Angel Beats! - 13 (finale)

エンジェルビーツ Episode 13 (final episode)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: It has been three days since Yuri learned the truth of this world and awakes to find Kanade, Otonashi, Naoi, and Hinata looking at her. They've been waiting on her and know she's made peace with her past. There are no others in the world and they are there to make sure Yuri gets free. To that end, Kanade wants to have a graduation ceremony and they do, after which Naoi, Yuri, then Hinata say their goodbyes and vanish. Otonashi confesses to Kanade, who lets him know she has his donated heart. She will vanish if he says he loves her again and though he doesn't want to lose her, he gives her release by confessing a second time. Apparently, both are reincarnated and encounter each other outside a Japanese store.


Thoughts/Review: I plan on eventually reading what other bloggers end up saying about this episode and series because frankly, it defied any sense of predictability. For now, I'll stick to the episode.

To be honest, the whole graduation stuff bored the crap out of me. Maybe if I had been younger, it might have had an impact on me, but high school graduation was ages ago and while I'm still in contact with many of my former compadres, high school is not something I'd ever want to go through again. When I left high school for the last time, there was a sense of sadness because that thing which had played such a large role in my life was over but there was also a sense of relief at never having to come back to high school again.

Moving on to the "moving on" bit, the flippant, "everyone but us have moved on" was rather "meh" (I'll talk more of this in my final review). Granted, there was no time to have the main members of SSS there beyond Hinata, Otonashi, and Yuri there (with Kanade and Naoi along for the ride), but things were just not there impact-wise So after being bored, the goodbyes to see Yuri, Hinata, and Naoi off didn't affect me and all seemed anti-climactic, especially Yuri's.

Then there was the final bit between Otonashi and Kanade, whereby he confesses his love for her (man, those early predictions of Yuri and Otonashi being the couple are such a laugh now). Then we find out that she's there because she had received his heart and even though she apparently died, she wanted to thank the person who'd given her the chance to live.

What?

OK, so he dies but before he kicks the bucket, he signs an organ donor card. Then, his soul somehow wonders into this afterlife way station, set in some Japanese town and centering around a large high school. After he dies but before his soul arrives, his heart is transplanted to Kanade, who apparently lives for a bit then dies? Because she wanted to thank the donor for her additional life, she got sent to this way station and then for quite some time, she worked on becoming a perfect student, developed defensive weapons to fight the SSS, and then when Otonashi arrived, she discovered the person whom she wanted to thank, but couldn't bring herself to do it for a long time, even after Otonashi regained his memories.

Sorry, this is plot hole city. For starters, how does Kanade die and have her soul arrive before Otonashi's when she had Otonashi's heart? It makes no sense.

Another thing that made no sense is the sudden emptiness of the school. Seriously, where were all the NPC's? I know that Takamatsu supposedly turned from being an NPC back to being a person and moving on (how convenient), but where were all the other NPC's? Oh, they must of time-shifted to the end of the episode so that Otonashi could have them as a reference when he had his last conversation with Kanade.

Finally, there's the ending whereby we are apparently shown a reincarnated Kanade and a reincarnated Otonashi encountering each other. I remember that this idea of Yui having a life with Hinata despite her injuries had great impact. I found that Kanade and Otonashi finding each other in a new life didn't even though it was clearly supposed to impact me. Oh well.

I'm told that there will be a DVD-only episode (OVA) released with the final disc in Japan. If I get a chance, I'll watch that but for now, I'll work on a final review of the series.

Negima! Manga Volume 26 Review

魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 26

For detailed chapter summaries of Negima! Volume 26 with chapter reviews, look below.

• Chapter 232
• Chapter 233
• Chapter 234
• Chapter 235
• Chapter 236
• Chapter 237
• Chapter 238
• Chapter 239
• Chapter 240
  

The flashback to Ala Rubra concludes with Rakan rushing the end. I don't remember off hand if I noticed this in volume 25 or not, but I was struck by Nagi's use of "Your Worship" when addressing Arika. This smacked very much of Star Wars to me. For fun, I consulted the Japanese tankoubon and discovered that Nagi is addressing Arika as "Hime-san." That is a rather flippant way to address a princess since it would normally be "Ohime-sama." As such, I'm guessing that the Nibley twins decided to try to reflect this flippant attitude of Nagi's by having him use Han Solo's "Your Worship" term. Doesn't bother me, but I do wish there'd been a translator note about that (I should go back to the previous volume and see if there was one there).

