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PerrineClostermann
Dec 15, 2012

by FactsAreUseless
:siren: :siren: Go read Negima. It's not necessary, but it's recommended. It gets better in Volume 2/3, and even better shortly afterward, and turns into 200 chapters of awesome. :siren: :siren:



http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-08-17/uq-holder-fantasy-manga-by-negima-ken-akamatsu-revealed

Relevant bits posted:

This year's 38th issue of Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine is previewing the new manga series UQ Holder! by Ken Akamatsu (Love Hina, Negima! Magister Negi Magi) on Wednesday. The "near-future battle fantasy" series will debut in the following issue on August 28 with an 82-page chapter and a color opening page.

In the decade since the world became aware of the existence of magic, the world has undergone massive upheaval. However, a boy named Tōta lives in seclusion in a rural town far removed from these changes. His ordinary life is highlighted by his magic-using female teacher and his supportive friends. When his tranquil daily life is disrupted, he embarks on a unique adventure.

If you're just now joining us (and who can blame you?), you might not be aware that Akamatsu's coming out with his next comic. Or that Negima ended, for that matter. Here's a quick overview. As it does mention Negima's ending, I'll leave it in spoilertags to be safe. You should be fine, though, if you care to preserve the experience of reading Negima or something.

After Love Hina's smashing success (despite being, well, Love Hina), Ken decided he wanted to do a battle manga. Unfortunately, Love Hina was too popular; his "friends" at the magazines wanted another harem series to capitalize on the popularity. Thus, Negima was born. The first two volumes of Negima were essentially Love Hina 2.0, but starting with volume three Akamatsu began to stealthily switch over to a battle manga with harem traits. By the time Negi gets visited by more and more characters from his past, Negima's firmly in battle territory. The series goes about, exploring a rich world (no doubt "helped" by the 30+ characters he introduced right off the bat, half of which belong to Negi's side of the world) and hinting at a multitude of plot threads. However, the series got cut short over an impending copyright dispute between Akamatsu and his publishers. The series quickly jumped ahead and resolved the remaining major plot off screen, ending with an epilogue that left many fans rather ticked. Oh well.

And now we're here. As best we can tell, this series takes place about ten years after the last major events of Negima. Evangeline has been spotted in this series and may end up being a major character. I've heard rumors that Negi is thought dead, and there's a lot of speculation going on about the characters that have been revealed and what's to come. If you're looking for more Love Hina antics, though, you might want to look elsewhere: common consensus is that this will be the battle manga Ken wanted to make.


I guess Ken likes that kind of pants

Will update with more info when the series hits, and if it gets translated.
hahahahaha, more like when I can be bothered to redo it.

PerrineClostermann fucked around with this message at 21:55 on Feb 23, 2014

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Gearhead
Feb 13, 2007
The Metroid of Humor
After the rampaging popularity of Negima, he can just dive headlong into karate sorcerers punching one another in the face. Good on Ken.

First Chapter Scans Leaking Around The Edges Spoiler: Welcome back, Eva. Love the new look.

Silento
Feb 16, 2012

I posted this in the Misc. Shounen thread because I didn't see this one, but look at this:
That's totally Fate.

PerrineClostermann
Dec 15, 2012

by FactsAreUseless

Silento posted:

I posted this in the Misc. Shounen thread because I didn't see this one, but look at this:
That's totally Fate.

People said that about that one kid in the Ala Rubra picture, too. I think it's just Ken's sameface coming through. Or it could be another Fate series, who knows?

Someone posted a picture that looked like MC and Eva were fighting. Blood was involved.

Silento
Feb 16, 2012

Hmm... you may be right, on second glance the hairstyle looks a little different, at least compared to the bottom right panel on this page: http://kissmanga.com/Manga/Mahou-Sensei-Negima/Mahou-Sensei-Negima-187?id=5173#16

I won't give up hope, though! Akamatsu can't cheat us out of Fate's post-villian character development! Or can he? :smith:

PerrineClostermann
Dec 15, 2012

by FactsAreUseless
It wouldn't be the first thing we missed out on from Ken.

Rody One Half
Feb 18, 2011

Maybe this will fix some of the garbage involved with Negima's ending. Either way, I'm totally on board with the continued adventures of kung fu wizards and unusually advanced robotics technology.

chumbler
Mar 28, 2010

I am ashamed to admit I kinda like Love Hina, so some of that appearing wouldn't bother me, but I am 100% for more kung fu, time traveling wizards, hyperspace ninjas, super magic swordsmen, and combat robots. Even with the huge cast of characters Negima had, all of them had at least some memorable trait and were likeable, and Negima even managed the rare feat of having a protagonist who, rather than swiftly wearing out his welcome and getting boring, actually got more awesome as the series went on. I'm really excited because of how great an action series it became toward the end.

