Customer Reviews

Negima!: Magister Negi Magi, Vol. 8

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Old villains return and new ones make their debut in the eight volume of"Negima," where even more problems await the young wizard teacher. Ken Akamatsu is in top form as he reveals some of the secrets of Negi Springfield's past, and provides a sinister new villain for future battles.

After every training session with Evangeline, Negi comes back exhausted. Asuna and other students follow him one day -- and get sucked into Evangeline's "resort," outside of normal time. During their visit, Negi tells Asuna his tragic life story, and why he is so determined to be strong. Meanwhile, students Natsumi and Chizure stumble across a stray puppy -- who turns into a fevered, naked Kotaro Inugami.

The girls take care of Kotaro, but the amnesiac dog-boy can't help them for long. The sinister Graf arrives, and his jelly-like demons start kidnapping girls important to Negi... including Asuna. Negi and Kotaro put their feud aside to challenge the Graf and get the girls back. But will Negi be able to prevail against the Graf, when the learns the old man's place in his darkest memories?

The eight "Negima" volume has plenty of the slapstick, innuendo and goofiness that you'd expect from Ken Akamatsu's storytelling. However, this volume ventures into darker territory, and illuminates characters whose backgrounds were only hinted at before this.

He also explores Negi's past heartbreaks and losses, and his fruitless quest to find his father. It goes a long way toward explaining how a ten-year-old could be so mature. The scene where four-year-old Negi sees his uncle die, and cries "Father" at the sky, is heartbreaking. Akamatsu makes these scenes sorrowful but not maudlin; his talents are obviously not limited to comedy.

It also features the return of Kotaro Inugami, a feisty dog-eared kid who seems like Inuyasha's baby brother. He's also got a rough past, and finds a weird kind of haven among the girls of Negi's class... even if he and Ayaka get along like fire and dynamite. Not to mention that Akamatsu reveals a massive secret about Asuna, and a possible use for Konoka's healing skills.

But the advances of the plot are the best of all -- the Graf and his jellylike minions have a very sinister connection to Negi, and a lot of power at their disposal. Especially when you consider what the Graf is -- a horrific demon whose real appearance is onlyseen for a few minutes. If Akamatsu brings him back to clash with Negi, the story may grow even more amazing.

The only flaw is the translation. I understand the translators' desire to keep it genuine by keeping honorifics in the dialogue. But when a Welsh child addresses an old Welsh man and a young Welsh woman -- while in Wales -- it sounds very strange to hear him using Japanese honorifics. "Grandpa Stan" would have worked a lot better than "Stan ojii-chan."

The eighth volume of "Negima" takes our hero into new and terrifying adventures, and the series into better territory. Excellent work.

Just like in the previous volumes (after the change in translators) some of the characters have drastically changed. Although the translators at Del Rey attempt to portray the characters "how they seem to be," I believe that they take too many liberties when translating. They overexaggerate certain characteristics of characters as well as incorporate outdated, non-relevant slang.

One of the most blatant examples would be from a previous volume, Volume 6 where one of the main characters (Asuna) SAYS "... OMG WTF." Now, had this been written out, it may have been more realistic, but to have it written in the manner it was, not only was it a childish attempt to incorporate slang, it is demeaning to the characters themselves.

If you are able to read past the ridiculous attempts by the translators to incorporate slang where it is obviously not needed and the broad liberties that Del Rey takes in translating the speech of the characters (Ku Fei- making her speech the equivalent of a stereotypical uneducated person of far east descent ex. i speak good english; give that me now, etc.), I believe that this product tells a superb story. Volume 8 of Negima is no exception to the excellence of story telling that Ken Akamatsu continues to present. This is clearly a case in which a exquisitely radiant story is only fettered by the cliches and fallacies of the translators.

This is the eighth volume in the manga series about a 10 year old Welsh wizard who teaches at a girl's school in Japan. This volume features Negi's training with Evangeline, a story about Negi's past, the return of Kotaro the dog boy and a showdown with an old enemy. This volume also is the first time we get to know Chizuru and Natsumi (two of the students). One of the problems with the series is with so many characters, some of them don't get much "screen time". If you enjoyed the previous volumes of this series, you should enjoy this one.

Negima volume 8 is here at last, and it more than exceeds the expectations set by the climactic ending of volume 7. Despite the fact that really nothing major happens til the end of the volume, Akamatsu keeps you hooked through the whole thing. Basically, Negi continues to train under both Ku Fei and Evangeline, even inviting most of his class to Eva's resort, where he (after alot of badgering) finally agrees to begin teaching magic skills to Konoka, Yue, and Nodoka. Meanwhile, Natsumi Murakami and Chizuru Naba find a "stray dog" and take him in... except it isn't really a dog, you know. It's Kotaro Inugami (the black-haired master of the dog onmyou that fought Negi and Asuna in volume 5) in his dog form, and Natsumi gets quite the scare when Kotaro changes back to his human form... and he's totally naked. Natsumi and Chizuru end up "adopting" Kotaro as their own (much to the chagrin of Class Rep, whom Kotaro headbutted in the stomach as she entered the room), and Kotaro has to pretend to be Natsumi's younger brother.

