I hope it's over. It's not, isn't it.
4th Dimension
2017-10-19, 10:13
Well also there is a possibility they were trying to make someone who would have the ingredients needed to defeat the Lifemaker (magic cancel to bust through and magic firepower to destroy or ME). But that is not in conflict with the plan to then feed him to Lifemaker to trap her.
Although given Touta's performance so far, that plan is kinda a bust and I would not trust Lifemaker to be bound in him forever.
Then again I wonder if her mind control spells would work on his magic cancelly parts?
Anyway I have been re-reading Negima, and it makes me nostalgic for it and it reminds me how better in certain regards it was than UQ. And not on the fanservice front which might as well be cut for all I care.
And it makes me sad how much the fact that this is Negima 2 is being pushed.
It's the maybe small things like Negi having to work tooth and nail for every improvement to himself, while it seems it all comes naturally and almost effortlessly to Touta.
I would not have minded if this was it's own thing, reusing some characters but on the whole doing it's own thing. But the whole thing being a AU sequel with beloved characters playing the antagonists it rubbing me the wrong way, on top of the previous issues.
TBH, Touta's abilities and everything smell more to me of the writter wanting to take a shortcut to late Negima MC than anything sensible.
It works on panel to panel basis, buuut it doesn't really work if you think more seriously about it. Which is a shame since Negima was deeper than that.
Ultragunner
2017-10-19, 11:30
I'm also re-reading Negima again and this came to my notice:
https://i.imgur.com/DzpsEWO.jpg
and then in chapter 140 of UQ, Negi literally got dragged down into the depth of hell (that is Ialda's essence), but he did get pulled out by the girl.
This is just might as well be a coincidence, or it is just regular cliche in manga, but it definitely gives a nice feel to it when I look back :D
Well in defense to Touta, he grew up in this somewhat dystopia future where strength pretty much dictate everything, and he has encountered several freakish people quite early on. And the boy would have died several times already had he not been an immortal :heh:
Negi, on the other hand, despite the traumatic event in childhood, never really got pushed until he reached magic world. And that is where his power really spiked up.
About how Ken wants to have a "shortcut" in UQ, it could very well be true. But same as the above, nothing much happened in the first 1/3 of the series, aside from characters building (which is important, don't get me wrong) and harem antics :heh:
In addition, Negi's lineage is peerless, and it is one of the reasons why Negi was able to master ME to such extent.
Touta, well, it has been shown again and again that he's just a cheap copy of Negi, a pretty damn good one compared to others.
But if there is one thing that breaks the story of UQ, that is Dana :heh:
She is like Rakan (when he was first introduced) on steroid :heh:
Negima also has one strong suit that UQ has not matched (and will probably not), that is the characters. There are so many of them in UQ (duh :heh:), yet most of the get decent characterisation and development which is really cool, especially considering other series like Naruto LOL
4th Dimension
2017-10-19, 16:45
Eh. I don't really know about Touta being being helped by dystopia or anything. He like grew up as just another boy, well during those 4 years he remembers. And sure he and his buddies made a sport of trying to take down Eva, but at no point does it really look like they are really any more effective than any other group of adolescents.
Things only get rolling for him once he becomes immortal. And then like tomorrow has him fighting a trained (although maybe not to perfection) anti immortal swordsman and winning... So he won with next to no training against someone who has spent most of his life preparing for this, to fights against immortals.
Negi at least was a trained mage. His training did not involve much combat but he does seem to have been trained at least somewhat, and still pretty much every challenge he undertakes he pretty much only BARELY wins since the difficulty keeps ramping up almost too quickly for him DESPITE him spending every waking moment he has training.
Compared to that, Touta masters ground contractions and such seemingly on a whim, and is able to last some time even against monsters such as Fate after a ridiculously short time of being aware of his abilities.
Which would TOTALLY be fine if UQ was doing it's own thing, but it isn't. So to me it kinda feels like a middle finger to the old series. LIke it's saying, haha f you and your boy mage. Our guy is a man and there is blood and gore and such. And he can be torn limb from limb and be fine. Also you thought Negi handled the problem in Negima? Shows what you know. He cheated, that cheater. But here he didn't cheat, and everything is fucked, and he is insane, so the real MC will need to fix this.
