Summary:
With his students unsure of what to make of this place, Negi explains that this is a fake world created by magic. He thinks that they’ve been brought here by an evil magic, but reassures everyone that they’ll definitely get out. Kamo then tells the three cheerleaders that they don’t have to worry about growing old here because this is a virtual space where time doesn’t progress. Since Eva feels that Nodoka’s powers won’t be able to help here, Asuna goes over and pinches her cheek for being so negative. While everyone tries to figure out what to do, Eva, Takamichi, and Chachamaru head for the tea ceremony room because Takamichi thinks it’s ok to leave it up to them. He feels as long as their opponent doesn’t make a move, they don’t have any to make themselves. Takamichi then remembers that Eva and Chachamaru didn’t contract with Negi, but Eva thinks it’s not necessary. Chachamaru reminds Takamichi that they’re a vampire and a robot, so they don’t count.
During this time, Negi’s class has split themselves into three groups: the exploration group led by Asuna, the research group led by Ayaka, and the living group (in charge of cooking) led by Satsuki. While they’re in their groups, Asuna notices that Negi has gone missing, so she goes to look for him. Negi has actually gone to the teacher’s room and is staring at the letter from Nekane again. He blames himself for everything until Asuna sneaks up to hug him from behind and tells him that if he wants to be depressed, he should do it after they get out of this world. She panics when Konoka and Setsuna appear and see her holding him, but they’re more concentrated on encouraging Negi. When they go and see the research group working hard, the three girls remind Negi that all of them are his partners. With all the girls doing their own group’s thing, Negi finds Takamichi and tells him that there’s magic he wants to learn.
Hakase and Chao of the research group meanwhile are examining the red shard that came from the fairy. Chao goes to pick it up, but it’s hot, so she lets go of it. The shard subsequently gets passed around the room like a hot potato until Ayaka finally hits it into a pillar like it was volleyball. Chao and Ku Fei want to destroy the pillar to get the shard again, but Negi arrives and suggests using magic instead. To choose which partner he’s going to use, Negi uses a spell that selects the right girl for him. This time, it stops on Sayo, so Negi enacts her contract. Sayo’s ability is to possess an object, so Negi directs her to possess the pillar. This allows him to put his hand into it and successfully retrieve the red shard. By the end of the day, the group is still stuck in this world, but they manage to enjoy a meal together.

I really don’t have much to say about this episode since it felt really wasted. Aside from consoling Negi a bit and explaining a few minor things, they didn’t really accomplish anything – again too much side stuff. Getting to see Sayo’s ability was interesting, but not enough to justify the entire episode. Hopefully next week’s episode will have as much action and plot advancement as last week’s did.
Oh yea, they returned to the first 1000%SPARKING! OP this time. Not sure why they keep changing it…

35 Comments

  1. wahhhhh, i wana be up to this ep! Im like STUCK on ep…. 9! so slow D: and this is 15 T_____T *sigh*…. well got tons of anime to watch while waiting for the ones i want … x3
    asuna pulling eva’s face made me laugh xD eva’s done by the person who did orihime in bleach isn’t she Oo…

    Furuba
  2. O_O I’m lost here, what happen in this episode…
    Good idea with teh RAWs, but too big sniff sniff and too late for doing so…
    Only Mamoru-kun has the honor of being watchend troughout RAWs…

    Well, I’ll wait for Onmi’s review

    Syaoran Li
  3. All you have to do is watch the RAW and read Omni’s review and just put two and two together. Trust me, for all those like me who are super impatient for subs to come out, it’s the best thing to do. You have to remember that the people subbing the episodes are mostly still in high school and college—I definitely give them credit for even making time to sub the series at all.

    Can’t wait for the rest of the review. I don’t get it, though—how’d Omni get the screencaps when the episode hasn’t even aired in Japan yet? Oh, wait…it’s Thursday right now for them, isn’t it? Haha…forgot for a moment there…^__^;;

    jaime
  4. This is a nice improvment from the other episodes….
    Can’t wait for the RAWs to come out….
    I also can’t wait for the Negima!? game to reach us here in the tropics… Hope it’s an RPG.

    moondoggiebusicuit
  5. Sayo’s ticklish side as Negi tries to grab the Star Crystal that lodged in the support column that she “possesses” definitely reminds me of the old days when Yuri Shiratori (Sayo’s seiyuu) was voicing Cherry from Saber Marionette J.

    TnAdct1
  6. You say this episode was a waste. I say the entire freakin cartoon is a waste. waste of computers, waste of man power, waste of time, waste of air space, waste of a pefectly good manga series, waste of voice acting ability, waste of talent, waste of blogging space, and waste of a perfectly good blogger’s abilites and time!

    Hudson
  7. silly random stuff …. I’ll just focus on the Sayo moments I guess.
    Power-mage Takamichi, uber-robot Chach, and super-vamp Eva wander off to have tea … how convenient? whatever… lots of nice still shots, great little bits …. but I’m thinking of turning it into a drinking game where everytime Shinbou misses an opportunity to do something cool I take a drink — I should be as unstable as Jack Sparrow by the end of each episode methinks.

