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Negima! Magister Negi Magi, Vol. 33

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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 Kodansha Comics.

This review contains spoilers for this volume, and I recommend you have read it before you begin.

When we last left our heroes, they had finally arrived at the scene of their final battle, only to be met by the least expected foe ever. This was part of a sequence of five chapters that basically hit Negima fandom like a bomb, and honestly, even though we’re over 50 chapters down the road now, I’m not sure it managed to top it until just this week. At least in terms of chatter.

Akamatsu, of course, knew exactly what he was doing – he has Chisame immediately lampshade the fact that he dropped said foe right into the battle with little to no foreshadowing, which is *just not done*. In fact, given the state of things between Earth and the Magic World, it’s pretty much impossible that she can be there at all. But there she is, being deadpan and managing to… easily take out all of our heroes at once. Wow.

The two chapters that follow, which show Negi in a ‘perfect world’ where his parents defeated the enemy 20 years ago and never died, is really heartbreaking. Not just for Negi, who knows that no matter what he does, he’ll never ever have a childhood like this, but also in how the others are affected. In Negi’s dream the Kyoto arc never happened, which means that Setsuna and Konoka are still not speaking to each other. Eva is removed from him as well. As Negi himself notes, it’s a fun, happy world, but he instinctively knows there’s something wrong with it.

We get a sneak peek at most of the other fantasy worlds of the cast as well. Some are purely for comedic effect (Setsuna’s, Chamo’s), but it’s startling to see how many of them have the potential for heartbreak just as Negi must be feeling. Yue studying happily with her late grandfather; Mana still partnered with her dead sempai; Sayo simply being *alive*. Even the ones featuring couples give pause for thought. Nodoka’s fantasy involves her reading books with Negi… and Yue (I’m starting to suspect that these two are going to end up taking each other out of the love sweepstakes by sheer politeness), Ako is no doubt going to once again realize that the Nagi of her dreams doesn’t exist; and unlike Setsuna’s sexualized dream, all Konoka has is happily playing with Setsuna as a child. (That’s got to hurt; you may have your work cut out for you, Setsuna.)

Luckily, Negi is helped out by Zazie. The *real* Zazie, not the fake one that confronted him at the start of this volume. It is highly reassuring, especially given how little we know about her, to see that Zazie is still in Negi’s corner. She was supposed to have an arc of her own in the Festival volumes, but the story got out of control and Akamatsu had to cut it. Here you can see him using her complete lack of characterization as a boon, first to throw us off, then here to reassure us. I hope we see more of her in the future.

The next chapter contains what I think is, in my mind, the funniest moment in Negima ever. Admittedly, others will no doubt disagree with me, but Chisame being told why she and Makie did not succumb to the dream world like everyone else is a thing of beauty. It works well in English too, given that Poyo explains things using a ‘net term’, rea-juu, which had to be explained for the Japanese audience as well. (Also, thankfully, Makie’s confusion as to what the word means is given a different translation. I’ve no idea which is more accurate, Kodansha or the scanlators, but I’m happy to go with the less controversial one.) Chisame’s horror that she’s enjoying all aspects of her life right now is a thing of beauty, and wonderfully timed.

After that, everyone wakes themselves up, and the rest of the volume is a standard battle. Not that this is without many items of merit. It’s a lot of fun. Negi’s reveal that he has a plan to save the Magic World without destroying the magical inhabitants, as well as Fate’s angry reaction. Mana’s revelation of her own heritage, which is clearly combined with an honest lust for battle. Kotaro’s brief thoughts of taking on Fate himself, and (showing how he’s grown), his realization that it would be impossible. The cameo from Tsuruko of Love Hina, here more than just a shadow in the background (though she’s still unnamed). Nodoka tackling an enemy made of fire to stop her. And, in case you thought it was all serious business, Ako’s artifact, as well as the glee with which she wields it.

This is a very busy volume of Negima, which something for almost everyone. (Even Anya and Asuna get a look in.) Kodansha Comics nearly gets it right, but they’re still missing the character bios at the end. I’m not certain why, as they have 4 pages of fanart as well as Misora’s Q&A. Is it just because they decided to add the ‘Next Volume’ preview? I think most fans would disagree with that choice. In any case, recommended to all of you who’ve kept up with the series anyway.

This review was based on a review copy provided by the publisher.

Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei, Vol. 11

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By Koji Kumeta. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics.

So, now that I spent several months researching all the niggly bits of Vol. 10 (something I will never do again), I’m a couple of volumes behind. Not only that, but Zetsubou-sensei, much as I love it, doesn’t exactly allow me to talk about developing plot and characterizations. It’s a gag manga. What’s a reviewer to do?

Well, there are a few things I can talk about. For one, just because I’m not doing long lists of references doesn’t mean I can never mention them again. I noted in my review of Vol. 10 that ‘pregnant heroines’ were mentioned as one of the manga that Kumeta had on his list of things to do – in fact, he’d done every one of them except that. No, we shouldn’t expect Zetsubou-sensei to end this way. But it gets brought up again in Chapter 101, where it’s noted as one of the ‘three taboo’s o shonen manga’. (The other, tone on male nipples, is casually broken by Kumeta here for a gag.

