Negima!?


Negima!? is an anime television series created by Shaft. It is an alternate retelling of the Negima! Magister Negi Magi series. Directed by Akiyuki Shinbo, it aired from October 4, 2006 to March 28, 2007 in Japan. The anime was accompanied by a monthly manga series by Takuya Fujima called Negima!? neo. Both series feature the same characters and locations. This new season aired on TV Tokyo's late afternoon time slot rather than on late nights, like the original anime series did.

Plot

A dark sinister tale befalls ten-year-old Negi Springfield and class 2-A. One year after Negi's arrival at Mahora, two representatives from the Magic Academy arrive at Mahora with the news of the disappearance of a mysterious artifact known as the Star Crystal. The Star Crystal holds a power that not even the Thousand Master could control. Even though the reason or the cause behind the Star Crystal's disappearance is a mystery, the effects of the artifact begin to envelop Negi and his students. Surrounded by a menacing power, Negi and the class must cope as the dark power harasses and attack the class at a moment's whim. Simultaneously, Negi places his thoughts towards his missing father, while the supporting cast do all they can to provide assistance.

Production

Under the direction of Akiyuki Shinbo, animation studio Shaft took the production of this Negima series in a direction different from Ken Akamatsu's manga or the anime production from XEBEC. However, the first three episodes do cover a modified version of Evangeline's story arc in volume 3 of the manga and on episodes VI to VIII of the first anime.
In the same vein as Shinbo's previous series, Pani Poni Dash!, the anime features a plethora of parodies and references to popular culture, many of which appear seemingly randomly on the chalkboards in classroom scenes. Abundant eyecatches and light-hearted omake shorts at the end of each episode are also of a generally parodic nature. The use of parodies adds to an already plentiful use of humor into the series.
As an alternate series, the show makes references to the previous one. References range from the subtle, like some of Chiu's costumes, to the obvious, like the first series's theme song Happy Material utilized during the mass Pactio activation.
Unlike its predecessors, sexual fanservice is minimal and is often shown either unwittingly or as part of a non-sexual gag. For instance, Setsuna exposes her black tight-fitting shorts worn under her skirt after she crashes into a dinnerware cabinet. In another case, a potential bath scene among the characters turns out to be exploration of the bathroom. Their civilian clothes simply expose Kazumi and Zazie's bare shoulders, and Mana's midriff. However, DVD releases of the episodes have lowered the censorship of the sexual fanservice or themes, allowing for nudity during Neo-Pactio transformation scenes and some of the yuri jokes about Konoka and Setsuna.
With the wide array of characters, sometimes short scenes are used to allow air time for various characters. Often, they are sub-grouped and rarely seen alone. Also included are short side story plots, usually non-relevant to the main story. Some themes, gags, and motifs have been recurring throughout the series. Many of these have been cut scenes. Usually, these have little or no relevance to the main storyline.
Also, artwork by the voice actors is shown. Usually they appear when the sponsor acknowledgements appear, although some of them appear also as eyecatches and transition markers. Each artwork depicts at least that VA's character and it appears on the episode where that particular character says the episode title. Art styles of each artwork vary, ranging from artistic to mediocre to crude. In fact, Yu Kobayashi's artwork of Setsuna as shown in the sixth episode is so crude that in the following episode, a badly-drawn Setsuna is seen talking to Konoka probably as a depiction of shame after Setsuna vows to Asuna to not wear a Chupacabra T-shirt and not let Konoka don one, which Konoka did.
There are also two broadcast versions of the show: a pan and scan, 4:3 standard-definition version shown on TV Tokyo and a widescreen high-definition one shown on sister channel BS Japan. Even in the 4:3 version however, there are scenes meant to be shown in 16:9. This is addressed by having the scenes letterboxed, surrounded by gold decorated mattes at the top and bottom of the screen rather than the usual plain black ones. Of course, these "gold bars" do not appear in the widescreen version, which is used in the DVD releases of the episodes.

Characters

As a remake, characters appearing from the original Mahou Sensei Negima appear in this retelling. However, under Studio Shaft, the characters have taken a redesign. The redesigns are featured in the first episode, as all girls from Negi's class are introduced. The majority of the characters are drawn with a more youthful appearance than the first series, with finer details; yet they retain their basic character designs. This also includes some of their original characteristics, behaviors, and traits.
Characters reappearing are Negi Springfield, Chamo, Takahata, Nekane Springfield, Anya, Konoka's grandfather, and the class 3-A.