The 28th can't come soon enough. I'm liking all the sharp looking suits in the previews, but then Negima was fond of its suits as well, now that I think about it.

chumbler fucked around with this message at 07:56 on Aug 24, 2013

Condiv
May 7, 2008

Sorry to undo the effort of paying a domestic abuser $10 to own this poster, but I am going to lose my dang mind if I keep seeing multiple posters who appear to be Baloogan.

With love,
a mod


Dunno if I will bother with this. Read Negima because people said it got good, and it did after a long period of terrible "lol i sneezed and her clothes came off" jokes, but then it relapsed and that ending.... I don't think I can take something like that again.

Gearhead
Feb 13, 2007
The Metroid of Humor
The ending was literally a protest of Kodansha trying to take his copyright on his work away.

PerrineClostermann
Dec 15, 2012

by FactsAreUseless
Yeah. New laws were being pushed and the situation was basically...if he didn't finish Negima quickly, he would no longer own the rights to it. They'd belong to the publisher.

Paracelsus
Apr 6, 2009

bless this post ~kya

PerrineClostermann posted:

Yeah. New laws were being pushed and the situation was basically...if he didn't finish Negima quickly, he would no longer own the rights to it. They'd belong to the publisher.
People like to call Akamatsu a sellout, but as far as I can tell he's one of the very few people in the industry who has given serious thought to the legal and business issues regarding manga production and how to keep manga a commercially viable medium, and doesn't just keep going with the current method until it all comes crashing down.

Gearhead
Feb 13, 2007
The Metroid of Humor
His protest had the intended effect, Kodansha found other things to occupy itself with besides trying to recreate American comics problems.

(Man, they must be in fits over Naruto and other big name comics shutting down over there.)

Rody One Half
Feb 18, 2011

Yeah as lovely as the ending of Negima was, I in no way hold it against Ken, he did the right thing.

Mordaedil
Oct 25, 2007

Oh wow, cool. Good job.
So?
Grimey Drawer
I remember not bothering with Negima originally because it struck me as Love Hina all over again, until I one day was reading TV Tropes, came across an article about Negi's black magic, which piqued my interest as I wondered how they went from being a love-comedy to such a dark visual and started reading the entire thing.

And I really loved it once it started to pick up and it seemed like it would never end. Then Del Ray stopped and Kondansha started and everything just started falling apart.

It still strikes me that his "ending" was left intended to be open for interpretation; one version of many he had planned, but none could be conclusive or satisfying.

Insurrectionist
May 21, 2007
At least he could have done properly fulfilling epilogue summaries for the characters unlikely to show up again. :qq:

Hoping a decent number of the Negima main cast show up in some form - not necessarily as important or permanent fixtures (that'd be a bad idea if done with more than a small handful) but showing up for some closure.

Paracelsus
Apr 6, 2009

bless this post ~kya

Insurrectionist posted:

Hoping a decent number of the Negima main cast show up in some form - not necessarily as important or permanent fixtures (that'd be a bad idea if done with more than a small handful) but showing up for some closure.
Kaede and Mana should show up as a wrecking-crew duo. :black101: Their fight was one of the best in the series.

Silento
Feb 16, 2012

While the action parts of Negima are my favorite of any Shounen manga, I also enjoyed the (non-fanservice) slice of life chapters. Even the ones at the end! This one especially, it's just amazing. I can't help but smile! :)

Paracelsus
Apr 6, 2009

bless this post ~kya
The no-speaking chapter with the swimming girl was my favorite of those.

Condiv
May 7, 2008

Sorry to undo the effort of paying a domestic abuser $10 to own this poster, but I am going to lose my dang mind if I keep seeing multiple posters who appear to be Baloogan.

With love,
a mod


Rodyle posted:

Yeah as lovely as the ending of Negima was, I in no way hold it against Ken, he did the right thing.

I get that he had to end Negima way early, but did he really have to torpedo the ending like that? Might have well just released a one page chapter with "Negima farted on the life-binder and it turned out to be his dad... -The End?"

Matoi Ryuko
Jan 6, 2004


Akamatsu will surely draw another Naru into this manga, sameface aside, Akamatsu draws Naru no matter what.

PerrineClostermann
Dec 15, 2012

by FactsAreUseless

international owl day posted:

Akamatsu will surely draw another Naru into this manga, sameface aside, Akamatsu draws Naru no matter what.

I don't think Naru was in AI Love You :colbert:

gimme the GOD DAMN candy
Jul 1, 2007
I just wish he had stuck to the amazing downer ending from the penultimate chapter.

