Story
Negima follows story of Negi Springfield – a genius 10 year old mage in search for his father, the Thousand Master Nagi Springfield and become a Magister that helps people around the world. The story is primarily set in Mahora Academy in Tokyo, Japan. A grand school ranging from grade school to university with area of a city district.
Negima is an action adventure story with noticeable amount of slice of life aspect and generous sprinkle of Ecchi.
The Story can be mainly divided into 7 parts
Chapter 1-25 - Introduction – This part is perhaps the weakest point of Negima as readers come expecting high stakes action and magical fights given its premise and genres, but instead the introduction part is largely Slice of Life with lots of ecchi, making one think what is he reading. The slow start is perhaps one of the reasons, Negima is hard to get into as it takes fair deal of patience to get to action parts – which most people would be reading this for. Personally I enjoyed the setup of character, but I will admit its not the cup of tea for most people especially combined with the fact that Negima on average as two-three times the word count per chapter compared to that of a standard shonen.
Chapter 26-71 – Enemy Introduction and Training Arc – We kickstart Volume 4 (Chapter 26) with a Class Trip to Kyoto, this arc initially focuses on Konoka Konoe, the grand-daughter of headmaster and Kansai Magical association, and it serves as major turning point for the series where slice of life atmosphere is gradually whittling down the SoL aspect and turning into more tense action oriented, we see introduction of major characters such as Kotarou, Fate and Tsukiyomi in this arc, as well as revealing powers of Setsuna, Konoka, Mana, Kaede and Ku Fei. The field trip is followed by training arc adding to seriousness of previous arc, where Negi apprentices himself to Ku-Fei and Evangeline to get stronger and Kotarou joins the gang.
Chapter 72-168 – Mahora Festival Arc – The first major arc in series is kickstarted as Mahora Academy wide 3 day long cultural festival, a major attraction that gets people visiting it from all over the world. This arc has multiple mini arcs inside it, with things getting more serious with every passing arc and more of action and magic being incorporated. We start with the class preparing for the festival as haunted house and doing various club activities, and introduction to World Tree – a magical tree that sits in middle of Mahora Academy with power to influence minds during the 3 day festival every 22 years, thus it is duty of Negi and other teachers to not allow anyone to confess within the power radius of World Tree. This arc’s central focus is Chao Lingshen, the Genius of academy who knows about Magic and is under surveillance of the academy for being dangerous, Chao gives Negi a time machine in this part which is extensively used throughout the Festival and becomes a key component to this arc. Day 1 of fest is mainly Negi visiting many of the students clubs and some dates with the help of time machine and is ended with Mahora Budokai (Aka the tournament) prelims, where Negi & Kotarou qualify. The tournament is significant chunk of this arc and is one of the best parts in Negima, where we see high fueled action and powers of various characters such as Negi, Kotarou, Takamichi, Setsuna, Asuna (along with some glimpses at her past), Mana, Kaede, Ku-Fei, Evangeline and last but not the least a mysterious mage who is revealed to be the part of Ala Rubra – Kunel Sanders. The hightlight of this arc is Negi’s missing father information becoming public and we see a short fight between Negi and Nagi (thro power of Kunel’s magic). But while this is happening, something sinister behind the scenes revolving around Chao Lingshen starts moving – the aim being exposing the existence of 67 million mages to the normal world. Day 2 is followed with more student and club visits, including debut of Negi’s and Kotarou’s adult disguises and more pactios, the day ending with a fight against Chao Lingshen which Negi loses and being unexpectedly sent to a time period 8 days ahead, where Chao has already revealed the existence of Magic to the world and now Negi and his party are criminals to be hunted. This mini arc focuses on the impact it would have on world and various mages in academy if magic was to be made public, through power of world tree – Negi makes it back to Day 3 of festival – the Finale. Day 3 or Battle for Mahora is large arc focused on Negi and his allies combating with Chao Lingshen, Chachamaru, Hakase and their army of robots. Determined to stop Chao at all costs, they utilize Ayaka’s influence and power to change main event into a hunting event disguised with CGI and weapons to mask Negi and others use of magic. Chao vs Negi is great one on one fight and is surprisingly done well mix of sci-fi and magic, with various time related shenangians. The arc ends with Chao being defeated and going back to her home, while Negi makes a serious decision to search for his father.
Chapter 169-220 – Journey to Magic World and Training Arc 2 – Determined to find his father, Negi and his party leave for Wales, his hometown where we meet his cousin Nekane and childhood friend Anya, before leaving for treacherous journey to Magic World, where they are accompanied by some unexpected stowaways and an unexpected meeting with Fate makes everything go wrong as Negi and his party are brutally defeated and teleported all over the Magic World randomly without any way to contact each other. This arc has very increased stakes compared to previous one’s as the girl’s survival is on stake as there are not only non-combatants but also normal humans between them. We are introduced to Magic World, and various characters – such as Rakan who was part of Ala Rubra and becomes Negi Master – teaching him the secret techniques of Evangeline to prepare him to fight Fate, Hellas Princess and many stories about Nagi’s past. The leading lady of this arc is Chisame who is found by Negi first and works significantly to keep his head up in the time of need and support him mentally while he is trained by Rakan on verge of Life and Death. This arc also introduces us to some darker aspects of Negima verse – such as slavery – which is the fate of Ako, Natsumi and Akira along with lots of deaths, a stark contrast to Negima’s setting in earth. This arc is closed with Negi preparing to participate in Ostia Festival to raise money to save the three from slavery, but road is hard as he has to beat his own master – Rakan to do so. All the girls are also gathering as Ostia for the festival making re-union at hand.
