(L) Negima Manga Discussion

[Hata]

I do want to comment on the so call "Negi's Choice", if there is ever one. Canonrap was right, this is an ambigious ending that is open to each's interpretation.

Spoiler:

People whom are known to be definitely out of Negi
NodokaXYue, NatsumiXKotaro, Madoka (black hair dog ear), Sakurako (Fate), twinsXMagicWorldTwinPrinces, HakaseXGodel,

People whom are known to be marry but with unknown people
Setsuna, Konoka,

the last pair is very interesting, because
1 they both got marry at 2017,
2 Setsuna got a high speed cruiser which has 3LDK, also the exact dimension she promised Konoka in her dream sequence.
3 in 352 there were little Setsuna, Konoka shown running with little Eva/Asuna? with old Ayaka watching over them saying she enjoy watch the world Negi and Asuna created.

now we can have 3 possibilities
a Setsuna and Konoka each marry a different man,
almost impossible with their relationship+working requirement,

b Setsuna and Konoka got marry to each other.
only if ISSDA technology allows two girls to have baby, not that impossible in Ken's world as you think.

c both Setsuna and Konoka got marry to Negi
there is actually no problem law wise, Setsuna is not human!

I personally prefer b and c, because I think there is a reason Ken purposely left the identity of both's marriage secret while revealed all other matchup, we can go b (actually the most likely) because Ken did not want to have a public yuri route end for his shonen manga characters, (just like YueXNodoka), the high speed cruiser could actually be for Setsuna and Konoka to escape from Konoemon!

or we can go c, the harem end is not that far fetch, when Ayaka saying she enjoy watching the world Negi and Asuna created, whom better than Negi's kids running on the open grass fields behind her!? I like that symbolic representation, also, for b Ken can just do it like NodokaXYue and say they are closed, Ken does not need to say they are married, which of course is a reflection on C352's kids.

as to the truth? only Ken knew, and we can pick the solution we like, which is what an open ending is all about. you can pick the bad end and torture yourself, or you can pick the good end and sleep on it. so what are you, S or M?

PS
the biggest thing for me is not Negi's choice, or the unexpected guest, but

Spoiler:

there is a Martian Independent War that still happen despite what Negi and Chao did in their timelines, timeline wise probably happen after Negi dies, and Negi's death probably has something to do with it.

gaiden materials abound.

[com_gwp]

I'm somewhat amazed it ended. I still remember starting it in middle school. Hugely disappointing ending. Wish he'd had at least given a resolution to who he ends up with, not this open ending bullshit.

[SoFarGone]

why did he rush the ending anyway?

[ZODDGUTS]

Dat rushed ending. Wow.

[Sumeragi]

Comprehensive feelings: I like the ending. No really, I like the ending as a whole. Despite all the loose ends, Akamatsu managed to finish the story on a relatively clean note. That I have to give it to him.

What I don't like as a fangirl are the ambiguouity of the Konoka/Setsuna situation (I mean seriously, couldn't you have done something a bit more revealing, Ken-san?) and what became of Chisame (come on, that's too cruel a fate for a cute girl like her, she deserves better).

Still, overall, it was a satisfactory ending. I would have to say my basic faith in him did not suffer.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Sumeragi

What I don't like as a fangirl are the ambiguouity of the Konoka/Setsuna situation (I mean seriously, couldn't you have done something a bit more revealing, Ken-san?)

I doubt he could have made it less ambiguous. Remember that as a shounen manga, it has to abide to the "Tokyo Metropolitan Ordinance Regarding the Healthy Development of Youths" law.

[edgelesspigeon]

Originally Posted by Klashikari

4. No real need to explain this, except the "promise" between the Twilight Princess and "Asuna". To begin with, despite being a fake personality, she is borderline stronger than a normal one.
5. Magia Erebea effect were only left to speculation for the characters, so it isn't surprising Negi become immortal-like, but still mortal in the end. After all, the transformation process wasn't the same as Eva's.
8. Not really necessary since it was hinted long before that Konoka would just need more power. Since it was already shown quickly in the different timeline portion, it is "covered". The question wasn't "if they will manage it", but rather "when".

That said, we can also add others points:
-Master of the Gravekeepers' Palace
-Actual origin and motives of the Lifemaker (after all, we only know Kosmo Entelecheia objective. LM objective was probably different before he settled mars, before warping into the way he became I think).
-Original plan of the Megalomesembria senate (since it was heavy implied by Kurt that the senate were the ones behind Hermann's group attack)
-Demon's cast (Hermann, Mana's origins, and especially Zazie and her sister)
-Chao's actual plight (world crisis hardly matches Mana's description of "it happens all the time")
-Chizuru's involvement to Negi's heavy schedule (since it was the reason why she got a pactio)
-Satsuki's real involvement regarding Magic stuff (unless Akamatsu was just doing some red herring)
-Fuka and Fumika's pactio


There are probably more loose ends in the lot.