Allthough there is one thing that might explain Touta's meteoric rise. I don't really remember the details of Asuna's background past that she was I think made to be a weapon for her magic cancel, ei. for mages to harness it or something. But I think she was also made to be weapon herself, able to master abilities almost at whim. So those might actually be HER genes working their magic.
THen again he did not really display any superhuman abilities, unlike Asuna, before becoming a vamp sooo...
UQ still does hit the right notes though, but things like these leave a sour aftertaste in my mouth.
PS: Oh, I LIKE Dana. At least for her the OP status kinda makes sense since she is a ridiculously old vampire that has been through shit, and she retroactively explains Eva's behavior in Negima. Pretty much all her ham and behavior can be summed up as "Bring the mortals beauty or bring them TERROR", with Eva opting to do BOTH.
PPS: I would not say it took 1/3 of Negima's run to get going. The magical battle aspects are there ever since the fight vs Evangeline which happens rather early in Chapter 20s or something. And then School Trip pretty much gets the ball rolling on the entire actual arc of the manga. Although I would agree that it wasn't really until the Mahora Festival Arc that it hit it's stride what with time travelling magical Martians and what not. And that did get rolling a bit before 1/3 in.
erneiz_hyde
2017-10-19, 16:57
THen again he did not really display any superhuman abilities, unlike Asuna, before becoming a vamp sooo...
Touta was already utilizing ki without realizing it before he became immortal. His daily weight swing training is impossible for a normal human.
Ultragunner
2017-10-27, 08:03
UQ vol 15 cover is out, and it's....strange? :heh:
https://i.redd.it/vo5w5jlga6uz.jpg
why is Touta looking at them like that :heh:
Tenzen12
2017-10-27, 08:48
More importantly what about UQ cast? I thought we are already past Negima 2.0 stage.
NAJ P. Jackson
2017-10-27, 09:10
More importantly what about UQ cast? I thought we are already past Negima 2.0 stage.
It's never gonna end. Might as well kill off Tota and the UQ crew because they are now irrelevant. :(
Ruki0089
2017-10-27, 09:11
UQ vol 15 cover is out, and it's....strange? :heh:
https://i.redd.it/vo5w5jlga6uz.jpg
why is Touta looking at them like that :heh:
Because Yue and Nodoka kick Touta's ass?:heh:
4th Dimension
2017-10-27, 17:10
He is scared shitless because of the amount of ASS KICKING he is about to receive.
Also I guess we are gonna be doing the escalating power levels of the bosses. So Yue and Nodoka are probably "weakest" monsters in Negi's pack of monsters.
Edit:
AH. This is from the flashback/video from Negima actual.
AstroNerdBoy
2017-10-27, 18:28
Because Yue and Nodoka kick Touta's ass?:heh:
Hahaha! Awesome!
He is scared shitless because of the amount of ASS KICKING he is about to receive.
Also I guess we are gonna be doing the escalating power levels of the bosses. So Yue and Nodoka are probably "weakest" monsters in Negi's pack of monsters.
Edit:
AH. This is from the flashback/video from Negima actual.
From the video or not, it still doesn't negate what you said. ;) :p :D
NapoleonDeCheese
2017-10-27, 19:37
I don't blame Touta for putting on that face when he sees any of the 3-A students.
Imagine YOU were plucked out of your everyday context to be randomly slapped across the face with a long-arse interdimensional home movie of your grandfather's love life when he was ten years old. You'd be sporting that same baffled face all the way through if not something worse.
Edit: I also imagine the Special Edition cover will have Nodoka and Yue in some random state of nudity, further justifying Touta's awkward expression.
It's never gonna end. Might as well kill off Tota and the UQ crew because they are now irrelevant.
Oh, for the love of-- we've just gotten a whole chapter devoted to an UQ Holder Original Generation villain and two heroes who never were in Negima.
More importantly what about UQ cast? I thought we are already past Negima 2.0 stage.
Volume 15 still covers the Negima flashback lasting three monthly-worth chapters, of course it'll feature Negima characters on the cover. It's shocking enough Touta gets to be in the cover at all as it is. I'm sure Volume 16's cover, covering the post-flashback stuff, will be wholly devoted to the newer characters.
