Customer Reviews

Negima, Vol. 1: Magic 101 - The Basics of Magic (Episodes 1-6)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Negima is about a young wizard prodigy named Negi Springfield, who just graduated from a magic school. He wants to desperately become a master wizard, but on the way to becoming one, he is assigned as an English teacher at a Japanese all-girls school. There are 31 girls in his class, ranging from the moody Asuma and kind Konoka, to the vampire Evangeline and her robotic maid, Chachamaru. Everyday is an adventure for Negi, and everything that happens is just hilarious. If you like Harry Potter, mixed in with Ken Akamatsu's older work, Love Hina, you will definitely love Negima.

The anime series is far more family-friendly than the manga, but that doesn't make any less amusing. It is hilarious from beginning to end. It does include fan service, but it's tame enough to watch with your parents and them not raising an eyebrow or anything. The characters are interesting, with Negi being as adorable as can be, and most of the girls being very likeable.

The DVD comes with 6 episodes, which is great for an anime release! The limited edition comes in an AWESOME box, which is shaped like a trunk. It's very sturdy, too. ^_^ The limited edition also comes with a sticker sheet, so that you can put the stickers on the box to decorate it. They are reuseable, too, so you can rearrange them. Also included is a chibi figure of Asuna, and it is just too cute.

If you are a fan of the manga, or are looking for a great anime series to watch, Negima is definitely for you.

Before you buy this DVD, there're a few things you oughta know (I'l try to do this without spoilers):

The first season of the Negima! anime (loosely) follows the first 6 manga. But with over thirty girls in Negi's class, there's a heck of a lot of exposition before much real storyline gets going. Seriously, the show's still introducing some girls by episode 19 (of 26!). When the story picks up, it's a very different animal from the manga. The Kyoto field trip is thoroughly neutered, with most of the manga's action removed. The series ends with a semi-original ending that is, to say the least, abrupt and unimpressive.

In addition, the animation is pretty poor. I realize that this is a matter of opinion but, in this case, it was such an issue that Ken Akamatsu (Negi's creator, for those that don't know) demanded some of the most glaring issues be redrawn completely. Yes, the revised edition is what's on this DVD but don't expect a whole lot.

Now, I will admit a few things. The English version has some great voice actors working on it so there shouldn't be many dub problems. And six episodes on one disc a good deal (Of course, this special edition costs twice as much as a normal DVD) but that's not enough to justify the purchase of what even the creator was disappointed with.

So to revise Micah-Chan's earlier sentiments, if you're a fan of the manga or are looking for a great anime series to watch, either keep reading the manga (it has character development and much better artwork) or wait for the second season of Negima!, which is being worked on by both a more capable director and art house.

If you are *still* going to go through with it, all I can say is that at least the last episode of the series is enjoyable.

I just wanted to say I watched the first two episdoes of this anime on Comcast Anime On Demansd and I really loved. it. Mostly because I am a fan of Greg Ayres, English voice actor for Negi and Chrono from Chrono Crussade. I realize that the manga is going to be different from the anime and vice versa. I am only going off the experiences of the anime. It's like reading your favorite book and then it gets turned into a movie. There are bound to be some changes and disappointments.

The anime was described to be as an anime version of Harry Potter and I have to admit it is similiar to Harry Potter for fans but it also stands on its own. Whether you chose anime or manga, I think it is worth purchasing. I think it is better to watch the anime then read the manga. That way you get a more in depth understanding amd less disappointment.

"Negima" is one of my favorite manga series currently, and I was really looking forward to the anime series when it was released. Ken Akamatsu had scored a hit with his previous series "Love Hina," with the anime and the manga every bit top notch, and absolutely laugh out loud funny. There was no reason to think that he wouldn't hit another home run with the animated "Negima."

Unfortunately, the anime version of "Negima" is a let down, on pretty much every level. First off, the animation is subpar, almost shockingly so. One has come to expect a certain level of quality with Japanese animation, and a popular series like "Negima" deserved a lot better. I was willing to struggle through the animation, figuring they didn't have a big budget and that the quality would pick up later on. But then, more unforgivably, I realized they lost the spirit of the series. Like most of Akamatsu's work, the manga "Negima" is a fan-service paradise, but this element has been entirely stripped from the anime version. Most of the humor revolves around young Negi Springfield finding himself in uncomfortable circumstances with his all-female student body, and without this, and with nothing to replace it, it comes off as stale. Several of the storylines have had to be highly edited in order to make the more family-friendly, and the differences are glaring.