New characters

A ' is used throughout the series to give light commentary, explain events, review and preview episodes, and occasionally interact or react to character involvement. Sometimes, his direct conversations cause certain characters to break the fourth wall. The narrator is voiced by Mugihito; in the English dub, he is played by Christopher Sabat.
' and are two "agents" from the Magic Academy sent with a report about the Star Crystals' disappearance. Their true forms are unknown since they took the images drawn up by Haruna; Shichimi is a cat, and Motsu is a frog. They then stay at Mahora and keep a close eye on Negi to ensure his magic secrecy, but if Negi lets his secret out he will be turned into an animal. Eventually, this role changes when all of class 3-A learn about magic and became Pactio partners. Early on, a few strange cutscenes show them playing with tissue paper and Bubble Wrap, but they ultimately end up intruding on other members of the class as mere annoyances. Occasionally, they are found with the Black Rose Baron. In the end, it is revealed that they don't in fact, work for the academy. They actually work for Negi's father, and he gives them to Negi as servants.
Motsu is the comic among the two, providing some occasional comic relief by doing comedic action, making random remarks, and taking occasional disguises for hilarity. Whenever he is not in disguise, he is typically seen wearing either a necktie, a mustache, or a tuft of hair. In the later episodes, a bizarre sub-plot involves him and Makie, where Makie refers to him as "Daddy". Makie eventually explained that she never actually thought Motsu was her father; rather, she was simply comparing him to a pet dog her family used to own, who was named "Daddy" and who resembled Motsu. Motsu's favorite line is "...in a good way", which he often says in ironic circumstances, such as while crying on the tea he prepared for Takamichi and Evangeline after being "rejected" by Makie. Motsu appears to be based on Aboshi Frog, a character created by Mako Aboshi for the Pani Poni Dash! anime, which is also a Shaft production.
Shichimi, on the other hand, provides voices of reason. She has no visible limbs, which only appear when holding or scratching something. She is also able to elongate her entire body like a snake. Having an inherent cuteness, she later begins to hang around with Nodoka often, with some of the moments ranging from Shichimi taking a nap on Nodoka's lap to the cat sitting on Nodoka's head while Nodoka is in her Armor form. True to her mostly feline form, she ends her sentences with "mya", as if mimicking a cat's meow.
Motsu is voiced by Chiwa Saito, and Shichimi is voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro. In the English dub, Motsu and Shichimi are played by Trina Nishimura and Brina Palencia respectively.
The made her presence known to Negi when he and his students were looking for information about the Star Crystal. Dressed in white formal attire with a black cape, hat, and a gold mask covering the left side of her face, she confronts Negi and occasionally members of the 3-A class. Sometimes, she targets Chamo with a black rose. As she comes and goes, black rose petals fly around her. Neither a friend or foe, her true identity is kept hidden until the last few episodes; during the anime, it had been speculated the Baron was actually Negi's father, even though the viewers can easily tell that the Baron is a she.
Black Rose Baron's true identity is actually Negi's sister, Nekane. Konoka and Setsuna made observations about Nekane's movements and behavior. Then Konoka makes her deduction regarding the Black Rose and a connection to Nekane. So, for Nekane's sake, everyone decides to keep this knowledge a secret, even from Nekane herself. In episode 22, Takahata addresses the Black Rose Baron as Nekane in front of Negi.
Nekane is voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro, both in and out of the Black Rose Baron guise. In the English dub, she is voiced by Gwendolyn Lau, again in both identities.
, first name never known, is an old watchman in Mahora's Library Island. He goes around the library's underground corridors with a lighted lamp on his left hand and an eyepatch on his right eye. He seems to live in Library Island's underground rooms and literally cooks at its indoor restaurant. He possesses extensive knowledge of the library's collection but ironically not the layout of the library itself. He also recognizes regulars to the place such as Nodoka. He has a habit of announcing himself by saying in a loud voice "I am Mr. Yamada!" and falling into obvious traps.
He only appears in the episode wherein Negi and his students attempt to find the book about the Star Crystal and at the same time Kaede and Narutaki twins search for a book that will make the twins grow up faster. He is not seen since then, although Nodoka mentions him in a later episode.
He is played by Yuichi Nagashima, who recently changed his stage name to Chō. In the English dub, he is played by Cole Brown.

Voice cast changes

With a few exceptions, the cast of Negima!? is the same from Negima!: Magister Negi Magi.
For the English version:
In this new Negima!? series, the "Pactio" system that allows Negi to perform provisional contracts is revised. The Pactio system gives the new Negima!? series a more magical girl-like kind of style to the original one. Pactio Cards are now split into three types: Armor, Cosplay, and Dud. Typically, the Armor/Rare card is the strongest, bringing forth the true powers of the partner. The Cosplay card gives powers to the partner too, despite being weaker than the Armor ones. The strength comparison is clearly displayed with Nodoka's power. Her Cosplay card gives her one book that reads thoughts, while her Rare card gives her multiple books that can gather information. The Dud card transforms the partner into a super deformed, defenseless version of his/herself, wearing an animal costume. Transformation can only be performed through Negi's activation spell; and a card is chosen at random. Duration of Pactio Power is dependent on satiation. The powers for each provisional contract differ from person to person.