Chapter 221- 282 – Ostia Festival and Revealing of Past – If you thought Madora Budokai was good, wait till you read this arc, Ostia Festival features high risk Gladiator styled duo tournament where Negi and Kotarou must beat the legend himself Rakan and Kagerou, it features the longest fight in series spanning over 1.5 volumes in an absolute epic usage of Magic, Techniques, Artifacts and brute strength making it the best fight in series. The high octane fight is followed by some more characters from Nagi’s past being introduced and we are finally revealed the past in its entirety – be it Negi’s village attack, or stories about his Father & Ala Rubra along with much awaited reveal of Negi’s mother and the circumstances of her with Nagi. This arc adds lot of build up to the story while answering tons of questions posed throughout the series all the while raising some more, and with it we draw curtain on the Grand Finale.
Chapter 282- 335 – The Final Battle – With everything laid out on the table, Negi and party must rescue Asuna & Anya from clutches of Fate and his cronies and save the magic world while at it. This arc features high action battles one after another with characters utilising their powers to the limit along with some very interesting reveals such as existence of demons from planet Venus, Zazie being a Demonic Princess as well as Mana being Half Demon explaining her insane strength throughout the series, While Negi and Mana are fighting big battles, the rest of girls are trying to rescue Asuna silently which makes ample usage of pactios of multiple characters such as Natsumi, Makie, Ako, Kaede, Nodoka in never seen before stakes. As the arc goes, we are visited by ghosts of past – the previous generations fate and the Magician of the End himself, making the boundary between Magic World and Earth slowly vanishing taking the fight directly to Mahora Academy where the rest of girls and teachers join Negi in beating the Magician of the end … who is revealed to be someone unexpected shocking everyone!
Chapter 336-355 – The Epilogue – Having saved the Magic World from imminent doom, the gang is back at Mahora academy to graduate from their final year – All but Asuna, for she must pay the price for saving Magic World, 100 years of deep sleep inside Magic World to stabilize it, we get an extremely tearful departure between Asuna and Ayaka, followed by Asuna with rest and then see the world 130 years later from her POV – everyone is gone but her which breaks her spirit down, till Chao Lingshen comes in to save the day with her time machine bringing back Asuna to the present timeline, allowing the her to get a happy ending with girls. Series ends on high note with the class graduating where we see them 10 years later, all grown up and excelling in various fields and family of their owns – as they meet Nagi, who is now found by Negi fulfilling his dreams and goals.
A stellar story, written wonderfully and compassing years of work being brought together with extreme attention to details and consistency.
World Building
The strongest aspect of this series outside its characters is World Building, from the very first chapters we are shown grandness of Mahora Academy spanning across the city and as the series moves ahead – this is reinforced heavily. Every arc further reveals more locations in world in systematic manner adding to the details of the series. We start from Commutation system, Class 3-A and dorms initially to move to school playing grounds and Evangeline home along with a grand library that goes deep in underground, then in trip to Kyoto we are shown various landmarks of the city , then the Kansai Magical Association and some ancient ruins. Back at Mahora Academy, it is during Mahora Festival arc that we are finally revealed the actual grandness of Mahora Academy in its entirety with this Map.
This arc expands world building considerably going through various clubs, venues and locations within the academy related to class 3-A, the massive world tree, underground facilities and ruins, dozens and dozens of detailed interior and exterior locations that all play a role and finale of arc encompasses not just Mahora academy lands, but even its skies.
Next, we move to across the sea to Wales, where we are shown Negi’s homeland and gate to Magic World – A brand new world set in different space and thus begins the second round of world space expansion as Magic World features a landmass of thousand of KM which Negi must traverse. Author shows here various environments – from deadly Jungles to arid deserts and beautiful cities with grand view of seas. We see various architectures ranging from modern buildings, ancient ruins to locations right out of a sci-fi series. The major attraction would be the Colosseum of Ostia Festival, Arika’s Homeland from flashbacks and Grave keepers Palace – the place of final battle.
Throughout the series Ken expanded world bit by bit where it made sense and focusing on details when he did so everything remains constant to information readers already have. Further more if you read the official volumes extra, Ken detailed many rough drafts of the Negima world as well as detailed 3D designs of the various structures ranging from Mahora Clubs to fight locations, adding a depth for those who care.
Characters
This is perhaps my favorite part in Negima from start to end, Negima sets it apart from others by giving characters outside Negi an important role to play throughout series and what makes it better is that the author had seemingly decided it all from first chapter of the series itself when we see the class roaster with their activities and little tidbits. Throughout the story that roaster image is updated at end of every volume showcasing the development of relation between the girls and Negi. But characters in this series were written fantastically and they each carried out their role extremely well so here are some short write-ups I felt for them.
