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

[SoloPanda]

Originally Posted by AstroNerdBoy

Normally, the pactio card shows the artifact. I've always thought Karin's mallet was like a pactio artifact. So maybe it becomes one now with juiced up powers.

I'm not certain if this is correct but, didn't they refer to relics from pactio cards as something that was rare back in Negima? I remember when Yue used her card at magic school they were shocked that she had a pactio but said it was a rare artifact card as well. I never understood from translation if this meant that her artifact was rare or the fact that she got an artifact that was rare. Are there cards without artifacts?

I was reminded of this because when Kuromaru was showing off her card in the bath in chapter 152 while Kuromaru is showing the card in front of her Karin asked, "Did you get an artifact?" and Kuromaru shows them the unlimited blade works tatami swords in the ground. this implies that just because she's made a pactio doesn't mean she gets an artifact.

So Karin may not have an artifact and her hammer could very well be a holy relic. But who knows i'll have to wait for the chapter i suppose. Either way she should get about 3 times stronger than she currently is. of course this will make little difference when someone teleports her to an asteroid or drops her into a black hole.

[AstroNerdBoy]

Originally Posted by SoloPanda

Are there cards without artifacts?

To date, as far as I know, every pactio card provides an artifact. Yue got an ultra rare, ultra powerful artifact, as did Nodoka. Yue has ultimate knowledge in book form and Nodoka has ultimate knowledge in reading people's thoughts. My understanding is that because neither would abuse said power, they were granted such ultra rare artifacts.

Setsuna scored two pactiones and as such has TWO artifacts, neither considered rare in terms of their power. I believe Negi's pactio artifact was considered ultra rare because it allowed him to access and use all of his pactio partner's artifacts.

I was reminded of this because when Kuromaru was showing off her card in the bath in chapter 152 while Kuromaru is showing the card in front of her Karin asked, "Did you get an artifact?" and Kuromaru shows them the unlimited blade works tatami swords in the ground. this implies that just because she's made a pactio doesn't mean she gets an artifact.

I think it was Kirie who asked the question. Nevertheless, until you pointed out how you read the question, I never saw it that way. To me, Kirie was asking in a way to see the artifact without directly asking, but literally in English. Since pactio cards seem to be almost non-existent until recently, it may be that Kirie has never seen one. In that light, it would make sense that she'd ask if there were a pactio artifact, confirming on what she's always heard.

I will say that Kuroumaru's pactio card does not seem to show her artifact. That could also be the basis for Kirie's question.

So Karin may not have an artifact and her hammer could very well be a holy relic.

Not that Akamatsu-sensei is a Christian scholar by any means, but I don't know of any mallet that's a "holy relic." But then I'm not a mystical Christian either.

There is precedent for Akamatsu-sensei making Karin's mallet her artifact. In one of the early splash pages for Negima (I think in volume 3...I'd have to go look), Akamatsu-sensei drew a prototype pactio card for Makie. I believe that originally, she was going to be an early pactio recipient, but for whatever reason, that changed. As such, Sensei just had Makie use her ribbon (one of the FIVE pactio artifacts Makie had) in unorthodox ways, thus just making her be highly skilled with the ribbon until she got her artifact ribbon.

I suspect that we will have a similar situation with Karin's mallet. Sensei already introduced it, showed Karin using it with no indication of a pactio (other than it being summoned silently, similar to how Asuna would sometimes summon her artifact, but not the same as how Karin or Kuroumaru summon swords and clothing), and then Akamatsu-sensei makes it a pactio artifact with additional powers.

But as you say, we'll see.

[Chaserjacksaw]

Well well, the present standing of those whose lips get violated by super Touta is!

Kirie: Been done in a million of times already(sadly no card lol)
Kuromaru: conquired! Now officially in the harem club.
Karen: Get done in! With a overly exaggerated erotic looking force!!

Now whose lips next to be slain by Super Touta? I pretty sure maybe Eva is last on the list...she is the final boss! After all she is a Demon Queen! XD But for plotwist it might be Dana...if both is not! then its FATE for sure!!!! Aahahahahaha

[SoloPanda]

Originally Posted by Chaserjacksaw

Well well, the present standing of those whose lips get violated by super Touta is!

Kirie: Been done in a million of times already(sadly no card lol)
Kuromaru: conquired! Now officially in the harem club.
Karen: Get done in! With a overly exaggerated erotic looking force!!

Now whose lips next to be slain by Super Touta? I pretty sure maybe Eva is last on the list...she is the final boss! After all she is a Demon Queen! XD But for plotwist it might be Dana...if both is not! then its FATE for sure!!!! Aahahahahaha

There's always his sisters and the mortal girls. The Konoe sisters are pretty strong and would greatly benefit from a pactio but they'd have to decide who's side they are on before that can happen i would guess.

Next chapter, Karin will be charged with indecency with a minor below the age of 5 .... >.<.

Submitted evidence she was found alone in a room with the child completely nude and his clothing ripped apart after a night of debauchery.

