by Laclongquan on November 13th, 2006, 7:47pm

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User rating of this review - 4.36 out of 5
Story/Plot - 5 out of 5
Characters - 5 out of 5
Drawing Style - 5 out of 5
Enjoyment - 5 out of 5
Overall - 5 out of 5

Click here for series information

A romance embedded in an exploration sprinkled with ecchi that is Negi. A great step forward from the days of Love Hina and AI I love you. Well done, well done indeed Mr Akamatsu.

I confessed, the first time I read Negima, it's because of the promise many ecchi scenes with schoolgirls and a 10 years old boy. But surprise me greatly, before long I was sucked into the giant world that is Negi's.

Characters
First, the people of that world: a class full of giddy schoolgirls and a 10 years old teacher, total in 30+ character. And we havent even count the characters from outside that class. The number of them is pretty much near 100 and growing.

I was worried that the mangaka wouldnt make them distinct enough. Somehow with the difference in looks and in personalities, they are pretty much unique. 31 school girls is 31 outlooks and styles. and the people outside is as recognizable as persons. For me that's a feat in and of itself. Characters is the meats and bones of novels after all.

The segments of the story also introduce characters in pairs or groups of three: Konoka-Asuna-Setsuna; Chachamaru-Chisame, Yue-Nodoka etc... They are friend-rivals, with the difference in characters.

Plot/Story
The storyline is straightforward at first glance. A boy growing up in magical and real life world, in search of his father. along the way he gather friends and admirers.

Hah, the difference is in details! That main plot is divided into many segments, to help Negi discover more about his father. Each segment happens surround by a bunch of sub segment scene to explain more about the world, the school and the girls in Negi's class (Eva's arc, Kyoto's arc and the most recent: School Festival's arc). With that the popularity of each girls rise and fall along with the storyline, each time was upsurped by new rivals in class.

And each volume we learn something new. The sense of wonder and surprise is simply excellence.

Drawing Style
First class, surpass every thing Mr. Akamatsu has made so far. Distinctive style, meticulous details: the life, the school, the magic, the character. Each page has so many detail it's breathtaking.

With the number of character so big, it's unavoidable that many character share the same style, the likeness: adult-Eva style (long fair hair, big bust, tall) shared by adult Eva, Ayaka, Kyoko teacher, Nekane and various others is an example. So the things differ them is personalities. Adult Eva is mischievous, and erotic, Ayaka is matured, but very silly when it comes to Negi... Frankly, I think Akamatsu-san has done very well in this part.

Enjoyment
I love Negima. Every week I look forward to the new raw releases and the scanlation. Each releases was read at least twice. the whole series (so far) was read at least 5 times. It's enjoyable like that. The art, the storylines, the characters, the friendship, love triangles... Just Awesome!

Overall
A perfect ten, that's Negima. A MOST RECOMMENDED MANGA. Download it, then store it on your computer, you will keep coming back to reread them for sure.

An aside: many groups translated and scanlated Negima, each following other footsteps. There's some chapters was done by two different groups, and my advice is read them all! I know I did. They have all done a good job and deserve praises.

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