SilverGlavenus
2017-10-27, 23:03
To be honest, Dana could have raped the entire Negi cast if she wanted to. Heck, I much prefer having the High Vampires as villains than Negi. Negi's shadow is leaving a bad taste in this series.
Ruki0089
2017-10-27, 23:13
Well, Gods will be good villains too... Zeus, Shiva, Odin... Or etc..
dragon1412
2017-10-28, 01:58
To be honest, Dana could have raped the entire Negi cast if she wanted to. Heck, I much prefer having the High Vampires as villains than Negi. Negi's shadow is leaving a bad taste in this series.
agree with this so much, Dana is massively more powerful than Eva, which is the highest tier Back in Negima where she can easily freeze the ancient dragon alongside Fate family, and Dana easily exceed that, it was also implied that Dana herself is among the younger one. And we literally have no other mention of them except in Dana words
4th Dimension
2017-10-28, 05:03
Eh, I don't know about that. That is comparing Negi and crew from 80 years ago when he wasn't a match for Eva still. I don't think that's a case any longer.
Also we have seen that actually disintegrating Danna is not that difficult, well if she doesn't defend. The problem is making the death stick. And that too might not be impossible given his access to Yue and Nodoka's artifacts. So if ANYONE in the world wrote on how to defeat her, or if she herself knows, the Negi crew is likely to find out.
More importantly what about UQ cast? I thought we are already past Negima 2.0 stage.
Lol its never going to be past the "Negima 2.0 stage", they should kill off touta and just rename it to Negima THE Sequel. They did it right with the anime and actually put "Negima Sequel" on the cover.
4th Dimension
2017-10-28, 05:52
Well while I prefer the old crew, I do NOT like how they were introduced here, and I would actually prefer if UQ would stand on it's own feet and do it's own thing and have it's own antagonists just set in the same universe with cameos from time to time.
SilverGlavenus
2017-10-28, 07:50
agree with this so much, Dana is massively more powerful than Eva, which is the highest tier Back in Negima where she can easily freeze the ancient dragon alongside Fate family, and Dana easily exceed that, it was also implied that Dana herself is among the younger one. And we literally have no other mention of them except in Dana words
Yeah, I was expecting something like a Soul Society arc, but for Vampires, when Dana was first introduced. I feel like the author would waste huge potential if he exclude the High Vampires.
Eh, I don't know about that. That is comparing Negi and crew from 80 years ago when he wasn't a match for Eva still. I don't think that's a case any longer.
Also we have seen that actually disintegrating Danna is not that difficult, well if she doesn't defend. The problem is making the death stick. And that too might not be impossible given his access to Yue and Nodoka's artifacts. So if ANYONE in the world wrote on how to defeat her, or if she herself knows, the Negi crew is likely to find out.
While it's true that Dana can be disintegrated, don't forget that we know little about her power and strengths. Negi and co, however, their powers are known now. Dana's feats, while not the true display of her power, are impressive enough in their own rights:
- Crushing Eva's illusion like paper (as stated by Fate) and freely changing her appearance.
- Shapeshifting, growing arms and weapons etc.
- Owning a library of immense knowledge, possibly more than Nodoka's books, considering the Vampire is an advanced race.
- Is the master of the elementals, one of which is said to rivals Negi's speed (not the Negi of now but probably Negi in Negima).
- Travels through time and space. Possibly can fuck timeline like the Flash.:heh::heh:
The fact that MotB tried to create Vampire makes me think that the Vampire is a race of immense power and the target of envy.
Well while I prefer the old crew, I do NOT like how they were introduced here, and I would actually prefer if UQ would stand on it's own feet and do it's own thing and have it's own antagonists just set in the same universe with cameos from time to time.
Basically the wish of every UQ and Negima fan.
Well, Gods will be good villains too... Zeus, Shiva, Odin... Or etc..
Ummm... High school U x Q ???:D:D:D
Ultragunner
2017-10-28, 08:53
well, I'm just happy that there's more Negima-verse material .
