Negima! (Book) Review
Howdy, folks. Meant to update couple days ago, but we had a big nasty thunder storm; my computer blipped out on me twice, so I wasn't about to try anything that was going to take any length of time. It's not all bad, though: the storms have cooled things down around here quite a bit. A very good thing, because I was beginning to envy the people on the Titanic.
Been watching a bit of anime recently. Aside from Haruhi, which you all know about by now, I've haven't been watching much in the way of new series' this season. The only other one I'm closely following is School Rumble, which is in my opinion the best of the Azumanga knock-offs that popped up after Azuma-sensei opus was released. On the other hand, though, I have been going over some of my older stuff. Particularly, I just re-watched Gatekeepers 21. Ayame is a geek-goddess; that is all.
Oh, by the way, I managed to meet my deadline -- with a couple weeks to spare, even -- on my translation project and get it out on the web. This means that I'm in a rather serious happy place right now. So, if I'm not quite the bitter, cynical bastard you've all come to know and... know, then that's why. Don't worry too much: I'm sure I'll be back to normal by next time.
Well, aside from a vague temptation to convert to the church of Haruhiism, that's all that's been happening with me, so let's move on to the review. I know that some of you may feel that putting a graphic novel/manga under the book category is be pushing it a bit, but it's my blog, and I'll do what I want. Also note that this only covers the manga version of Negima. The anime version, by comparison, takes everything that is good about the series, piles it up, and then sets it afire and dances mockingly in the light of burning joy. Okay, that might have been a teensy bit of an exaggeration, but I'm still a bit torqued about what they did to Evangeline. Not to mention poor Setsuna... Alright, enough rambling. Review!
While I don't quite share Ms. Friedman's near he-who-must-not-be-named level of distaste from him, I'm not exactly what you'd call a big fan of Akamatsu either. Love Hina started out alright, but quickly reached dangerously high levels of dumb. Fortunately, Akamatsu either learned from his mistakes, or (more likely) sheer chance caused him to get it right this time, because Negima is very good, bordering on awesome at times. That's not to say it's perfect, oo~oh no, but the bad is not only outnumbered, but also outgunned and outclassed by the good.
So, bad first, yes? The major problem that will hit you within minutes of opening one of thr books is... Well, lemme ask something first: Am I the only male anime fan on the planet who doesn't feel a pressing desire to view fourteen year old girls' underwear? Normally I wouldn't feel the need to ask this, but given the sheer preponderance of panty-shots in these books, I have begun to wonder. And these gratuitous pictures of underage undergarments are just the the tip of the fanservice iceberg here. Pretty much every moe you can imagine, and then some, is represented here at one point. Now, as a long term anime/manga fan, I've become pretty well desensitized to fan service, so I can get through it with little more than the occaisional eye roll or "was that really necessary?", but a less hardened veteran of Japanese pop-culture may find it all a bit difficult to swallow.
Second major issue I have is what I have come to refer to as Rowling's Cliche. Though it's been around a lot longer than the Potter books, and there's probably other terms for it, Rowling's work was is probably the best known example. It goes a little something like this: in a given area of expertise, be it fighting prowess, magical ability, or croquet playing, a female character will usually start out slightly stronger than the male characters due to her greater skill. However, the male characters invariably possess incredible amounts of raw talent, and since talent is a far more rare and precious thing than mere skill (*snort*), they will quickly surpass the female in every way, relegating her light combat support at best, or, more likely, to cheering from the sidelines. Now, Negima hasn't gotten to this point yet, and though the protagonist, Negi, has displayed some serious Mary-Sueism in terms of fighting ability (He mastered that very difficult brand-new technique in only two hours of practice?!?), the girls are, and this is important, still improving too. Most times, under the Rowling Cliche, the female characters are already as good as she's ever going to get when we first meet them. So the jury's still out on this one; it's definitely begun, but it may not actually go so far as to become the full Cliche. Time will tell.
And with the bad stuff out of the way, we can now move into the good. First thing that comes to mind would have to be the fight scenes. Now, given that this is a Shounen action series, the fighting has to be up to a certain standard anyway, but Negima goes well above and beyond this bottom line in pretty much every fight. First of all, the fights are clear and readily-followable. This might not seem notable to you, but after reading a few CLAMP manga, Mahou Kisi Rayearth in particular, I've come to appreciate easy to understand fight scene. The best part about the fights, though, is how every fighter has their own, distict fighting style. This isn't like Dragonball, where everyone uses the same straight-punching, fireball-throwing style. No, from Kenjustu and Aikijutsu, to Baji Quan and Northern Shaolin, it's got a pretty good variety going on, and, in so far as I can tell, the depictions are pretty accurate. And finally, what martial arts manga would be complete without the completely impossible yet mind-blowingly cool special techniques? Well, this one's got 'em in spades, with my personal favorite being Kaede's "Kaede Ninpo! Four Shadow Clone, Hazy Cross!"
