(L) UQ Holder!

[TnAdct1]

Originally Posted by NapoleonDeCheese

The whole 'all of 3-A shows up to do each a little useless bit until the situation magically fixes itself, despite the fact all of their efforts achieved nothing until then' resolution was actually done first in the XEBEC anime, then in SHAFT's, then in the Negima Neo manga spinoff, and then in the movie. Now here, too.

Honestly, that is probably one of the biggest issues any Negima adaptation faces: the need to incorporate all 31 girls. Yes, this also happens in the manga, however, that moments happens off camera, so we don't really know the role that girls play in the final epic battle to save Negi's dad.

In terms of the adaptations I'm familiar with:

Xebec: The mass Pactio in the final episode taints the actual Pactios that Nodoka, Setsuna, and Konoka were supposed to receive earlier in the story (not to mention a number of Pactio abilities were guesswork, as only about half the Pactio cards designs were already made by the time the Xebec anime aired, and the only one's whose abilities were actually shown in the manga around the time of the anime were Asuna and Nodoka's).

SHAFT: Having everyone learn about Negi's secret halfway through the series lead to a huge drop of quality in the second half, as the story (and the characters the fans cared about, especially Nodoka) were pushed to the back in favor of giving all the students screen time in every episode.

Also, I have to wonder if the Sports Festival happened in this universe, because the strategy to deal with Negi was pretty much the same, with Natsumi and Ako and then Chachamaru and Chisame and... wait, why to alter the beam to strip mode in THIS case? In the manga it made sense given the context, but what was the point here? The blast didn't even hit Negi, just themselves, so was the point convincing Negi through giving him a boner? You could've achieved the same effect by just stripping yourselves the normal way.

Anyway, didn't the Sports Festival happen here, or was Negi idiotic enough to fall for the same 'in the butt' trick twice?

What are the odds that JC Staff wanted to adapt that part of the Negima manga, despite being so awful that it plays a major factor in my discontinuity over the last volumes of Negima (and in turn, UQ Holder).

[RDNexus]

By this point, one should have known better to just keep the brain shut-down.
But, HECK, why waste time this episode in original stuff, and with all 3-A girls, of all characters?! Dear goodness!!!
And, despite having avoided it like the plague, I kinda noticed Asuna's dress was that original Movie Finale. Why? Just why?

In the end, speedy pacing, made worse by inserting stuff from Negima that I seriously wonder WHY THE F**KING HECK was it needed for.
Well, unfortunately, I'll have to resign myself (once again) to forget an Anime Adaptation ever existed and stick to the source material.

[Team Rocket Elite]

Episode 12

Spoiler for Manga chapters covered:

One last time.

This episode covered monthly chapters 132-134. The Touta confession scene at the end was from chapter 96. The scene where 3-A shows up is anime original. Asuna is supposed to show up immediately after the 37 seconds are up.

[NapoleonDeCheese]

I am not against the idea of gathering all 31 girls for a final battle, with each getting an awesome moment against the final enemy. As a matter of fact, I believe it's a brilliant idea.

BUT.

It must feel like the characters have earned it first. It must be the payoff to a very carefully set buildup through a very long time, after developing each girl into truly capable partners through a long, rich story. It's the kind of story you could pull off in a very long and epic manga or even anime, although it'll take a lot of talent, effort and dedication, but it's not really the sort of thing you can hammer down at the tail end of 12 or even 26 episodes of anything. You literally have more characters than episodes left to develop them, f'r Pete's sake.

Something like the Justice League Unlimited animated series made it work, with each superhero getting a fairly cool moment or two in a major climax... which was literally the payoff to years of cartoons set in the same universe starring Batman, Superman, and then the rest of the Justice League, through epic stories fleshing most characters out and even giving secondaries things to do and moments to shine before throwing them all together for the finale.

[Stark700]

Man, this was a very underwhelming show overall. I can't even get a good laugh at the comedy anymore because it just got old so fast. The only thing that gave me left me a decent impression is the nostolgia I got from seeing some of the characters from the past. Even then, it still felt kinda stale.

This anime never would work with 12 episodes.

I like the Negima universe but....this just doesn't cut it.

[NapoleonDeCheese]

I also have to wonder how would you get DNA to clone anything from a ghost and a freaking robot.

[4th Dimension]

Nah. They actually say that they are created from MEMORIES Asuna and Negi had of their time with them. Which is extra stupid, but that's their explanation and they are sticking to it.