Media

Manga

Negima!? neo is a manga spin-off of the series made by Takuya Fujima under the guidance of original creator Ken Akamatsu and the supervision of Studio SHAFT. This is Fujima's first mainstream Negima work as he had previously worked on several Negima dōjin. The series started running on November 2006 in the monthly boys' manga magazine Comic BomBom. It had a brief hiatus a year later with the impending closure of Comic BomBom's publication, only to return on January 2008 in sister publication Magazine Special, this time with slightly more fanservice than it had during its run in Comic BonBon.
This series rewrites the events of the anime, following a completely different route through the Star Crystal storyline, including reordering of events and changes in when and how Pactio are formed. It borrows certain elements and character designs from the original manga as well as both anime series.
Much like the original manga, Del Rey Manga has licensed Negima!? neo for its English-language publication. Tong Li Publishing has licensed Negima!? neo for its Chinese-language publication.
In 2010 Kodansha pulled all of their licenses from Del Rey manga and, under Random House publishing, created Kodansha Comics to continue licenses. They have stated that they will resume releases on a title-by-title basis. Along with the original Negima! Magister Negi Magi, Negima!? neo has been selected for continuation. It will continue publication in June 2011.

Anime

Negima!? is featured in 26 anime episodes. The season was licensed by Funimation, and is being released under the name Negima! Season Two despite its semi-parallel relationship to Negima!. The series was released on DVD in two halves, with the second half published on March 31, 2009. Sentai Filmworks has now licensed the series.

Video game

Mahō Sensei Negima!? Neo-Pactio Fight!! is a game for the Wii based upon the popular Japanese manga, Mahou Sensei Negima. It was released in Japan only on June 12, 2007. It's the third Negima game to be released on a Nintendo game console, and the first console Negima game not published by Konami.
The arenas in the game are in full-time 3D, and the characters can move in any direction, as well as jump. Up to four players can play in Battle Mode. Controls are operated by using both the Wii Remote and Nunchuk. Certain attacks and moves involving quickly moving the Wii Remote left and right or up and down. By getting a Pactio Card, one can activate a Pactio transformation like in Negima!?, randomly becoming one of the three different forms: Armor, Cosplay, and Suka. The art style of the game is based not on the original manga by Ken Akamatsu or the first anime. In between fights during the Story Mode, cut-scenes done in the style of Negima!? are shown, featuring voice acting from the voice actors of both anime adaptations. Ten characters from the Negima universe are playable as main characters. In addition, the other girls from the Negima series can be set as support, similar to Marvel vs. Capcom, The King of Fighters '99, and The King of Fighters 2000. Up to two support characters can be equipped to each fighter.

Ending shorts

After the credits of every episode, short character skits are included. Each skit is irrelevant to the story or episode.

Mahora Sentai Baka Rangers

This series of shorts is seen on episodes 1 to 3, 7, 10, 14, 23 and 24.
One of the most prominent set of shorts has to do with the Mahora Sentai Baka Rangers, a parody of the Super Sentai series. The parody reimagines the study group as a super sentai. The five Baka Rangers are:
They have their own title card, which parodies the sentai series Taiyo Sentai Sun Vulcan, and have their own theme song. They follow their own color coordination with the letter of their first name across the top half. They also have scarves like the original Super Sentai groups. Their roll call parodies Sun Vulcan as well, having some of the same gestures, who always ends up being the butt of the jokes in this metaseries. This includes having her introduction cut off, the camera never focusing on her properly, her getting squashed by their mecha, and her accidentally blowing up the team with their enemy's bomb. One of the few moments where Baka Pink gets a moment to shine is in the creation of a special movie by the Yukihiro Group, "Yuke Yuke Baka Pink", the preview of which is shown as part of a later omake.

Jump Out, Chupa-ken!

