Posted by OP Sequence:
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OP: 「1000%SPARKING!」 by 渡辺明乃, 門脇舞以, 松岡由貴 (Watanabe Akeno, Kadowaki Mai, Matsuoka Yuki)
Long opening sequence today (3 minutes), and the first half featured the chibi/suka card forms of all the characters. The second half was the normal sequence, but in full color.
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Summary:
Though they’re in the magic world, Negi is still holding classes and even Nekane is attending now. Takamichi and Eva are meanwhile arguing about their ramen when Negi comes running with bad news: everyone in the class has turned into their chibi, suka-card forms. Eva isn’t too worried about it because she thinks the effect will wear off, but Negi is the one who has to deal with all the child-like girls now. He has his hands full all day long and even gets his staff broken when a bunch of them try to climb on it all at once. Negi, Takamichi, Eva, and Chachamaru are also left with the task of cooking for everyone, though Nekane then comes to help. It’s during this mealtime that Negi starts to notice how good Nekane is with taking care of children. He gets a bit depressed about it until she later explains that she’s not taking care of everyone – she’s simply playing together with them. She then takes off his necktie and decides that for today, Negi shouldn’t be a teacher, but rather a friend. Taking this advice, Negi spends the rest of the day happily playing with everyone while Nekane repairs his staff. By evening, they’re all exhausted and sleeping together in a field. It is around this time that the girls starts to change back to their normal selves, and Asuna covers Negi with his jacket so that he doesn’t get a cold while sleeping outside.
Well, nothing plot-wise really got accomplished this episode, but they did get to show off everyone’s cute chibi forms. I liked the part with Setsuna and Konoka the best, though watching Eva and Takamichi being so passionate about ramen was somewhat amusing. All in all, it’s another fun episode, but has no real substance. There’s always next week…
Lol…small chubby animals.
Wow everyone is chibi
They should’ve had this ep occur earlier (like about Episode 16 or something), but I’m glad they appear to have gotten all the suka out of their system.
This episode is better off as either the “Fall or Winter OAV” instead of an actual episode.
Hopefully, this will mean the the end of the suka card (thus resulting in REAL Pactio action).
What is Satomi?
Wow, I can’t believe I’m such an idiot for saying how crap this series is all this time. My eyes have now been wide open, THIS IS A FANTASTIC SHOW!
All that’s left is for me to suppress my alter-ego from trash talking this show every week, but if he does gain control, please ignore him.
I chortled heartily.
How cute! I would love to see the opening to this episode.
Chachamaru is a giraffe?
Oops, messed up the address.
LOL! Everyone in suka form! XD Even though nothing got accomplished, I hope this episode was still entertaining. ^^
https://randomc.net/image/Negima/Negima%20-%2019%20-%2017.jpg
yum yum, Koala Yummies!!!!
Nothing plotwise, you said. But again in terms of comedy, again very enjoyable (based on the screencaps). The studes, with the exception of Eva, have gone SD!
Lol at Shichimi being played by the chibis. Reminds me of cats abused with too much cuddling with kids.
Also seeing Negi’s precious staff break! XD
Damn imposters! I hate this show! what little plot there ever was is now completely gone! The stroy has completely stopped. The character seem to not even care that they are in a totoally alternate reality and aren’t even looking for a way out. It’s like nothing has changed. If i were trapped in an AR i would try my hardest to find a way back. But have the character even ONCE tried to find a way out? NO!
God this cartoon sucks! Akamatsu should su and have this thing stopped NOW!!!
characters….. damn “S” button….
funny though how the frog got inflated and how he got that big gaping hole
Um anyone know what the living hell Asakura turned into? SOme kind of demented chicken? and what the hell is Hakase as well?
@Harouki, Asakura is a Rooster.
…I want to say that Hakase is one of those weird pink salamanders that have the branching gills on their heads since…well…she’s pink, has a tail, and a dorsal fin…
Fundamentally, Shinbo appears to be pouring all his energy into Hidamari Sketch (which is pure gold by the way) and leaving Negima adrift …. sorry, I don’t even feel like this is good Shinbo material… he’s left the building. Plotless without even the benefit of cheesecake this episode. After this, it’d had better be pure top-grade pactio form and high-budget battle sequences to even remotely recover. If nothing else, this should be a clue to production companies never to allow your director to split his time.