For a moment I actually joked that the plan was to murder the brain cells where Ialda was given the sheere stupid.

AND STILL
it might have worked, for fans of Negima, but the execution was DREADFUL in how SLOW it was. Do you really think anyone in 3A would wait their turn? It would be a clusterfuck of differring plans and ideas all going off at once. And properly done it might have been GLORIOUS.

BUT what we got doesn't work for me as Negima fan, and it CERTAINLY doesn't work dor anyone new who is not familiar with source.
Also the focus on kinda second stringers. WTF isn't Chisame just walking down there and bitch slapping him? And what's with that derpy smile?! #notmychisame

And on top of it, it tried to reuse the DREADFUL actual harem end from terrible adaptations.
Oh yeah, also what is the most reasonable and char with most authority, the baker girl, doing there acting like a damn fool.

As for Cho, that's just Cho for you. She either has backdoors in it, since she made the thing, and in original it had her logo/promo on it. Or HAX Martian tech.

But yeah this one is another dissapointment. Not as much as others, but again it fails to stick the landing.

Which beggs the question of the reasons behind the Anime adaptation.

[IceHism]

Yea I don’t get what this show was actually aiming for. Might as well just adapt another cour of negima instead

[serenade_beta]

Spoiler for final thoughts:

Happy Material/10

To be honest, the content of this anime felt both hollow and shallow. I'll blame 30% on the original and 70% on the anime for such boring content.
There just really wasn't much to care about. The old characters? Man, the protagonist is possessed and they have to kill him, the other girls are all dead or spirits or whatever, and Eva is... whatever.
Of course, it wasn't completely bad, and there were cute or interesting moments, but that doesn't really say much.

In the end, the only thing that could really be complimented is that they remade Happy Material, the original OP, for the "sequel".
That was definitely a great move.
And I guess it might be fun seeing how many of the girls had their original VAs voicing them, since I have a feeling at least one has a replacement VA.
But that's using more time than I want to invest on this anime.

[RDNexus]

Actually, I felt that them recycling the Negima! OP was more of a cheap move for nostalgia goggles (other attempt at putting Negima!-related stuff in a pseudo sequel to the original story).

Not counting the fact that said reference would have totally passed me by had I not read here about it. Excuse me for saying this, but said song is far from memorable to me.

[NapoleonDeCheese]

Originally Posted by 4th Dimension

Nah. They actually say that they are created from MEMORIES Asuna and Negi had of their time with them.

Ah, sorry, but no, I'm sure it's not just that simple. They can function as memories brought to life exactly because they also were part of the cloning proccess in the anime. Maybe we're working from different translations, but in the one I saw when Negi says Touta was cloned only from Asuna and him, Ayaka outright says that they wouldn't have been left out of it either (although by then most of them should have been dead, but by now anything has stopped making sense).

Then Konoka teases Setsuna with how that must mean Touta is the son of the Konosetsu union too, flustering Setchan, and that bit wouldn't work at all if they hadn't been part of the cloning proccess too in this version.

It's not without precedent in the manga, Cutlass, the other successful experiment, throws genetic material from Fate's Ministra as well, and people at 4chan and Astronerdboy's site coincide with this interpretation, either calling 3-A Touta's mothers or asking if that's the case in the manga as well.

As for the seiyuu, Chisame's actress retired recently, so that has to be a replacement indeed.

[Ultragunner]

LMAO, what did I just watch in the last ep?

[4th Dimension]

Originally Posted by IceHism

Yea I don’t get what this show was actually aiming for. Might as well just adapt another cour of negima instead

Eh, another cour based on which show? Because the most true TV Anime was the original one and that one f-ed with the Kyoto arc. And then there is the problem you would be doing 2nd cour for an anime from how many years ago? So basically only Negima fans would be interested, and I don't think the quality would be great given the narrowness of the potential audience. And we have allready seen the production values even on something that was supposed to have mass appeal as UQ Holder.

Which is why I was asking what was the point of this Anime? Was it for the old fans of Negima? because as a fan, I don't care AT ALL for the NEGI IS NOW BAD, except not bit that UQ does. And I would rather someone try to animate the festival arc coz LOADS of things happened there, for MULTIPLE seasons. But that will NEVER happen.
Was this for the UQ Holder fans, or to bring in new fans of the currently publishing manga? I would assume this is the case, especially since they force inserted all of the UQ harem members, willing or unwilling. But if that was the case, they really screwed up showing what is it one might expect in the manga. Because they inssited more at the idiotic idea to drive to the Negi fight, so we didn't really get to see enough of the UQ members, and hell they even CUT some of them to insert more harem members.
Basically if they were trying to get new readers, they would have been better served sticking more to the manga plot.

I think they tried to do it ALL. And therefore FAILED at all.

Originally Posted by serenade_beta

Spoiler for final thoughts:

Happy Material/10

To be honest, the content of this anime felt both hollow and shallow. I'll blame 30% on the original and 70% on the anime for such boring content.
There just really wasn't much to care about. The old characters? Man, the protagonist is possessed and they have to kill him, the other girls are all dead or spirits or whatever, and Eva is... whatever.
Of course, it wasn't completely bad, and there were cute or interesting moments, but that doesn't really say much.

In the end, the only thing that could really be complimented is that they remade Happy Material, the original OP, for the "sequel".
That was definitely a great move.
And I guess it might be fun seeing how many of the girls had their original VAs voicing them, since I have a feeling at least one has a replacement VA.
But that's using more time than I want to invest on this anime.

Originally Posted by xrick

Actually, I felt that them recycling the Negima! OP was more of a cheap move for nostalgia goggles (other attempt at putting Negima!-related stuff in a pseudo sequel to the original story).

Not counting the fact that said reference would have totally passed me by had I not read here about it. Excuse me for saying this, but said song is far from memorable to me.

Yeah, the intro song is probably there just for nostalgia goggles, although if that song was tied to one of the terrible adaptations, that might have brought wrong things to mind.

Originally Posted by serenade_beta

Spoiler for final thoughts:

There just really wasn't much to care about. The old characters? Man, the protagonist is possessed and they have to kill him, the other girls are all dead or spirits or whatever, and Eva is... whatever.
Of course, it wasn't completely bad, and there were cute or interesting moments, but that doesn't really say much.

This kinda is my main beef with the manga actually. That it's using the crutch of the Negima to it's determent while it could be relatively good on it's own right. And it's definitely not satisfying me, the old fan, to see old beloved characters be "evil". But more on that can be said only on the manga toppic.

Originally Posted by NapoleonDeCheese

Ah, sorry, but no, I'm sure it's not just that simple. They can function as memories brought to life exactly because they also were part of the cloning proccess in the anime. Maybe we're working from different translations, but in the one I saw when Negi says Touta was cloned only from Asuna and him, Ayaka outright says that they wouldn't have been left out of it either (although by then most of them should have been dead, but by now anything has stopped making sense).

Then Konoka teases Setsuna with how that must mean Touta is the son of the Konosetsu union too, flustering Setchan, and that bit wouldn't work at all if they hadn't been part of the cloning proccess too in this version.

It's not without precedent in the manga, Cutlass, the other successful experiment, throws genetic material from Fate's Ministra as well, and people at 4chan and Astronerdboy's site coincide with this interpretation, either calling 3-A Touta's mothers or asking if that's the case in the manga as well.

As for the seiyuu, Chisame's actress retired recently, so that has to be a replacement indeed.

TBH, any attempts at reason and logic ENDED once that sequence started. And I spent most of it with the same expression on my face and same thoughts running through my mind as Negi did. "WTF, What? How?! Is this really it!? Pathetic!"

And I took her comment to mean that them as memories would not allow Negi and Asuna to just be her parents, but they are in there too. somehow. I guess it's supposed to make us remember that 3A breaks the rules and does it's own thing. But whatever. In any case to me it's more ridiculous that they managed to get genetic material from 30 odd girls and stuffed it into Touta (and have him display just the abilities of Asuna and Negi) than it being some kind of memories welling up shenanigans. Or even Asuna creating it all according to her own plan.

But yeah. I don't think we can use logic or reason on this stupidity.

Originally Posted by Ultragunner

LMAO, what did I just watch in the last ep?

Welcome to my and Negi's mind. Basically all of us were going WTF!

[TnAdct1]

Originally Posted by 4th Dimension

Which is why I was asking what was the point of this Anime? Was it for the old fans of Negima? because as a fan, I don't care AT ALL for the NEGI IS NOW BAD, except not bit that UQ does. And I would rather someone try to animate the festival arc coz LOADS of things happened there, for MULTIPLE seasons. But that will NEVER happen.
Was this for the UQ Holder fans, or to bring in new fans of the currently publishing manga? I would assume this is the case, especially since they force inserted all of the UQ harem members, willing or unwilling. But if that was the case, they really screwed up showing what is it one might expect in the manga. Because they inssited more at the idiotic idea to drive to the Negi fight, so we didn't really get to see enough of the UQ members, and hell they even CUT some of them to insert more harem members.
Basically if they were trying to get new readers, they would have been better served sticking more to the manga plot.

I think they tried to do it ALL. And therefore FAILED at all.

That is definitely the biggest problem with this adaptation of UQ Holder: someone working on the show should have realized from the get-go that trying to adapt the Negi fight would be a horrible idea (as you're dealing with something that happens much later in the manga, yet the series is only going to last 12 episodes). If you really want to do have something to end the season without trying to incorporate Santa (who is pretty much the Kotarou of the series in terms of him being cut from the anime version), you could have done the story line where Cutlass kidnaps him, and she reveals to him the truth about him being a clone (with Karin replacing Santa in the group that rescues rescuing him).

As for wanting to do something that could appear to Negima fans: Has anyone ever considered doing a film based on the Wilhelm arc? It's short enough to be told in about 90-120 minutes, and it contains plenty of stuff that would keep Negima fans entertained.

Yeah, the intro song is probably there just for nostalgia goggles, although if that song was tied to one of the terrible adaptations, that might have brought wrong things to mind.

It's especially worse for me, as the OP animation is completely unwatchable IMO.

This kinda is my main beef with the manga actually. That it's using the crutch of the Negima to it's determent while it could be relatively good on it's own right. And it's definitely not satisfying me, the old fan, to see old beloved characters be "evil". But more on that can be said only on the manga topic.

This idea is one thing that led to me stop caring about UQ Holder in the first place. I didn't want to see an "evil" version of Nodoka. Heck, I didn't want to see Nodoka get involved, period. I wanted to see a story set in the same universe as Negima (or the Akamatsu universe in general, as I'm sure all of his works are set in the same universe) with a fresh set of characters having their own adventures and the Negima appearances being limited to just those that would still be around in late 21st Century. If I wanted more Nodoka, I would have asked for a proper continuation of the manga.

[4th Dimension]

Originally Posted by TnAdct1

That is definitely the biggest problem with this adaptation of UQ Holder: someone working on the show should have realized from the get-go that trying to adapt the Negi fight would be a horrible idea (as you're dealing with something that happens much later in the manga, yet the series is only going to last 12 episodes). If you really want to do have something to end the season without trying to incorporate Santa (who is pretty much the Kotarou of the series in terms of him being cut from the anime version), you could have done the story line where Cutlass kidnaps him, and she reveals to him the truth about him being a clone (with Karin replacing Santa in the group that rescues rescuing him).

I'm pretty sure the best way would have been to simply aim for the Fate/Elevator arc. Coz that ends after 42 episodes and you might be able to fit it into 12 episode format. Still might need to do some cutting though. And that one kinda does it all. Introduce most of the cast and their abilities, and give a nice explosive fight at the end that fans too could appreciate. At least the Fate vs Eva bit.

Originally Posted by TnAdct1

As for wanting to do something that could appear to Negima fans: Has anyone ever considered doing a film based on the Wilhelm arc? It's short enough to be told in about 90-120 minutes, and it contains plenty of stuff that would keep Negima fans entertained.

I don't remember it too well TBH. What I do remember is that the finale involved going against a demon while the girls were being the damsels in distress. The later bit is what I have beef with, even though they end up helping, maybe, in the end.

Originally Posted by TnAdct1

It's especially worse for me, as the OP animation is completely unwatchable IMO.

Oh yeah. The bit where black silhouette of Touta springs up on us on yellow background which then fills the whites of his eyes is the stuff of nightmares. Who AUTHORIZED that thing?!?

Originally Posted by TnAdct1

This idea is one thing that led to me stop caring about UQ Holder in the first place. I didn't want to see an "evil" version of Nodoka. Heck, I didn't want to see Nodoka get involved, period. I wanted to see a story set in the same universe as Negima (or the Akamatsu universe in general, as I'm sure all of his works are set in the same universe) with a fresh set of characters having their own adventures and the Negima appearances being limited to just those that would still be around in late 21st Century. If I wanted more Nodoka, I would have asked for a proper continuation of the manga.

Yup

[NapoleonDeCheese]

To be honest I wouldn't have wanted another story set in the same universe UNTIL the Negima story had been finished properly. After that, yeah, well, sure, move along with something else altogether new. But I don't think it's fair to your longtime readers keeping using the same universe while denying them the resolution to the previous thing you'd written. At that point the 'I couldn't use this setting anymore because the company...' defense just loses any weight and it's clear you just dropped the whole previous series on your own. And then why shouldn't I think you'd likely just do the same thing all over again?