Another seemingly unremarkable item that I feel I must comment on is how the protagonist is actually likeable. You might be saying that that's kind of what being a protagonist is all about, but, for my part, I rarely find myself liking the main character in a shounen manga. The best of them are usually stupid, hormone-driven jerks, and that's put it mildly. Negi, by contrast, is very intelligent, polite, and is a bit young for hormones to be much of an issue. So, I actually find myself cheering him on, rather than waiting impatiently for him to get out of the scene so I can focus on the characters I do actually like. Bit of a novelty, really. Of course, the supporting characters are pretty capable of grabbing reader sympathy, too. Evangeline in particular oozes awesome evilness; definite win there.
I suppose I should take a moment to talk about the translation, specifically Del Rey Manga's. They do a pretty good job, actually, for a professional outfit. Well written, definitely, but they do have a tendency to turn everyone into a bunch of smart alecs, which isn't terribly faithful to the original. There is one thing I take serious issue with, though: they bloody well shrink wrap the books! This is an abomination unto nature and all that is good and proper in the universe! Whatever marketing toad this little drop of genius came from should be shot where they die slow.
And finally, I have to give credit where's it's due; Akamatsu does his homework. From the Latin used in magical incantations, to martial arts techniques, the guy is quite thorough in his research. Now the series isn't complete yet, so any rating I give at this point would have to be provisional. As it is now, I'd give it a solid nine, but it could easily slip down to an eight or a seven if he screws something up... Ah, what the heck, I'm in a good mood, right? I'll give it the nine, and I'll be sure to let you all know if that changes.
Hokie-dokie, another one out of the way. Thing is, I have no clue what I'm going to do for next time. I've got a couple rants brewing up -- an educational-ish one about types of fanservice, and another one about yuri -- , but it hasn't been that long since the last one. I could go over the movie I just got from Netflix: Rhapsody in August... I dunno, we'll have to see. Ja ne!
Been watching a bit of anime recently. Aside from Haruhi, which you all know about by now, I've haven't been watching much in the way of new series' this season. The only other one I'm closely following is School Rumble, which is in my opinion the best of the Azumanga knock-offs that popped up after Azuma-sensei opus was released. On the other hand, though, I have been going over some of my older stuff. Particularly, I just re-watched Gatekeepers 21. Ayame is a geek-goddess; that is all.
Oh, by the way, I managed to meet my deadline -- with a couple weeks to spare, even -- on my translation project and get it out on the web. This means that I'm in a rather serious happy place right now. So, if I'm not quite the bitter, cynical bastard you've all come to know and... know, then that's why. Don't worry too much: I'm sure I'll be back to normal by next time.
Well, aside from a vague temptation to convert to the church of Haruhiism, that's all that's been happening with me, so let's move on to the review. I know that some of you may feel that putting a graphic novel/manga under the book category is be pushing it a bit, but it's my blog, and I'll do what I want. Also note that this only covers the manga version of Negima. The anime version, by comparison, takes everything that is good about the series, piles it up, and then sets it afire and dances mockingly in the light of burning joy. Okay, that might have been a teensy bit of an exaggeration, but I'm still a bit torqued about what they did to Evangeline. Not to mention poor Setsuna... Alright, enough rambling. Review!
While I don't quite share Ms. Friedman's near he-who-must-not-be-named level of distaste from him, I'm not exactly what you'd call a big fan of Akamatsu either. Love Hina started out alright, but quickly reached dangerously high levels of dumb. Fortunately, Akamatsu either learned from his mistakes, or (more likely) sheer chance caused him to get it right this time, because Negima is very good, bordering on awesome at times. That's not to say it's perfect, oo~oh no, but the bad is not only outnumbered, but also outgunned and outclassed by the good.
