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

[AstroNerdBoy]

By "normal," I meant that Touta was raised in the country. He had no ambitions. He could not use magic, despite being the grandson of Negi. As far as he knew, he was just an ordinary kid who had no memories since the tragic accident. Apparently, there were no hints during those two years that he had any abilities or anything.

But then one day, his guardian is butchered and he become a faux shinso vampire (which is all but forgotten in the story). After that, Touta is pretty much Super Touta.

(I had written a humorous piece about this, but then I decided it was too long and might not be taken in the humor I was presenting it, so I'll just scrap it and move on.)

Regardless, for a long time, Touta annoyed me as the MC. I couldn't stand him at all. I'm not really sure when he changed as a character, but at some point, his irritating qualities were pushed down. Suddenly, he wasn't Super Touta any more. He was a kid who wanted to contribute and do his part for the team and for Eva. At the same time, Akamatsu-sensei started writing in a way to explain Touta's origins rather than the "I'm not telling you jack 'cause Touta's the MC with the most from coast to coast!"

[Diluc]

Originally Posted by AstroNerdBoy

As to content for my blog, not having weekly spoilers to post actually makes it more difficult for me. It is fairly easy and quick to put up a spoiler post, and keeping an eye open for more info or images isn't difficult or that time consuming. As such, in order to keep regular posts going, I'll actually have to do more work. It actually takes me a lot of time to write an anime review, mainly because I end up watching an episode two or three times. I also have a tendency while writing to look up things, and then I end up going down a rabbit hole for a while.

I recommend you to review Helck it is a good fantasy manga with quirky MC "Helck" that not your typical shounen protagonist, he is a man that between Hercules and He-man."insert self fans-promotion"

Originally Posted by AstroNerdBoy

I'm predicting that we'll see less action and more ecchi fan service and harem comedy antics.

Correct me, i believe in monthly mangaka has more freedom with his manga without think of rank burden compared to weekly, right?
assuming that we might can see the plot of UQH. maybe to see the other holders being relevant at least.

Originally Posted by DerGilga

I would say for most parts UQ holder stayed true to what it wanted to be, aka a story about an immortal AND a conclusion to Negima.

If you go though the story so for you can see how Akamatsu is setting most things up very early

• the beginning: introduction of Touta, Eva and Kuroumaru; teaser of UQ numbers
  -
• 1st training: intro of Jinbei; immortals have weaknesses in battle
  -
• Hunter Arc: World building; intro of Karin; first teaser of Touta's powers; Fate;
  Touta's dream is small for an immortal
  -
• Kiriee Arc: Intro of Kiriee, Ikkuu and Fate; Negi teaser
  -
• Santa Arc: Teaser of Jouzou; Intro of Santa; More world building;
  -
• Pre-Tournament+Imouto: world building; MotB-chan teaser; Intro of talking sword; Intro of Imouto; Touta is a 'clone';
  -
• Dana Arc: Intro of perfection/Dana; character development for Touta & Eva, also a little bit for the others; Fixing of Touta; Immortals live so long they simply forget things
  -
• The harem arc part 1: more mortal girls; character development for the rest; teaser for YHWH
  -
• story: more exposition; intro of MotB-chan
  -
• the race: mortal girls talk with an immortal about the future + things beyond the tower; the first climax with Negi appearing

I sure I forgot some things. At leasts in my opinion Akamatsu did have plan for the most parts and even in the race he's setting things up for the future. But UQ holder so far was a rather unfortunate mix of Touta's journey as an immortal AND giving the Negima story a conclusion. If I would make an prediction, I would say that after Negi is defeated the story will switch more to the immortal angle and we will see how Touta has to struggle as an immortal aka seeing how mortal allies around him just die of old age.

I believe Ken had prepped whole arc in UQH but harem part maybe really just out of blue, considering how absurd the chapters were to think again.
I rather wonder why the sudden part 1 ending announcement,worstly at cliffhanger. Ken should end the arc or the situation at least for us to see the next chapter, feel strange if there are timeskip in part 2 beginning considering the central arc tournament not even begin yet.

[Fwarlord]

Originally Posted by AstroNerdBoy

By "normal," I meant that Touta was raised in the country. He had no ambitions. He could not use magic, despite being the grandson of Negi. As far as he knew, he was just an ordinary kid who had no memories since the tragic accident. Apparently, there were no hints during those two years that he had any abilities or anything.