Bremen
Jul 20, 2006

Our God..... is an awesome God

chumbler posted:

I am ashamed to admit I kinda like Love Hina, so some of that appearing wouldn't bother me, but I am 100% for more kung fu, time traveling wizards, hyperspace ninjas, super magic swordsmen, and combat robots. Even with the huge cast of characters Negima had, all of them had at least some memorable trait and were likeable, and Negima even managed the rare feat of having a protagonist who, rather than swiftly wearing out his welcome and getting boring, actually got more awesome as the series went on. I'm really excited because of how great an action series it became toward the end.

The 28th can't come soon enough. I'm liking all the sharp looking suits in the previews, but then Negima was fond of its suits as well, now that I think about it.

I kinda liked Love Hina too, but in spite of the harem antics rather than because of them. So I'm definitely looking forward to a new, non-harem series.

Legacyspy
Oct 25, 2008
This makes extraordinarily happy. I love negima, so this should be a lot of fun.

.Clash
Apr 10, 2009

Condiv posted:

I get that he had to end Negima way early, but did he really have to torpedo the ending like that? Might have well just released a one page chapter with "Negima farted on the life-binder and it turned out to be his dad... -The End?"

You keep saying "ending" but there wasn't one. It was left totally open in the hope of something exactly like this new manga happening.

Matoi Ryuko
Jan 6, 2004


PerrineClostermann posted:

I don't think Naru was in AI Love You :colbert:

So I was re-reading AI Love You and got to this:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjFTubAdXP8

oh, AI. :allears:

GhostStalker
Mar 26, 2010

Guys, find a woman who looks at you the way GhostStalker looks at every bald, obese, single 58 year old accountant from Tulsa who managed to win $4,000 by not wagering on a Final Jeopardy triple stumper.

.Clash posted:

You keep saying "ending" but there wasn't one. It was left totally open in the hope of something exactly like this new manga happening.

Yeah, I think everyone was really disappointed with how Akamatsu ended his previous series. I understand why he had to do it that way, but still... Had no idea this was in the works, and now I have to be excited for more stuff in the Negima universe. I'll be following this with a ton of interest as soon as scans of the first chapter are out... The preview images already have me excited!

Eva being right there front and center in the preview images is a good sign. I sincerely hope that Ken is able to move away from his old harem shenanigans in this series, because there's only so many times you can see him do the same clothing gags before you get really tired of them... But it is what he's kinda known for, so I doubt it'll happen. Still, a man can hope and dream, can't he?

FiftySeven
Jan 1, 2006


I WON THE BETTING POOL ON TESSAS THIRD STUPID VOTE AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS HALF-ASSED TITLE



Slippery Tilde
This is the best news! Like pretty much everyone, I wasn't particularly satisfied with the way Negima ended. Under the circumstances Akamatsu had to do something drastic, but I don't think anyone expected the ending it got! I wonder if this will turn out to be merely in the same universe as Negima, or if it will merge the story lines and turn into a full blown sequel. I am expecting it to be mostly separate but I would LOVE to find out more of the eventual fate of 3A.

Anyway, you lot can say what you want about stuff like Love Hina, but it was one of the series that got me into manga in the first place and I will never badmouth it for that. Its a pretty fantastic example of the Harem RomCom genre, and is definitely a classic!

Silento
Feb 16, 2012

Apparently UQ Holder takes place in 2066. I have mixed feelings about this; on one hand, the students of 3-A will be nearly 80 years old, assuming they're still alive at all. On the other, we get to see how Negi's plan turned out. Also I guess it makes less sense for a new evil group or whatever the enemies will be to show up super soon after the defeat of Cosmo Entelecheia.

I'm still hype as gently caress though. :allears:

GhostStalker
Mar 26, 2010

Guys, find a woman who looks at you the way GhostStalker looks at every bald, obese, single 58 year old accountant from Tulsa who managed to win $4,000 by not wagering on a Final Jeopardy triple stumper.

FiftySeven posted:

Anyway, you lot can say what you want about stuff like Love Hina, but it was one of the series that got me into manga in the first place and I will never badmouth it for that. Its a pretty fantastic example of the Harem RomCom genre, and is definitely a classic!

Yeah, Love Hina was one of the series that got me into manga and anime as well, and I will always look back at it fondly for doing so, as well as it introducing me to Akamatsu's stuff. Doesn't mean I can't criticize it, but I realize that if it had never caught my attention that one afternoon in Barnes and Noble, I probably never would have decided to look at Negima either (or might not have gotten into manga and anime at all!) due to unfamiliarity with Akamatsu in general...

Nate RFB
Jan 17, 2005

Clapping Larry

Gearhead posted:

The ending was literally a protest of Kodansha trying to take his copyright on his work away.
Was this ever proven or sourced? I seem to remember it was just a lot of speculation from the fanbase when they coupled the ending with the new legislation. I think it likely was the case behind the scenes either way but I don't think Akamatsu actually came out and said it was a protest.