On the other hand, I found I rather liked them using "Himeko-chan" to refer to Asuna. ^_^

I also liked the use of the honorific "senshu," which was retained here. As Athena and Alethea explain, it made for a nice way to distinguish between discussions of Negi's father Nagi and Negi as the contestant Nagi.

I know I've mentioned this before, but I'm always amused to go back and reread chapters when they've been compiled in book form. I mention this because when following the chapters on a week-to-week basis (sometimes longer with breaks by Akamatsu-sensei), there is time given to speculate on things. In this case, there was some doubt in the fan community (both in and out of Japan) as to whether or not the Asuna that joined Negi during his encounter with Fate was in fact the real one or not. As such, there were many weeks of waiting for confirmation whereas in book form, Asuna was kidnapped last volume. *lol*

One of the great things Akamatsu-sensei did is find a way for Negi to plausibly "power up" within the time frame given. Having already established the magical diorama spheres during Negi's training with Eva (know as her "resort" back then), we already had the time distortion established as well as "pocket realities." This time, Akamatsu-sensei extends that time distortion and even allows Negi to train within Eva's scroll.

Still, that wasn't enough to make Negi plausibly powerful enough to face Jack in the tournament. Therefore, having Theo form a short-term pactio with Negi is just the final element needed to cause me to think, "OK, I can see that Negi might be able to pull this off with a combination of his insane skills and magic combined with whatever pactio artifact he scored from Theo."

During the training phase, Akamatsu-sensei doesn't waste a lot of time, which is a good thing. That said, enough time is spent to allow us to see training is progressing and to show how Theo, Ricardo, and Seras work with Negi and Kotaro.

This volume made me chuckle in that Akamatsu-sensei got to draw more of the girls as little girls. He went all out on that.

Kaede finally scored a pactio and that's cool. If I had to guess, I'd say that initially Akamatsu-sensei may have intended for her pactio artifact to be that giant shuriken. I base this on the fact that it was present in her card, which was created around the time of volume 3. However, the story did not present an opportunity to have Negi pactio with Kaede as he did with Setsuna during the Kyoto arc and so she had this powerful artifact which was then passed off as a ninja one. So it was interesting to see what her artifact actually would be and the use of a cloak with its own pocket dimension is a clever one. It allows Kaede to move a large force in secret, keeping her own presence secret due to ninja techniques.

This volume is notorious in that Akamatsu-sensei decided to have an fanservice orgy chapter in a large bath house ('cause naturally, the people of the Magic World would have the Japanese sensibilities to appreciate these ^_~). I got to say that I was floored that the "boobies" member (Paio Zi) of big bounty hunter group Negi defeated was in fact a young girl (at least in appearance). I could have done without all that fanservice but considering that Akamatsu-sensei hadn't been able to indulge himself in a while, I understand why he felt the need to put that in. *_*

On the adaptation side, one editorial decision I wish Del Rey would make is to have Chachamaru use a modified font as she does in the Japanese manga. This came to life with me recently after Dark Horse did this for Chobits. Del Rey has never done this but after seeing how it was done in Chobits, combined with seeing it in the Japanese tankoubons, I wish that Del Rey had done that to reflect Chachamaru's style of speak. They didn't from the start and at this point, I don't think they ever will.

Another editorial decision I wish Del Rey had made with this volume is the display of the contestant names to be left as they were. In the Japanese, the display revealing the finalist for the tournament had some names in Japanese (Kanji, Katakana, and Hiragana) and some were in English. That reflected the aspect that the Magic World contains elements of English and Japanese as well as Latin and Greek (as seen in the spells). It is a small point but I think still an important one.

So as usual, more goodness from the world of Negima! and Akamatsu-sensei.

Space Battleship Yamato Live-Action Movie Trailer (WOW!)

This has to be the first live-action movie out of Japan that has excited me, enough so that I want this licensed VERY badly! The movie may still suck, but visually, this thing looks great and appears to be capturing the good elements of the Space Battleship Yamato anime series.

An earlier trailer I posted here if you want to check that out.