Negi Springfield – The Main Character of the series, Negi is 10 year old genius magician who has to teach a class full of 14-15 year old girls to become a Magi, but his road isn’t easy as those girls are hellbent to tease this shota to every extent possible. Personality wise Negi is very naïve and simple outside his goal to become a Magi and find his father, as series progresses we see him becoming more determined and collected, but his habit of being flustered when surrounded by 3-A girls teasing never improves along with his kind heart. Let me start with the preface that I do not like child MC’s normally as most authors fail to write them as child, especially in fantasy series. But, Negima delivers to be an exception where author takes due care to make Negi act as a child where he should be – such as him stupidly believing various lies the Girls and other adults at academy tell him, or him being embarrassed and flustered at 3-A girls teasing him or whenever he is confessed. Negi also shows lots of emotion and is not afraid to cry/be depressed when things go wrong, occasionally throwing tantrums and getting angry showcasing even more of his childlike side, yet he is strong and protects his students and people at any cost. Outside of his kind demeanour where he strives to make his class excel and girls happy, Negi works extremely hard at being a Mage – be it theoretical studies, developing original magics or non-stop training under hard masters such as Ku-Fei, Evangeline and Rakan which brought him to death’s door countless number of times. Negi’s fighting style was very enjoyable – be it his complex magics or self-boosting – which is further enhanced by Evangeline original magic to limits later in series or his various original magics tailored to counter his opponents. Pactio system of Negi was core of series Magic as artifacts from the same were major driving force in almost entirety of battles – be it training, tournaments or fights against enemy’s. One thing that I disliked was author forgetting power and usage of Negi’s own pactio he formed with Hellas princess outside of Rakan fight, His ability to summon and use artifacts of any of people he formed pactio was interesting and powerful as hell, but is only utilized once and never again. Another point of nit-picking was that despite getting a time-skip ending we are never revealed Negi’s love and marriage in series despite author very explicitly stating he had someone he liked. (Revealed years later in sequel UQ holder, but yeah – unconclusive in Negima)
Sayo Aisaka (Seat 1) – An adorable ghost haunting the class, Sayo was perhaps the character who went from being most tragic to perhaps getting the happiest end of the girls, especially in Magic World Arc. Her personality was fun and her desperation to make friends combined with how happy she got once she achieved that goal was nice. Magic World Chibi Sayo riding Asakura artifact was just beyond adorable.
Yuna Akashi (Seat 2) – We are introduced to Yuna as a character quite late in story but she manages to play a pivotal role very quickly in both Mahora Festival arc as well as Magical World arc. Personality wise Yuna is easy going cheerful girl just like she was as a kid. Tho her obsession with becoming her dad’s bride is truly something. Her pactio had a nice design and slow mode shooting was nice detail.
Pactio – Dual Guns with Magic Restricting Bullets.
Kazumi Asakura (Seat 3) – One of prominent members of the Negi party since her introduction, gossip and scoops run in Asakura blood. Asakura information gathering capabilities were unparalleled in series which helped Negi numerous times. Her Pactio was unconventional but one of keys behind rescue of girls in Magic World arc. Personality wise Asakura is definitely the teasing onee-san and is chummy with chamo in making things hard for Negi, especially when it comes to his love life.
Pactio – Drones with audio-visual communication.
Yue Ayase (Seat 4) – Another character that was prominent member of Negi party and was introduced very early on as Baka Ranger. Yue started out with having a lazy personality which was only interested in books, but not studies while being extremely bashful – much like her best friend Nodoka. As series went she grew studious and started taking initiative which was a good character growth. Yue Pactio fit her to a T as an encyclopedia of magic, allowing the team to gain advantage in many situations. Her friendship with Nodoka was one of key points of her as a character and it was played very well.
Pactio – Magic Encyclopedia, what a nerd!
Ako Izumi (Seat 5) – Member of a Rock Band, Ako was a character that while not being important at all, was somehow very important as she was one of central focus of Magic World arc despite not being part of Negi party or knowing magic beforehand. Personality wise Ako is dreamy romantic but very timid due to her insecurities about her massive scar on her back. She was one of the characters who received a lot of character development during Magic World arc whether it was developing as a person or her romance with “Nagi”.
Pactio - A nurse with giant needle which played a good role in final battle with doping Yuna and Makie in battle to rescue Asuna.
Akira Okochi (Seat 6) – The Swim Team ace, Akira was gentle giant in 3-A. She was extremely soft spoken and worried about not only Negi, but her friends – Ako, Yuna, Makie and Natsume a lot. Akira’s personality was of cheerful nature and was shown to be very kind. She comforted Negi as a big sister and got him out of tease-fests quite a lot and respected his feelings.
Pactio - Mermaid that could teleport short distances. Cute design tho feels impractical since if you don’t have water nearby you are toast xD.
Misa Kakizaki (Seat 7), Madoka Kugimiya (Seat 11) and Sakurako Shina (Seat 17) – The cheerleader trio was true Slice of Life ambassadors in story. All 3 of them had happy go lucky cheerful personality and lived their life by way of cheering on others. They had very less presence overall in the story except Asuna Birthday Gift shopping chapter early on and Negi Hunt near the end where their caring personality allowed Negi to finally admit that he had feelings for someone.
Asuna Kagurazaka (Seat 8) – The FMC of the series Asuna is a character of many faces and one who simultaneously received a lot and yet seemingly no character development. Asuna is introduced as a cheerful brute who hates kids and has hots for her older teacher Takamichi, which seems to be her general inclination towards liking older men. Asuna had a brother-sister relationship with Negi from the very start with the two fighting each other over littlest of things, yet caring deeply aswell. Although Asuna had an overprotective nature when it came to Negi, she did understand and took step back when Negi had to do something truly, her relationship with Ayaka was one of the best in series and was a deep look that Asuna was someone who had a gentle heart deep down behind her overly explosive brute façade – be it her trying to cheer up Ayaka during childhood over her little brother stuff or near the very end where she admitted she was her best friend. Besides her personality, Asuna was one of the strongest characters in Negi Party and her backstory/identity was a core part of Final Negima arcs.
Pactio – The first one to get a Pactio, Asuna boasted an extremely rare magic cancellation artifact – bane of all wizards, which was one of core plot points down the lane.