After re-reading both Negima and UQ, I am reminded of how much I love the world and how painful the way Negima ended, it almost brought a tear to my eyes with the dem feels :heh:
About Dana's power level, yeah I agree that she is a broken character with broken stats :heh:
I'd dare say she's on par with Ialda minus the Resonance.
Or I wouldn't be surprised if Ialda was originally one of the "Nobles" or something similar (non-vampire).
For Power scale, I would propose something like this:
SSS: Mage of the Beginning/Lifemaker full-power
SS: Dana
S: Eva
A+: Negi, primary members of Ala Rubra i.e. Nagi, Rakan, Al...,
A: Lifemaker's disciples e.g. Averruncus series
------("unsurpassable wall")----
Rest of the world :heh:
Indalecio
2017-10-28, 09:30
well, I'm just happy that there's more Negima-verse material .
After re-reading both Negima and UQ, I am reminded of how much I love the world and how painful the way Negima ended, it almost brought a tear to my eyes with the dem feels :heh:
About Dana's power level, yeah I agree that she is a broken character with broken stats :heh:
I'd dare say she's on par with Ialda minus the Resonance.
Or I wouldn't be surprised if Ialda was originally one of the "Nobles" or something similar (non-vampire).
For Power scale, I would propose something like this:
SSS: Mage of the Beginning/Lifemaker full-power
SS: Dana
S: Eva
A+: Negi, primary members of Ala Rubra i.e. Nagi, Rakan, Al...,
A: Lifemaker's disciples e.g. Averruncus series
------("unsurpassable wall")----
Rest of the world :heh:
Nagi was stronger than Eva. In my opinion the power scale would be something like this:
SSS: Lifemaker, Dana/True Shinso Vampire
SS: Nagi, Negi
S: Eva, Rakan, Albireo, Fate Averruncus
A: Averruncus series
dragon1412
2017-10-28, 12:58
Eh, I don't know about that. That is comparing Negi and crew from 80 years ago when he wasn't a match for Eva still. I don't think that's a case any longer.
Also we have seen that actually disintegrating Danna is not that difficult, well if she doesn't defend. The problem is making the death stick. And that too might not be impossible given his access to Yue and Nodoka's artifacts. So if ANYONE in the world wrote on how to defeat her, or if she herself knows, the Negi crew is likely to find out.
Not really, I was talking about end game Negi back in the few last chapter, where they are basically screwed until Eva and ala Alba come and save them, and she easily took out the dragon alongside every member of Fate family
Sure, time pass, Negi magi is probably stronger, but can he strong enough to deal with Eva the way dana did ??? Not really in my eyes, and this is all based on Dana playing around, not full powered Dana in battle
Well while I prefer the old crew, I do NOT like how they were introduced here, and I would actually prefer if UQ would stand on it's own feet and do it's own thing and have it's own antagonists just set in the same universe with cameos from time to time.
Agree with you 100% here.
Quite honestly, even if I'm a huge Nodoka fanboy, having her and Yue get involved in UQ Holder in the roles that they have here was the last thing I wanted in this manga, as, along with their appearances screaming "desperation move to attract readers", I preferred the manga to focus on its own unique set of characters (and if I really wanted some more Nodoka antics, I would have wanted a normal continuation of the Negima manga rather than what's going on in UQ Holder).
NapoleonDeCheese
2017-10-28, 19:14
To be honest, Dana could have raped the entire Negi cast if she wanted to. Heck, I much prefer having the High Vampires as villains than Negi. Negi's shadow is leaving a bad taste in this series.
In all honesty, other than Negi, Eva, Rakan, Albireo and Fate, the whole of Negima's heroes put together would most likely be steamrolled by the UQ Holder team in a confrontation, probably even if we took them from the confrontation in outer space.
I mean, even Asuna. She's strong and she has anti-magic, but she's still vulnerable to overwhelming physical damage from powerhouse hitters.
One of the main problems with Negi as a character is he eventually left the whole of his team so long behind they didn't feel useful at all anymore.
4th Dimension
2017-10-28, 19:55
I would add maybe Setsuna to that list since her style was specifically made for fighting the supernatural. And some other powerhouses might be quite capable of keeping up. The main problem for them really (when discounting Eva) is that their targets aren't likely to die no matter what. Which is likely to cost them if they go in blind.
