Mahou Sensei Negima – Finale

This is one post I didn’t think I would have to write for a long time. Mahou Sensei Negima was one of the series that got me into manga to begin with, and I was sure it would be around for so much longer. Of course a part of that is because the ending felt so rushed and there was so much left unexplained. A lot has been said about this ending, most of it negative. I can see where all of that comes from, since I know I wanted so much more from the conclusion. How come we didn’t see Nagi come back? Why don’t we know who Negi liked? These are some of the building blocks of the whole series and they didn’t get the resolution they deserved. Clearly this series doesn’t know how to end things.

Mahou Sensei Negima – Chapter 343

I'm not sure which part of this image to explain first...

So there I was, reading the latest chapter of Negima and getting ready to write a post about the way fighting is portrayed in it when something else caught my eye. The last chapter hinted at Asuna and Negi coming up with a concrete plan to defeat Evangeline in a fight. It turned out there was no real plan, but that didn’t stop them from kicking an enormous amount of ass. I know it has nothing to do with what I’m about to discuss, but let me just say that the shot of the two of them frozen in a crystal of ice, both smiling because they’re just that confident they’ll escape, is the sort of thing that made me fall in love with this manga.

So the fight goes on for a bit longer, and just when I’m wondering how long a training fight can last for, Negi accidentally strips both Asuna and Eva naked. Yup. I thought Negi’s sneeze from a few chapters ago was just a call back to the early chapters, but it turns out I was wrong. A big, badass fight scene getting interrupted by gratuitous fanservice, and there’s only one thought that comes to mind.

Why am I not bothered by this?

Mahou Sensei Negima – Chapter 338

And Chisame thought HER blog posts were wordy.

So after all this time, we finally get to find out what Negi’s plan to save the magic world is. He’s been so tight-lipped about it that I thought it would take 20 students and ample use of rope to get it out of him. As it is, it still took Chisame to get him to admit his plans. Now that I’ve actually heard it…I’m still a little confused. Where, exactly, did Negi think up a plan like this? It feels very removed from everything we’ve seen up till now, and I was expecting it to be related to something he’d learned during the Magic World arc. And considering how deep into his magic studies Negi would have to have been, it’s surprising that he would come up with a plan so drenched in science and politics. Considering his backstory, I’m surprised Negi even knows the word “terraform”.