By Ken Akamatsu. Released in Japan as “Mahou Sensei Negima!” by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Del Rey.
As most fans know by now, Negima got to be the way it is by Ken Akamatsu ‘tricking’ his editors, giving them what was initially a love comedy and then making it gradually the shonen team fighting manga he wanted to do initially. Which is partially true (and partially only a “good story”), but I do always get reminded of it when I see chapters like Chapter 235. A chapter that reminds you that there are still fans who want to see Akamatsu draw naked girls getting their breasts groped.
And he does not disappoint, frankly. At least this sort of thing is confined to very short bursts now, so it’s very easily skippable. And the revelation that the perverted bounty hunter from a couple volumes ago is actually a female perverted bounty hunter is at least refreshingly dumb.
Apart from that, we get a lot of fighting in this volume, with the resolution of Jack Rakan’s flashback arc. As expected, Nagi and company get to be cool and awesome, and save the day. Although, as Chisame points out, clearly the day wasn’t saved in the long run, so what gives? I like the way that Jack compresses and edits his own memories, so reminiscent of similar techniques in manga and anime. And indeed, we quickly learn that our heroes in the present day also don’t quite have the happy ending they thought they did.
I’m trying to be better about spoiling things on this blog (stop laughing), so I’ll just note that we not only find out that Anya is captured by Fate and his minions, but also another character. This is actually a pretty awesome revelation, although fans were suspicious about it for some time. What’s more, the aftermath of her capture shows that a) there’s a mole in Negi & company’s midst; and b) [captured girl]’s mind may soon be changed by the enemy… by force.
The rest of the volume is basically a mini-training arc, as Jack decides to help Negi grow stronger by entering the tournament himself, and saying if he wins, Negi won’t get the money to free Ako and the others. This is a bit worrying, as Jack has proven to be very adept at backing up his boasts by being impossibly strong. Luckily, Negi gets a new more allies, as Jack’s old magic-world companions, now all grown up, decide to help him out with their own special blend of brutal training regimen. As always, it’s fun seeing Akamatsu parodying Ashita no Joe and other similar series by showing Negi and Kotaro doing pushups with 40-ton rocks on their backs and the like.
And what’s more, Negi ends up getting a surprise pactio with Princess Theodora! In fact, it’s definitely a surprise, as it’s the cliffhanger of the volume, so we won’t see what it does till 27 comes out. (Of note, I’m amused that almost every ‘princess’ we’ve met in Negima has proven to be a kickass tomboy of some sort. Akamatsu clearly likes his royal family to be able to kick some asses. Love seeing Theodora riding around on Jack’s back, even in the present day…)
Not quite as stunning as previous Negima volumes, with the exception of THAT revelation. However, it’s still really solid shonen, and the female fanservice is now mostly confined to random chapters. If you like watching kids kick ass with the help of lots of pretty girls, well, chances are you already read Negima.
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