Misora Kasuga (Seat 9) – Misora was introduced during Mahora festival arc officially as undercover (albeit horrible at it) magic student. Misora has a fun having lazy personality and she is always up for shenanigans – just like she did when she acted as Father on confession booth having fun with her classmates’ woes.
Pactio – Mihora has a pactio with collete which gives her Superspeed.
Chachamaru Karakuri (Seat 10) – Chachamaru was introduced early on as an underling to Evangeline who was hunting Negi at the moment. A Robot designed by Chao Lingshen and Satomi Hakase, she has a doll contract with Eva. Personality wise Chachamaru was always kind as seen from her early playing with kids and stray animals, to point Negi couldn’t bring himself to attack her. Outside that she was stoic and emotionless as robot but as series progressed she gained more and more emotions due to love towards Negi and eventually was able to have a real soul showing her growth and desire to have true feelings. She was extremely active throughout the story and played important combat asset to Negi Party till the end.
Pactio – Chachamaru pactio was special as the requirement to have pactio was to have a soul, but as robot she didn’t. Hence her feelings of wanting to be human was what allowed Pactio Ceremony magic to let her gain a true soul. Her Pactio was an enormous Space Battle Satellite she could control to launch devastating death ray on enemies.
Ku Fei (Seat 12) - Ku Fei is one of the prominent members of Negi Party combat team and was the one who taught Negi martial arts as his master. Ku Fei is outgoing baka type personality who chases strength (just like her marriage criteria is he gotta be stronger than me). We are introduced to her first during baka rangers arc as baka and then during Kyoto arc as a merc for hire along with Kaede and Mana. Ku Fei is proficient in Chinese Martial Arts and chi in combat and its what she uses primarily till end of series. She also fells for Negi later on and is bashful maiden when it comes to love.
Pactio - Ku Fei pactio was one of stronger combat ones as she summoned Ryuji Jingo aka the Monkey King Sun Wukong's ever-changing staff.
Konoka Konoe (Seat 13) - Konoe ojosama, the granddaughter of Headmaster of Mahora academy is another FMC of the story who shares room with Asuna and is assigned as Negi's guardian with her. Personality wise Konoka is extremely easygoing happy and cheerful person and she coddles Negi a lot and is friends with almost everyone. Part of Library exploration club she is later revealed to be daughter of Eushen, one of the companions of Nagi and has aptitude to be a Magister Magi just like Negi. Konoka plays an important role throughout story whether its combat or general bonding with characters. Bar Negi and Asuna, she has special relationship with Setsuna - who was her only childhood friend during sheltered life as ojosama in Kansai Magic Association. While setsuna feels awkward due to their social gap, konoka loves her all the same and forms a Pactio with her later in the series. (These 2 defo yuri yuri)
Pactio - Konoka Pactio is of healing nature, which suits her caring personality a lot. It has power to reverse any injury even if its fatal within a certain period of time once a day and it saved the Negi Party members from imminent death a lot of times.
Haruna Saotome (Seat 14) – Haruna aka Paru, the undisputable gossip queen of the series, if something got into her years it might as well have been broadcasted to entire school. Haruna is close friends with Yue and Nodoka and works as Mangaka on site. Her personality is of a she devil who absolutely strives on making others embarrassed especially when it comes to their love lives. She plays an impactful role in gathering back Mahora Students during Magic World arc.
Pactio – Eager for a Pactio after knowing existence of magic, her powers allow her to bring her drawings to life.
Setsuna Sakurazaki (Seat 15) - Setsuna or as Konoka likes to call her Set-Chan, was introduced first in Kyoto trip arc as guardian of Konoka from shadows. She is demi-human from crow tribe and has beautiful white wings. Personality wise setsuna is devoted to protecting Konoka at cost of her life, while at same time she is extremely shy and awkward in front of her due to her perceived status gaps and her shyness is expanded by her feelings for Ojosama as series goes. Setsuna is one of main fighters of Negi combat party and is active throughout series playing important roles supporting Negi, Asuna and Konoka.
Pactio – One of earliest pactios, she gets a major boost in her combat skills using it. Later in series she forms another pactio with Konoka.
Makie Sasaki (Seat 16) – The absolute normie of the class with Happy Family, Friends and Club activities. Makie lives life fulfilled for most part. Personality wise she is happy and cheerful all the time and truly satisfied with her life. Has crush on Negi so shenangians ensue with her lot of times.
Pactio – True to her Gymnastics background, she gets a ribbon that can extend to great lengths under her control, being one of keys during Asuna Retrieval arc.
Mana Tatsumiya (Seat 18) – Ehm the “freedom” girl Mana was introduced in Kyoto arc as one of mercenaries along with Kaede and Ku Fei. Mana is a monster in combat and her preferred way is Firearms including Snipers, Pistols and many more. Personality wise Mana is very calm and composed character who is firm in her beliefs. Mana stayed as one of most mysterious characters from start till very end where we finally learn she had a Pactio with now deceased mage before she met Negi and is Half Demon Breed. Her strength is enormous as she could overpower Kaede and Ku Fei and even go toe to toe with Zazie’s Sister in Magic World (A pure blood demon princess) without being on losing end.
Pactio – She had pactio with another mage from before which gave her powers of dimensional storage/reload for her guns and ammo allowing her to practically never run out of bullets in battles.