But then one day, his guardian is butchered and he become a faux shinso vampire (which is all but forgotten in the story). After that, Touta is pretty much Super Touta.

(I had written a humorous piece about this, but then I decided it was too long and might not be taken in the humor I was presenting it, so I'll just scrap it and move on.)

Regardless, for a long time, Touta annoyed me as the MC. I couldn't stand him at all. I'm not really sure when he changed as a character, but at some point, his irritating qualities were pushed down. Suddenly, he wasn't Super Touta any more. He was a kid who wanted to contribute and do his part for the team and for Eva. At the same time, Akamatsu-sensei started writing in a way to explain Touta's origins rather than the "I'm not telling you jack 'cause Touta's the MC with the most from coast to coast!"

You sound like someone read shonen for the first time, that "Normal to abnormal" trope is pretty much the norm in this genre. Furthermore, the very fact that he was raised by Eva, the legendary vampire and had no memories of his past screams "This kid is anything but normal" to anyone who read chapter 1, the implication is almost transparent there.

[imbuement]

An anime adaption was announced for UQ Holder.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news...-anime/.103359

[Hata]

yeah, the last page of 128 is Asuna+kid Negi, Negima time, talk about a teaser trying to hook the same crowd with the same bait, just like the "Negima Box" for the limited edition of UQ #12.

UQ #11 is going on sale 07/15, the cover is the Eva-Tota kiss against the sunset background on the island, one of the better cover Ken did for UQ I might add. (my thought is UQ generally has lower quality covers compare to Negima.)

looks like SM is going with a push of 5 new titles release, which is why UQ is off, timing wise it was strange, because usually groups of new titles debut around Spring (golden week) and Summer (Obon), I guess SM really wants to insert the sports title before the Olympic starts, as to why UQ was the chosen one, low rating, or not as good a rating as Negima certainly is a factor, don’t get me wrong, UQ’s sales number while low, is always respectable for a mid-tile title, but compares to Negima it certainly did not match, always hovering below 100,000 books per each volume, remember today’s manga industry is such that if you have something selling more than 50,000 books that usually guarantee you a spot on magazine serial, I guess what Kodansha is saying that while it is good enough to continue, it is not good enough to stay on the weekly, the prime estate of Kodansha’s number one magazine.

the new UQ monthly promised will have more pages, doh! of course Ken can do more than 18 pages per 30 days, but I doubt he will match the 18x4=72 pages output each months, I have commonly seen monthly manga page counts anywhere from 4 to 50, right now my best guess for UQ is around 30 pages, which would mean 2 books a year, which of course is a big downturn from the weekly’s normal out put of 4-5 books a year, Ken is basically losing 50%+ of his yearly income, (which is why again I don't believe he does this transfer on his own free will.)

about Bessatsu, it is not my favorite Kodansha monthly magazine to follow, (that would be Afternoon and Monthly SM) it did have two major titles support the mag, being Titans and Arslan, but those two happen to be my B list titles (follow half heartily on compilation, and browse the individual chapters occasionally when something interesting happen), the only title I follow each month is Flying Witch, which is only because of the recent TV series peaks my interest, the title showing promise is Her Majesty’s Supply Line, but I doubt it can match what it is imitating in Pumpkin Scissors.

and our routines will change, the 2ch spoiler is almost definitely moving into a new thread, (right now it is under the umbrella parent node of weekly magazine.), people seldom do early spoilers of monthly, since you wait a whole month, the extra one or two days do not seem to matter, so pretty much like when we follow Negiho on the same magazine, but instead of Fairy Tail, I will start to pay attentions when Titans spoiler hit the net.

[AstroNerdBoy]

I'm glad the last page confirms that Touta is merely witnessing events of the past and not actively participating in them (though one can never discount the Super Touta element).

As to the spoilers, thanks for the info, Hata! I'll be eagerly awaiting additional information from you on this so I can make adjustments accordingly (if needed).

[Hata]

Originally Posted by AstroNerdBoy

I'm glad the last page confirms that Touta is merely witnessing events of the past and not actively participating in them (though one can never discount the Super Touta element).

do you realize Tota is actually seeing his mom and dad there?