On the other hand in a prolonged war, they have plenty of hax abd smart members to figure out counters to make them highly problematic.
And once you know about their immortality and know how to work around it, probably by trying to restrain/stun them rather than going for kill, the UQ members sans Eva are kinda considerably less scary than some monsters out there.
silenceblade
2017-10-30, 22:40
It has been stated that Negi is the only user of a complete "Magia Erebea" however it should be noted the "Black of Venus" existed way before than. Even Dynamis wasn't aware that "Magia Erebea" was an extension of the "Black of Venus" until he saw Negi's demon form. It has been stated that "Magia Erebea absorb everything" while the "Black of Venus swallow everything" Eva even said she distilled it from a curse into a spell. Is it safe to say that Magia Erebea's complete form is something completely different from the original "Black of Venus"?
http://2cat.ml/~tedc21thc/live/src/1509512751608.jpg
absolutely no surprise who the winner is, interesting the vote discrepancy between the twins.
SoloPanda
2017-11-02, 05:41
http://2cat.ml/~tedc21thc/live/src/1509512751608.jpg
absolutely no surprise who the winner is, interesting the vote discrepancy between the twins.
Slightly surprised about second place but she's in the top ten for me either way. Other than that it's about in line with what i would think. The Twins difference is really kind of wierd I figured they'd be pretty even.
In my head i switch number 2 and number 7 and all is right with the world :D
BeoWolfx03
2017-11-02, 08:45
Slightly surprised about second place but she's in the top ten for me either way. Other than that it's about in line with what i would think. The Twins difference is really kind of wierd I figured they'd be pretty even.
In my head i switch number 2 and number 7 and all is right with the world :D
The poll was already rigged when the results was posted by half the month of October. Setsuna was actually in the league with a constant vote of 200-ish or below votes each day while Nodoka was by 100-ish or below each day. Nodoka had an automatic raise of 1.5k ish vote in ONE DAY. That's why Setsuna has a gap of 2k+ with Nodoka.
As for Sayo and for Fuuka... it was rigged too. Yue was also in the lead too versus Konoka but during the 3rd week, Konoka was in the lead but Yue had a sudden raise of 200 ish votes in again, ONE DAY. Although I can't prove this but the weekly poll post says it all
As much as I love them that I even voted for them, some people used THAT technique to spam their votes. Yes... I know that technique but I never want to use it because I want to see the world how they support their favorite characters through a fair votation.
During the half of the month of Oct and above, I didn't vote anymore because of the sudden raise of numbers. I had to observe the poll every free time I have and guess what I see, a sudden raise. So... not buying the results.
Ultragunner
2017-11-07, 08:31
yeah...anything goes but Sayo? That is the quintessential definition of "out of left field" :heh:
yeah...anything goes but Sayo? That is the quintessential definition of "out of left field" :heh:
Not really, as Sayo is one of the more likeable minor characters of the series, making it easier for fans to support her (same reason for why Akira cracked the top ten, as she, outside of the Summer Festival arc, was one of the more sane students in the series).
Meanwhile, in terms of Fuuka being high in the list, I see it less as the vote being rigged and more people who, like me, felt that Ken Akamatsu probably had some sort of bigger role planned for the twins, considering the final chapters of the manga and various forms of Negima media (one of the PS2 games, the SHAFT anime, the live action series). However, I'd probably would have gone with Fumika over Fuuka.
As for the other side of spectrum: Misa definitely deserved being in last place, given how useless the cheerleaders were in the manga and the fact that she was responsible for one of the biggest low points of the Negima manga, the Sports Festival arc.
NapoleonDeCheese
2017-11-07, 19:52
Everyone (but Asuna and an extremely small amount of others) were all co-responsible for the Sports Festival. Even if Misa kickstarted something stupid, the rest of them, especially those who'd been with Negi to Mundus Magicus and should have known better than those who stayed behind and safe the whole time, were not forced to go along with it.
Everyone (but Asuna and an extremely small amount of others) were all co-responsible for the Sports Festival. Even if Misa kickstarted something stupid, the rest of them, especially those who'd been with Negi to Mundus Magicus and should have known better than those who stayed behind and safe the whole time, were not forced to go along with it.
