Forum - View topicNegima! vs. Negima!?
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Abarenbo Shogun
 Posts: 1573 |
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Yes, I went and downloaded an episode of Negima!? and I have to ask, what makes this more "superior" to Mr. Akamatsu's eyes? Xebec's version looks better and "accurately" illustrates the dynamics of Mahora Academy's Class 3-A.
I mean, Negima!? is awash in so much Sepia tones that it looks muddy at times and you can't even see what's up. The camera work at times ranges from very quick cutaways to "TRIPOD, USE A TRIPOD DAMN IT!!" moments. Or to put it un-PC like, it's like giving a person with ADHD a camera and trying to film a still life. And I don't know if it's in all the episodes, but during one sequence alone, theirs several "bumps" which don't contribute nothing and shouldn't have been included. I dunno, compared to Xebec's version, I rather have spoiler[that whole Asuna Death controversy] than the whole brown-washed episodes of Negima!?. |
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Mercury Crusader
 Posts: 67 |
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The animation team that does Negami!? also did Pani Poni Dash! When watching, expect a lot of wacky on-screen references and parodies to other shows that may or may not have anything to do with the original story at all. For the sake of comedy!
Of course if that is not your thing than that is fine too I'm just saying is all. |
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darkchibi07
 Posts: 5504 |
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Director Akiyuki Shimbo does this quite a bit in his other past works most notebly the Soultaker, Petite Cossette, and Tsukuyomi ~ Moon Phase. It's pretty much his style (he really has a thing with dark themes and goth) so it's really a matter of taste. It seems like you're not use to it. |
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Webki
 Posts: 299 Location: Albany, NY |
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I definitely find the animation of the new Negima!? to be superior to the original anime, and I can definitely understand why Ken Akamatsu likes it better than the original.
First of all, the original moved quickly and skipped over a lot of the better scenes for the sake of getting through the story, which was stupid since they just cut off from the manga near the end and fudged an ending anyway. Negima!? is only loosely following the manga and it is doing a damn good job of giving an entertaining show to watch. They altered some of the fundamental elements, but the main points are still there. Plus, we already watched one Negima manga to anime translation. What happened there? It failed. Big time. This new Negima provides a different story to watch that has the same general plot but entertains by providing new spins. I already eagerly devour every new Japanese volume that comes out, why would I want to watch an anime that does the same thing? No one can make an anime that will match Ken Akamatsu's manga genius. So a "spin-off" type series is the best possible solution, and I am greatly enjoying it. |
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Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 7580 Location: Wales |
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Remember that most criticisms of the Negima! anime are about the changes to the story (which is a moot point when comparing with the Negima!? anime since that changes even more) and were based on the TV version (see here)
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Animefreak6969
 Posts: 587 |
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I'll just say that the animation for Negima!? is better and although it says its not going to be ecchi it almost Sreams to be, which Akamatsu tends to do, and the way the camera angles are reminding me of Soultaker and Tsukuyomi (which i just read on here was done by the same person) and i tend to like that. BUT it isnt quite as drawing any other way besides action and animation and i keep finding it hard to click on the next episode (im on 4) rather for Negima! i marathoned it.
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Webki
Posts: 299 Location: Albany, NY |
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Yeah, but the thing with Negima! is that you watched it hoping to see a good animation of the manga, which was not delivered.
Negima!? says it will be a spin-off, so you know what to expect. Add in the changes they made to the action and it makes for something interesting and entertaining to watch. |
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Dorcas_Aurelia
 Posts: 5344 Location: Philly |
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I'm confused by the last sentence of the first paragraph of the original poster. I can understand that Abareno dislikes the dull-colored flashbacks and the unusual "camera-work" of the series, but personally I find the style excluding these aspects to be far superior to Xebec's flat and bland interpretation. The thing that really confuses me is the bit about illustrating the dynamics of the class. What does that even mean?
Xebec portrayed most of the girls as one-dimensional stereotypes, and did so mainly through brief montages that were irrelevant to the actual plot. SHAFT, in the first three episodes, have already started developing Konoka and Setsuna's relationship, have Haruna and Yue trying to get Nodoka and Negi together, hinted at Kazumi's closeness to Sayo, indicated Chizuru's motherly care towards the self-conscious Natsumi, demonstrated Chisame's contempt for class and her ridiculous classmates, placed Takahata in a position where he actually mentors Negi, and possibly hinted at Asuna's innate abilities (she lifted a rowboat above her head and hurled it, like, 100 feet or so into the air BEFORE the pactio). The biggest improvement, in my opinion, that Negima!? has over Negima! is that the creativity of the plot. Xebec's anime took pretty much all of its material straight from the manga with only superficial changes to chronological ordering and setting. It's not so much that the series was bad, but that it did so little to change the story from the manga. I'll grant that I LOVED episode 19, and Asuna's horrible cake-making attempts were amusing, but the last four episodes were so abrupt and poorly written I just can't bring myself to enjoy them. Another thing that dissappointed me about Negima! was that, while the pactio system was introduced even earlier than in the manga, it was almost completely neglected afterwards, and one of the most interesting aspects of the manga was seeing which girl would find out Negi's secret next, and who would form a pactio with him next. Xebec just shoved them all into one episode and thought that their appearance would be good enough. And then everything ended with a convenient memory erasure and a deus ex machina (I'm not referring to the Cassiopeia). It was one of the least satisfying endings I've seen in anime. |
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bahamut623
 Posts: 1463 |
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I'm loving Negima!? Less fanservice, more action, absurd sense of humor, and most importanty awesome animation. That's the Negima I wanna watch. The crazy references, especially on the chalk board, really give the show a unique sense of humor. Did anyone catch the nod to Noein in episode 2's flashback scene of Eve fighting Negi's dad?:
And that's another thing. The style in the flashbacks is great.. |
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Abarenbo Shogun
Posts: 1573 |
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Call me weird, but Xebec's version feels to me like the Manga version made into Anime. Negima!? feels out of place; to put it bluntly, the animation style would've felt more perfectly with Ergo Proxy than Negima!? in my mind. The sepia-ish undertones makes me feel like the show should be gothic or dark; Negima!? rarely has it as it moves between seriousness to comedy to whatever. A perfect example of this type of sepia that fits in with the story is the movie Avalon where they effectivly used it to help define the dystopia and bleakness spoiler[of the "game world",] and spoiler[differentiate game level "Special A;" aka the Real World] near the end. I think the best combination in my mind would've been the animation (cleaned up of course) of Negima! and the storyline of Negima!? and modified abit. I'm still scratching my head as to why they spoiler[made Asuna now a paranormal believer with that whole Chupacabra nonsense.] |
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m00nshine
 Posts: 62 Location: Knoxville |
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Negima!? is better then Negima. First negima was way too childish in my opinion. This newer version is a little bit better.
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TAKAVAR
 Posts: 138 Location: Canada |
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Somehow Akumatsu's manga aren't well translated into anime, Negima! was a good series, but the manga is more fun to read. Same is for Love Hina.
Negima!? Plot is so far interesting. Less fan service is always a plus, and the animation is unique, is not afraid to be innovative and succeeds at it. Love the shadows and camera angles, the sudden style changes are great as well. |
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Webki
Posts: 299 Location: Albany, NY |
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Why do people say less fan service is a plus? Ken Akamatsu is known for his fan service! A good percentage of the comedy in Negima is, in fact, fan service.
However, aside from that, I definitely like Negima!? better than the first series. The manga will always be far superior to anything else in my book, but this new series provides a nice twist on certain elements of the story. Hell, who am I kidding? It's like a completely different story! Can't complain there at all. Not to mention it is highly entertaining... To talk about the art style for a bit, I think it fits perfectly. The only thing I did like was the angry face in the last episode (8)... I thought that was a little overdone. However, who doesn't like Konoka's bland look? It's always funny when she does it (especially in the OVAs). Regardless, it is a good series that provides a nice alternative story from the manga. It is clearly aimed at the fans of the manga who want to follow their favorite characters through an alternate universe and differentiating events. No one is saying that it will be better than the manga, but I can clearly see why Ken Akamatsu likes this one better than the original (anime, that is). |
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HitokiriShadow
 Posts: 6251 |
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I"d actually prefer less fanservice in the manga. It's usually at tolerable levels, but it occassionally spikes to irrataing levels and while its funny on occassion, its usually just there and in the way. Negima has plenty going for it without the excessive fanservice. |
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Dorcas_Aurelia
Posts: 5344 Location: Philly |
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So, I'm still a little fuzzy on what you (Abarenbo) meant about how Xebec's take on the dynamics of 3-A was better.
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