The real gag is that, at the time that this chapter was running, another author in Shonen Magazine was breaking the first, far more major taboo. Sei Kouji was wrapping up his series Suzuka, a harem manga about two high school track-and-field stars and their tsundere love. As Joshua Weeks noted in the endnotes (talking about it for a different gag), it was quite ecchi. It also ended with Suzuka pregnant, and giving up her star carer to have the child. This was quite controversial at the time, both for the actual suggestion of teenage sex (though if sex is going to happen, it’ll be in Magazine, rather than Jump and Sunday), and because many felt this was an ‘unhappy ending’, with the couple giving up their dreams in order to raise the child.

(Suzuka ended here in North America 3 volumes away from the end, so I apologize if I spoiled you. I can’t see Kodansha finishing it up if they haven’t already.)

Then we have the chapters featuring Nozomu’s body double. While mostly amusing for the fact that none of the cast seem to be able to tell him from the real thing, including Matoi, it does lend itself to another long-term character change for the sake of better gags. In general, the cast of Zetsubou, in regards to being “in love” with him, falls into two types: a) Kiri, Matoi and Chiri, and b) all the rest. (Kafuka, as ever, is outside the box entirely.) When he needs a chaotic ending, he’ll go with the whole cast, but in general, you tend to think that, of the major cast members (sorry, Mayo), those are the three with actual feelings. Now we have Abiru added to that lineup here, and though it’ll be hit and miss for a while, she does continue to show major affection for him in future volumes. Given that the series is not about to have him hook up with any of his students, this is entirely done for fun, but it’s still worth noting.

This volume also has one of my favorite chapters in the series, which talks about “off-air battles”. It’s something that makes sense in both Japanese and English, so works well here. It gives Matoi a larger role (she’s finally becoming an actual productive cast member, as opposed to a simple visual gag) and highlights her jealous feud with Kiri. It shows off Nozomu’s stunning hypocrisy in regards to his “suicide attempts” (and yes, by the way, Chiri used the English phrase “techno-maestros” in Japanese as well). And it has a great metatextual end gag, offsetting Chiri’s increasingly bloody violence (witness her horrifying butchering of a corpse with a blunt knife a few chapters earlier) with the need to remind oneself that this is a comic for young boys. (Well, no it isn’t, but let Shonen Magazine have its delusions. Jump they aren’t.)

Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei is a series that benefits from multiple re-readings, and so I higly recommend that you go out and buy it. Also, for Kodansha-haters, they kept in Kiri’s “Don’t open it!” this time around, possibly as she’s simply zipping up the back of her dress.

Wandering Son, Vol. 2

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By Shimura Takako. Released in Japan by Enterbrain, serialization ongoing in the magazine Comic Beam. Released in North America by Fantagraphics.

In Volume 2 of Wandering Son, as you would expect, we begin to discover that just because you have someone to share your dreams does not necessarily mean that they become easier to achieve. Shuichi gets more of the focus here, and he’s starting to realize just what he’s getting into with his desire to be a girl. His sister is angry and suspicious of him… while at the same time being fascinated about dressing him up. Classmates are being cruel as only children can. But it’s actually a simple classroom assignment to write down what you want to be when you grow up that almost breaks him this volume. The future is scary.

In volume 1 it was Saori that drew my attention, but in this volume it seems to be Maho, Shuichi’s sister. She’s clearly presented unsympathetically at times, and I get the feeling that things will only get worse in that regard. But I love how things are never as cut and dried as “good guy” and “bad guy” in this series, especially with the children. After all, Shuichi may be the hero, but Maho is having to deal with being a young girl as well, not to mention her brother is dressing up as a girl, to the point where one of her classmates starts to fall for Shuichi. The characters develop from their situations, which is all you can ask for in this sort of work.

Meanwhile, the young woman we met in Volume One, Yuki, gets her own secret revealed. It’s not particularly surprising to me – I was more surprised that she was unaware of Shuichi and Yoshino’s identities. Yuki’s boyfriend, though, does lead to one of the funniest (and most cringe-inducing) scenes in the entire volume, where he looks at Yoshino suspiciously and then decides to verify her gender. Yoshino’s reaction made me laugh, but at the same time, I’m amazed she didn’t slug him… or run off. Yuki notes that it’s very rare to have two friends like Shuichi and Yoshino are. In addition to the transgender issues, the core of each volume is, of course, the friendship they have, and I hope that it continues to develop.

The second half of the volume is a class trip, and shows us that Shuichi is having difficulties with the other kids in his class. He’s so softspoken that he tends to get picked on, and one boy in particular is pressing him to see just how far he can take it, calling him “faggot” and mocking him on the bus. You don’t have to be familiar with transgender issues to understand what’s going on here (though this being manga, I would not particularly be surprised were that bully redeemed a ways down the road). Then there’s Saori, who, unlike Shuichi and Yoshino, can’t just sit back and let injustice go. She’s reminded of Anne of Green Gables, a book which most Western readers will know, and it leads to a truly wonderful scene. I like Saori, but given her high-strung nature I worry that she’s going to have even more trouble growing up than our two leads.

As with the first volume, the second one ends with an essay by translator Matt Thorn, this one dealing with transgender and homosexuality in the united States and Japan. (Neither Shuichi nor Yoshino’s sexuality has come up in the manga yet, but I’m fairly certain it will at some point.) Matt’s essay is excellent, noting the similarities and differences in the prejudices among cultures. Wandering Son, of course, will be dealing with family, and friends, and classmates. It’s not really going to have the option of viewing transgender issues from a distance the way a lot of Japanese folks can. Let’s hope Shuichi and Yoshino can weather the storm.