I enjoyed the premise, the setup, the art, even the “Negima Alternative” … but this has become both Negima-less and Shinbo-less… I was about to compare it to the disappointment of Yamato Nadesico Shichi Henge — but that show has suddenly taken a turn for the better.
Ah well, there are a number of “wins” out there:
1) Hidamari Sketch (someone will surely sub this little wonder)
2) Manabi Straight (by all rights it should be generic but it wins big)
3) Kanon 2006 (d’oh, sad girls in snow beauty with some ascerbic wit)
4) Nodame Cantabile (if you liked H&C, this looks like win so far)
5) Hataraki Man (a show for grownups about grownups… well, almost anyway)
6) Tokimeki Memorial ( a generic quad-harem situation that manages to be quite entertaining and quirky)
…I agree with Vexx’s assessment of worthwhile titles out there except for Tokimeki Memorial…which as of the latest available subbed episode jumped an incredibly large shark…what with ghostly possession, Afro inducing katamari ball, and Bell-frickin’-Dandy making a cameo…
I have a question for Hudson. If you don’t like the show, then why are you watching/reading the series to the nineteenth episode? If you hate it so much and believe it to be a waste of time then don’t watch/read it. No one is forcing you and if you waited past the second episode to object then I honestly don’t believe you have the right to complain. Apparently you liked it enough to continue watching/reading the ‘cartoon’.
I do have to agree a bit about the storyline not being quite as addicting as the original, but I do like how the entire series keeps everyone including Negi’s ‘sister’ involved with the story. I also love how the series doesn’t revolve around fan service but actual story plots. Sure, some have filler episodes that really don’t go along with the story, but I think series should have a break every so often within the plot to give the fan time to recover from revealed story information.
Anyway, we’re on the nineteenth episode and I’m wondering how they are going to conclude the series. I hope they give Konoka/Setsuna a lovely ending. Praying they kiss and not for the reason of pactio or some sort of healing method. Thanks for the weekly updates, I seriously look on this site every week for the next Negima blog.
For Question:
1. I don’t watch this piece of garbage. I’ve only watched episode 4 and that’s it. I only read the blog to keep tabs on how fucked up it is so when someone asks me which parts spacificly i didn’t like i can give them a real list instead of just saying, “The whole damn thing sucks and that’s all there is to it!” (Although the whole thing does suck) This way i can give a real argument instead of comming back with the excuse over and over again. I hate what Shaft has done with the Character designs, i Hate the story and what ever plot there was to begin with, and i hate this AU version of Negima.
2. However i do give credits to Shaft for making the 2nd anime better animated than Xbeac’s version. But it’s just not worth it if they sacrific the story line for it. At least Xbeac’s version kept the story line moviing at a steady pace and used very little fillers. And tough luck if you don’t like fanservice, Akamatsu is FAMOUS for it and if that spills over into the 1st anime SO WHAT!? besides the 1st anime really didn’t have all that much fanservice either besides a few panties being erased and a couple of bathhouse scenes.
3. The 2 OVA movies i tolorate because they’re supposed to be based off the 1st Manga series, although the 2nd was an origanl story, it was written by Akamatsu himself as an animated chapter from the manga that was never really in the manga. Since Akamatsu wrote it himself i can barely tolorate Shaft’s grotesc character designs.
4. Also 1 or 2 fillers epsidoes are ok to do to give us a small break, however if it keeps on going to past 4 episodes then it gets annoying and redundant! Negima!? has now hit 8 filler episodes in a row with very little story movment. How can anyone call a series good if it stalls out for this long?
5. There has been NONE of a Negi/Nodoka “romance in the works” at ALL in this version. except for episode 4 with Negi and Nodoka making a contract and a small part in episode 11 with getting snacks, there has been NO story about these two being together at all. This is (for me at least) what has sucked most of the story out of this version.
vexx assessment seems to be accurate… for someone expecting action from Negima!?. But you’ve got a problem–you’re expecting the wrong thing.
