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NEWS: LA Times Reviews Manga

If they are talking about manga, shouldn't that be refered to as Mahousensei Negi Magi or Magister Negi Magi instead of Negima?

Edward lost a leg and Alphonse nearly died; Edward then sacrificed his right arm to save his brother's soul, which is preserved in a suit of armor (hence the series title).

Charles Solomon wrote:

Edward lost a leg and Alphonse nearly died; Edward then sacrificed his right arm to save his brother's soul, which is preserved in a suit of armor (hence the series title).

Is he saying the title is what it is because Al's soul is in a suit of armor? I thought he read the books...

Ken Akamatsu scored a big hit in 1998 with "Love Hina," which exemplified the "harem comedy": A geeky guy is surrounded by beautiful girls who initially dislike him but come to love him. His new series, "Negima!," continues the genre. Ten-year-old Welsh sorcerer Negi Springfield receives the improbable assignment of teaching English in an all-girl junior high in Japan. The girls initially refuse to respect him, then decide he's cute. Most of the students have magical powers, and soon the class is casting spells, fighting vampires and subduing demons.

"Negima!" is an example of a "fan service" story: one that offers gratuitous cheesecake shots to titillate male readers. Panels are composed so the reader looks up the girls' skirts, important discussions take place in the bathtub and various spells blow the girls' clothes off. The maladroit romance between two college applicants in "Love Hina" has plenty of embarrassing moments but feels believable. However, a pack of nubile females pursuing a prepubescent boy may not play as well in the U.S., where some might consider these images slightly suggestive of child molestation.

In contrast to the clarity of the artwork in "Fullmetal Alchemist," Akamatsu's drawings overflow with fussy details that often make them hard to read. The 31 girls in Negi's class look alike except for their hairdos, so the reader sometimes has trouble determining who's saying what to whom.

GoodLuckSaturday wrote:

Charles Solomon wrote: Edward lost a leg and Alphonse nearly died; Edward then sacrificed his right arm to save his brother's soul, which is preserved in a suit of armor (hence the series title). Is he saying the title is what it is because Al's soul is in a suit of armor? I thought he read the books...

Ugh, I think we had a similar talk about this with the article he wrote for the New York Times where he wrote some garbage that pointed towards him never having seen Elfen Lied or watch beyond the Saikano trailer.

Seriously, for Solomon's ability to ply himself to all the mainstream papers, he isn't very knowledgeable in what he does. Sure, sure, you could say he's helping "promote anime," but that's isn't an excuse for shoddy writing and even shoddier thinking.

That one actually seems like a fairly accurate assessment of Japanese attitudes towards foreigners.

That one actually seems like a fairly accurate assessment of Japanese attitudes towards foreigners. Check out Tokyo Breakfast if you don't believe me. (Note that the content has frequent use of the N word.) [/url]