Apologies in advance as I will be using the same image for all three parts.
As this list proved too difficult to make into a proper top ten list I'll instead go through all the Students of Mahora Academy whether they are liked or hated. This will be in three parts based on the official seating plan from left seating area to right looking at the teacher. With that all sorted lets begin.
Sayo Aisaka
This is pretty much how I pictured Casper the Friendly Ghost, if he were a Japanese School Girl. She's a cute character with a wasted back story mainly because she died during World War II, which is open to several interpretations, but sadly after her introduction she quickly gets relegated from the cast.
6/10 Score
Kazumi Asakura
Typical hungry journalist character, not afraid to work for the enemy if it means getting that story; beyond the odd scenes where she acts heroic she's really not that interesting.
5/10 Score
Natsumi Murakami
This girl makes self hate seem perfectly acceptable as the more you watch her, the more you start believing she's right. Even when she achieves something no other student does, she still feels the need to pull a Shinji Ikari.
3/10 Score
Kaede Nagase
The ninja girl who looks like Pokemon's Brock (daughter maybe?). For a secondary character she does her job really well and has proven time and time again to be the perfect mentor big sister type, and despite not being book smart she proves to be the most competent character when she learns of everyone's secret just by observation alone.
9/10 Score
Akira Okochi
On the one hand she's a quiet character with surprising strengths and a good heart, on the other hand, she's just as boring as the other sports girls. It's hard to get a grip on this character and would probably have done well as a mute character but sadly more wasted potential.
5/10 Score
Fumika Narutaki
Being there to make up numbers is not easy and Fumika as well as Fuka really lose out badly in the character department. However their epilogue story proves to be the biggest surprise of the series.
5/10 Score
Mana Tatsumiya
It's a bit strange seeing someone of her proportions and background in a Junior High School, but despite being in the wrong anime, Mana is by far my favorite action character, she makes throwing coins look awesome and her ambiguous motives along with her background make for the perfect action heroine. Sadly she loses much of her story in the newer adaptions.
8/10 Score
Misa Kakizaki
It's said that she has a steady boyfriend but is never brought up. Her function is to point out that Negi is hot as an adult. Not much to say on her or the other cheerleaders.
4/10 Score
Zazie Rainyday
Quite the oddball of the class, she either functions as a pun machine or someone who does bugger all. Even her function in the Magic World isn't really well explained. It was implied in opening images that she'd have a big role but it fails to materialize. In fact she had so little to do that her actress botched her lines during a live stage show.
2/10 Score
Haruna Saotome
Haruna is an absolute scream, I've never met such a funny character in all my life. She's the only one who really properly embraces the magic elements of the show and speaks in the same language as the audience. If some characters are meant to represent the audience surrogate like Chisame, then Haruna represents what the audience would actually do in the same situation. She tells it straight and enjoys it.
10/10 Score
Now this review will go slightly different to the normal run of the mill reviews. You see Negima has four different adaptions so keeping up with all of them is a major task, saying that they all follow a common theme as I will now tell you.
Negima is about a ten year old wizard from Wales, (Because all good wizards are Welsh) who gets selected to become a teacher at Mahora Academy looking after a class of 31 girls, all of which in the picture above.
His task is to become a great wizard like his father the Thousand Master but many magical troubles arrive to test Negi, and in order to avoid regular people finding out about his magic, Negi must make the girls his partners.
That's your basic plot and it serves all four adaptions; so lets do this in order of appearance.
Negima Manga
The official Canon for Negima and the most well known and Ken Akamatsu at his story telling best, mostly. This is the first time Akamatsu has ever done a full on Shonen action show and it's hard to break habits when he's creating fan service quite frequently and mostly at awkward moments, nevertheless the action we do get is Shonen Jump worthy, however the further you get into the story the more confusing it gets and with all the Latin words littered everywhere it can easily confuse the smartest person.
Negima 1st Anime
Followed the Manga up to a point but the sudden change in plot was probably one of the biggest tone shifts in anime history. Not helping it's case was the fact that it was made on a pretty lousy budget, which so plagues Akamatsu's works.
Negima 2nd Anime
Rewriting the plot was a good move, it made things simpler, the animation is incredible and overall it felt closer to what I expected from Negima in the first place. It does suffer a bit from being too simple at times as many of the stronger characters have been streamlined in an effort to keep the focus on Negi but it also balances itself out by making annoying characters far less sufferable.
Negima Neo Manga
Same as the 2nd Anime, only it tones down the signature card magic plot and brings back some strong character backstories. But then it also suffers the same as the 1st Anime by the sudden change in the last story arc. The problem is not so much a tone shift rather than a "What the bloody hell?" It also pushes the fanservice to uncomfortable levels at times.
All Adaptions
But there is a common problem with each adaption, none of them succeed in managing all 31 girls stories. Ken Akamatsu is no stranger to harems but 31 girls is too much and certain characters miss out badly in the plot department; the 2nd Negima Anime got the closest to succeeding but ultimately ran out of episodes before it could be done. To better explain this problem were going to need a double list, but for now lets wrap up this review.
Final Verdict
Negima Manga: The action is spectacular and really works well despite the fanservice mixed with the Shonen Jump style. Don't expect to understand the plot though; once you get to the Magical World you'll lose the plot.
Negima 1st Anime: If you had bad memories of Love Hina's anime adaption then it's probably not a good idea to watch this one, it's cheap production values really spoil things. I'd watch the renewed seasons and OVAs based on the Magical World Arc instead.
Negima 2nd Anime: Wonderful colors, great atmosphere and overall the best and most solid attempt at the Negima anime.
Negima Neo Manga: Fun for a while but has a tendency to go overboard with Fanservice and the sudden random story elements are baffling.
Following on from Mikhail's entrance on the Walk of Fame comes my review for Steel Angel Kurumi.
It's alternate Taisho period Japan and Nakahito is being bullied by local kids to go into a science lab run by a mad scientist. There he finds a pink haired robot girl dressed as a maid named Kurumi, however when the military attacks she accidentally gets activated by a kiss. From there Kurumi attaches herself to Nakahito like a magnet and hilarity ensues. During their time together they constantly have to avoid the likes of the Academy, a Military organization with eyes fixed on the Angels. They send Saki & Karinka after Kurumi but ultimately fail and end up joining the side and now it's suddenly Saber Marionette J.
I say it because that's essentially what it resembles. Saber Marionette J was another show with three androids worshiping a teenager but at the very least Otaru did something, Nakahito is pathetic, I hate to say that about a kid character as I usually give them a free ride but Nakahito is just pathetic.
I get the feeling the role for male lead was meant for an older male character as having a kid just seems wrong, 2nd season lead Nako Kagura isn't much of an improvement either despite being a girl, the right age and in the right era.
Speaking of era, despite being an alternate Taisho period Japan it sort of feels a bit out of place for realistic robots wearing maid costumes with football shoulder pads in an era where you can only really get away with Steampunk. Sakura Wars got it spot on with the steam powered mecha but Steel Angel Kurumi just doesn't feel at home in Taisho Period Japan, alternate history or not, it does fine in modern day Japan but not Taisho Period.
My last issue with the show is the stark contrast between action and comedy; simply put there's too much comedy over flowing the plot & action; the theme music doesn't help. I do enjoy the non action parts better ironically as it's more fitting to the comedy aspects of the show.
The dub is loud and over the top but I give it a free ride for choosing a good cast.
Final Verdict: The setting is strange, the idea's been done and the show ultimately can't decide between action and comedy. At the very least it's attractive to look at and the comedy can be funny but it's such a messy show that it can't sort itself out. Watch it out of interest but I wouldn't say buy it.
Fresh from her glorious victory against Naru, Helga is yet again the subject of another feature.
In 2000 Hey Arnold creator Craig Bartlett wrote a pilot script for a spin off show named the Patakis. This was meant to serve older audiences and center around Helga and her messed up family but ultimately Nickelodeon rejected it calling it too dark whereas MTV who were also offered it, felt it was too much like of all shows Daria.
