Mahou Sensei Negima – The Calm Before The End
Much better than a clip show.
Here I was thinking that Bokura ga Ita was the only series of mine to be ending. It’s an empty feeling when you suddenly learn a story you really like is about to end. I don’t even remember the first place I learned about it, but I do know I checked five different sites just to make absolutely sure it’s true. I mean, how the hell could you end a series like this in four chapters? There’s still too much that needs to be dealt with!
There are a few rumours I’ve heard that the series will have a sequel released after this one finishes. Considering the news that Ken Akamatsu’s contract with Kodansha is set to expire around when the final chapter gets released, this doesn’t surprise me. It wouldn’t be the first time a series concluded and started up in another magazine. If that’s what we get, though, I just hope it doesn’t take the To Love-Ru approach and slowly turn into softcore porn.
As for the actual ending, the story has taken a very bizarre turn in an attempt to get any sort of conclusion out of things. Having Asuna wake up and find out all her friends have passed away – including the ones she thought would still be alive – is not the attitude you end a series on. Luckily we get some hope of a happier ending with the appearance of Chao (and Eva, whose longevity I unintentionally foreshadowed). The general consensus is that Chao intends to take Asuna back in time so she can still be with her friends. I personally believe this is true, since there are too many details present for things to just end on this kind of somber note. Why would Asuna oversleep and Ayaka live until the original day she was to awaken if there was no point to it? These seem like details you only put into your story if you know for a fact they can be undone.
There’s one thing that’s still on my mind, though. It’s highly unlikely that this specific timeline had Asuna go back and live with her friends. Ayaka’s final letter would make no sense in that case, even if she is faking. So this means her going back would make a new timeline, and this one really did exist without her. Okay, I can accept that. The problem is that this means Chao exists in a timeline where Asuna doesn’t. Which begs the obvious question: who the hell did Negi marry?
Maybe I’m just grasping at straws. Maybe this is the same Chao from Timeline #1, although my head hurts trying to comprehend if that Chao being Asuna’s descendant is even possible. But I was hoping for a non-stereotypical ending where Negi gets together with someone who isn’t the female lead, and as long as there’s any real chance of that, I’m gonna stick with it. It did always strike me as odd how little interaction Asuna really had with Negi in the magic world, so maybe there is some precedent to this theory. Of course I can practically see the ending right now being the two of them having a tearful reunion and kissing, so maybe the odds aren’t that great.
Whatever is going to happen, we won’t have to wait very long to find out. There are only three chapters left before the end of this series, and while I don’t know what may come afterward, I’m still having trouble thinking about Negima not being around anymore. It was one of the manga that got me interested in them. There was so much I still wanted to discuss about the series, but soon I won’t get the chance. I was hoping I’d actually get the chance to name a post “Can I take Nodoka home? She’s so cute!” The next chapter is out at the end of the month, and I should be covering the last few chapters as they come. Here’s hoping for a nice, satisfying conclusion where Negi and Chisame hook up.
Posted on February 19, 2012, in Chapter Discussions, Mahou Sensei Negima, Series and tagged ending, Mahou Sensei Negima, manga, Negima, theories, time travel. Bookmark the permalink. 10 Comments.
Shades of Grey 
To me, the most surprising thing here is the suggestion that To Love Ru only became a softcore porn LATER in its life.
To be honest, I haven’t read it. I just heard lots of stories on Sankaku with overly fetishistic images saying “To Love-Ru Darkness Does Something Pervy”. As bad as Negima can get, it never quite got to THAT point.
When I heard Negima would end I had a similar reaction. There’s so much that’s unknown, we still don’t know about the father or the great wizard something something from the previous arc (did it reveal that the enemy was the father or something at that arc’s end? Can’t remember), and then how Negi resolves things with all his classmates.
But most of all is how I became attached to the series. It’s been ongoing for such a long time, and remained enjoyable for most of the ride that it’s a part of my life. It’s one of the first manga that I read too, years before I started to become an otaku.
Chisame’s who I’m hoping for too ^^ I never felt Asuna and Negi could end up together, the relationship between them doesn’t feel right. And I agree that it would be nice for the lead girl to not end up with the hero for once.
I think that’s what was implied at the end of the last arc. I didn’t even notice right away, but this is what everyone said happened. I had an ongoing theory that Nagi was really Chamo in disguise, but I guess not.
Chisame just seems natural, for some reason. The last few arcs have really played up her relationship, and I’m hoping this is where it was going.
You know something about Negami just never made me interested in picking it up, and i think i know why. When i picked up the first volume in a book store, i read the back and it advertised that it was about a cute 10 year old wizard swarmed by cute girls he should be teaching. Nothing about any plot other than that, just cute wizard and hot girls, and i couldn’t bring myself to read it our of… well anything really. It just ended up slipping through the cracks for me. And i never heard anyone really talking about the series, so there wasn’t much to change my mind. Now that the series is ending, all of a sudden, all this information that i’ve never heard about this series is suddenly brought up, like you talking about alternate timeline’s. Hell, i may have to give this series a read in late March/early April.
Oh, and about to-Love-ru Darkness, yes it is softcore porn, but in all honesty, to-Love-ru was a simple gag manga, kinda like Hayate, with mild fanservice that really just left you thinking there’s no point if they’re not gonna show anything or do anything. Now i know what your thinking, but that’s what to-Love-ru is about. Well, yes, but i’m not saying it benefited from it. If Hayate was to do a chapter like a normal chapter of to-Love-ru, then it would be interesting cause it trying a different kind of humor and it would try something different next week. to-Love-ru did these chapters every week, and while it started out charming, it became quite dull by the end of the series. the sequel, Darkness, made to big chances that improved the series. Did away with clothing and humility, yes, but also did away with the episodic chapters, making way for a more interesting storyline. Just saying, don’t knock the softcore porn until you try it, cause its not bad. Especially since its currently got a better plot than bleach right now.
The thing about Negima (not Negami) is that is starts off pretty much like what you described. It’s a slow burn, but it does get stronger later on.
See, this is why I shouldn’t joke about manga I haven’t read. I’ve just seen images that go far beyond what something like Negima puts out.
i always mess Negima up, like when i spell google goggle.
And i couldn’t tell you were joking since you were stating a fact of the manga’s plot. It is softcore porn because the plot is a girl building a harem for a guy.
Wait man, that proposed title at the end reeks of “feal87”! 😀
Of course it does. That’s the title I said I wouldn’t use over Twitter. Thought it would be funny if I really did use it, but that was before I heard about the final chapters.
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