Forum - View topicSane fans of Negima!
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The Ramblin' Wreck
 Posts: 924 Location: Teaching Robot Women How To Love |
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Okaaay,
Since we've seen that the lunatic fringe at least appreciates good artwork, how about some reasoned praise for Mahou Sensei Negima! I, for one, am greatly enjoying the Negima manga. I find the art is very detailed and striking. In a genre where art styles tend to bleed over series, I really find Akamatsu's style a breath of fresh air. (This goes back all the way to A.I Love You). Also, the story is a novel take on the "harem" genre. Negi is a reversal of the typical "loser who gets a girl/girls". He is a innocent hard working young boy who has all the faults of a child trying to be an adult. The girls in his class are all in a position above him age-wise and maturity-wise, (well, most of them anyway). True, Negi's concept is a lightning bolt away from a copyright suit, but the character of a young boy with great supernatural power is developed in a different way from the Harry Potter novels. As the series goes, Negi progresses as a character by becoming more like the child he is supposed to be. When he arrives at Mahora Academy, he is uptight, unsure and alone. As events occur to him and the people around him, he deals with them while allowing himself to really become the child that he is. He developes friendships that allow him to "have fun" (ie. Kotarou) "push his limits" (Eva, Fu) "allow others to help him" (Setsuna, Konoka) and to finally get a something close to a family (Asuna). Neigma is one of my personal favorite series that is currently being released in English. I recommend it for anyone who appreciates a good laugh and needs a bit of magic. For other good reviews see: animenewsnetwork.com/columns/rightturnonly.php?id=1 http://www.animeondvd.com/reviews2/manga/manga.php?manga_view=473 http://www.comicworldnews.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi?column=flipped&page=17 |
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milcor1
 Posts: 337 |
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Ooook, don't worry son, we're here for you. Remember, the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem.
Aaaah well, whatever, you're entitled to your opinion though I think if you'd like a good laugh and a bit of magic, One Piece is a better choice. |
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apple pro
Posts: 190 |
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Negima is cool. I have to admit the 10 yr old boy being hit on by older girls has a name for it: PEDOPHILIA.
It's beginning to make me feel uncomfortable. Negi is being put in situations that i feel are unbelievable (concerning the girls) while the actual story is getting good. i felt a decent twinge in my heart in the last battle when Setsuna's secret is revealed. If Negi was just 1 or 2 years younger than the girls it would be OK — but being 10 changes everything. He has 3 more years before he hits puberty. I don't read Negima over and over again like I did Love Hina but I still buy it and read it right away. |
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GoodLuckSaturday
 Posts: 567 Location: Indiana |
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Don't worry. I'm a fan of all of Akamatsu's work. I think they're definitely worth owning. The earliest volumes of A.I. Love You were crap, but even it ended up having chapters that I laughed so hard at. I love Negima! though, and have been anticipating the next volume since the release of the first volume in English, on top of already being my favorite Akamatsu work. I was especially impressed by the sixth volume, given the sharp action scenes and exciting climax to its arc, and I really like the way the story is progressing, which is more of an arc setup than a chapter setup. I also highly enjoy the characters and the location. While I do feel some of the fanservice is a bit overdone at some inappropriate times, I still think it's great, and it's always one of my highest priorites when getting new manga. Negi's growth as a character is interesting, as he is finding more reasons to stand up for his friends and students. It's quite clear he's a truly capable fighter, and I'm excited to see what becomes of him. Like you mentioned, the artwork is just striking. I think it has to be one of the sharpest looking manga series out there. I can't wait to get the next volume. |
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Coffeeman
Posts: 298 |
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I like Negima, but I'm not a huge fan of Love Hina or AI Love You.
I think for me, the fun of Negima is that it's a kinda funny twist insofar as although Negi is trying to be an adult, he acts in a way that is both childish and adult at the same time. in addition, some of the supporting cast are quite strong and interesting characters, which isn't what I got from, say, Love Hina, where the main romance was placed ahead of a lot of other characters. I think in Negima, the romance elements are balanced well, with more and interesting love interests. |
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hagakure|returns
Posts: 407 |
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Ken Akamatsu's style a fresh of breath air? He draw the same looking girls and same panties as all his other series (Love Hina, AI Love You). His style is a little above generic, big eyes, colorful hair, small pointy nose like so many other manga out there. It is detail though, but pretty generic. Check out Taiyo Matsumoto's work as his art for something fresh and styistic.