Gearhead
Feb 13, 2007
The Metroid of Humor

Nate RFB posted:

Was this ever proven or sourced? I seem to remember it was just a lot of speculation from the fanbase when they coupled the ending with the new legislation. I think it likely was the case behind the scenes either way but I don't think Akamatsu actually came out and said it was a protest.

The timing lines up entirely too well. The legislation starts up, he starts pushing the comic towards a rapid end AND he starts vocally supporting alternate, creator-controlled online distribution of comics. He doesn't need to actually say anything at all.

He's been in this business a very long time and he knows how to resolve a series without making readers flip the hell out.

That ending was severely rushed and as much money as he was making for them, it wasn't Kodansha telling him to hurry up and finish it.

Mordaedil
Oct 25, 2007

Oh wow, cool. Good job.
So?
Grimey Drawer

Nate RFB posted:

Was this ever proven or sourced? I seem to remember it was just a lot of speculation from the fanbase when they coupled the ending with the new legislation. I think it likely was the case behind the scenes either way but I don't think Akamatsu actually came out and said it was a protest.

You can't really come out and say such a thing publicly, that'd be the equivalent of publicity suicide as a manga writer.

Silento
Feb 16, 2012

Chapter is out on Mangastream: http://readms.com/r/uq_holder/1/2026/1

On page 69, (http://readms.com/r/uq_holder/1/2026/69) when Touta punches the bounty hunter, there's a similar effect to when Negi punches Fate in their last battle. I was never clear on whether or not that effect appeared because of Magic Erebea, or if it appeared just because he fired off a huge amount of arrows with Ouka Houken.

Anyway, that was a great start. I hope Eva goes back to her normal form sometimes, I don't really like the way the one she has now looks.

Oh, and the line about watermelons was amazing and totally in-character for Eva :allears:

Angry Grimace
Jul 29, 2010

ACTUALLY IT IS VERY GOOD THAT THE SHOW IS BAD AND ANYONE WHO DOESN'T REALIZE WHY THAT'S GOOD IS AN IDIOT. JUST ENJOY THE BAD SHOW INSTEAD OF THINKING.
The ending to Negima was legitimately insulting to the readership. He made the climax of the story occur off-screen and then never explained any of it. There's no way he did that as anything other than a "gently caress you" to someone.

Impressions (includes Negima spoilers): The chapter seemed like a standard opening chapter, with pretty much nothing from Negima being explained in any real sense (presumably on purpose). I'm going to go ahead and call that Touta is just going to turn out to be Negi himself reborn or reincarnated or something along those lines. His surname is "Konoe" which is the same as Konoka from Negima, but the ending of Negima showed that she was clearly a lesbian paired up with her demon-girl bodyguard, so we didn't really learn anything there.

Angry Grimace fucked around with this message at 22:42 on Aug 26, 2013

bofa salesman
Nov 6, 2009

Shiiiiiiiiit nostalgia rush. This opening chapter did make me wanna go reread some negima fights so I guess that's a good thing maybe. Knowing that everyone's basically dead now sucks though. Only made worse by the fact that negima never really got a decent ending.

Crono S. Magnum
Feb 29, 2008
Oh man, awesome! Loved Negima back in the day, so I'm really interested in where this one goes. Kind of legitimately glad I lost track of it based on the talk in here though.


Doesn't Eva turning Touta seem a little strange? I wonder just how much clout the parents had to have to make someone like her turn someone else.

Silento
Feb 16, 2012

Crono S. Magnum posted:

Oh man, awesome! Loved Negima back in the day, so I'm really interested in where this one goes. Kind of legitimately glad I lost track of it based on the talk in here though.


Doesn't Eva turning Touta seem a little strange? I wonder just how much clout the parents had to have to make someone like her turn someone else.

As Eva mentioned, she agreed partly out of selfishness- she wanted a companion who wouldn't die off after a while. I'm sure there's more to it than that, but we'll just have to wait and find out when the time comes.

Touta called Negi his grandfather, and yet he's a Konoe. Hmm... He doesn't have any memories of his past, so maybe he was just told Negi is his grandfather and it was left at that.

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Paracelsus
Apr 6, 2009

bless this post ~kya

Silento posted:

Touta called Negi his grandfather, and yet he's a Konoe.
Or Negi was the donor for a lesbian couple with whom he had a close relationship; that's not unheard of in the real world, and would explain both how Negi could be his grandfather and how his name was Konoe.

Seeing Eva all grown up and responsible was rather :3:, although it was sad to see her have to leave even Chachazero behind. And drat, Kaede got taaaaall.

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