Of course, this whole arc is basically Ken Akamatsu killing chapters until a milestone chapter, although the big question was whether or not he was well aware that he bringing the manga to an abrupt ending by the time he was writing this, and if so, if he was basically just saying "screw it" and wrote this instead of providing satisfying conclusions to some of the hanging plot threads (with it a huge reason why I refuse to consider anything after the Magic World arc canon).
4th Dimension
2017-11-08, 02:16
Well it could also be that that arc was supposed to be the winddown arc, for readers o rest a bit before plowing on.
But yeah Sayo is not that suprising since she was cute and had her moments of awesome (cheerfully maning the minigun). Same with Akira and she did have her moments even before the pactio being the strong silent and kind one.
Ultragunner
2017-11-08, 04:52
Akira is the best among the minor characters though :p honestly the most "ordinary" and "normal" in that crazy class :heh:. I said "normal", but there were hints that she was very physically capable, impressing Ku, Mana and Kaede :heh:
too bad she didn't have much screentime :heh:
speaking of which, will there be any pactio among the UQ members? :heh:, strange that no one has brought it up :heh:
But now with Chamo there, he could totally pull some string :p, unless Touta's condition prevent pactio at all....in which I highly doubt because of Asuna
4th Dimension
2017-11-08, 05:09
Yeah, like that bit when 3A were being dicks to Negi about his ring, noone screws with Akira when she decides she needs to lay down the law.
Well pactios do seem to require one side to be a mage...or be nuts like Incho... Then again Kotokaro was able to pactio Nazumi and he only ever used Ki.
But I would guess it might be sociological with immmotals not to use pactios since they will outlive their ministers and probably tend to rely on their own powers which are less likely to be worn away by time than other non imortals.
the battle between Cutlass and UQ turns out pretty much as expected, (you are dead, no I am not. :)) a few thoughts.
I really like the video game setup of Gengorou’s immortality, from how he replenish his lives to being invincible right after revival,
we have a name of the people behind the creation of Cutlass, Amater, probably named after Amaterasu the sun goddess of Japanese lore, we have to remember the same people probably are also responsible for the creation of Tota, and they are probably responsible for the building of the space elevator, (notice the word “heaven” in both name) on top of being the sponsor of the Mahora martial tournament, consider Fate once said Tota “belongs” to him, it is almost obvious who the CEO of Amater is, if not for the setup of the vs. final boss Negi, I would almost said they are the enemy behind the current terrorist attacks, right now I don’t think they are evil, chaos good maybe? at least Konoka’s decedents used to work for them.
Dana’s “sleight of hand” is a take off of the Budda captures of Goku in “Journey to the West” (no, not dragon ball.) being the mistress of dimensions (4D+) is easy for her to pull off that trick.
and Cutlass is pretty much going down the route I suspected she would, would she turns 180 degrees like Kotaro and becomes best buddy with Tota? probably not, but I can envision she fighting the final battle vs Negi with Tota, how the middle part of the story turns depend on the skill of Ken to make it believable, since her hatred is deep, consider she is the Fate to Tota’s Negi, before the turn there will definitely be a showdown between the two just like in Negima.
as to the last cliffhanger? let’s see if they will go the reset route, I would be kind of disappointed if it is just a random attack and nothing to do with the eventually Martian war.
4th Dimension
2017-11-08, 11:53
It's out in JP but hasn't been translated yet?
Tenzen12
2017-11-08, 13:51
speaking of which, will there be any pactio among the UQ members? :heh:, strange that no one has brought it up :heh:
But now with Chamo there, he could totally pull some string :p, unless Touta's condition prevent pactio at all....in which I highly doubt because of Asuna
Well pactio is done between magician and... anyone else. That means (assuming there isn't any pactio app) only Eva can do pactio with Touta as none else can use magic on their own. Touta certainly can't make multiple pactios with random people.
4th Dimension
2017-11-08, 14:12
Well, Kotokaro semed to have been able to form a pactio with his girl despite not ever using magic me thinks. His stuff was mostly ki, eastern mysteries and his innate powers due to being one of the dog people.