So, bad first, yes? The major problem that will hit you within minutes of opening one of thr books is... Well, lemme ask something first: Am I the only male anime fan on the planet who doesn't feel a pressing desire to view fourteen year old girls' underwear? Normally I wouldn't feel the need to ask this, but given the sheer preponderance of panty-shots in these books, I have begun to wonder. And these gratuitous pictures of underage undergarments are just the the tip of the fanservice iceberg here. Pretty much every moe you can imagine, and then some, is represented here at one point. Now, as a long term anime/manga fan, I've become pretty well desensitized to fan service, so I can get through it with little more than the occaisional eye roll or "was that really necessary?", but a less hardened veteran of Japanese pop-culture may find it all a bit difficult to swallow.
Second major issue I have is what I have come to refer to as Rowling's Cliche. Though it's been around a lot longer than the Potter books, and there's probably other terms for it, Rowling's work was is probably the best known example. It goes a little something like this: in a given area of expertise, be it fighting prowess, magical ability, or croquet playing, a female character will usually start out slightly stronger than the male characters due to her greater skill. However, the male characters invariably possess incredible amounts of raw talent, and since talent is a far more rare and precious thing than mere skill (*snort*), they will quickly surpass the female in every way, relegating her light combat support at best, or, more likely, to cheering from the sidelines. Now, Negima hasn't gotten to this point yet, and though the protagonist, Negi, has displayed some serious Mary-Sueism in terms of fighting ability (He mastered that very difficult brand-new technique in only two hours of practice?!?), the girls are, and this is important, still improving too. Most times, under the Rowling Cliche, the female characters are already as good as she's ever going to get when we first meet them. So the jury's still out on this one; it's definitely begun, but it may not actually go so far as to become the full Cliche. Time will tell.
And with the bad stuff out of the way, we can now move into the good. First thing that comes to mind would have to be the fight scenes. Now, given that this is a Shounen action series, the fighting has to be up to a certain standard anyway, but Negima goes well above and beyond this bottom line in pretty much every fight. First of all, the fights are clear and readily-followable. This might not seem notable to you, but after reading a few CLAMP manga, Mahou Kisi Rayearth in particular, I've come to appreciate easy to understand fight scene. The best part about the fights, though, is how every fighter has their own, distict fighting style. This isn't like Dragonball, where everyone uses the same straight-punching, fireball-throwing style. No, from Kenjustu and Aikijutsu, to Baji Quan and Northern Shaolin, it's got a pretty good variety going on, and, in so far as I can tell, the depictions are pretty accurate. And finally, what martial arts manga would be complete without the completely impossible yet mind-blowingly cool special techniques? Well, this one's got 'em in spades, with my personal favorite being Kaede's "Kaede Ninpo! Four Shadow Clone, Hazy Cross!"
Another seemingly unremarkable item that I feel I must comment on is how the protagonist is actually likeable. You might be saying that that's kind of what being a protagonist is all about, but, for my part, I rarely find myself liking the main character in a shounen manga. The best of them are usually stupid, hormone-driven jerks, and that's put it mildly. Negi, by contrast, is very intelligent, polite, and is a bit young for hormones to be much of an issue. So, I actually find myself cheering him on, rather than waiting impatiently for him to get out of the scene so I can focus on the characters I do actually like. Bit of a novelty, really. Of course, the supporting characters are pretty capable of grabbing reader sympathy, too. Evangeline in particular oozes awesome evilness; definite win there.
I suppose I should take a moment to talk about the translation, specifically Del Rey Manga's. They do a pretty good job, actually, for a professional outfit. Well written, definitely, but they do have a tendency to turn everyone into a bunch of smart alecs, which isn't terribly faithful to the original. There is one thing I take serious issue with, though: they bloody well shrink wrap the books! This is an abomination unto nature and all that is good and proper in the universe! Whatever marketing toad this little drop of genius came from should be shot where they die slow.
And finally, I have to give credit where's it's due; Akamatsu does his homework. From the Latin used in magical incantations, to martial arts techniques, the guy is quite thorough in his research. Now the series isn't complete yet, so any rating I give at this point would have to be provisional. As it is now, I'd give it a solid nine, but it could easily slip down to an eight or a seven if he screws something up... Ah, what the heck, I'm in a good mood, right? I'll give it the nine, and I'll be sure to let you all know if that changes.
Final Score:
9/11
9/11
Hokie-dokie, another one out of the way. Thing is, I have no clue what I'm going to do for next time. I've got a couple rants brewing up -- an educational-ish one about types of fanservice, and another one about yuri -- , but it hasn't been that long since the last one. I could go over the movie I just got from Netflix: Rhapsody in August... I dunno, we'll have to see. Ja ne!
posted by Mr. the Tiger at 21:21
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