I don't need to anime to be quite as naughty as the manga, and when you translate something for a different audience you can expect some changes to be made, but the combination of low-quality anime and loss of the core humor of the manga series was too much. Maybe those who are watching the anime without having read the manga will have a different take on it, but I stopped following the animated series although the manga remains a must-read.

Ken Akamatsu himself has expressed extreme disappointment with what the animators did with his creation. I have to agree with him.

For fans of Negima! you will be disapointed. The anime leaves a lot to be desired. Poor animation and a bad story line are two of the biggest problems with the anime. The manga is rated 16+, the anime on the other hand is rated PG, so they took out a lot of whats in the manga. Compared to the Love Hina anime, which was also done by Xebec, the Negima! anime just doesn't live up to expectations.

Negi Springfield is often touted as Japan's answer to Harry Potter, although in personality he's a bit more like Hermione.

But the wizard prodigy doesn't really get shown to his full potential in the first episodes of the anime "Negima." While technically faithful to the original manga, the first five episodes have glacial pacing, little plot and some rather poor animation -- things only start picking up in the sixth.

Middle-school student Asuna is desperately hoping that her crush, Professor Takahata, will be teaching homeroom at Mahora Academy this year... and her mood is further soured by a preteen boy who tells her, "Not everyone can be lucky in love."

Turns out the boy, a Welsh prodigy named Negi Springfield, IS the new teacher, and while mosty of the girls immediately love him, Asuna is enraged by Negi's "weirdness" and tendency to sneeze her skirt (and underwear) off. And when she glimpses him magically saving a student, his secret comes out: Negi is a wizard, and if Asuna reveals his secret he'll be turned into an ermine.

Fortunately, she reluctantly agrees to. But even magic and a bachelor's can't keep Negi from being befuddled by his class, who get assaulted by a lecherous ermine, are enspelled by a love potion, and decide that Negi is a crown prince who's in Japan to find a bride. But then students are attacked by a mysterious vampire on campus -- and when Negi confronts her, he finds that he has more than one connection to this bloodsucker...

Fidelity to a manga can be a good thing, but in the case of "Negima'" first volume, it's more of a big dead albatross. It takes forever for anything important to happen -- the first episode is almost entirely composed of Asuna punching Negi and fighting with Ayaka, Negi getting upset, and Nodoka whining. The first five episodes are that way, and frankly it gets a bit old without any of Ken Akamatsu's magical arcs in it.

There is some plot development -- Negi trying to choose a partner, the arrival of Chamo -- but mostly it focuses on the slapsticky comic antics of Negi's class, with plenty of semi-nudity and crazy fights. Things only really pick up in the sixth episode, when we have some real magical goings-on -- Negi gets into aerial battles and uses some offensive magic, and Asuna finally uses her violent moves for a good cause.

What's more, the animation is pretty bad. Everything is drawn on spare lines, and the motion is pretty clumsy -- simple actions like walking forward look like crabwalking, and Negi running looks like a blur with arms. Not what you'd expect from a bestselling series.

But I must admit that the voice actors are good -- Greg Ayres gives Negi a somewhat crackly voice, but he successfully makes Negi a well-meaning, clumsy little wiz. Luci Christian is pretty hilarious as the long-suffering, hot-tempered Asuna. The disappointment would be Chamo's voice -- he sounds like a street thug.

The first volume of "Negima" doesn't really succeed too much -- it introduces a promising premise, but diddles around aimlessly for the first five episodes. Fluff.

Unlike many of the previous reviewers here I haven't read Ken Akamatsu's manga this is based on, but I think it's pretty obvious he was having a great deal of trouble in both putting aside his Magnum Opus, Love Hina, and in finding any way to equal or surpass it. Though nobody here seems to have noticed ( or cares to mention it ) the setup in Negima! is basically Love Hina all over again in an expanded form. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it makes this awfully predicatable and stale. If first impressions are correct, it proves Akamatsu is certainly no CLAMP, able to seemingly effortlessly switch between genres and invent new characters, or at least new angles on old ones. Here we are again faced with a veritable stable of staple anime characters, many developed by Akamatsu himself.

Our too-young-to-be-believeable protagonist Negi Springfield is another Keitaro: clumsy around girls and well-meaning, striving to fill an unlikely position, this time as teacher in an exclusive all-girls' boarding school. If it was funny to see our hero trapped in a live-in situation with a half-dozen neurotic girls, then multiply it five times over for that many more laughs by having him implausably live in a girls' dorm with all of his students. If Keitaro was socially niave and clueless, give Negi a legitimate excuse for that by making him only nine years old. And make his roomate Asuna a clone of Naru Narusegawa, right down to the hair color, so they can bicker and fight constantly! Unfortunately, it doesn't quite work that way ( at least not if you've seen Love Hina ) since you basically know exactly what sort of situations will arise. Other characters look familliar too: reclusive man-shy Nodoka repeats Shinobu, and Asuna's "crush", Takahata-Sensi, is Sorata, right down to his stubbly chin and relationship as mentor to Negi. I've also spotted replacements for Kaolla Su in the equally frenetic and goofball pink-haired twins; and super-swordswoman Motoko will no doubt also appear among the too-large supporting cast.