I own Negima volume 1-4. For me, Negima is an average series at series at best with maybe a C+ rating. It doesn't really do anything bold or new for that matter. Instead we get Ken Akamatsu's same style humor wrap up in a new gimmick. It's a nice fun series that is forgettable once you're done with each volume. The overcasting of girls really detracted from the actual character development and depth of the character themself. The humor itself is the "japanese" quirky kind that can range from slap stick humor to awkward confrontation to super deform mode. Anything realistic is thrown outside the widow and you're going to roll your eyes at some of the over-exaggerated situation. What really drive the manga for many people (mostly guys) though is the fanservice mix in with the silly comedy bit, and I guess it's like the same sexual antic/situation (such as hot spring) that is present in Akamatsu's other work. Being a jaded fans, the story and recycle humor comes off as very cliche and tiresome to digest at times. "Girl fall ontop of guy"...can we get something new? Mr. Akatmasu also seem to love (I mean LOVE) naked Jr High school girl, as we get a lot of that too. There are a lot of harem series out there, but I have outgrown it and try to look for something beyond fanservice and bit more realistic. |
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Aromatic Grass
 Posts: 2424 Location: Raleigh, NC |
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Negima! really is a great series. I can't explain it, mainly because I'm not the type to be into harem manga. It's in my top five favorite manga, as I was dragged into the story so easily, and I keep wanting to read more. Like Coffeeman, I was never a really huge fan of Akamatsu's other work, but Negima! is fun and it's got some action.
I strongly disagree with this. What would be the point of creeating a story with 31 girls if they all look the same/act the same? The great thing about Akamatsu's character designs is that look very different (each recognizable, although a select few can be related to Love Hina) and each have their own individual personalities. There's at least one out of 31 girls that you could like. And I always thought his art was neat and a style of it's own. (I like it...) The only problem I have with the book is that it takes a long time to read because of all the dialogue and captions and extras and lexicon of spells and the detailed artwork and the list can go on. But I recommend people to read Negima! (Unless you hate stories like these.) |
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GoodLuckSaturday
Posts: 567 Location: Indiana |
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Considering I can blow through a volume of The Prince of Tennis in twenty minutes flat (reading at a similar pace to Negima!), I think it's great that Negima! volumes last longer thanks to their extensive dialogue and use of artwork. Lots of dialogue were something the later volumes of Love Hina had a lot of, so I'm not surprised Negima! has a lot going on as well. I must say, I am surprised at just how long each book lasts though. I read volume six for at least an hour at a friend's house when I got it, and I don't think I was even to the fifth chapter of the book. |
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apple pro
Posts: 190 |
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My opinions on the issues raised in this thread so far:
Ken Akumatsu's Art: Is fantastic. It is unquestionably the absolute best out there IMO. His detail is incredible in both human figures, architecture and nature. His characters are consistent as hell starting from after Love Hina volume 2 on. Story: Love Hina was a goddamn masterpiece IMO. It is so charming, loveable and has charisma. Negima has some serious issues like pedophilia, but even then it still packs a decent story. As of late, it has gotten better. Harem manga: As with Ninja, Magic, Psychic, Angel, Murder, Fighting, Sports, Musical manga — as long as the author takes a good concept with an original premise and presents the work as whole as a quality work of art... then I have no problem with it. |
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Aromatic Grass
Posts: 2424 Location: Raleigh, NC |
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Actually, you have a point. I guess it's more enjoyable when it lasts longer.