Chao Lingshen (Seat 19) – The Genius in truest sense, Chao Lingshen was part of numerous clubs and aced them all including being rank 1 in academics. Chao serves as Antagonist/Anti Hero for the Mahora Festival arc displaying an extreme amount of strength as she managed to stronghold entire Negi party and Mahora Magic Teachers. Chao is bright person who has a smile on her face always but carries a huge burden behind it. Genius in science and magic both Chao was Negi’s descendant from future – able to create Time Machines, sentient robots like Chachamaru and even manipulate Eva’s mini world. Negi vs Chao was a very well written fight and ended Mahora Fest arc with a bang. (Also hilarious how she made Negi party self-destruct after fight by bringing out Negis family tree :kek). A very well written character you just can’t hate even if she was fighting MC.
Kaede Nagase (Seat 20) - The resident Nin Nin just like Ku Fei was introduced as baka ranger early on and then as mercenary for hire in Kyoto arc where she subdued kotaro in no time. Personality wise Kaede is gentle ara ara onee san type, who teaches negi often that sometimes its fine to enjoy life as it is instead worrying constantly and that he is not alone. She also plays major part in cheering up Negi and Kotaro both whenever they are down after losing in fights like an older sister. Combat wise Kaede is a Ninja with vast experience and one of strongest members of Negi party from start to end. She taught kotaro martial arts as well.
Pactio - Her pactio significantly enhanced her as Ninja by giving her a dimensional cloack she could hide not just items but living beings in as well allowing her to protect weaker member of party very well.
Chizuru Naba (Seat 21) - Chizuru nee sama, the 3A bust queen is introduced as sassy ara ara vibe oneesan which fits her to a T as she helps out at Daycare. Chizuru normally acts as mom of the group whether it be teasing or controlling fights. She also acts as guardian to Kotaro after she rescued him from imminent death. (And like poor Natsumi once said, these aren't the bodies of a middle schooler)
Pactio - Perhaps the most fitting Artifact was given to Chizuru - A leek. She was obsessed since early on to stick a leek up Kotaro bum, but while that was unsuccessful, poor negi became the victim of her artifact near end which had power to forcefully make person speak truth
Fuka & Fumika Narutaki (Seat 22 & 23) - The walking club loli twin devils are another majorly slice of life characters who spend the majority of their screentime teasing Negi. Personality wise the twins are cheery like a bunch of kindergarten students; tho little sister is shyer and more bashful in personality and gets scared easily.
Pactio - Both of their pactios are done near end for sake of it and had something to do with Ninja stuff, not much relevance overall.
Satomi Hakase (Seat 24) – Another Genius from robotics club who was in cahoots with Chao and is maintainer of Chachamaru robotic body. Hakase is only interested in science and robots and her majority of screentime is in regards to same. Personality wise she is cheerful but fully married to science showing no care outside it.
Chisame Hasegawa (Seat 25) – Miss damned stupid happy go lucky brats aka Chisame-tan is one of main female characters in series. Her personality is twisted as she abhors the extremely easy going and happy go lucky attitude her classmates have while being filled with weirdos, while she hides secret persona of Number 1 Net Idol, where she acts haughty – Complex is best way to describe Chisame as character. Major part of chisame plays role of straight man from the comedy skits – who exists to point out how stupid or away from reality the thinsg are being talked about or happening are. From very start shes flabbergasted about prospect of having a 10 year old teacher unlike other girls in class and is shown to make comedic jabs on Chachamaru robotic existence and Kaede Ninja/Mana Guns. Negi finds her Net idol personality Chiu-tan very early on and becomes a fan of it which starts the relationship between the two where Negi tries to integrate her more in class. She accepts Magic existing after extreme denials early on, being an expert with computers she plays active role throughout Mahora Festival arc trying to combat Chao and Chachamaru in exposing Magic to the world going as far as doing Pactio to save Negi from being turned to an ermine should Chao succeed. But Chisame elevation to Main Female Character comes in Magic World arc, where she spends majority of time with Negi as they search for rest of students and Negi trains under Rakan, Chisame acts as motivator and advisor to Negi, someone who he can trust deeply despite her never admitting to it. Relevant till the end, Chisame is character with most development throughout the series in female cast and for a good reason.
Pactio – Her pactio allows her to create a virtual reality space where she can change her appearance/clothing and environment at will and has 7 rat like minions she can use to enhance her computer skills to point of matching advanced robot like chachamaru. The minions also act as radar allowing her to scout areas while being hidden in back.
Evangeline A.K. MCDowell (Seat 26) - Evangeline the Immortal Daywalker Vampire Princess aka the eternal loli or in short Eva is a notorious criminal with large bounty on her head attending school due to curse by Negi's father which bound her soul to academy. Eva is first character we are introduced very early on that is linked to Nagi Springfield and starts the action part with fight against Negi. Personality wise eva is apathetic but bratty due to having lived for centuries, she only cares about anything that gives her a feeling of fun or is related fo Nagi, and extremely bashful when it comes to love talks(although she is rather pitiful and sad as a character). Evangeline plays an important role throughout the story as Negi's master for magic who inherits her legacy magics later during the series as well as chachamaru's master, while she herself goes in combat very rarely due to lack of any sorts of interest in most of fights. Her training is hellish and Negi gets visibly scared whenever he is reminded of it, and later on asuna suffers the same fate. Eva is master of magic having created dozens of original magics over the years including a time chamber esque mini world which Negi and party uses throughout the series to train themselves. Eva till the very end was wrapped in shroud of mystery on matter of how strong she actually is.