Her defense states she thought he was the clone of an immortal vampire.... obviously watched too much twilight your honor. the kid doesn't even have any vampire traits.

[AstroNerdBoy]

Originally Posted by SoloPanda

There's always his sisters and the mortal girls. The Konoe sisters are pretty strong and would greatly benefit from a pactio but they'd have to decide who's side they are on before that can happen i would guess

Yeah, that's my thinking as well. We really haven't seen much of the Konoe girls, and they need to be explored badly. But in order to make Mizore and Shinobu have some actual skill to be able to do something useful, those would need to be the priority pactiones.

[SoloPanda]

So does anyone know what Yaldabaoth (the false god) has to do with Ialda baoth (MOTB). ive found some references on line for gnostic religion but all of them are a little different. One thing that struck me as odd as that though it's similar to the christian god it's somewhat different in nature. anyway i'll put one of the write ups about it here.

Yaldabaoth

There are a few references showing that Judas was deceived or possessed by Yaldabaoth? could the mage of the beginning have tricked Karin into her betrayal 2k years ago? oh well i'm sure whatever form it takes it will be greatly altered but i thought the connection between the two was interesting myself.

Even though i spelled the two names different the hebrew writing and the pronunciation and meaning is the same.

[NapoleonDeCheese]

https://www.reddit.com/r/UQHolder/co...p_in_23_years/

I suspect we might have to forget about him ever doing another series after this, since he won't be getting any younger, healthier or less 'stressed'. So even shifting to a monthly release with less pages a month didn't work, huh? Then I frankly don't think anything else will.

A shame Negima will never get the actual sequel it deserves.

'Epilogue' also sounds kinda dreadful since normally his epilogues involve time skips, and we all know what he did with a time skip last time (jumping over anything resembling an actual conclusion.)

[SoloPanda]

Originally Posted by NapoleonDeCheese

https://www.reddit.com/r/UQHolder/co...p_in_23_years/

I suspect we might have to forget about him ever doing another series after this, since he won't be getting any younger, healthier or less 'stressed'. So even shifting to a monthly release with less pages a month didn't work, huh? Then I frankly don't think anything else will.

A shame Negima will never get the actual sequel it deserves.

'Epilogue' also sounds kinda dreadful since normally his epilogues involve time skips, and we all know what he did with a time skip last time (jumping over anything resembling an actual conclusion.)

so basically 24-36 chapters, 2 maaaaaybe 3 arcs .... cant see them powering up tot he necessary levels without completely removing filler chapters and making every panel count from here on in. but we will see i suppose. or in 36 chapters he could do a time skip of 100-300 years later or something showing some vague ending that just gives us a hint that some things happened and we sorta ended up here..... nah ken wouldn't do that to us right?

[Malicre]

You guys gonna get jebaited again lol, i honestly can't wait till you get another cliffhanger ending.

[AstroNerdBoy]

Originally Posted by Malicre

You guys gonna get jebaited again lol, i honestly can't wait till you get another cliffhanger ending.

The difference this time is that he's letting us know. With Negima, the news of it ending came out of nowhere.

[NapoleonDeCheese]

So to top himself, at the end the Mage of the Beginning destroys the universe. Not only the whole cast of UQ Holder dies, but the whole of Negima and Love Hina are also erased from history.

[Shippuu]

Negima ran for 9 years but it felt like the story was just getting started and everything so far was just an elaborate prologue to a story we never got because its pacing is actually pretty terrible. Now UQ Holder will end in about 8-9 years too if this is a correct estimate and I'm getting PTSD flashbacks. Most of the crucial development so far has happened in flashbacks and the actual plot in the present is basically still at the starting line and has barely moved an inch since like the first two-three arcs. They're still on Earth and haven't gone anywhere. No other country, no magic world, no demon world and who knows where else they plot would've normally taken them.
I can't see how he is supposed to advance the story AND answer the multiple dozens of unsolved mysteries without turning the story into a massive "tell, don't show" info dump checklist, or skipping them entirely (again.)

If he had continued Negima it would've run for some 18 years by then. More than enough time to create a proper conclusion and deliver what might have been his masterpiece and one of the best shounen manga of all time. Instead he threw it all away only to repeat the exact same mistake again, ending another story in what I can only imagine will be an incomplete (and significantly more half-assed) mess. What a poor way to finish his career.

Of course he may surprise me yet and by the time it's said and done it will be a masterpiece, but I'm expecting this swan song to die a dog's death.

[NapoleonDeCheese]

The sad thing is had he devoted the time he ended up wasting on UQ Holder on finishing Negima properly he'd probably be remembered as one of the best shounen authors ever. With only two major works to his credit, but then again, we only know Oda for One Piece, and he's also unlikely to do anything else after it, but that doesn't take away from how successful he is.

Now he's left with a Broken Base spinoff to a series truncated before its time, and that spinoff only yielded a single failed anime series which is unlikely to ever produce any sequels or reboots. No videogames or derivated extra manga either (like Negima Neo or the Fairy Tail spinoffs.) No light novels (like Love Hina.) He's got to tie all loose ends this series has gathered PLUS the major ones left by Negima, in 36 chapters at most, of a monthly release, with much larger panels to his style now, allowing him to pack less content into each chapter, and he hasn't even developed more than half of the cast promised at first (in several cases he hasn't even properly introduced them to the actual main plot yet) despite having a much smaller cast to handle than Negima's.