Eventually, Negi and the others return to the real world, but Negi isn't finished with Asuna yet. Using one of his magical abilities, he transports himself and Asuna into his memories to tell her why exactly he tries so hard at everything he does. (Recall that in volume 7, Asuna told Negi that she would be his partner in any way possible... leading to a BIG misunderstanding on Negi's part, as he assumes she's talking about hanky-panky...) Thing is though, the memory was meant to be seen by Negi and Asuna alone, but thanks to Eva "appropriating" Nodoka's mind-reading diary, everyone there got to see what Negi was remembering. (Which brings up an interesting point: Eva was crying, too, at the end of Negi's story... maybe she's not as cold-hearted toward Negi as she might have everyone believe...) Things aren't over yet for Negi, though, as an old arch-enemy shows up at the campus and takes Nodoka, Asuna, and Chizuru captive with four others... and this Graf Wilhelm is one character that Negi hoped he'd never meet again!!!

I usually end with some kind of wrap-up paragraph, but I'll just end with this: Volume 7 promised us much more action to come, and volume 8 delivers. (Oh yeah... don't be anxious. Since this is written by Akamatsu, his fan service is still there.)

Enjoy!!

~andy~

In volume 8, Eva continues to train Negi using a special resort -- a house contained within a magic bottle where the laws of time are different. The girls who know Negi's secret soon discover this and are transported to Eva's resort where they too begin to attempt to learn magic. Within Eva's resort, the magic content is high enough to aid them in this, to allow Chachazero to move freely, and to allow Eva to access her full powers. While here, Asuna and Negi explore a powerful even in his past, an event which drives him to this day. Through Honya-chan's book-artifact, the rest of the girls are also able to witness this.

Meanwhile, the 'dog-boy' Kotarou-kun is found by Natsumi and Chizuru as he's been injured and his memory blocked. While spending time with them, the powerful Graf (Count) Wilhelm Josef von Herrmann pays a vist, which triggers Kotarou-kun's memory. The Graf captures Negi's girls including Asuna causing Negi to come to the rescue. Kotarou-kun and Negi team up to battle the Graf, who has a few secrets about himself that will strike Negi's core. Can Negi and Kotarou-kun free the girls and defeat the Graf?

Again, Akamatus-sensei does a wonder as he continues to show Negi's progress. Eva's resort is a convienent plot device, however, it works well. Considering Eva's age and true power, it does not surprise me that she had such a place. Her doll Chachazero continues to be a scene-stealer, especially with her comments. However, while she has a nice presence, she's carefully put into a place where she doesn't completely steal the manga. As such, her role is perfect without going over the top and deliciously done.

The further exploration of Negi's past, including his meeting with his father was very interesting. Some things are answered, like what happened to his oneechan (who's really his cousin and not his sister) when his father arrived on the scene. However there are still many more questions to be answered about Negi's father. I look forward to getting those in future volumes.

The fight with the Graf is nice, but not as great as the battles in the school-trip arc.

Del Rey continues its winning ways. "Boya" returns to Eva's vocabulary. I know it is geeky for me to say this, but I love it being untranslated like that. I still feel it gives Eva such sass and character. Del Rey continues to use other terms previously established which makes the manga more fun, certainly for those of us hardcore fans. This includes full use of Japanese honorifics. I know some may have problems with an English boy using them in as a child in Great Britian, but for me, it is no odder than having hidden magic communities there, battles against demons, schools of magic, etc. So for me, his usage of Japanese honorifics in England can be chalked up to the ways of those living in magical communities. ^_^

The German title-honorific "Graf" was used as well, which was also a nice touch. Del Rey included a chart defining the German ranks which was very cool.

Bottom line: another good volume from Akamatsu-sensei and another good job from Del Rey. Next stop -- the VERY long school festival arc!

This is the latest volume in the Negima manga, about a 10-year-old British wizard who, as part of his training, must teach English to a class of Japanese middle school girls. In this volume, we learn more about Negi's past and his long lost father as he continues his training with Evangeline and must confront a terrifying enemy from the past. This was one of my favorite volumes, it had lots of humor, action, and a number of really cute moments. Highly recommended to everyone who read the first seven volumes.

Negi's combat training continues. A flashback of sorts shows when Negi met the Thousand Master. Asuna is kidnapped, and Kotaro the dog-boy teams up with Negi to rescue her.

There's action, uncomfortable and wild situations, slime girls, and a troublesome little pendant. All in all, it has everything one expects from Negima, and more.

The book was real good. It had a good story to me and I liked the twists it had at some points. The only reason it doesn't get a five is cause the ink was off on some of the pages or smugged, but otherwise I liked it.