It became obvious to me after Episode 13 that this series does not focus on ACTION. Humor is where it’s at, and apparently if it has 4chan rolling it has it in spades. Now I’m not saying it’s AAA material, but coming in for something that it’s not really strong at is a setup for abysmal failure at best. Episode 6 was godly–but even THAT didn’t have all that much fighting in it… this is no shounen. Requesting nothing but a gauntlet of uber fights would be a great way for this series to feel crammed and rife with disappointment overall.
I have no idea what Hidamari Sketch is, but if it’s not shounen or layered with plot then it’s unfair to assume that Shinbo is sacrificing work on Negima!? to do more work with that–notice for one thing, the art has improved from the sometimes-crappiness of Episodes 13/14.
Question: Where the hell did Nekane come from? I thought she was just an illusion a few episodes back?
The reason I mentioned action is that Ken A.’s express purpose with Negima is that he wanted to do something action-focused (or “shounen”-ish if we’re going to label). Since the core of Negima is “action” (or magical combat) with doses of “young love/crush” and “fanservice” … focusing on the humor means pretty much that Shinbo was going to have to generate most of it with his team because the manga really isn’t a laugh riot (though it has a funny streak). If he’s there only halftime (or less) … it really ceases being a Shinbo product and I think it shows. The work on Hidamari pretty much coincides with Negima!? losing its focus — my opinion is that splitting a director between two series is rarely good for one or both.
Me? I wasn’t “expecting” action … but since its clear that relationship/lifeslice isn’t a focus of the show… that leaves the magical combat of the source material.
Hidamari Sketch (which Shinbo started working on a few episodes into Negima (which about fits with the degradation of “Shinboizing”) …. Hidamari Sketch is based on a 4 panel comic and is in the vein of Azumanga Daioh – slice of life about art students. It is quite funny both physically and linguistically (though sadly no one is subbing it yet). Of course, Shinbo doesn’t have to generate any of the comedy — its in the material so most of his touches are in the visual aspects, eyecatches, and timing.
I guess its just that the show is stumbling for me because:
1) If I wanted manga-based storyline: just not part of the “!?” (Negima Alternative)
I’m okay with that because it was part of the premise.
2) If I wanted magical combat: its a big part of the manga…not really here.
3) If I wanted lifeslice/relationships: its only evident for the comedy factor.
4) If I wanted Shinbo-ized humor: the first pack of episodes supplied… but then it drifted, so the Shinbo-fan in me is disappointed.
I’m going to cross my fingers and hope the “suka” is out of their systems… because after this overload, it’ll just cease to be funny if they rinse/repeat.
TO the Haters..
Well, it’s your loss.. I for one enjoy the “reimagining” of the franchise. If you want to see the magical combat and fanservice, go to the manga.
I do admit it’s kinda SHAFT’s fault for setting up certain expectations in regards to what to expect with Negima!?. Kind of irritating actually, that you have to come into Negima with different expectations than that which were provided for you.
@RC: ya know… if the only purpose of these blogs is to gush and love all over any garbage the industry puts out.. then the bandwidth is wasted. But methinks you’re unclear on the meaning of “hating” (points to another poster everyone loves so much). Its possible to see the flaws in something and still have some feelings for it.
I clearly stated I had no problem with the concept of a “re-imagining”. Where the disappointment comes is that Shinbo has his knob set to “3” instead of “11”… so although the series started off with a bang… its been whimpering for a number of episodes now. If he had treated this with full attention (ala Tsukuyomi or PPD), my opinion would probably be more positive.
@Hudson:
So you reared your ugly head again! Good to see you too!
So negima is still way off… I’m liking it less ang less. I’d enjoy watching re-runs of M-OTOME ZWEI….
Anyway lets hope that the plot unfurls smoothly in the last remaining episodes.
>_
@Hudson: Looks like you’re not looking for a way out of that alternate reality where your slander of the show has actual impact to the other readers. So basically, your reasons for disliking it is that it’s totally different(plot, character designs, etc.) from the manga, and that it lacks Negi/Nodoka moments(which apparently is your top reason for reading/watching Negima). You always succeed to give me a fit of laughter,you know. See you in episode 20.
Enough about Hudson,lol.
Too bad about the lack of story progress, but an overload of cute with the suka forms is fine too. I just hope next episode is back on the story, since there can only be so many episodes before it’s over. I don’t want them to rush an ending. AndI want to see the other armor/cosplay cards too. I guess what’s not covered by the anime will be in the manga.