Spoiler for 128:

from MK, confirms, Tota was made by Fate AND Eva, this is a no brainer, anyone could have seen it ever since Fate appears in the story and said “you belong to me.”

Al still calling Eva Kitty.
Al’s move “small and heavy black hole”
Fate’s movie is “all piercing piles of black torque”
both spells were used in Negima, so they were also presented in original Latin and Greek.
Ameya actually set a flag with Mizore?

both side want Tota, as a TOOL, the UQ/Fate side want Tota as the only way to beat LM and save Negi, the LM side want Tota as the KEY to SAVE THE WORLD, obviously with Asuna asleep Tota is going to be used to fulfill Asuna’s role.

this of course is why I thought Ken’s writing for UQ is weak, why should the good guys create something to help the bad guys? and consider the nonchalant way Tota was treated in the beginning of the story, there is no way the good guy would think he is one of the 72 success, more like one of the failures, too.

I also never give too much thought of who Tota will be pairing off, the reason Asuna oversleep is probably because of the UQ arc, and only if Asuna oversleep would Chao bring Asuna back BEFORE the final showdown with LM, the GoodEnd, but by routing back to the GE the Tota timeline would NEVER EXIST because with Asuna there would never be a need to create Tota and all the clones in the first place, by winning the Tota timeline Tota will not exist in the future, which is why I doubt Tota will end up with anyone, (but people saying what about Eva? well, obviously bait for Negima fans.)

As to the spoilers, thanks for the info, Hata! I'll be eagerly awaiting additional information from you on this so I can make adjustments accordingly (if needed).

I went over the bessatsu tree in 2ch,
there is no one thread which cover all the magazine, only popular title got its own individual thread, so someone would have to create a new bessatsu UQ thread later.

the magazine officially went on sale the 9th of each month,

Titans’s spoilers tend to start show up on 5th and 6th, and fake spoilers were presented as well,

I read the Titans’ newest chapter on the 8th, so that should be the fastest a chapter can show up from bessatsu on the net, be expect UQ being slower,

so timing wise it was actually the same as weekly, just doing it in a monthly fashion, instead of looking forward to a day of the week (Saturday), but to a day in the month. (5th)

oh I forgot to mention another title which is sort of interesting from bessatsu is the Boarding School Juliet, your standard fare of art work and story quality of a romance comedy, good for some mindless read if you got time, in any case, I guess I would get familiar with all of bessatsu’s titles later on because of UQ moving there.

[DerGilga]

well, korean scans are out!

Boy, what a chapter! What emotions! What a cliffhanger!
Can't wait for next weeks chapter!



:-)



:-|



:-(



˚‧º·(˚ ˃̣̣̥᷄⌓˂̣̣̥᷅ )‧º·˚

[AstroNerdBoy]

Originally Posted by Hata

do you realize Tota is actually seeing his mom and dad there?

Yes, but will Touta still call Negi "Jiji"?

I went over the bessatsu tree in 2ch,
there is no one thread which cover all the magazine, only popular title got its own individual thread, so someone would have to create a new bessatsu UQ thread later.

the magazine officially went on sale the 9th of each month,

Titans’s spoilers tend to start show up on 5th and 6th, and fake spoilers were presented as well,

Ugh! We've been pretty fortunate with UQH on the weekly spoilers. I know back in the Negima days, there were times when some funny so-and-so would post fake spoilers.

Originally Posted by DerGilga

well, korean scans are out!

Boy, what a chapter! What emotions! What a cliffhanger!
Can't wait for next weeks chapter!

Ha!ha! Wait...

[Hata]

from Ken’s twitter

1 will try to have the same seiyu from Negima play the same characters in UQ.

2 I (Ken) am 48 years old, been on SM for 23 years, physically it is getting harder, thinking it is time to give up my seat for young people, from now on to work about 60% in the future, which would give me a little leeway to remain working as a mangaka.

3 there will be three projects, (Negima+UQ=Mahora World),

==========
3) I think it has something to do with the limited edition UQ #12 Negima Box.

2) now if you count 18X4X60%~=43
let’s see how many pages in the second UQ monthly chapter. (first chapter coming off a break would not be the regular page counts of the series.)

[Triok123]

can some explain what's the deal with ken's wife's hiatus joke?????

[Arabesque]

Originally Posted by Hata

1 will try to have the same seiyu from Negima play the same characters in UQ.

Makes sense, given how he wants to keep the consistency between Negima!? and the OVAs (well, mostly the OVAs). I guess then Shaft, A-1 or a studio close to Aniplex/Sony will be handling the adaptation.

Originally Posted by Hata

2 I (Ken) am 48 years old, been on SM for 23 years, physically it is getting harder, thinking it is time to give up my seat for young people, from now on to work about 60% in the future, which would give me a little leeway to remain working as a mangaka.

I believe it, given how taxing and difficult the weekly schedule mangaka have to keep up with is. I know that the move to monthly seems suspicious, but I can also see how Ken wouldn't want to keep working into his 50's on such work times.

Even with his break every 10 chapters, it's just not something feasible for anyone to work like that for decades.

Originally Posted by Hata

3 there will be three projects, (Negima+UQ=Mahora World),

Expanded universe?

Originally Posted by Triok123

can some explain what's the deal with ken's wife's hiatus joke?????

It's a dumb joke about how because his wife is a young idol, that means that he slacks off work to go "play with his wife" or whatever thing they keep on saying.

Even though it doesn't make sense for Ken's wife to ever try and sabotage her husband's work. But it's a stupid joke anyways.

[AstroNerdBoy]

Originally Posted by Triok123

can some explain what's the deal with ken's wife's hiatus joke?????

She's not so young any more (still well younger than Sensei though), but no one thinks she's trying to sabotage his work. The thing is, being a weekly shounen manga-ka takes up almost all of his time. So he has a hot babe wife at home, and when one is married, one has to make time for their marriage, which isn't happening when all of his time is being spent working. Thus the joke that she demands hiatus, and since she's a babe, who wouldn't want to take a hiatus to spend time with their hot wife?

Originally Posted by Hata

from Ken’s twitter

1 will try to have the same seiyu from Negima play the same characters in UQ.

One of the nice things about anime in Japanese is that they are more likely than not to use the same seiyuu. I do wonder about Eva as Yukihime though. They could use the same seiyuu, but have her use a different voice.

[Arabesque]

Originally Posted by AstroNerdBoy

She's not so young any more (still well younger than Sensei though), but no one thinks she's trying to sabotage his work. The thing is, being a weekly shounen manga-ka takes up almost all of his time. So he has a hot babe wife at home, and when one is married, one has to make time for their marriage, which isn't happening when all of his time is being spent working. Thus the joke that she demands hiatus, and since she's a babe, who wouldn't want to take a hiatus to spend time with their hot wife?

Well yeah, I know she's not as young as she was I know how the passage of time works lol

I do get how it can be used jokingly, and I don't mind it. But I did see it used at times insulting as well by some, which is why I don't like it anymore. It probably shouldn't bother me given how a lot of people wouldn't mean it that way, but eh.

Originally Posted by AstroNerdBoy

One of the nice things about anime in Japanese is that they are more likely than not to use the same seiyuu. I do wonder about Eva as Yukihime though. They could use the same seiyuu, but have her use a different voice.

Yuki Matsuoka has a very large range, so I don't think there'll be an issue in that regard. Yukihime and Eva should sound distinctive enough.

Eva will understandably sound a little different.

[cyberdemon]

Originally Posted by Hata

3 there will be three projects, (Negima+UQ=Mahora World),

Does this mean there might be a new Negima project outside the upcoming series?

[AstroNerdBoy]

Originally Posted by cyberdemon

Does this mean there might be a new Negima project outside the upcoming series?

This is just speculation on my part, but I think the new, monthly UQ Holder will take time to focus on Negima for a while through Touta's eyes. (The other UQ Holder folks could be shown stuff too, considering the kind of magic at play here.)

[whitecloud]

well....since uq holder is basically an extensions of negima alternate timeline....and it seems there will be other project that will depict the other timeline where asuna being brought back...

From reading the chapter it seems the guys at negi side is the real deal, not exactly a shadow, clone whatever. With real artifact, albeit a bit evil

[cyberdemon]

Originally Posted by whitecloud

well....since uq holder is basically an extensions of negima alternate timeline....and it seems there will be other project that will depict the other timeline where asuna being brought back...