Nodoka Miyazaki (Seat 27) - Nodoka or bookstore chan as everyone calls her is best friend of yue and haruna. Personality wise Nodoka is extremely shy and timid lacking confidence at times as shown by her habit of covering her face with bangs despite being very cute as noted by many characters, despite this she is at times one of most courageous characters - whether it be confessing to Negi or protecting her friends. She becomes a core member of Negi's party from the very start due to her artifact being one of the strongest in the series. She plays a vital role in deciphering enemy intentions and motives throughout the course of the series. She shares a special bond with Yue who she treats dearer than ever even after knowing that her best friend also loves the same person as her.
Pactio - Nodoka is owner of one of rarest artifacts, a book which can show her true thoughts of anyone she knows name of and their current situation, she uses this to gain information on which ally is in danger and what the enemy motives and next moves are, during magic world arc this is further supplemented by her getting treasure which reveals the true name of any person she wants to know of, becoming key to entire final arc.
Natsumi Murakami (Seat 28)- Natsumi a common girl with normal family who shared dorm room with Chizuru was dragged into magic world when her and Chizuru picked up Kotaro and adopted him. Her personality is very timid and she lacks self confidence in her due to freckles on her face and her body figure (much thanks to Chizuru and Ayaka who live with her.) Natsumi is also a guardian of Kotaro though her dynamic is more of brother sister with him compared to Chizuru’s motherly one. She eventually falls in love with Kotaro during magic world arc confessing their feelings to each other and getting married in epilogue.
Pactio - Initially reluctant to do so due to her lack of confidence and conflict of feelings, she forms a pactio with Kotaro late in series (being his only one) in practically a confession style. Her artifact is a masquerade mask which allows her to make her presence vanish along with anything she is touching. Her artifact proves to be the key during asuna rescue arc as it allows the gang to sneak close to her fooling even likes of Fate. Fate mentions her artifact was so rare it hadn't appeared once in last 280 years.
Ayaka Yukihiro (Seat 29) – Class Rep or as her Asuna calls her – Shotacon Ayaka is class president of 3-A and heir to Yukihiro conglomerate. For lack of better word Ayaka is seen to be obsessed with Negi since his arrival which leads to majority of 3-A calling her out to be a shotacon, but her character is much more deeper than that. Negi reminds her of her little brother who died of complications at birth, which marked a deep scar in her heart, as such she sees herself as a Mother Figure for the latter who comes to Japan all alone with no guardians or parents and overflows with instinct to protect him. Personality wise Ayaka is one of most kind, warm-hearted and caring person in class without any arrogance about her riches, being class-rep she is always striving to ensure her classmates and Negi Sensei are always happy and patch things between them. A key moment that propelled Ayaka to my favorite character was in Volume 7-8 where Ayaka takes Negi to a private beach trip and of course is joined by entire class without her consent, during this part Asuna (Who she has cat and dog relationship with) and Negi are in fight and Ayaka decides to mediate between the two, like the most characters in-verse, reader is expected that Ayaka would flame the fuels as well given her relationship with Asuna and obsession with Negi, but instead she truly helps the two overcome their misunderstandings and bond together for that is what makes her truly happy, this is also the moment (combined with earlier flashback of her brothers demise at her house early on) that cements that Asuna-Ayaka can fight all day on the outside, but on inside they are both best friends that no one can separate. Such behavior by Ayaka is continued throughout series where she selflessly helps class in various events (such as funding for uniforms in Mahora Fest), changing and sponsoring the Mahora Fest finale to help Negi and Asuna win against Chao’s plan, Helping Chisame against hacking attempts by Chachamaru and the list goes on. Ayaka is also one of the girls who commit to finding Negi’s father after knowing Nagi has been missing, but despite not knowing of Magic’s existence for a major part of series – she is the one character that was most dedicated to that task, researching all over the world gathering clues to help Negi locate his father, this is also paired with deep trust of Negi/Asuna where when Ayaka and other girls go to Wales to see Negi hometown and stalk them falling into Magic World, Ayaka never tried the same because she promised the two for same (so did all other girls). As series grows to its end, Ayaka again delivers lot of impact to the story – be it her heartwarming conversation with Asuna before she is sealed, or her staying alive for 115 years in solitude even as all classmates and Negi departed the world, waiting for Asuna to fulfill her promise. She helps Negi fulfill his dream researching travel to Mars & finding Nagi while staying by his side as an aide, happy to just help him achieve his goals. Ayaka was the best written Rich Lady character I have witnessed personally with insane amount of character development and selflessness. Strength wise she was far stronger than normal humans possessing significant training in Martial Arts that she could overpower brute Asuna until she was trained by Evangeline and intelligence wise she was only behind Chao and Hakase in 3-A.
Pactio – Oh boi, Ayaka pactio was the most interesting and powerful pactio in the series. The entire sequence of her pactio was hilarious, as her love towards Negi was so great that despite not being a magician or having an ounce of mana, she almost caused a reverse pactio making a Negi Card half-appear out of thin air with just power of her feelings, it was also the longest pactio scene in the series. Power wise her pactio was a rarest or rare card that even Fate was surprised to see it could exist, her pactio grants her the ability to meet with anyone without any prior arrangements or authorizations allowing her to possibly meet and kill any world leader or person in the world if she wished to. Ayaka instead uses this to arrange meetings with Industry and Political leaders to help Negi establish his space travel dreams, showcasing her moral integrity to not misuse it.
All in all, best girl.