Well, what do you guys think, whether or not you've seen the Space Battleship Yamato anime or the Star Blazers American domestication?

Negima! Manga Vol 32 Ch 293 Review

魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 32 Chapter 293 (manga)
Mahou Sensei Negima! Manga Chapter 293

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Negi is choking Tsukuyomi from behind but she attacks and is surprised that his grip remains. A second, rapid attack from Tsukuyomi frees her and she goes for Nodoka. Despite having Nodoka in her grips, Negi uses his lightning form to free Nodoka and attack Tsukuyomi repeatedly, throwing her into a nearby floating rock and shattering it. Tsukuyomi is surprised by Negi's strength and growth, so much that she is aroused by it. However, she's supposed to leave Negi for Fate and she educates Negi to the notion that there are people like her who do not fight for money, but for blood and carnage.

With that, Tsukuyomi delivers a message from Fate to Negi that he will be waiting. Then, she uses the Code of the Lifemaker to summon an insane number of demons to attack. Johnny and Haruna start up their ships to flee but need a bit of time. Negi takes off to take on the demon hoard to allow the ships to get away. However, there are too many demons and some make it to the ship. Sayo opens up with her Gatling gun and Mana also opens fire. A demon surprises Nodoka and she freezes up as Ku Fei takes it out. Nodoka is shamed by her weakness as many others of Ala Alba join the fray.

Mana opens up with a rocket launcher and asks Yue, Collet, and Bea to help. They fly in support of the fleeing ships as they move to the Gravekeeper's Palace. Shiori-Asuna wants to help, but Setsuna reminds her that she can't but leaves her in charge of Konoka before taking off to join the fight with Negi.

Thoughts/Review: Heh! An amazing chapter, as expected of Akamatsu-sensei and a bit more action than I expected.

Negi's battle with Tsukuyomi was excellent even if short. Tsukuyomi's skills are impressive as seen in her attempts to get out of Negi's grasp. Anyone else, she would not only have succeeded, but she likely would have been able to kill her opponent for arrogantly having a choke-grip. I loved her expression when she discovered she was still being choked but I also loved how her skills are such that she just moved quickly to Plan B and got free.

Negi's rapid recovery and counter attack is impressively drawn by Akamatsu-sensei.


Negi attacks at the speed of lightning and I feel that Akamatsu-sensei manages to perfectly capture this and Tsukuyomi's inability to defend against this attack of Negi's. Tsukuyomi is fast enough to stop bullets with her blades but she can't stop something moving at half the speed of light (at best) (source). Negi's schooling of Tsukuyomi took all of a second or two tops. *lol*

Tsukuyomi's sexual reaction to Negi's level of strength didn't surprise me even though to date, she's only shown that level of interest in Setsuna and possibly Asuna. However, her interest in Setsuna was always on a power level, specifically as a fellow studier or Shinmeiryuu. She always addressed Setsuna as "senpai," reflecting her acknowledgment of Setsuna as someone who's either studied the art longer than her, is more powerful than her in the art, or both. Now that Negi has shown his stuff, it is natural that her wacko mind would look at him differently now.

I note that Tsukuyomi's goal seemed to be to get Negi's Magia Erebea to go out of control. Isn't that what Kurt also wanted?

The thing about Negi choking Tsukuyomi is that this is something Nagi used to do. Nagi choked the demon during the attack on Negi's village and I remember clearly the demon's pondering of who the real monster was in that situation. Nagi choked others as well and now Negi is choking an opponent. Maybe it is "like father, like son" but maybe it is something else. ^_~

On the same track, the continued brought up notion of Negi's rapid growth in power came up again. Akamatsu-sensei keeps bringing up that Negi is extremely powerful and that he has an abnormal ability to pick up things so quickly. The list of people who've commented on this is to long for me to take to the time to research to attempt to make complete, but Tsukuyomi is the latest in that chorus.

Setsuna's decision to leave her beloved Konoka in Luna's hands (as Shiori-Asuna) is yet another element whereby Akamatsu-sensei strives to show that Luna is 100% on board with the Ala Alba team. I don't expect there to be any change with that though if Luna encounters her former comrades, what will happen to her? Will they kill Luna for betraying "Fate-sama?" I could see that happening, though if they are able to restore the world, then it wouldn't matter.

During the demon attack, I laughed at Sayo's going off with her Gatling gun. *lol* I've always liked Sayo ever since her introduction and she's one of two scene-stealers in the manga (the other being Chachazero). I can't help but like how Akamatsu-sensei elevated her from the perfect covert operator as a ghost to someone who can help provide support during a crisis, at least while on the Great Paru-sama.

On a related note, poor Nodoka. She's been given a moment to shine before but she did freeze up. I hope something can be done to help her a bit.

So, a really good chapter with only one more to close out volume 32.

2010 Denver Cherry Blossom Festival

I managed to make it out to the Denver Cherry Blossom Festival this year, though at considerable expense (like forced, unpaid furloughs for all contractors). Still, there's something to be said to get away from a job like mine and get in with some Japanese folks and those who like Japanese culture. ^_^


I had a great time chatting with folks, including several anime fans (and let me give a shout out to Cataclysm19). As expected, there were many folks in costume and Japanese attire. I decided to focus on the non-Japanese folks this time because this year, I think the non-Japanese folks in kimonos, yukatas, happi, haori, and Chinese outfits outnumbered the Japanese folks wearing them.


My favorite vendor, Brant Fuse, had his Sumo Fish stand set up. I always buy a shirt or two from him and he always thanks me for sending him some extra business (so let him know I sent you if you buy something from him). I meant to ask him why the change of name from "Big Sumo" to "Sumo Fish" but business appeared to be pretty good for him and I didn't want to take too much of his time.


I stopped by the Gimme Anime booth and spoke with the owner. While I didn't purchase anything (already had everything I might have wanted), I was happy to hear that his business was doing a good bit of trade that day and every time I passed by their booth, there was always a crowd. He did say that overall, business is down due to the economy. If you buy anything from them, let them know I sent ya. ^_^


I ended up spending a lot more than intended but I was just in the mood to buy stuff and support these businesses. While I didn't grab any pictures, I did pick up stuff from Denver Taiko (great taiko music and they are about to record a new CD), Bushido Designs (website is having problems as of this posting), and Create In Me.

I got to see Miwa-sensei again, which was really nice since I had to drop the Japanese Language School class she taught due to my insane work schedule. She's part of Rocky Mountain Sankyoku and plays a koto.


Speaking of music, the DJ in charge of tunes between events on the main stage played some music that I found completely awesome. I chatted with him and discovered the Yoshida Brothers (the song they currently have playing on their YouTube Channel rocks).

Food-wise, I was a bit disappointed this year. Usually, the sukiyaki beef bowls are quite good but this year, while the flavor was fine, the quality of beef they used was rather substandard I thought. There were no takoyaki samples given this year and while I did see one person with onigiri, apparently there wasn't much of it since there was none to be purchased. I did try somen and while it is OK, it isn't something I'd actively seek out. Frankly, I'd like to see more Japanese foods done at this event. I want to see yakitori, yakisoba, and takoyaki in addition to somen, sukiyaki beef bowls, and teriyaki chicken.

I made a pit stop to Pacific Mercantile Exchange to pick up some stuff. Sadly, they were out of melon pan, which was a disappointment, but I scored some other bread products instead. ^_^ I also took the time to get some of the extra hot Golden Curry large package (normal supermarkets usually just carry the mild and on rare occasions, the hot one and in the small size). I also restocked my gyoza and shumai supply. ^_^

So a fun, but exhausting day yesterday.

Negima! Chapter 294 SPOILER Images

Negima! 294 SPOILER Images
魔法先生 ネギま！Chapter 294 (Images)

Here's what I know many of you have been waiting for -- the original-sized, sneak-peek SPOILER images for Mahou Sensei Negima! Chapter 294 as brought to you by anonymous Japanese fans (click pic to make bigger, y'all).


OK, that last image has to qualify as the biggest shock ever. Either that's Zazie (meaning the French are right when they started talking that the manga is almost over) or its a fake (like Faux Eva).

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - 62

Hagane no Renkinjutsushi - Fullmetal Alchemist Ep. 62
鋼の錬金術師 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST Episode 62 review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Father begins to harvest souls for philosopher stones but is stopped by Hohenheim, who challenges Father's view of humans and his lack of an ability to truly procreate. In response, Father expunges some of the people from Xerxes from his body, including the King. They are drawn to actual bodies and Father takes advantage of Hohenheim's hesitation to launch a massive, widespread attack that destroys half of the HQ building. Olivier receives a report on this and though she wants to fight, Greed angrily tells her to stay behind and she's convinced to do so by a further call from her troops. With that, Greed, Alex, Roy, Riza, and others leave for the roof to engage Father.

Meanwhile, an injured Mei Chan regains consciousness to find that Al used his armored body to protect her though it severely damaged him. Izumi and Ed also are injured somewhat and find that Hohenheim had shielded them from certain death. Weakened, Hohenheim is easily knocked aside by Father and easily protects himself from the military's barrage. Roy, guided by Riza, also enters the fray to try to force Father to burn through the souls and loose his defense. Greed has another idea and launches an attack personally. Father lets him through to absorb him, but Greed's actions allow the attacks of others to get through.

The nonstop attacks force Father to burn through enough souls that his defensive shield drops and he's no longer able to contain "God." He does manage to counterattack, causing Ed to be pinned to some ruins by a screw in the hand. Since Ed has lost his Automail arm, Al decides to sacrifice his body and soul to return Ed's arm to him and save Ed from Father's advance. Ed doesn't want this but Al does it just the same with Mei Chan's help. Ed's arm is restored and Al is reunited with his body at the Door of Truth. An angry Ed free's himself with his restored arm and attacks Father, punching him in the face to the approval of all who observe this.

Thoughts/Review: Some interesting things here. First, I liked how the fighter Olivier is forced to accept the situation that she's too injured to fight and that she's of more value to her troops alive and out of the "stuff." Further, I liked how she acknowledged Alex, whom I suspect she always respected despite her gruff treatment of him. As such, it was a nice character moment to have this tough as nails soldier acknowledge there were things she could not do but Alex could. It is weird, but now that Roy is blind, I can see Olivier becoming the new ruler of the country. We'll see though.

Al's sacrifice didn't surprise me since that seemed to be the only way for Al and his body to be reunited. I've no idea if this means that Al is dead for good or not. He had a body so in theory, it should be possible to return somehow. That said, another sacrifice would seemingly need to be made to make this happen since Al sacrificed his metal form in order to return Ed's arm. That must be what Truth remarked on during his conversation with Al at the door.

Greed is being worked on by Ling. Once Father is gone, Greed will be the only major homunculus remaining and he'll still need to be dealt with. I'm guessing that Greed is being convinced to make a sacrifice because Greed will never truly get what he wants. The thing is, can Greed be removed without killing Ling? In theory, since Greed was added to Ling and Ling has retained his personality, it might be possible. Then again, we have the situation with Bradley and Wrath and that didn't end well (though there was only one personality there). We'll see what happens.

I'm still not sure if Father still holds "God" or not. Was that what happened during that massive release of energy that left Father desperate for souls and going after Ed? It wasn't clear to me.

As I expected, Riza became Roy's eyes and spotter. I laugh because it works out so perfectly. Since Riza had been an expert sniper (and still retains those skills), it seemed only logical that she'd fill this role. Add Roy and Riza's history and well they may as well get married as soon as Father is dealt with. ^_~

Finally, I notice that Hohenheim has the look of the homunculus who are down to their last life. I wonder if he's going to kick it before this is all over.

Only two more episodes to go. Hard to believe.

Angel Beats! -- More Yuri "Nutty" Photoshop Fun

A few days ago, I posted some of the fun the Japanese were having with episode 12 and Photoshop. One of the popular modifications were to take Yuri's "losing it" eyes, nose, and mouth and paste them onto other characters or have that look in other scenes. It was so popular, the fun continued.


Then someone had the idea of taking this outside of Angel Beats! and putting the images on other anime characters. I only recognize a K-On character and maybe a Railgun one but that's it.



Well, if you are going to take it outside of Angel Beats!, why not take it outside anime completely? After all, the World Cup is going on at the moment.


I thought of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood when I saw this Earthrise photo. ^_~


Finally, there was this collage of images showing some westerners showing modified reactions to Angel Beats! scenes. Not sure if these guys were responsible for it or if some Japanese person saw the images and thought they'd work. (If someone knows, do let me know.) Still, I thought it was humorous.

Negima! Manga Vol 32 Ch 292 Review

魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 32 Chapter 292 (manga)
Mahou Sensei Negima! Manga Chapter 292

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Negi and the girls emerge from the Magic Diorama Sphere to receive a communication from Takahata, who has Kurt with him. With the global crisis currently ongoing, Kurt asks for help from Ala Alba since most of the world's forces will be powerless to stop what is going on. Negi says he has to consult with the others and as the Great Paru-sama docks with Johnny-san's ship, Negi, Paru, and Asakura lay it out for them. The problem with assaulting the Graveeeper's Palace is that a powerful barrier surrounds it, strong enough to withstand Chachamaru's artifact. Shiori-Asuna reveals the way in through a weak spot at the base of the floating palace, which causes some confusion for those who don't know that Luna (Shiori) is in fact playing Asuna. Negi covers for her and they proceed.

The plan is (1) get through the barrier, (2) go in from the base of the floating structure, (3) rescue Anya, (4) acquire the Great Grand Master Key, then (5) escape and return to Earth through the lone surviving gateport. Paru figures that they'll have to battle stronger and stronger opponents as they climb up from the bottom. However, Negi has a different plan in mind. He divides the groups up into four -- the first staying on Johnny-san's ship at a safe distance; the second group will be on the Great Paru-sama to provide the escape; the third will rescue Anya; the fourth with get the Great Grand Master Key and likely encounter Fate. With that, everyone agrees to the plan and Negi makes his report to Kurt.

Meanwhile, on the deck of the Great Paru-sama, Collet, Bea, Yue, and Nodoka are talking. Collet wants to take a trip with Bea and Emily to Japan once everything is over and asks Yue and Nodoka to be their tour guides. Their conversation is interrupted when Tsukuyomi arrives on the rail and announces she's going to take out the puppet (Collet). As she goes for the kill, her sword is shattered and she finds herself lifted by the neck from behind by Negi, who's choking her.

Thoughts/Review: Talk about an epic end to have a lightning-formed Negi choking Tsukuyomi like that. Thanks to all of the buildup on Tsukuyomi going back to the Kyoto arc, we know what an incredible and psychotic fighter she is. After all, she managed to take down Setsuna and humiliate her. I'm looking forward to seeing how the fight goes but why do I suspect that this Tsukuyomi will end up being a shikigami copy? (Well, I know what happens now, but at the time when 292 was released, these were my thoughts.)

Question is, why did Tsukuyomi lead an advanced attack? Was it on her own or at Fate's orders?

Anyway, there was a lot of exposition here, though that's not unexpected considering that volume 33 will be the execution of the plan with a fair amount of action. However, the plan is pretty straight forward though we know what often happens with plans.

I found it interesting that Luna had a conversation with her Asuna personality. That pretty much secures the notion that Luna is down for Ala Alba. I kinda would like to see her replace Chao in Negi's classroom once they get back to Japan.

I had a chuckle at seeing Misora having her back turned early on with a sweat drop as she listened to Negi's call to arms. I figure she'll be on the team going after Anya since she has battle experience.

The breakdown of groups wasn't laid out beyond the Sports Four being on Johnny-san's ship as well as Natsumi. Kotaro I can see staying with that group as well, mainly to help protect them, though Yuuna has an offensive artifact. I suspect that we'll see Chachamaru, Paru, Asakura, Konoka, Chisame, Nodoka, and Sayo remain on the Great Paru-sama. After all, Sayo's got a gun, remember? ^_~

That leaves the two assault groups. If I had to guess, I'd say the group going after Anya (and Asuna) would consist of Yue, Bea, Collet, Misora, Cocone, Mei, Takane, and Kaede. Kaede uses her ninja skills to sneak in while hiding the rest of the group in her cloak. I'd say Luna might go with this group since she might know best where Anya would be at as well as Asuna. Of course, she might not want to be separated from Negi.

By my reckoning, that leaves Negi, Setsuna, Mana, and Ku Fei as the big gun to go after the key. Did I forget someone? (And where was Ku Fei in this chapter?)

Now, it is possible that Nodoka may be brought along because of her artifact to mind read. Akamatsu-sensei has set her up to show that she can act on her feet pretty well when required. As such, combined with the knowledge she obtained on operating the Master Key, I can see her going with Negi's group. She's a big wild card though.