Oh yeah. The bit where black silhouette of Touta springs up on us on yellow background which then fills the whites of his eyes is the stuff of nightmares. Who AUTHORIZED that thing?!?

I have no real problems with most of the opening, but the bit where Touta is smashed against the huge pink heart shattering it just makes me cringe. Not only it makes Eva look like Narusegawa in disguise, but there's something to it that is just too grating and cheesy to me.

[TnAdct1]

Originally Posted by 4th Dimension

Oh yeah. The bit where black silhouette of Touta springs up on us on yellow background which then fills the whites of his eyes is the stuff of nightmares. Who AUTHORIZED that thing?!?

Actually, I was referring to the OP to the Xebec version of Negima.

That OP was definitely forcing the 31 student aspect down our throats (and don't get me started on the beach volleyball scene).

[chaos_animagic]

As I've said all the way back when episode 1 started.

This entire UQ Holder series is about closure to Negima.

It's funny how ppls are still discussing old characters appearing like they're surprised.


Tho... ep 12's change is kinda weird... even for a closure...

Wonder if they'll still have a season 2 (especially with some reveals not yet shown in this season) - such as Yukihime saying "you're 500 years too late".

Tota had to meet with someone first before Yukihime said that.

[4th Dimension]

Originally Posted by NapoleonDeCheese

To be honest I wouldn't have wanted another story set in the same universe UNTIL the Negima story had been finished properly. After that, yeah, well, sure, move along with something else altogether new. But I don't think it's fair to your longtime readers keeping using the same universe while denying them the resolution to the previous thing you'd written. At that point the 'I couldn't use this setting anymore because the company...' defense just loses any weight and it's clear you just dropped the whole previous series on your own. And then why shouldn't I think you'd likely just do the same thing all over again?

Eh? That was the explanation for UQ? that he couldn't use the same setting? But it was blatantly set in the same worl... you mean the same setting as in Child Teacher in High School?
In any case once Negima was dropped, we were unlikely to get any proper conclusion. Frankly those couple chapters in UQ is probably the best we'll ever have, and even though I loved them, they kinda felt out of place for quite a bit of reasons. But then again this arc is hardly over in manga.

Originally Posted by TnAdct1

Actually, I was referring to the OP to the Xebec version of Negima.

That OP was definitely forcing the 31 student aspect down our throats (and don't get me started on the beach volleyball scene).

Whoopsy daisy. The only Negima OP I kinda remember is the stacked tables one that felt like it went on for waay too long, and reduced all characters to numbers.

Originally Posted by chaos_animagic

As I've said all the way back when episode 1 started.

This entire UQ Holder series is about closure to Negima.

It's funny how ppls are still discussing old characters appearing like they're surprised.


Tho... ep 12's change is kinda weird... even for a closure...

Wonder if they'll still have a season 2 (especially with some reveals not yet shown in this season) - such as Yukihime saying "you're 500 years too late".

Tota had to meet with someone first before Yukihime said that.

UQ Holder being closure to Negima?!?
...I kinda fail to see how...
It doesn't actually address the questions about how actual Negima ended coz this is an AU. Well if you discount couple chapters that happen 100+ chapters in. And pretty much until the whole Negi fight bit, it had been doing it's own thing, mostly dealing with immortals and Eve. And if you are talking of the Anime version, then DEFINITELY NO, since Negima characters, apart from a flash back here or there, are largely absent from it untill the end where... well you know my complaints about the whole Negi antagonist bit. In fact of course people are surprised about Negima characters appearing when for the first place they should be long gone except couple immortals or REALLY old people here and there. But again this might be more suitable for the manga thread.

Episode 12 is like 0 in closure. Negi is still possessed, only now Ialda has Asuna... SOMEHOW (which is still true in manga). How is that closure?!?

The 500 years comment is another one of the comments that only make sense if spoken in the manga verse not in this Anime AU, and of course just transplanting it straight into the anime makes it feel completely out of context.

[RDNexus]

You do know that, for some specific reasons, Akamatsu-sensei had to end Negima! abruptly, right?
He must've come up with UQ Holder! as an alternative to give proper closure to the previous story under the guise of a new, kinda related/unrelated one.

At least, that's what I've read around, a while back. Anyone is free to correct me if I'm wrong somewhere.