So maybe just having enough power, weather external (magic) or internal (ki) is enough?
Tenzen12
2017-11-08, 14:44
Oh right, I forgot about Kotarou. Anyway I didn't check manga itself, but wiki says, pactio require magical circle, I can't remember if it's really true, but it would be in line with bits I do recall.
Anyway Kotarou might be able use magic enough to make one.
AstroNerdBoy
2017-11-08, 15:39
It's out in JP but hasn't been translated yet?
Its translated. CR won't publish it until 5pm PT (not sure why the delay) and Amazon has the chapter for sale in English, if you have a Kindle.
4th Dimension
2017-11-08, 19:19
Oh right, I forgot about Kotarou. Anyway I didn't check manga itself, but wiki says, pactio require magical circle, I can't remember if it's really true, but it would be in line with bits I do recall.
Anyway Kotarou might be able use magic enough to make one.
If it's just a magic circle that is needed, Kamo did that. Allthough I wonder where the power for the artifact and such comes if the mage is not involved.
Then again yhe mechanics of it changed slightly between the Eva intro arc and the school trip arcs in Negima. Mage used to have to engage the pactio to give power.
NapoleonDeCheese
2017-11-08, 20:53
IIRC, anyone can do Pactios with someone else as long as they have a broker like Chamo to draw the circle for them, but a Pactio between two magical non-entities will only result in a dud Alliance, and you can't get an Artifact unless you contract with a really powerful Magister or Magistra. Average mages only get Ministra with relatively minor stats buffs, I think.
Regarding this chapter, oh my God, it went back and forth between parts that are just too goofy (seriously, that thing Dana did looked better fitting Bobobo), and parts that just scream EEEEEEDDGEEEEEEEE! way too loudly (pretty much anything Cutlass does or says, and then that cliffhanger, which only lacked a shot of the little girl's teddy bear to complete the shock value cheap emotional manipulation). SHOCKING SWERVE, aren't we daring!
Ultragunner
2017-11-08, 21:57
Aye, Dana is beyond broken, so unfair that it's not even funny :heh:
And Cutlass is edgier than anyone ever need :heh:
About the shock value, I'm not so sure, maybe that's just how Ken show an abrupt and quiet disaster
SilverGlavenus
2017-11-09, 01:28
Motherfking Dana people:D:D
Shit Dana's just so broken but it's still hilarious.
Cutlass was really stomped, heck even Touta blocked her blade there.
Finally we back to UQH road, time to read this series again.
Fairy Water
2017-11-09, 04:25
Shit :heh: Dana is too OP for this manga.
I thought we would have sth like terrorists using magic to atk people but it turns out they used technologies :heh: I would roll on the ground if a mobile suit appears along the story.
silenceblade
2017-11-09, 10:21
When Cutlass used the Black of Venus didn't it resemble Eva's image of Negi's demon in chapter negima chapter 285 (dark prescription) however when Negi fought Dynamis didn't the form look sharper. Does this mean Cutlass's power is still incomplete? Also why aren't Touta and Cutlass losing reason like Negi did?
P.S. Dana is in my opinion on par with the mage of the beginning.
When Cutlass used the Black of Venus didn't it resemble Eva's image of Negi's demon in chapter negima chapter 285 (dark prescription) however when Negi fought Dynamis didn't the form look sharper. Does this mean Cutlass's power is still incomplete? Also why aren't Touta and Cutlass losing reason like Negi did?
P.S. Dana is in my opinion on par with the mage of the beginning.
On par?
pssssh she more like more powerful than Iada.
It was so bad that it was hilarious in its own sense :uhoh:
"I ignored the laws of perspective"
Congratulations, Dana. You made my day right there. Broke down laughing the moment that happened.
Though, I'm honestly glad to see the UQH cast actually taking back their series. Gengoro and Jinbei were fun to watch.
Ultragunner
2017-11-09, 17:30
Yeah, and props to Jinbei for actually proving that he can quite serious and that he's the real deal, not the leader of UQH in name only
NapoleonDeCheese
2017-11-09, 20:04
Let's just hope that, if they've commited to a darker and grittier take now we've seen a happy ending for Negima, they actually stick to that tone without copouts.