Satsuki Yotsuba (Seat 30) - Satsuki the Koala Bear was relatively unique character in the series, part of the cooking club she operated Yotsuba food stand during Mahora fest as her introduction. Personality wise Satsuki is one of those soft-spoken gentle moms who showers other with praises when they are down but also doesn't hesitate to correct their ways when they go wrong. Satsuki while never participating in combat or other Negi Party shenanigans proved valuable in bringing back Negi and others back to their feet whenever they were in despair and being the sole person in class Evangeline admitted to be great/worth as a person. Author uses unique style to show her conversations as just texts overhead instead of speech bubbles showcasing her soft demeanor, with speech bubbles only used when she’s being firm and complemented with koala pic in background
Zazie Rainyday (Seat 31) - Zazie was a fun unique character, even in the class of misfits she stood out due to her facial tattoo designs and almost never speaking. Her personality is calm and collected and she's stoic by nature. Tho near the end we see that she has a fun trolling side to her as well. Part of Circus Troupe we are introduced with her initially in Mahora Fest arc where she invited Negi sensei and spoke for first time in series, it is near end where we are revealed her actual identity - Demon Princess from planet Venus. Combat wise Zazie is super strong and has cute lil summons (menos grande esque from Bleach) that gather around her calling frend.
Other Major Characters -
Takahata T. Takamichi – Takamichi ex-homeroom Teacher of class 2-A is a friend of Nagi and was part of Ala Rubra, He is also guardian of Asuna (who has a major crush on him) raising her since she was a child in Mahora academy. Personality wise Takamichi is calm and collected person resembling his older age and spends significant time in series acting as guardian to Negi, giving him lots of advise in combat and in living his life. Joining Ala Rubra as kid, Takamichi went through lot of tragedies in past including death of his master, destruction of Nagi party and Asuna’s homeland destruction which has made him pessimistic in certain aspects like his declaration of that he doesn’t deserve to be loved – when Asuna confessed to him in Mahora Festival arc. However, we can expect he gets a happy ending afterall as Asuna makes him promise her to marry Shizuna Sensei near end so he can have an happy family.
Magic – Termed as failure for not being able to perform incantations, Takamichi learned the unique style of his Master Gateau – Combining Ki and Mana with 1 in each hand elevating his physical strength and capacity which he used to perform strong air blasts invisible to the eye that left people crushed in seconds.
Kotarou Inugami – Wolf Boy Kotarou, initially introduced as enemy in Kyoto Trip arc he soon joins Negi in later arc as an ally after being rescued by Chizuru and Natsumi from death. Personality wise Kotarou is straightforward and true to his self – be it his dislike of Western Magicians or morals to not hit a woman or use his full strength even if she is an enemy, but behind that he is a lonely soul abandoned by humans and wolf tribe alike for being demi-human. Kotarou is a very special character as he is the first (overall second – First being Anya) friend Nagi makes in Japan and his only male friend, as such he plays an important role in Negi’s life as both of them being same age can truly treat each other as equals and they share happiness and despairs in fights working as a team. His addition to the cast makes Negi visibly happier as he has someone he can confide in and freely interact with and just like Negi he retains his childlike behavior as well including being shy around girls or not fond of skin ship and finding kissing gross. Beyond that Kotarou is treated as family by Natsumi, Chizuru and Ayaka, who he lives with and which he marks as a special feeling he has never felt before and is truly grateful to them. Combat wise Kotarou is Negi’s rival and partner, even if he self admits that he is a side character who can never really match Negi’s combat prowess, they participate in fights together – be it Mahora Fest or Magic World Colosseum arc where the two form a formidable tag team. He likes Natsumi and the two marry in epilogue of the series.
Magic – Being a Half Yokai, Kotarou can summon shadow wolves to hunt his prey and surround them including turning into giant wolf himself, giving him majorly a brute force brawler battle style.
Fate Averruncus – The main antagonist of the series for larger part, Fate was a very complex character – While his motives very clearly evil for a big part, it was still hard to genuinely hate him as they also held some truth behind them as things were revealed in series later stages. Personality wise Fate is cold and emotionless, who wouldn’t blink at killing hundreds while at same time he also disliked pointless killing as shown on multiple opportunities, he also possessed feelings of compassion saving war orphans and raising them not as tools but as guardian. Story impact wise fate played the most major role affecting all the way from Nagi’s Adventures to Negi’s Childhood to his time at Mahora Academy and ultimately end of series. Fate was made by Magician of beginning as a tool to serve his will much like his two predecessors but unlike them was given a free will, which turned him to more than just a tool to kill and he gained enjoyment and expectations from fighting with Negi which broke his emotionless façade at times. Major changes in fate character begin after fight with Rakan where he brought about multiple emotions from Fate and made deep impact to his mindset which later on becomes the core behind Fate breaking free from fate of being a tool and joins Negi in final arc as an ally after their fight and instead fighting their common enemy – Magician of the end and his crooks. Fate gets a rather happy end as he ends up being teacher of Class 3-A after Negi gets wrapped up in Magic World issues post the final fight much to the girl’s dismay. All in all Fate while introduced as major villain develops to anti-hero character later on in series and ending as an ally of the heroes showcasing his steep character growth as his switch never felt forced.
Magic – Fate was spirit of earth and as such controlled earth magic including ability to petrify enemies alive leaving them neither dead or alive forever. He was one of strongest magicians in the series, able to defeat Rakan as full power and was barely matched by Negi at end of series at his full power.
Rakan – Rakan is introduced later into series during Magic World arc but becomes very quickly one of best characters in the series. Built like a truck, Rakan was a member of Ala Rubra and self-proclaimed rival of Nagi Springfield. Personality wise Rakan can be summed up in – Live Life to the fullest type, he is unhinged in whatever he does – be it flipping skirts or starting fights on a whim. Rakan becomes Negi’s master during Magic World Arc, teaching him the secret technique that Evangeline devised made for darkness, he trains Negi hard to point Chisame is worried if he would die instead before getting stronger by it. Rakan has one of the best fights in entire series and for me in entirety of series I have read, while most author struggle for a cohesive few chapters fight – Rakan vs Negi entertained us for 1.5 Volumes straight showcasing entirety of Negima verse charm, be it self-strengthening magic, Pactio system, Forbidden techniques, Original self-developed magics to pure physical brawls – this fight had everything done right, from setup, the hype, to execution and conclusion. Following that Rakan has an amazing fight with Fate as well which leads to Fate breaking chains of being a tool in series later on. Rakan had great relationship with almost all characters he interacted within the series, be it Nagi party or Negi party despite his top tier perversion.
Pactio – Being in pactio with Nagi, Rakan gained power to summon and utilize various armors to enhance his strength to insane levels.
Nagi Springfield – Negi might be the MC of story, but the Thousand Master Nagi Springfield was the central driving force of the story as entirety of series is focused on Negi wanting to find his father who majority of world presumes as dead. Nagi personality wise is free and wild with a perverted site to him as he teased and tested limits of patience of Arika often during his youth. As we see his character, contrary to his fame as Thousand Master, Nagi is revealed to be relatively dumb as magician, having dropped out of Magic School and having to rely on notes to perform most of his complex spells – major contrast from Negi, who was unmatched in his memory and academic ability even at young age of 9 years, Nagi also relied on hand to hand combat a lot much like Rakan, even beating Magician of the End by a punch rather than magic. Overall a good character, Nagi lived up to the hype the series built towards him from the very first chapter as a great mage and justified him being the central linchpin to the plot of Negima.
Arika Anarchia Entheofushia – Princess of Vespertatia who Ala Rubra served as knights and is later on revealed to be Nagi’s wife and Negi’s mother. Personality wise Arika was strongheaded and cold on the outside while her inner-self was naïve due to the upbringing she had as royalty. Arika was introduced as very an interesting character who could even put Nagi in his place and her bravery/spirit to protect her people was unmatched in the series – even if it lead to her being branded as Traitor and slated for execution by the very people she saved. Arika is perhaps only character in series who I have issues in how she was treated by the author, as Ken never goes beyond the part where she was saved by Nagi from execution and is proposed. We do not see her marriage, nor Negi’s birth but worst part is she is given no closure, we are not told whether she lived or died and is never seen again – not even on final volume cover (which had majority of cast on it) and final chapter where Ala Rubra is gathered leaving bad taste in mouth, escalated by the fact that Negi does not see beyond his father and never even asks or mentions her mother to Nagi or anyone else. (In 2019 author tweeted about her saying that she died during/shortly after childbirth – but it doesn’t make it better and cover the series shortcoming).
Clean, crisp, detailed and diverse. I won’t talk much here but just drop few random pages that for me, just say it all.
Negima was a series I enjoyed a lot during my initial reading, and the re-read that has led to this review has only enhanced my views of it. Ken has beautifully weaved this story together over the years paying attention to littlest of the details and maintaining consistency in the massive world he built. The character cast is amazing and is perhaps contains one of best handling of side characters I have witnessed, where no one introduced feels useless and they all serve their intended and clear purpose, be it combat or be it slice of life bits. Extremely well character development for dozens of characters including the antagonists who aren’t villains just for sake of being one – but rather they have all their clear goals and motive, you might even agree with as a reader.
The Art is gorgeous and crisp/clean enhancing the world building with details and the characters are drawn so diverse (without crazy hairstyles to boot!) that after you get acquainted to them, you don’t even need to read their names anymore to know who is being shown on the panel and being talked about.
The Magic system was deep and fantastic, from the unique way of Pactio System (although its acquisition process was questionable at times :p). It combined a wide variety of magics & combat styles seamlessly that despite being starkly different, they did not felt out of place such as witches, flying brooms and grimoires from western archetypes. Onmyouji, Shikigami magic along with kendo, ninja, traditional Chinese martial arts from the eastern archetypes. Artifacts such as Ryuji Jingo from mythology to good old physical brawls. Modern day guns and weapons to even advanced sci-fi aspects such as airships, sentient robots and time travel shenanigans.
Negima built a masterpiece of a world, made it great with its character cast and weaved it all together with its intrinsic and carefully done combat and other system, all the while maintaining the cohesiveness of its character cast age and experiences.
The Score taking negatives for me were –
- Too much ecchi, for those who know me or have seen my reading lists – might feel this weird but Negima ecchi focusing on teenager girls and a 10 year old shota was far too much for my taste for larger part, especially early on when the story spent major focus on doing such silly ecchi plots. – 2 score
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Spoiler, click to view
Unconclusive Arika ending and overall unsatisfactory handling of her character. – 1 score.-
Spoiler, click to view
Off-panelling the rescue of Nagi and subsequent meeting with him bar a small part in epilogue – 1 score.- Lack of proper ending in regards to Negi’s love life despite getting an time skip and instead only revealed years and years later in sequel. – 1 score.
- Kinda related to point 1, but severe lack of “proper” waifus bar Arika, Shizuna Sensei and Nekane – all 3 who got very less screentime or importance per say. – 1 score.
Thus Negima gets a final rating of 94/100.