This series of shorts is seen on Episodes 4 to 6 and 25.
Episode 4 through 6 had to do with the Chupacabra that Asuna believes roams the Mahora Campus. The first two involve Asuna trying to write a song about the chupacabra, leading to Haruna being surprised in regards to what she's doing. In the first one, both Asuna and Haruna are dressed as oni, while in the second, Asuna is composing while sucking on Chupa Chups lollipops. In the third short, the Chupacabra club ends up meeting about the possible existence of a chupacabra while all dressed in costumes, this time with Asuna and Haruna joined by Yuna and Yue. When Kū Fei shows up with a new costume Zazie made, Asuna takes matters into her own hands...
By episode 25, Asuna finally gets a chupacabra as a present from Anya and promptly tries to make it autograph all of the T-shirts she had made throughout the series. Unfortunately, the little creature has ideas of its own.
This series of shorts is seen on Episodes 8 and 9.
Satomi creates a special arm for Chao called the Super Power Hand. When she tries it on, Kū Fei comes out and a timer, health bar, and a power bar appear like in fighting games just like Street Fighter. Chao 'charges up' like when a fighter charges their special attack and punches Kū Fei with the metal arm, and a meat bun comes out. When Kū Fei catches it, the meat bun absorbs all her energy causing her to faint instantly. A K.O. sign appears on the screen. In the second short, Satomi creates a second version of the Super Power Hand. This time it can make two meat buns.

Ah, I am the Young Yamamoto

This series of shorts is seen on Episodes 11 to 13
The focus is on the sports girls, particularly Akira as she watches over a pet arowana in the aquarium in her room and listening in on roommates Yuna, Ako and Misora. But while she seems strange, the outfits of her roommates are even more questionable. In the second episode, the sports girls are still swimming, where they discover each other's weird taste in swimsuits. In the last one, one of the girls asks if Yamamoto can do tricks, but Akira nearly defies common sense of what a fish can do. Misora is the of these bits with Yuna and Ako as her foils...and Akira in her own world.

Please Tea Room

This series of shorts is seen on Episodes 15 to 17.
Using a small Shinto shrine, three members of the Baka Rangers make offerings to the gods. In the first short, done in a stylized black and white animation, Asuna gives an offering of ramen asking the gods to buy a Chupacabra T-shirt. In the second one, Kū Fei makes a wish with her own cup of noodles, but it turns out she doesn't have a problem. In the third, Makie offers a plate of spaghetti but not even the gods acknowledge her.

One-shot shorts

The following shorts are each shown in the end of just one episode and are therefore stand-alone ones.
The opening and ending songs and animations vary throughout the episodes. For the most part, the songs are the same - but the characters doing the singing frequently change. A full listing can be found here.
Unlike previous episodes, the opening footage for episodes 17 onward has been given more color and different animations were used. In addition, the first part of the song is used instead of the "speaking characters" used in the original version. The DVD version slightly changed this, adding new animation and scenes to the opening, including a moving card with the Narutaki twins, as well as using certain song variations never used in the broadcast version.
However, there are two major variations.
During the period where Negi has been transformed, in Episode 14, a different theme song is used, with an animation of Negi running amongst the Suka forms for some of the girls, in his transformed state.
Also, In episode 19, a nearly-full version of the opening song was used. In doing so, the animation opening was done twice. The first half was complete with all Suka versions of the thirty-one girls prior to the original version in the second half, in complete color with the quotes stanza for Evangeline, Chachamaru and Satomi. Of special note is that two special shots of Akira and Ayaka, both only used in the Suka version of the opening with those two never appearing in solo shot in the regular version of the opening.
From episode 4 onward, "A-LY-YA!" was accompanied by a parade of twenty-seven of the girls scrolling left-to-right super deformed. When they reached a circle, they were highlighted and changed their super deformed form. At the bottom of that circle, the sequence begins with just super deformed Asuna dancing with a pair of maracas. As the series continues, super deformed forms of Konoka, Setsuna, and finally Nodoka join Asuna to form a complete four-super-deformed-character band. All four change their manner of playing their instruments as the song progresses. Setsuna also falls asleep when the song reaches the chorus and wakes up at the end stunned and embarrassed.
In episode 25, "Love Sensation" sees all 31 girls in their Suka forms. Many of these girls, though, does have one small element that ties back to either their Armor or Cosplay Neo-Pactio form.
FUNimation created English dub versions for most of the title songs. 1000% Sparking featured the voice talent of Brina Palencia, Luci Christian, Jamie Marchi, and Leah Clark,. Only one version of the songs were produced, instead of various versions as was the case for the original Japanese production. Brina Palencia is also the music director as well as the lyricist for the English dub versions of the songs, except for the English version of Hoshizora Letter, which was adapted by Mike MacFarland.

Reception

In the beginning episodes, the ratings for the show were relatively good. As the series progressed the show's ratings declined. By the time the last episode aired on March 28, 2007, the show placed a lower-than-expected 34th out of the 40 anime shown for the fall 2006 season.

Staff