Well, these still haven't been answered. Plus, some of mine aren't answered as well:
1. Negi's father, where he is, what does he have to do with the Lifemaker (is he possessed by the Lifemaker?)
2. The Lifemaker (What happened to him? Is he still alive? Did Negi and Asuna kill him with that sword slash (very anti-climatic if so)? Where is he?)

The closest we get to an answer for these two is just that Nagi's been "freed" from the Lifemaker thanks to Nagi and his comrades. No explanation as to why Nagi asked Negi to kill him, though.

3. What happened to and where is Arika?
4. The origin of Ako's scar?

[ShiroiRyu]

Oh man ...
Natsumi will be married with our wolf guy. ^^

[edgelesspigeon]

Oh, and we never got to find out who Negi was interested in. In the popular webcomic "8-bit Theater", the character Black Mage says "That's it, I've had enough. This whole g-----n adventure has been nothing but pointless build ups toward pay offs that never happen." I think this can also be applied to Negima. The difference is, in "8-bit Theater", it's humorous and a major theme of the webcomic, and plot points still end up resolved by the end of the story. Not so with Negima.

[amasposu]

I expected this kind of ending ever since chapter 1: Negi doesn't end up with anyone.

[Game8910]

Lets use a point ranking system for this finale, we will start with 0 points:
+1 Pretty color first page
+3 adult Nodoka is lovely
-10 NAGI OUT OF FUCKING NOWHERE!
+1 Nagi being Nagi
-1 The twins are the biggest sluts in the series now
-20 Nagi rescued off screen
-15 Nodoka end denied hard
+5 Implied marriage between Konoka and Setsuna
+2 Long haired Ako is <3
+2 Holy shit the twins turned out pretty hot after all
-15 HOW DARE YOU TURN CHISAME FULL HIKKI AKAMATSU! OVER THE FUCKING LINE!
+5 Chachamaru was getting wound up by Negi daily
+2 Eva lives on happily
-10 No mention of Negi's mother
-10 No mention of who that other girl who looked related to Negi in MW was
-10 No mention on who the one Negi liked was (no it wasnt Yue)
-10 Everything else left unexplained that at this point I cant think about

Overall: -80

I had this manga at 9/10, dropping it to 8/10 because it managed to be a great manga for 90% of its run. Also a big congratulations to Ken Akamatsu, sir...you managed to create an ending to a manga even shittier than CLAMP, that takes skill right there. If you are planning some form of sequel of spin-off that will cover the missing content then I will be more forgiving of this, but if not...well

SCREW YOU KEN AKAMATSU!

[Cyz]

I didn't like how it ended. To be honest, for a manga that run for so long I was expecting to have a proper closure. Like somebody already said, the end felt like it was rushed and some of the scenes are just plain ridiculous. I hope there's more...and did they ever say who Negi ended up to? Or is he bound to be a bachelor forever?

[Freeter]

Spoiler for final:

Hell yes, my girl Chacha got the best outcome of them all

Shame about Chisame though, she didn't deserve to get NHKed. Maybe Ken will make A.I. Love You 2 and cast her as the heroine

[ZeroForever]

in general while i don't agree on all of game8910 points i do agree it to meh as i've said elsewhere this feels like a suikoden ending where all you get is snippets of the characters.

but unlike those it still left major plot points open and but still it didn't tell you squat on how it transpired...

though kurt implied marrying hakase was a WTF moment if i saw one.

[AlphaDragoon]

The rush job sucked big time, but honestly I really liked the last chapter itself. I don't even mind that Negi didn't end up with any of the girls, they all stayed great friends and that's enough for me.

It's a shame we didn't see the Lifemaker fight, but I was really happy to see that Negi got to free Nagi and have his dad back. Warmed the heart to see them laughing together, bickering over silly stuff and just being a family.

[Xion Valkyrie]

Maybe there will be some 'after stories' that fill in the gap. Like with the Love Hina stuff.

[Sheep_]

About the whole Chisame thing didn't anyone else feel like it was kinda out of character due to all the development she had?

Like in the mini arc before all this she was getting bored of updating her site because it wasn't giving her the same thrill. Plus she wanted to help Negi more / be his right hand person like she was during the MW arc.

It makes no sense for her to become a shut in worse then what she was at the start of the manga after she finally stops caring so much about the online world.

[karuroso]

Akamatsu is now on my personal list of authors I shouldn't never follow ever again

[Divini]

For the most part, I liked the ending a lot. Pretty much how I expected it to end.

The major thing that bothers me is that it seemed like an entire story arc was offscreen. Also, what happened to Arika?

[Von Himmel]

In a sense, KA didn't lie that we're going to get a good ending. However, the fact that he choose this way to conclude some sub-plots is a bit....disappointing

Also, what happened to Arika?

Maybe died or something to make some hopes for those who are cheering for Nagi x Eva