(L) Negima Manga Discussion

[Aebliss]

I'm sure I'd try to. But I'd like to think I wouldn't go the route of damnation to do it.

[nines]

Theres really only two options for Negi since Fate is hax. 1. Life (Gaining more power to win the fight, and save the magic world) or 2. Death (Confronting Fate while Negi is still weak and also being hit by the enroachment of magica erebea) Rash decisions have to be made and Negi has always jumped to making rash decisions just like Asuna says, Negi only thinks of him self mainly :P in this form he wants to become stronger...like every other time he made rash decisions lol

[Aebliss]

He's being stupid, though. What enabled him to fight Fate on an equal basis wasn't the Magia Erebea. Fate said himself that all ME does is up Negi's power, his strength. What enabled him to fight was the advanced combat training he got from Rakan and his determination to learn it - and that was good determination. He should have found a better way to increase his damage output. Unlike McDowell, Rakan clearly wasn't shy about teaching him new combat spells, and come on, it's the magical world! There aren't advanced spellbooks for sale? Negi already could hold attack spells in reserve and release them with a punch.
To me, Magia Erebea was ... kinda unnecessary. Negi should have advanced his own techniques instead of going all 'I want power, I want power, waaa~!' and messing himself up.

[ZeroForever]

Except Rakan told him in clear words that the difference in strength between him and fate wasn't something that could be gapped with normal means, and that if he took the standard path it would take years when he had at tops less then a month.

Of course he could ignore Rakan but generally it wouldn't be something that Rakan would have any reason to lie about. If you don't like the power up, none of us can force you to like it but it's pretty much explained in series that it was the only method in a short time that would work.

[quigonkenny]

Originally Posted by Aebliss

Anyway, on to other things. I call bullhockey on the inhabitants of MM being 'just illusions'. Rakan was a local, or so I assume since he went 'poof' when hit with the Code of the Lifemaker. He was capable of a pactio - with a human born from Earth, no less. My conclusion: the beings who are 'born of the substance of the magical world' have souls, or at least a spiritual presence close enough to a soul to be acceptable to whatever spirits govern the pactio process.
Human bodies - and I suppose the youkai locals of the Negima setting, too - are born from the substance of the Earth, and nobody suggests they're mud dolls or illusionary.

Of course the Earth isn't a big illusion, while Mundus Magicus is, so it would be natural for its residents to be illusory as well (in the Negiverse "has physical existence" manner). Due to the level of magic involved in its creation (and I personally think the "input" of its original human inhabitants, who are also among the current residents' ancestors), its residents do have souls, but that doesn't require that their physical makeup has to be "real" in our sense of the term.

[Gearhead]

Where in the world does this talk about damnation keep coming from?

This word 'demon' keeps getting used like the comic is talking about the Rouge Angles of Satin.

All it means in this context, really, is 'Extremely powerful magical creature fueled by negative emotions.'

[DKN117]

Have we actually seen any being that could truly be called a "demon" yet in this manga? Or are they all spirits and yōkai?

Also, I'm really curious about something:

Does the Lifemaker even have a physical body? Or is he just a sentient mass of dark magic wearing a cloak?

ALSO, PREDICTIONS:

Spoiler for Prediction:

1. "Demon" or not, if/when Negi masters the current challenge, his outward appearance will either not change, or he'll have some minor new feature that only adds to his cuteness. Like a little tail (kinda like Etna's from Disgaea or along those lines) or maybe a set of wings (retractable, like Setsuna's).

2. If/when Negi & co. eventually find Nagi and/or Arika, Negi & Arika's first meeting (well, excluding her giving birth to him a decade ago) will be the most d'awwwwww-inducing thing yet seen in the entire series.

3. Arika will freak out over learning that Negi knows Magia Erebea, and upon hearing how he picked it up, Nagi will make a note to have "a little talk" with Rakan after they get the big guy resurrected. Also, Nagi will casually ask "Oh, Eva-chan! That's right; I never got around to freein' her! How's she doin'?"

4. We'll discover that during their time hiding from their enemies, Arika & Nagi got bizzay again, and now Negi-kun has a younger sibling. "Negi-oniichan!" Negi: "...Huh?... HUH?!"

Lastly, if anyone fell for it, I apologize for the "Chao" link joke.

[Gearhead]

Originally Posted by DKN117

Have we actually seen any being that could truly be called a "demon" yet in this manga? Or are they all spirits and yōkai?

The only reason they seem to be called 'demons' is because they come from 'somewhere else' and do not have normal bodies. When destroyed they either reform or are sent back to their home dimension again. It takes extraordinary effort to kill one. To date, all the 'demons' we have met are more punchclock villains than anything else. (Damnit, I got summoned again. What's THIS jackass want me to do?)

Originally Posted by DKN117

Does the Lifemaker even have a physical body? Or is he just a sentient mass of dark magic wearing a cloak?

I think the Lifemaker HAD a body, otherwise he wouldn't be punchable. I got a guess on who was in the cloak too, from the information we've been given so far.

Spoiler:

Zect.

Originally Posted by DKN117

ALSO, PREDICTIONS:

Spoiler for Prediction:

1. "Demon" or not, if/when Negi masters the current challenge, his outward appearance will either not change, or he'll have some minor new feature that only adds to his cuteness. Like a little tail (kinda like Etna's from Disgaea or along those lines) or maybe a set of wings (retractable, like Setsuna's).

2. If/when Negi & co. eventually find Nagi and/or Arika, Negi & Arika's first meeting (well, excluding her giving birth to him a decade ago) will be the most d'awwwwww-inducing thing yet seen in the entire series.

3. Arika will freak out over learning that Negi knows Magia Erebea, and upon hearing how he picked it up, Nagi will make a note to have "a little talk" with Rakan after they get the big guy resurrected. Also, Nagi will casually ask "Oh, Eva-chan! That's right; I never got around to freein' her! How's she doin'?"

4. We'll discover that during their time hiding from their enemies, Arika & Nagi got bizzay again, and now Negi-kun has a younger sibling. "Negi-oniichan!" Negi: "...Huh?... HUH?!"

Spoiler:

1) I predict no real change, except possibly when entering Magia Erebea forms, and probably less obvious than the current changes via Frenzy. He may exhibit the runes all the time, or not. We don't see them on Eva, afterall.

2) Agreed.

3) Maybe. Maybe not. As for Eva, yeah, just watch. Nagi forgot all about it.

4) Got no way of knowing on that one. We don't even have a good idea of what is keeping them out of circulation.

[AstroNerdBoy]

Whew. A day later than what has been, but at least we got something. ^_^

http://astronerdboy.blogspot.com/201...er-images.html

New battle harem shot! Can't wait for a clean scan of this w/ color job. ^_^

[Sian]

Spoiler for ch286:

Yey for Battle Harem Shot ... interesting fact that Luna have a frontline appearence ... i guess that means that she's going to be a pseudo permenent addition (either completely volenteerly on all accounts or as a 'prisoner of war' being 'forced' to stay at Mahora and kept under suvailence by Negi and gang with her being an transfer student into 3A) ... i'd say that with this shot she's proberly more likely to take up Chao's spot in class than Collet which was the primary contentent before

also yey for Nodoka/Yue reunion, and laughs of Collets reaction to see that Yue allready have a BFF

[nines]

Damn ken teasing us with a fight then to chit chat.

thanks for the link astro

[Random Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Sian

Spoiler for ch286:

Yey for Battle Harem Shot ... interesting fact that Luna have a frontline appearence ... i guess that means that she's going to be a pseudo permenent addition (either completely volenteerly on all accounts or as a 'prisoner of war' being 'forced' to stay at Mahora and kept under suvailence by Negi and gang with her being an transfer student into 3A) ... i'd say that with this shot she's proberly more likely to take up Chao's spot in class than Collet which was the primary contentent before

also yey for Nodoka/Yue reunion, and laughs of Collets reaction to see that Yue allready have a BFF

Spoiler:

There is no "More" likely. Collette and Bea and Emily must ALL join the class. THERE IS NO OTHER OPTION.

I want to hear what Yue and Nodoka said to each other.

[ac195]

Originally Posted by Aebliss

You know what really amazes me? Just, completely throws me? =_= All the while that the brain trust was talking with the scroll-based McDowell copy, not one of them suggested purging that Magia Erebea garbage from Negi. Not one. Amazing. They've established it's poisoning him, may transform him into a mindless Erebean carnage machine, and the only option they're considering is accelerating the process and mutating the dumb kid into an inhuman creature that can control the dark magic.