I liked the many cameos Akamatsu-sensei managed to work in during the 2-page spread. ^_^

So, a talky but still good chapter with an epic win of an end!

Spoiler watch for 293 294 will happen, but there may be some delays in getting them posted since I've got other stuff happening at the time. If at all possible, I'll try to get these out as soon as they appear but I wanted to let you guys know if you hear they are out but haven't shown up here.

Mahou Sensei Negima! ~Mou Hitotsu no Sekai~ OAD - 03

Negima! ~Another World~ OAD/OVA Ep. 03 Review
魔法先生ネギ ま！～もうひとつの世界～ Episode 03

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Negi, as Nagi, sends a message on TV for Makie and Yuuna to meet him in Ostia in a month. He challenges fighters to come on and one day, a shadow user named Kagetarou challenges "Nagi." The two battle and Negi loses his arm until Jack Rakan, a former member of Ala Rubra, interferes and brings the fight to a stop. Negi is healed but Chisame and Chachamaru are not happy with what Negi did. Negi apologizes when Kotaro comes up with a message from Setsuna and Asuna stating they are OK.

Setsuna and Asuna bathe and talk as Asakura shows off her new pactio artifact from Negi. She and Chachamaru are off to try to find the others while Negi and Chisame go to meet Jack Rakan and train. They find Jack working on new techniques, which are quite impressive. When asked, Negi mentions fighting Fate. Jack remembers the name and decides to lay out where Negi stands on a strength chart. This shows Negi that he has a long way to go. Since Eva was Nagi's master on Earth, Jack decides to train Negi on something to give him an advantage -- Eva's Magia Erebea technique.


Thoughts/Review: Meh! SHAFT, which up until had been pretty good about holding their water, just couldn't do it this time. Oh no. After all, it can't be a SHAFT anime unless we put our pointless, stylized animation style into a series. And where do they choose to put this? In the battle between Negi (as Nagi) and Kagetarou of course. The result of this? Totally ruined the fight for me.

Seriously, why did you have to do this, SHAFT? You live up to your name by giving us the shaft this time (pardon the expression). *_* I think back to the battle in episode 1 when Fate takes out Ala Alba. That fight was well done. However, because of the stylized approach, the fight between Negi and Kagetarou, which should have been pretty awesome, is instead reduced to a parody of itself, and an annoying, eye-rolling one at that. Thus, SHAFT proves that while they can control themselves for a while, in the end, they are going to do whatever they feel like because they are SHAFT and they have a style which MUST come out or else.

Gah!

I had wondered how far SHAFT would go on the bathing scene between Asuna and Setsuna. Naturally, SHAFT would have loved to have gone full-bore hentai on this. After all, there probably isn't a lot of hot, teen, yuri action where one of the girls has wings. *_* In order that SHAFT can spend more time on the fap material, they completely cut out the most important part of the scene from the manga -- Asuna's growing strength. SHAFT also found time to extend the boob jokes about Makie and Yuuna from the beginning of the episode. Can't cut out the boob stuff, can we?

Speaking of cuts, we knew that there would be a TON cut in order to squeeze the Magic World arc into four episodes. Well, that's a fail as we all knew it would be and even adding a special OAD (or OVA, not sure which) to cover Yue's adventures, still too much is cut to make this OAD even worth it IMO. If you haven't read the manga, forget it. You are going to be confused because so much is skipped between episode 2 and 3. SHAFT does some covering by extending the meeting scene between Kotaro, Negi, Sayo, Chisame, and Asakura, but I don't think that will be enough. Most of the gaps will be filled with the audio dramas, which don't do us any good. However, some gaps will just be left blank.

So I'm thinking, "Why the heck didn't Kodansha just do a proper OVA series if they didn't want to do a TV series?" At least that way the whole arc could have been done properly. Then again, why'd Kodansha choose SHAFT in the first place? *_*

Basically, I find myself highly annoyed after this episode and mostly from that stylized crap early on. I knew the cuts to the story would harm this OAD series and they have to some extent. That will increase with the final episode going into the theatrical movie. It really is a shame too since to date, the OADs' for Negima! had been acceptable despite things that had to be cut. SHAFT made sure that would not remain true.