Story by Ken Akamatsu, Art by Takuya Fujima. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Comic Bom Bom, then in Magazine Special. Released in North America by Del Rey.
Alternate Universe spinoffs are a staple of Japanese anime and manga, ranging from Tenchi Muyo to Haruhi Suzumiya. When a series is a hit, people want more of it. And when there’s only one creator, and he’s drawing as fast as he can, what’s the solution? Do a cute AU spinoff by another artist!
This had already been going on with Negima for some time. The first anime wasn’t a hit, and had an extremely tacked-on wrap-up ending at the last minute. They then made another, much cuter anime for younger readers, which is sort of strange when you think about all the fanservice that goes into your average Negima. This was at least a mild success, so they decided to make a manga of the spinoff anime or the original anime of the original manga.
Naturally, Akamatsu was going to be doing busy drawing the real Negima, so they brought in Takuya Fujima, who has the ignominy of being the creator of, in my opinion, the worst manga ever to be licensed for North America, Deus Vitae. I can only imagine that he got this gig after they saw his work on Free Collars Kingdom, which is much cuter. It must have been a hit, as he’s currently drawing the manga spinoff Nanoha ViViD for Kadokawa Shoten’s Comp Ace.
Negima?! Neo debuted in the elementary school magazine Comic Bom Bom, and was initially clearly meant for much younger readers. Unfortunately, after a year the magazine folded and the series was moved to the more teenage Magazine Special, home of fellow Del Rey series Gacha Gacha and Pastel. The fanservice that had been missing was added back in (though still not quite to the extent the original takes it), though the design remained the same ‘cute and round’ style.
This volume sees the debut of Negima’s childhood friend, Anya, as a classmate. I have to say that, if this manga is meant to pander to Negima fans who want more (and really, by the time it got to Magazine Special it certainly was), then they went in the wrong direction here. Ask any Negima fanboy which girl in the series deserves to be the focus, and Anya would rank about 32nd. At least. All she brings to the table is childhood friend, as ‘angry tsundere’ is taken by Asuna and Chisame, and ‘fortune teller’ is, in this series, taken by Konoka.
Kotaro also shows up here, but he’s pretty much had his edges shaven off as well, looking for a good rival to bond with in a shonen style. There’s a vague hint as to his real origin, but really he doesn’t come across as a villain at all. Which is annoying, because it simply means that the manga isn’t even trying to tell a story, and is just coasting on fans knowing who everyone is. Kotaro’s not a bad guy anymore because he reformed in the original, not because of anything that happens here in this remake.
I will admit that it’s almost impossible to break Nodoka Miyazaki, one of the better and sweeter characters in Negima, and though this version makes a valiant effort with various clones running around and ruining her life by being ecchi, we do still get the nice scene where she admits to Negi that she loves him (and then asks him to not answer her until he grows up, being a brief acknowledgment of Negi being ten years old).
The worst of the characters losing what little edge they had comes in the final chapter, featuring the three cheerleaders. In the original manga, Akamatsu did his best to give them all different personalities. Sakurako is the genki one with the good luck, Misa is the vaguely disturbing girl ‘with experience’, and Madoka is the sensible one who gets irritated at people being idiots.
Since this manga believes in filing off edges, I was not particularly surprised that the cheer girls were made to basically be the same. What did irritate me is that they were all basically Misa. Her “Reverse Hikaru Genji Project” is easily one of the creepiest things in the original manga, which mostly tries to make you forget Negi’s age. The other two going along with it and posing for Negi is revealing skimpy outfits is horrific, and no amount of occasional sweatdrops on Madoka’s face will make up for that.
Look, in a manga with a cast as large as Negima, you have to make up for it with characterization. In the original, Akamatsu does that. Despite having similar types, no one would mistake Asuna and Chisame, or Konoka and Sakurako. But this manga doesn’t even bother. The cheer girls are always together, so they’re the same. The twins are identical in personality as well as appearance. This way you can do your wacky fanservice plots without having anyone be able to say “Hey, this is really stupid.” (I note Chisame, who would do this, is pretty much absent from this volume).
I do note Del Rey does a very good job here, with endnotes explaining things like Gyudon and Wabi-sabi, and the translation is generally clear and unobtrusive.
To sum up, if you’re making a tie-in alternate universe work, try to at least give the appearance that it’s more than just a cash-in. Nothing about this manga, from the art to the storyline to the characters, makes it seem like anything but Kodansha saying “Hey, Negima fans, here’s something with its name on it. Give us your money.” Not only is that appallingly cynical, but it ruins the original brand. Negima, the original in Shonen Magazine, is a well-crafted shonen fighting/harem manga. This retread is simply hackwork.