Despite the familliar predictability of Negima! I'm so far enjoying its mindless humor. It's obviously been stripped ( pun intended ) of some of its heavier fan-service and double-entendre humor, but remains a mildly amusing evening's diversion. It remains to be seen how long it can continue imatating the original Love Hina before either becoming completely flaccid; or whether it will find an identity of its own through unforseen plot developments. Most of the six episodes here serve to introduce the characters and basic setup, which could easily have been done in a couple. ( Or by just honestly stating, "It's Love Hina Again!" )

Negi Springfield is often touted as Japan's answer to Harry Potter, although in personality he's a bit more like Hermione.

But the wizard prodigy doesn't really get shown to his full potential in the first episodes of the anime "Negima." While technically faithful to the original manga, the first five episodes have glacial pacing, little plot and some rather poor animation -- things only start picking up in the sixth.

Middle-school student Asuna is desperately hoping that her crush, Professor Takahata, will be teaching homeroom at Mahora Academy this year... and her mood is further soured by a preteen boy who tells her, "Not everyone can be lucky in love."

Turns out the boy, a Welsh prodigy named Negi Springfield, IS the new teacher, and while mosty of the girls immediately love him, Asuna is enraged by Negi's "weirdness" and tendency to sneeze her skirt (and underwear) off. And when she glimpses him magically saving a student, his secret comes out: Negi is a wizard, and if Asuna reveals his secret he'll be turned into an ermine.

Fortunately, she reluctantly agrees to. But even magic and a bachelor's can't keep Negi from being befuddled by his class, who get assaulted by a lecherous ermine, are enspelled by a love potion, and decide that Negi is a crown prince who's in Japan to find a bride. But then students are attacked by a mysterious vampire on campus -- and when Negi confronts her, he finds that he has more than one connection to this bloodsucker...

Fidelity to a manga can be a good thing, but in the case of "Negima'" first volume, it's more of a big dead albatross. It takes forever for anything important to happen -- the first episode is almost entirely composed of Asuna punching Negi and fighting with Ayaka, Negi getting upset, and Nodoka whining. The first five episodes are that way, and frankly it gets a bit old without any of Ken Akamatsu's magical arcs in it.

There is some plot development -- Negi trying to choose a partner, the arrival of Chamo -- but mostly it focuses on the slapsticky comic antics of Negi's class, with plenty of semi-nudity and crazy fights. Things only really pick up in the sixth episode, when we have some real magical goings-on -- Negi gets into aerial battles and uses some offensive magic, and Asuna finally uses her violent moves for a good cause.

What's more, the animation is pretty bad. Everything is drawn on spare lines, and the motion is pretty clumsy -- simple actions like walking forward look like crabwalking, and Negi running looks like a blur with arms. Not what you'd expect from a bestselling series.

But I must admit that the voice actors are good -- Greg Ayres gives Negi a somewhat crackly voice, but he successfully makes Negi a well-meaning, clumsy little wiz. Luci Christian is pretty hilarious as the long-suffering, hot-tempered Asuna. The disappointment would be Chamo's voice -- he sounds like a street thug.

The first volume of "Negima" doesn't really succeed too much -- it introduces a promising premise, but diddles around aimlessly for the first five episodes. Fluff.

I picked this up after having purchased the Negima manga volumes (a very good read by the way). I wasn't expecting much as I've never seen a perfect adaptation of a book or manga.

But they've done a good job really. You must expect some difference as the 'Mahou Sensei Negima' is still going on in it's serial form and the anime makers have limited themselves to about 26 episodes. However saying that they've done a reasonable job of following the script in the first few books.

The divergenges dont really start to become glaringly obvious until about 2/3 of the way through the series. This is when they change the storyline so that they can bring the anime to some sort of conclusion.

All-in-All a very enjoyable watch. Just sit back turn of your reasoning facilities and turn on your humour and be prepared to be entertained.

I really wanted to like this, but sadly it's a diluted version of the sotry in the books. The character deisgns and animation are subpar for an anime released in the 21st century.

I enjoy Akamatsu's work so I stick pretty much to the books. It's a more satisfying experience. Sure you don't get a lot of frills or premiums with a book, but does that matter?