Negima!?: Episode 1
NOTE: Please read the whole ‘Impressions’ before sending hate mail and death threats!
Impressions:
So er, Negima…right. Firstly, I have not read the manga or seen any of the past series of Negima, except one episode which I didn’t like, so I was pretty reluctant in watching this episode. As you should be able to guess from the tone of the first sentence, I didn’t really like it. Now before you start getting all worked up about me complaining about such a ‘good anime’, please note that I have nothing to compare this to. Many viewers who like this series like it because it is better than the old anime, with no ecchi stuff, better animation (maybe) and stuff. Many have also read the manga and are happy that so and so have been skipped and such and such has begun already. However, I remember the first anime was set in slightly more modern age, or maybe it’s just the different looking buildings…
Ok, so now take a look from my perspective. What I saw was decent animation (I say decent because it was pretty patchy – some scenes were done extremely well, though I thought it was pretty cheap to use the same backgrounds repeatedly in the classroom scenes), above average character design and an interesting storyline with heaps of potential. Of course, I say it has potential because I have no idea what it is about, so bear with me. Another thing that I take into account when rating this episode is that the main character is a 10(?) year old boy who sounds like a girl. Seriously, when he was graduating and talking, I though the voice was of that girl next to him. Freaky… Now I know most of you have already fallen in love with this cute, innocent magic staff toting playboy and his super high-pitched and young voice, I haven’t, and it’ll be some time before I do.
Overall, the only thing keeping me watching is the storyline, and its supposed greatness is backed up my freakish numbers of bloggers and their commenters. If I didn’t know better, I’d say this is a typical shounen anime, and I thought many people didn’t like typical shounen anime. The lead is a young boy for young male viewers to relate to, the show is meant to have more magical battles now which is also very shounen-ish (magic + fight = shounen!), and of course, he is surrounded by a very large harem (although apparently there isn’t going to be any ecchi in the remake). So after going through all that, I have just convinced myself even more that it’s a typical shounen. But, as practically everyone is so worked about its greatness, I guess I have no choice to continue watching and I hope I change my mind about the series.
Apparently this remake is quite different from Mahou Sensei Negima as it skips the whole history of the academy part and goes straight to the bout between Evangeline and Negima.
Plot Outline:
I am so not going to try.
Popularity: 6% [?]
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HATE MAIL!!
Nah, I’m in the same boat as you. I do notice that the art is MUCH better than the other versions. I guess i’ll give it a try as well, and hey, you can actually hate something, it’s alright. We’ll still love you.
[...] While the consensus about Negima!? has been mostly positive, I kept thinking it was just me, so I’m glad I’m not the only person on the fence about this. For the record, I liked Pani Poni Dash, but does that necessarily work here? Outside of the nitty-gritty (i.e., the different classroom design, Chamo-kun with Negi from the get-go), this series doesn’t feel like Negima. Yes, the animation quality far exceeds the predecessor, but the Akamatsu feel isn’t fully there. In terms of ASX’s main points: [...]
[...] While the consensus about Negima!? has been mostly positive, I kept thinking it was just me, so I’m glad I’m not the only person on the fence about this. For the record, I liked Pani Poni Dash, but does that necessarily work here? Outside of the nitty-gritty (i.e., the different classroom design, Chamo-kun with Negi from the get-go), this series doesn’t feel like Negima. Yes, the animation quality far exceeds the predecessor, but the Akamatsu feel isn’t fully there. In terms of ASX’s main points: [...]
this is actually just a remake of the original negima… ive wathched the first episode of this one and this is different from the other one ive watched. this one is much darker and way way much faster than the other one.
how do you get the dvds from Negima!? and is it in english yet?
I can only track down Negima!
can you actually download it and watch it from here? if so how?
How can you watch the show?
[...] has been mostly positive, I kept thinking it was just me, so I’m glad I’m not the only person on the fence about this. For the record, I liked Pani Poni Dash, but does that necessarily work here? [...]