I really like how he includes almost everything in one series. That's the good part of having so many characters--variety. |
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hagakure|returns
Posts: 407 |
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Wait, how can you disagree if you don't even know what I'm talking about. I'm not trying to say that Ken should use the same looking character all the time (even though that what he does) I'm talking about the way he draw, it's not any different from the countless "stockest" generic manga out there, from Sgt Frog to Elfen Lied to Tsukihime, Lunar Legend. You know, the big eyes, slim body, pointy nose and typical hair style, it's not that unique. But if you want to talk about the character themself look at all the girls in Negima. He basically did every cliche in anime fandom from nerdy shoolgirl with glasses to athlete girl with short hair to the "quit" girl with hair covering her eyes. You want to call it personalities, but then again every character in every manga series ever created has a personality of their own, so it's nothing unique about it. A character should process many traits because that's what being human is about and having good character are about. Can we have character that arnt' so cliche and singleminded? Also if he look at his design, they seem to have the same body structure of the girl, while some are tall and short, they basically all slim and the detail on each girl aren't very unique, some girl have short hair, some girl have ligher hair? His character are very cartoony looking but drawn very cutely, also. Akamatsu has the best artwork ever? Might be unfair to compare these two series (Love Hina and Vagabond), but look at Akamatsu's work vs Inoue's Work Link Look at the detail of the two girls, and you can't even compare the two on which is richer in detail.. The girl on the right (Oko) has defining hair. Her lips and nose are fully drawn. The detail in her clothing are very realistic and catches your eyes. The shading is excellent, especially the shadow underneath her chin. Even the background (tree) is drawn very detailed. There are tons of other work that are vastly more creative in the art department than Akatmatsu's stuff. Negima, while a fun series for a cheap laugh and quick thrills, is highly overrated for those reason rather than having any redeeming quality. It's like an Adam Sandler movie, fun entertaining, but isn't a masterpiece and isn't going to win any Oscar like Gladiator or Braveheart. I still don't buy into the hype. I guess this is an excellent manga for harem fans though, this is there creame of the crop for them. 
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Aromatic Grass
Posts: 2424 Location: Raleigh, NC |
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Let's see...almost every manga-ka I've heard of has a different art style from every other one out there. Almost a bajillon zillion (obviously exaggerated) anime and manga have the "big-eyed, pointy-nosed" style. And even if these girls are cliched, Akamatsu makes them interesting (as in different from other anime/manga cliches). The whole point is to have a bunch of these "average" anime girls in one class who turn out to be not so average. And, yes, they are very unique. Each one is recognizable, which is something that I find other manga-ka have a hard time doing. Don't compare art, because everyone has their own style. His style is well-developed and detailed if you look at his last two series. Some like the Akamatsu style, some like the Inoue style. Oh, and I didn't say that his art was the best ever. |
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Aromatic Grass
Posts: 2424 Location: Raleigh, NC |
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Let's see...almost every manga-ka I've heard of has a different art style from every other one out there. Almost a bajillon zillion (obviously exaggerated) anime and manga have the "big-eyed, pointy-nosed" style. And even if these girls are cliched, Akamatsu makes them interesting (as in different from other anime/manga cliches). The whole point is to have a bunch of these "average" anime girls in one class who turn out to be not so average. And, yes, they are very unique. Each one is recognizable, which is something that I find other manga-ka have a hard time doing. Don't compare art, because everyone has their own style. His style is well-developed and detailed if you look at his last two series. Some like the Akamatsu style, some like the Inoue style. Oh, and I didn't say that his art was the best ever. |
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GoodLuckSaturday
Posts: 567 Location: Indiana |
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I'm sorry, but I really feel like I'm being talked down to because of these statements. I'm not saying you're not entitled to your opinion, but the delivery I'm seeing is, "Oh, you like harem manga? Well...good for you, but I'm going to be off reading something more 'mature.' Something you couldn't comprehend because you still enjoy panty shots." If I'm wrong, I apologize, but I definitely think better words could've been used for those statements. I enjoy harem manga. I enjoy "mature" manga. I guess that's because I enjoy manga. I don't care what kind of manga it is if it looks like something I could find interesting. I don't find it appropriate to be tossed into a "dumber class of manga fans" just because of what I enjoy. |
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apple pro
Posts: 190 |
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i never realized how much stuff is in Negima now that i think about. it's good and bad. but he does a decent job. i think this comic would be better if it wasn't so bogged down.
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