The plot goes as follows. Helga is now 15 and ends up breaking up with Arnold after a brief relationship, however she still loves the football head and sends him letters on a regular basis since Arnold has now moved away. Her persona remains intact and is trying her hand at writing. Big Bob is still Beeper King, Miriam is still an alcoholic and Olga is still annoying, this time trying to become an actress.
Hey Arnold was a series littered with hidden meanings and Helga was usually at the forefront of it. It's been implied numerous times during Hey Arnold's run that Helga's family were messed up; well an alcoholic mother, a perfectionist older sister just one mistake away from total meltdown and an angry money obsessed father would explain Helga's behavior towards the world.
In fact to reference an episode I'd watch "Helga on the Couch" for a full explanation on why Helga loves Arnold and why Helga feels the need to be tough in public. It's because Arnold is the first to ever notice her and be kind to her, something that Helga has cherished since pre-school and the fact that she hides these feelings comes from a fear of being rejected; and apart from the episodes that focus on Helga connecting with her family, most of the time they are a really bad family. I mean it's pretty messed up to send your 4 year old daughter to pre-school on her own because the older sister is showing off her talents, in fact I have to wonder if Olga knows more than she's letting on, she has said at least once that she feels like a wind-up doll; but her obsession with perfection comes from the crippling fear of being rejected by her parents. Big Bob comes across as the type of man who's business is seen as his greatest achievement and has nothing but the highest expectations, whereas Miriam is clearly depressed and dependent on alcohol and has mentioned at least once that she made a mistake marrying Big Bob.
All this is good writing material and worth making into a teen cartoon and in this era of kickstarters it maybe worth another look.
The Dragon is a magnificent creature, now it's time to see which anime Dragons make the grade in the Top 10 Anime Dragons.
10. Mink from Dragon Half
Okay so the first one is not entirely a Dragon, but is still to this day more popular than many of the Dragons who missed the list.
9. Filia Ui Copt from Slayers Try
Not normally in Dragon form, Filia is a Golden Dragon and a former Priestess, she has a bit of a temper on her and an obsession with pottery.
8. Dragoon from Beyblade
The Bit Beast Dragoon is a core part of the four Bladebreaker beasts alongside Driger, Draciel & Dranzer. Although Dragoon spends most of his time just attacking he does have a soul and can communicate with Tyson at times.
7. Ceres from Magic Knight Rayearth
There are many spellings of his name; Ceres is the Water Dragon Guardian who helps Umi become a Magic Knight. Definitely my personal favorite Dragon and one that has inspired my Dragon OCs.
6. Dragonite from Pokemon
The first Dragon of Pokemon and probably the most innocent looking, don't let that fool you, it has proven to be a destructive force in the right conditions.
5. Haku from Spirited Away
If you remember anything at all about Spirited Away, it'd probably be Haku, the Dragon Spirit who helps Chihiro out in the film and probably the most majestic of the dragons.
4. Jeep from Saiyuki
His namesake is not a typo he does actually turn into a Jeep for the Saiyuki group to travel in. Well it's better to be in a motorized vehicle traveling the Silk Roads to India than being on foot but considering Saiyuki never really finished I guess it doesn't make a difference.
3. Igneel from Fairy Tail
He taught Natsu the art of Dragon Slayer magic as well as play surrogate father; there are other Dragons but Igneel is the first one we learn about and when we meet the Dragon he really gives us a boisterous introduction.
2. Blue Eyes White Dragon from Yu-Gi-Oh
The Dragon that will forever stop Seto Kaiba from getting laid oh wait Blue Eyes is really a girl from Ancient Egypt who was with the Egyptian Kaiba who can turn into the Blue Eyes. The card will probably out last the franchise in the same way Yugi Muto does now.
1. Shenlong from Dragonballz
He was always going to be number one, the word Dragon is part of the title after all, heck he's frequently in the franchise logos as well.
Shenlong is the impatient Chinese looking Dragon who has mystical balls that can grant wishes or as I call them the "Magic Reset Balls" you think Anime Dragon and Shenlong will always come first.