    Vexx
  8. Apparently Hudson’s definition of waste is anything he doesn’t like, regardless of everyone else’s opinion (including those of experts and analysts). Businesses are gonna have a laugh at his perceptions (eg many anti-Microsoft fanboys in the Video gaming community criticize the software giant for wasting $4 Billion on their XBox game console, which didn’t earn them any profit until around 2 years ago [i.e. MS’ gaming division sustained $4Billion total net loss until that time they broke even; the rest of the company was unaffected however, earning net profits of like $5 Billion or so per year]). From the looks of it in a business point of view, Shaft doesn’t think Negima!? is a waste, because any business product/operation requires justification of some sort: for them, it would be the Japanese TV ratings and DVD and Toy/Product sales. I’d like to see those figures before passing my own judgement.

  9. I find it interesting there’s been so little activity in the figure market… Kanon 2006 is less than half finished and they’re already pushing figures from at least 3 producers (and pulling out the old stuff). In the Negima line, I’ve seen nada… not even garage kits. And here is a ready made pile of fun with 30-something girls in a variety of garb.

    I’m wondering if their targeting the late afternoon television time was a tactical error — but I’ve not seen ratings yet. Also, apparently Shinbo has only been giving this series partial attention as he’s been involved in another series start up (can’t recall its name at the moment). That might explain some of the directionless feeling. 🙂

    Vexx
  10. This episode looks like of interesting. I don’t really mind side stuff since it usually involves a lot of different characters from the class. I guess I’ll have to wait and see.

    In regards to the changing OP, Shaft did that a lot when they were working with Pani Poni Dash! I can’t remember how many times they unexpectedly returned to the original OP (or some slight variation of it) after showing us a new one. They were terribly inconsistent with it to, never showing the same OP for more than two episodes in a row during the middle of the series. XD

    Neo Horizon
  11. *Watched the episode in youtube*

    Hm…In my opinion, the episode wasn’t as good as last week’s one, even in animation. But it was still worthwhile. 🙂 Looking forward to next week’s episode!

    jaime
  12. Not trying to defend Hudson here, but guys he’s been doing this for the past 14 episodes. You should all know by now that he doesn’t like Negima!?.

    Yes, I know he shouldn’t be blogging here then, but he’s just telling us how he feels (I think). There will always be people that love and hate this show.

    D.D
  13. Well, this is quite odd, reviewing this episode when I haven’t even watched the previous one . . .

    THE GOOD: It’s certainly a lot better than Episode 13, I can happily say that much. We’ve still got the “whatever happens will happen” mindset when it comes to comedy, it looks like. I found it to actually be quite enjoyable, considering the aftermath from the disaster on Episode 13 and lack of comedy in Episode 14. There was also some plot advancement, so it’s a good episode all around.

    THE BAD: The only thing I found to be disturbing was the animation quality of some parts of the episode. Especially during the classroom discussion scene that starts the episode, you can tell that some of the artwork is roughly animated and that some of the girls look to be drawn somewhat poorly.

    THE OMGWTF?!:

    -Sayo’s cosplay form FTW.

    -LOL @ Asuna during her examination of Sayo! Reminded me that she didn’t know about her being a ghost.

    -The classroom scene was interrupted by a hungry Nodoka? Talk about your “WTF?!” moments.

    -What’s with the weird mask thing Ayaka dons a third of the way into the ep?

    -LOL at Ayaka with the giant “Negi” paddle! AND IT’S OUTTA THE BALLPARK, FOLKS!!!

    -And what’s with the ramen thing with Takamichi and Evangeline? It’s been there since, like, Episode 10. Besides, Evangeline doesn’t strike me as a regular ramen eater . . .

    -That scene with Motsu and Shimichi talking to the Black Rose Baron only makes me wonder if they aren’t the true villain “masterminds” behind this whole operation.

    -What’s with the cheerleaders spinning leeks? Isn’t the leek Chizuru’s thing?

    -Speaking of Chizuru, I think she’s taken an “evil” side in blackmailing Chisame with knowledge about her Net Idol alter-ego, Chiu. XDDD;

    -AKIRA GOT AN EXTRA LIFE! XDDD

    -I was half-expecting something a la “the Ring” when Yuna, Misora, Ako and Akira peek into the well two-thirds of the way into the episode.

    -LOL @ the Hot Potato scene with the research group!

    -Interesting. Negi’s got a tool that allows him to see which Pactio partner would be useful in a situation. But isn’t there something similar to that called the Diarium Ejus?

    -LOL at Sayo’s possession thing. I just KNOW it references something, but what?

    CONCLUSION: I find it to be a vast improvement on Episode 13. My full review will come when I watch the other episode I missed (Episode 14), but it looks like SHAFT has redeemed themselves quite well on this. Good show!

    Animation: 8.9/10 (Hey, I’m being nice here. I could’ve given them a 7 out of 10 for the poor animation.)
    Storyline: 9/10
    Direction: 9.5/10
    Music: 9.7/10
    Comedy: 10/10
    Performance: 9/10

    Overall score: 9.4/10

    LaGelure
  14. Well, i like it, but i propbably would’ve agreed better if the reserch events happened in episode 16. More time spend on looking around the ruins and stuff.

    Somehow i find it pretrubing that while everything in Mahora got the ol’ EoE treatment; its amazing the the classroom was intact, and even the milk was still fresh; i suppose its just negi’s luck.

    all the girls minus makie (why is she in the research team?) are in roles that suit them best. But I like how Sayo gets alot of focus this time around, alought i dunno why Asuna has to pat her down everytime her pactio card is activated.

    Overall, it be something to see this mahora ruins arc expand a few episodes, get some minor charaters put out there on the plot.

    Nighthawk_Imac

Leave a Reply to Readarmon Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *