View previous topic :: View next topic |
Author |
Message |
|
Teriyaki Terrier
Joined: 26 Mar 2008
Posts: 5689
|
Posted: Thu May 22, 2008 12:58 am
|
|
|
After four years, this manga is still one of my favorite series. Great idea though, this arc really is interesting.
Negima is one of those that could take several years to complete, but I am no hurry.
|
Back to top |
|
|
Grico
Joined: 18 May 2004
Posts: 201
Location: Fort Wayne, IN
|
Posted: Thu May 22, 2008 12:47 pm
|
|
|
Yeah this really was a great volume, the series has had me hooked for awhile now. It will be interesting to see where it goes post-festival and if we go back to more school drama as opposed to the more shonen-y tournaments and fighting that defined the current arc.
|
Back to top |
|
|
BenBrown
Joined: 30 Jan 2008
Posts: 46
|
Posted: Thu May 22, 2008 2:41 pm
|
|
|
I found it really interesting that one of the biggest issues you had was the narrative style. Maybe it's just in comparison to other manga that you read, but my background is mostly in fantasy novels which destroy Negima in split narratives and even in number of characters.
Personally, I've never found Negima hard to follow. Breaking for a chapter to follow Asuna's battle and then another for Chisame isn't hard to follow, in fact Negima makes it extremely easy because it is a manga, you have pictures of the characters right there.. But also maybe that's related that I've never had any difficulty telling the characters apart, even since volume one. That's another thing that I think Negima happened to do very well, for the sheer number of characters compared to other manga the character design is very well thought out to be able to differentiate visually between everyone.
I don't know, just my opinion but perhaps you're judging the reading and visual comprehension level for the view too far down the grade scale, or maybe I'm judging it too far up. At least thank you for reviewing it though, Negima is a series that deserves more readers.
|
Back to top |
|
|
driverstart
Joined: 23 Jul 2007
Posts: 214
Location: America
|
Posted: Thu May 22, 2008 3:19 pm
|
|
|
I agree with the fact that the artwork and diagloue is quite crammed in there, but I like that. Normally, a manga volume takes me around 20 minutes to finish and that bothers me, but, with Negima, a regular volume takes me forty minutes or less to finish which makes it much more enjoyable because it actually took me a while to finish and makes me feel like I got my money's worth out of the volume.
|
Back to top |
|
|
The Ramblin' Wreck
Joined: 07 Apr 2003
Posts: 924
Location: Teaching Robot Women How To Love
|
Posted: Thu May 22, 2008 9:38 pm
|
|
|
I really think Ken Akamatsu wants to do a shonen-type action series next. It's screaming off of these pages.
|
Back to top |
|
|
HitokiriShadow
Joined: 09 May 2005
Posts: 6251
|
Posted: Thu May 22, 2008 9:55 pm
|
|
|
The Ramblin' Wreck wrote: | I really think Ken Akamatsu wants to do a shonen-type action series next. It's screaming off of these pages. |
Next? He's doing one right now.
|
Back to top |
|
|
The Ramblin' Wreck
Joined: 07 Apr 2003
Posts: 924
Location: Teaching Robot Women How To Love
|
Posted: Thu May 22, 2008 11:37 pm
|
|
|
Also, this is probably a matter of personal taste, but I think the "crowded and busy" pages are a feature, not a bug. Negima seems to be one of the few series that accomplishes the feat of portraying that "a lot" is going on and then placing the characters into the surrounding confusion. This is especially evident to me as we get to the pages where the student body is repelling Chao's forces.
|
Back to top |
|
|
Teriyaki Terrier
Joined: 26 Mar 2008
Posts: 5689
|
Posted: Fri May 23, 2008 12:44 am
|
|
|
HitokiriShadow wrote: |
The Ramblin' Wreck wrote: | I really think Ken Akamatsu wants to do a shonen-type action series next. It's screaming off of these pages. |
Next? He's doing one right now. |
I've been reading Negima since volume two, about four years ago. At that time I had just completed Love Hina. Truthfully, I hope Ken Akamatsu does another story similar to Love Hina, but not like Al Love you.
Al Love You was all right, but no where near as good as Love Hina and Negima. I realize some people may think I am one of those creepy fans because of some of the fanservice, but I am not. I will follow Ken Akamatsu as long as he keeps writing manga. Like Bleach and when I have a chance to recountine Case Closed, I don't mind collecting for several more years.
Negima is a one of a kind series in some way. In some aspects, Negima is even better than Bleach, but likewise as well. For me, Bleach had its peak of excitement during Ichigo going bankai for the first time and Negima after volume one.
|
Back to top |
|
|
ishmael
Joined: 21 Jul 2006
Posts: 128
|
Posted: Fri May 23, 2008 7:01 am
|
|
|
BenBrown wrote: |
Personally, I've never found Negima hard to follow. Breaking for a chapter to follow Asuna's battle and then another for Chisame isn't hard to follow, in fact Negima makes it extremely easy because it is a manga, you have pictures of the characters right there.. But also maybe that's related that I've never had any difficulty telling the characters apart, even since volume one. That's another thing that I think Negima happened to do very well, for the sheer number of characters compared to other manga the character design is very well thought out to be able to differentiate visually between everyone.
|
I also had never trouble with the number of characters. I just wish the table with all the students would appear in all volumes, though, for sometimes they shift using first and last names, and some are a mouthful, so certain secondary characters I need to use the board.
Otherwise, I thought the budokai tournament to be a bit of a drag, even though IMO it's way better than a lot of shonen battles, since each character has a very distinctive style - magic, martial arts, superscience... It was just too long. But the part after that is really one of the best of the series - Chao's trap and Negi's plans work great.
Is it just me though or people are really naive? CGI? Really? If the title were not a comedy, that part would have killed it!
|
Back to top |
|
|
Dorcas_Aurelia
Joined: 23 Jul 2006
Posts: 5344
Location: Philly
|
Posted: Fri May 23, 2008 1:30 pm
|
|
|
Ah, Negima, combining major moral dilemmas and jellyfish tentacle rape in the same volume.
ishmael wrote: | Is it just me though or people are really naive? CGI? Really? If the title were not a comedy, that part would have killed it! |
Remember, it's a real world setting; most people have no reason to believe magic exists. How else would some like you or me explain such a physically impossible event?
|
Back to top |
|
|
The Ramblin' Wreck
Joined: 07 Apr 2003
Posts: 924
Location: Teaching Robot Women How To Love
|
Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 9:36 am
|
|
|
because Mahora Academy has students capable of building sentient androids, oversits massive underground caverns and complexes, and is centered around a tree the size of the Chrysler Building.
I'd imagine the student body has a low threshold for suspension of disbelief.
|
Back to top |
|
|
ishmael
Joined: 21 Jul 2006
Posts: 128
|
Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 7:26 am
|
|
|
Dorcas_Aurelia wrote: |
Remember, it's a real world setting; most people have no reason to believe magic exists. How else would some like you or me explain such a physically impossible event? |
I know, but if I were confronted with an event like this, I'd revise my position about a lot of things... And as far as I know, I live in the real world.
But I'm really being picky here, given the tone of the series, and some magical pseudo-explanations, it's really ok.
|
Back to top |
|
|
Seriesta
Joined: 09 Jan 2008
Posts: 1
|
Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 3:30 am
|
|
|
It's the details in the manga which makes me focus on a scene longer. It's not like some mangas I read which has crappy backgrounds that anyone can draw.
Ken Akamatsu's works always leave me wanting for more.
|
Back to top |
|
|
|