*sigh*

Anyway, on to other things. I call bullhockey on the inhabitants of MM being 'just illusions'. Rakan was a local, or so I assume since he went 'poof' when hit with the Code of the Lifemaker. He was capable of a pactio - with a human born from Earth, no less. My conclusion: the beings who are 'born of the substance of the magical world' have souls, or at least a spiritual presence close enough to a soul to be acceptable to whatever spirits govern the pactio process.
Human bodies - and I suppose the youkai locals of the Negima setting, too - are born from the substance of the Earth, and nobody suggests they're mud dolls or illusionary.

Ahem.

On another note: the reality of one's existence is decided on by the one who exists, not by an observer. Shame I have to kind of agree with Rakan on this, the big dumbass.

Why would they purge Magia Erebra... hasn't Negima been hitting us over the head with the message, "Power is power" and it doesn't matter how you acquire it... only how you use it? Haven't they been going on and on about light or dark... good/evil... it's all perspective... since the School Festival arc?

[Gearhead]

Originally Posted by ac195

Why would they purge Magia Erebra... hasn't Negima been hitting us over the head with the message, "Power is power" and it doesn't matter how you acquire it... only how you use it? Haven't they been going on and on about light or dark... good/evil... it's all perspective... since the School Festival arc?

Some folks don't quite grasp that, I don't think.

It's okay to hate something that deserves it. It's okay to be angry, be angry for the right reasons. If you DO hate something that deserves it, if you ARE angry for the right reasons, don't be afraid of it. Don't hide from it. But also don't let it master you.

And man, it doesn't matter what Fate and the Lifemaker and whoever else are trying to do, they've worked up over a planet's worth of righteous indignation from some very scary people, and someday it has to come due.

[Random Wanderer]

Originally Posted by ac195

Why would they purge Magia Erebra...

Because it's killing him.

[Gearhead]

Originally Posted by Random Wanderer

Because it's killing him.

It's not really killing him at this stage, just trying to finish the job of turning him into a youkai. Once he's assumed full control again and asserted his dominance over his powers properly it shouldn't be any problem at all.

[Random Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Gearhead

It's not really killing him at this stage, just trying to finish the job of turning him into a youkai. Once he's assumed full control again and asserted his dominance over his powers properly it shouldn't be any problem at all.

Uh huh. And the several people who told him his life would be in danger if the dark magic poisoning wasn't treated were completely wrong, I suppose? I don't buy it.

[Gearhead]

Originally Posted by Random Wanderer

Uh huh. And the several people who told him his life would be in danger if the dark magic poisoning wasn't treated were completely wrong, I suppose? I don't buy it.

Scroll-Eva said it herself. She had assumed that a human would be eroded by the power, but she never imagined he would actually be Compatible. There is something in Negi that, instead of being poisoned by Magia Erebea is being transformed by it.

Spoiler:

My best guess is that it's his relation to the Lifemaker through his mother.

[ac195]

Originally Posted by Random Wanderer

Because it's killing him.

Wrong...

No HUMAN has EVER used the technique...

They have no idea what is happening...

Even Copy-Eva has only spoken of possibilities...

EDIT:

Oh, and if it really was killing him...

I think Asuna already said it clearly once (or was it Chisame?) that there is no way anyone is going to stop Negi from doing what hes gonna do and that all they can do is support him and his decisions.

[TnAdct1]

Originally Posted by Sian

Spoiler for ch286:

Yey for Battle Harem Shot ... interesting fact that Luna have a frontline appearence ... i guess that means that she's going to be a pseudo permenent addition (either completely volenteerly on all accounts or as a 'prisoner of war' being 'forced' to stay at Mahora and kept under suvailence by Negi and gang with her being an transfer student into 3A) ... i'd say that with this shot she's proberly more likely to take up Chao's spot in class than Collet which was the primary contentent before

Spoiler for Battle Harem Shot:

Besides the idea of Shiori becoming a student in Negi's class (something that pretty much been suggested thanks to the 32 on the Pactio card from Shiori's Pactio with Negi) two more predictions can be made from this splash page (based on who's on the frontline):

1. Nodoka, Yue, and Chisame will play big roles in the big battle with Fate;

2. Yuuna and Makie making Pactios before this arc is over is definite (Ako and Akira on the other hand...).