I'm not saying the manga would be any better by being all doom and gloom from here, far from it, but I hope this isn't swept away with another 'Kirie loops time back' or 'Zazie and Mana saved everyone offpanel, lololol'. And since it seems Negi's party is not at fault here, please, don't try to play the guys who have just blown a whole place filled with innocents, children included, for sympathy and easy 'redemption' later.
Chao went out of her way to make sure nobody was killed by her plans. Fair enough, she still can be a trusted ally and friend later then. Fate... his whole plan involved destroying people's bodies and sending their spirits to paradise, but okay, let's just grit our teeth, pretend that wasn't the actual equivalent of attempted planetary genocide, and let it slide on a technicality because Akamatsu says it isn't the same as killing. Let's even ignore Fate's recurring tendency to employ sadistic murderers like Male Chao and Tsukuyomi and chalk it up to poor judgment when he should know better. Sayoko tries a full scale zombie apocalypse but she's disposed of permanently by the plot, that was fine too, I can live with this crime and punishment effect.
But please, whoever ordered a whole terrorist attack eerily reminiscent of 9/11 in space, don't try selling me that person as a poor misunderstood soul the leads want to befriend later on. Enough already, Akamatsu. I don't want to read a manga about befriending Magical Space Osama Bin Laden just because he or she is good looking or whatever and you think you can stick a sob story on them after commiting mass murder.
Also, I really hope the result of this isn't that close to what Cutlass was implying when she went on about the rich minorities and the rest of the world. If the thing to be shown later on is the poor or exploited people have become mass murderers on poor innocent rich folks who can pay themselves Space Olympics while the poor suffer in slums, and the elite team of beautiful immortal people living in the luxurious hotel and bath house must kick the exploited people's evil arses, well, that's filled with all sorts of Unfortunate Implications. Akamatsu's social comment so far has been very clumsy at best so far, so I'm actually rather concerned about this.
silenceblade
2017-11-09, 21:04
The part in Negima that I hated the most was the absurdness (a whole world was in danger yet only a group of student could save it, an enemy that couldn't kill, no one knew the situation, the adults took no action). Although UQ holder's deaths resolve most of the problems Kirie's save point undo it all. Now there are a race of beings that possess power equal to or greater than of the magic god 'the mage of the beginning'?
4th Dimension
2017-11-10, 10:36
Yeeah. I never really bought into the sudden shift to, let's make Fate sympathetic at the end of Negima. Frankly it stank of ticking off the shonen tropes list. And what's worse is that the Fate from the end, didn't really and truly gel with the Fate from like the start of the Mundus Magicus arc. And in Negima Cosmo Etche-whatever at least had a credible and understandable reason for what they were planning to do. World was about to go kaput in couple years time and not even the creator seemed to have any idea how to stop it Weather or not Ialda did or didn't isn't relevant since her subordinates thought she didn't. So backing up everyone on a server to live out their lives in peace and happiness was a better plan than waiting for everyone's inevitable demise. The real problem with their actions was that a) they started a bit early b) they seemed to attract assholes and behaved assholishly to those they were supposedly saving c) they, other than Fate, did not back down once someone else came up with a plan that might work.
So I don't see them as evil.
BUT, that is FAR CRY from being buddy buddy with someone who tried to have the lot of you horribly murdered several times, including stranding you on a dangerous and unfamiliar world alone.
....
And then foisting that same asshole, some of Alia Alba might still have nightmares about, to be their teacher...
In UQ Holder, unlike with Fate, the antagonists seem to have nothing major driving them that would explain their casual disregard for others or their actions. HELL Fate seems to haven't learned his lesson NOT TO EMPLOY PSYCHOS as the rapey Shadow user shows.
So yeah, one big drawback for me is the fact that the big picture part of the drama, the enemy motivations and such, don't really seem to be there.
And yeah whoever blew up a basically a transit station has pretty much made themselves a mass murdering maniac that little could do to wash clean. Fate too did his part of Mass Transit destruction, but in his case, the casulties were pretty much limited to the security on site.
Oh and yeah. The whole, everyone is rich in space and only poor are on Earth I don't buy at all. That's not how the space colonization works.
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