And now the final part, after this something completely different
Fuka Narutaki
Being there to make up numbers is not easy and Fuka as well as Fumika really lose out badly in the character department. However their epilogue story proves to be the biggest surprise of the series.
5/10 Score
Makie Sasaki
I can't decide whether I like this character or not, on the one hand her genki personality is very charming, on the other hand it can also lead to some of the most random scenes possible.
6/10 Score
Setsuna Sakurazaki
Our devoted body guard is by far the best character in the whole series and really should be the lead main character. Her relationship with Konoka is one of the show's shining moments. She also has some of the best action scenes in the whole series.
10/10 Score
Madoka Kugimiya
There to make up numbers and may have had something for Kotaro but it went no where and neither did this character.
2/10 Score
Satsuki Yotsuba
Satsuki is the type of character who fully makes use of her scenes when given to her. She's able to talk down the entire cast including Evangeline and gain their respect which earns my respect as well. A top candidate for Negi's bride.
7/10 Score
Chizuru Naba
Another person who can talk down the entire cast, this is someone who commands authority with a green onion and will happily use it when pushed. Sadly underused but like Satsuki does make use of her time on screen.
7/10 Score
Ku Fei
She's a two dimensional character but that's all she needs to be. Chinese Kaolla Su only needs to act as the martial arts genius and nothing more. Anything else she's done is not even worth mentioning and I can't understand her dub voice at all. However she's a strong candidate for Negi's bride.
7/10 Score
Satomi Hakase
I was hoping she would be more than two dimensional but sadly she's not, a boring eccentric scientist is all she'll ever be; she also borderlines Mary Sue territory especially around Chao Lingshen.
4/10 Score
Yuna Akashi
Probably the only member of the sports girls who isn't boring, her love of military really saves her from being two dimensional and makes her fun to watch, especially when she breaks out the model tanks.
6/10 Score
Chachamaru Karakuri
I normally dislike robot characters but Chachamaru is adorable. She goes through the process of developing emotions against her programming which may have been done before but when done well it can really make a character good; she's also kissed Negi the longest out of anyone.
8/10 Score
Evangeline A.K. McDowell
Last but not least we have the vampire Evangeline. She's another one who should be the main lead character but is not used beyond being Negi's magic teacher. Her introduction story is consistent in all versions of Negima making it the only plot point to remain unchanged. She's a great anti-villain and her childish reactions are gold.
9/10 Score
Okay who's ready for part 2 of this tribute list?
Ayaka Yukihiro
Everything Class Rep does on screen is pure gold and is one of the few characters to actually have a proper backstory, sadly underused in the official canon which is a shame.
8/10 Score
Sakurako Shiina
Another member of the cheerleading squad with her only character trait being good luck, which isn't enough to sell the character.
4/10 Score
Ako Izumi
The reluctant medic is another one of those wasted characters; her giant scar has no explanation and she just becomes a chew toy later on in the story. With that in mind, her season 2 downgrade was welcomed.
4/10 Score
Nodoka Miyazaki
I should hate characters like Nodoka with a passion but despite the obvious Hinata Hyuuga comparisons I can't bring myself to hate a character who manages some amazing acts of bravery despite her obvious shortcomings.
7/10 Score
Chao Lingshen
I can't stand Mary Sue characters and Lingshen fits the role like a glass slipper. Perfect at everything, is somehow Negi's descendant and can manipulate things with time magic, everyone's favorite reset button. Non canon versions don't improve the character much despite removing the above backstory.
1/10 Score
Misora Kasuga
I had to look up this character to remind myself that she exists. Her entire role in the story is redundant.
1/10 Score
Asuna Kagurazaka
You'd think Akamatsu would've learned not to use another tsundere after Naru's legacy was met with such discontent, but here she is, Ass Pull Asuna as I call her. To be fair her second season character was more tolerable and less tsundere, everything else, official or not is just bad; there are lots of characters more deserving of the main character title.
4/10 Score
Konoka Konoe
Konoka on the other hand is lots of fun and quite possibly the only character in a harem anime to come out as a lesbian. Like Haruna she's genre savvy and knows how to manipulate things to suit her and will quite happily enjoy the ride.
9/10 Score
Yue Ayase
Yue is smart but lazy, always seen with interesting drinks, is a Deadpan Snarker and acts like a real teenage girl when faced with the love triangle in front of her as she grows feelings for Negi but not wanting to hurt her best friend. She's a great character to watch and more believable than the rest of the class.
9/10 Score
Chisame Hasegawa
A reclusive computer hacker masquerading as an internet idol in her spare time. Chisame hates the idea of her reality suddenly becoming a magical realm, which is ironic considering her Net Idol indulges in that warped reality she tries to avoid. She's also our lampshading expert, pointing out things that the audience ask themselves, like why a robot is in class, pointing out that Mana clearly shouldn't be in school and the main thing that everyone asks "Why a ten year old boy from Wales is teaching a class of Japanese School Girls"
10/10 Score
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.