From reading the chapter it seems the guys at negi side is the real deal, not exactly a shadow, clone whatever. With real artifact, albeit a bit evil

They are basically what Sayoko did to Santa, only unlike Santa they have no free will.

[AstroNerdBoy]

Originally Posted by cyberdemon

They are basically what Sayoko did to Santa, only unlike Santa they have no free will.

If you mean Negi's companions, I disagree they don't have free will. For starters, I think Negi came to an agreement with MotB in order to save Nagi's life. This would be in character with Negi, who came to an agreement with his enemy and rival Fate, to the point to where they became close working partners.

As I mention in my chapter review, I can easily see Yue and Nodoka agreeing to go with whatever plan their beloved Negi-sensei has. They've always had this absolute faith in him, so if that means somehow being preserved (whether they are immortal or not) to assist him would be fine with both of them. It wouldn't surprise me if they are partially possessed by MotB to give them long life. Regardless, I do think it is exposure to MotB that has caused the two to become cold.

As to Jack, I can see him being quite amused at Negi's audacious plan and agreeing to help Negi and the MotB. Ditto Al.

[quigonkenny]

Originally Posted by Hata

from Ken’s twitter

1 will try to have the same seiyu from Negima play the same characters in UQ.

2 I (Ken) am 48 years old, been on SM for 23 years, physically it is getting harder, thinking it is time to give up my seat for young people, from now on to work about 60% in the future, which would give me a little leeway to remain working as a mangaka.

3 there will be three projects, (Negima+UQ=Mahora World),

==========
3) I think it has something to do with the limited edition UQ #12 Negima Box.

2) now if you count 18X4X60%~=43
let’s see how many pages in the second UQ monthly chapter. (first chapter coming off a break would not be the regular page counts of the series.)

While I would love to see only a 40% drop in overall chapter length per month, I think he might have been referring to his own contribution to the manga. That he'll only be putting in 60% of the work that he's been doing, so that he can do it for longer. How exactly that translates to a "Ken pages per month" number is probably indeterminate.

On a different note, I was going back over the last few chapters of Negima, and both noticed a few things that hadn't clicked before, and see things a bit differently through prism of 128 chapters of UQ Holder.

First off, in chapter 353, when Asuna asks Eva why she took her back, she says it was "a request from a man who couldn't keep him promises". At the time, the obvious suspect for that was the by-then-deceased Negi. Now? Not so much.

Second, something I completely missed the significance of the first time, and that takes on a new significance after UQ, in the same panel, Chao says that Eva came to her across dimensions to ask for her help. She also had previously said that Eva helped her design the "Transworld Machine" (obviously Eva's name, because Cassiopeia was a much better name), which I knew, but had always assumed it was Chao's Eva that did it. (Probably since I had always assumed that it was Chao's native Eva who--at her own request--had given Chao her ME-reminscent powers)

Spoiler for size and future speculation:

With these two things in mind, I have a speculation on how things will proceed. Touta will see basically the whole of Negima overy the course of his stay in Casa del Sanders, raising his knowledge level to that of readers of that series (and giving a crash course to those who weren't). UQ Holder's existence in the Asuna Sleeping timeline will be explicitly spelled out. He will find out about the sacrifice Asuna made and find out that Negi/MotB are working toward a world where she won't have to be doing that, which is something similar to Cosmo Entelecheia from Negima. Maybe even something will have occurred that even makes it impossible for Asuna to be awakened unless Negi of the Beginning succeeds. Eva will counter, rightly so, that living in a simulation is no living at all, since there's no freedom, and that Asuna would gladly make that sacrifice if she knew. Touta, in typical fashion, will announce that he's going to save everyone, including Negi, MotB, and Asuna. He promises. Cue hearts and violins, harem +n, etc., etc.

Story happens. Touta succeeds...mostly. Worldwide problems are solved (as much as they ever are). MotB and Negi are saved (though probably at the expense of their immortalities). Asuna can be awakened (albeit a few years late). But Touta has to sacrifice himself to do it. Promise broken. As he's dying (or getting read to do the sacrifice, however the situation requires), he asks Eva to correct the one thing (in his mind) that he couldn't, and asks that she find some way to take Asuna back in the past to make up for her having to "sleep late". She agrees. He dies. Tears fall. In the epilogue, Eva finds some way to "cross dimensions" to the one person she knows can make a time machine, and there you go.