It might still be salvageable with a miracle, but this current Akamatsu Ken doesn't seem the type who could deliver such a miracle in such a limited (but at the same time ironically potentially dragging) span. That'd be too stressful, most likely. Basically, he's ruined his own work with his own two hands.

[Dargor]

Originally Posted by Shippuu

If he had continued Negima it would've run for some 18 years by then.

You say that, but you haven't heard of Kens next work, Tales of Haruna!: Mahou Sensei Negima! 3: UQ Holder! 2. Listen as an elderly Haruna regails you with tales of how being a magnaka ruined her health and crushed her spirits, and is totally 100% not Akamatsu projecting at all.

But yeah, this news isn't surprising at all. The Lifemaker was always going to be the penultimate opponent, and at this point it seems Akamatsu's just stalling for time before moving on to...something else. Two to three years is a decent amount of time, but man, even with an extended page count, trying to tie everything up in a manner that's satisfying is another matter entirely. Based on Akamatsu's track record, my guess is its going to be a resounding "No". Hope you guys like info dumps, because my guess is that's how any exposition is going to take place from here on out.

[NapoleonDeCheese]

The Lifemaker is still out there, penultimate enemy nothing. If logic applies at all, and admittedly that isn't a given when talking about UQ Holder, Negimaker should still be the final boss. There's... not anyone else around to fulfill that spot, there's too little time to asspull and develop another last adversary. Although I'll laugh if suddenly Dana reveals being evil and fighting these people she could easily have crushed at any point before this.

Tales of Haruna!: Mahou Sensei Negima! 3: UQ Holder! 2. Listen as an elderly Haruna regails you with tales of how being a magnaka ruined her health and crushed her spirits, and is totally 100% not Akamatsu projecting at all.

And chapters come out once every two years. They are twenty pages each, anything more would be too stressing.

Two to three years is a decent amount of time

Oh, for a weekly it would be an excellent amount of time left to wrap up. The problem is this is a monthly with too much baggage behind.

[AstroNerdBoy]

Originally Posted by NapoleonDeCheese

Oh, for a weekly it (2-3 years) would be an excellent amount of time left to wrap up. The problem is this is a monthly with too much baggage behind.

Yeah, short of us getting some longer chapters (which I can't see happening), I think fitting everything into 3 years is pushing it.

[SoloPanda]

Originally Posted by AstroNerdBoy

Yeah, short of us getting some longer chapters (which I can't see happening), I think fitting everything into 3 years is pushing it.

could also just cut a few fan service or other type of pointless pages and panels from each chapter. Not completely mind you cause that'd probably remove one of the selling points of this managa for a certain type of person. However, just removing a few pages worth of nonsense each chapter and adding relevant content in it's place would be just as good as adding a few pages imo.

Or adding relevant content into the fan service could also move things along i suppose.

[NapoleonDeCheese]

Well, almost all battles seem to leave the protagonists of both genders fighting naked, so at least that helps having fanservice and plot advancing combat at the same time.

[Shippuu]

I never really cared about fanservice from Akamatsu to begin with. His art style isn't realistic enough for me to find the nudity particularly satisfying (though I do like the detailed underwear he draws). This may have been fine for a series like Love Hina but it always annoyed me in Negima and especially UQ Holder where its often really out of place.

I suppose he's like an addict and can't stop it entirely though to his credit he has toned it down dramatically in later chapters. I just hope it stays that way. We really don't have the time to waste on naked loli races anymore.

[NapoleonDeCheese]

Originally Posted by Shippuu

I suppose he's like an addict and can't stop it entirely though to his credit he has toned it down dramatically in later chapters.

We just came off a chapter where Touta kisses Karin so hard they end up naked for several pages and that chapter had started with a naked Karin being wrapped by tentacle-like roots. The fanservice hasn't gone anywhere, and frankly, I think it's one of the few things keeping this series as alive as it is, comercially speaking.

Akamatsu doesn't have the 'pure fighting shounen' brand name of an Oda, Kishimoto, Toriyama or Kubo, all of whom can coast by just fine without resorting to fanservice. For better or worse, even more than decade and half after Love Hina ended, for the public at large he's still 'Comedy Fanservice Author', and it's too late now to change that now he's so 'tired'. It doesn't help that, well, when he goes for long action shounen streaks he ends up tripping on his own feet and feeling terribly derivative and topical. Touta at first was a Typical Action Shounen Hero so stereotyped he'd make Natsu groan, so he's been pretty much recast as a harem lead... but he doesn't work like that either, he's no Negi or Keitaro. The series just keeps on tumbling from one thing that doesn't work for it to the other, and by now it's clear Akamatsu can't take it anymore and is pulling the plug. I don't think he's enjoying the work (UQ) at all, if he ever really did.