 The latest manga from Love Hina creator Ken Akamatsu contains
pretty much everything you'd expect from him, including healthy doses
of fanservice & physical humour...
1 - The Kid Instructor is a Magician!
Ten-year-old Negi Springfield, magician-in-training, has been assigned
to his future career - as an English teacher at an all-girls school in
Japan. His first day on the job starts off badly, when the students
sent to meet him think he's a kid from the nearby elementary school,
and goes downhill from there - Negi's meant to keep his magical skills
a secret, but no sooner has he arrived than he ends up using them in
front of student Asuna - and she doesn't particularly like Negi to
start with...
2 - Panic in the Library?
Negi & Asuna's rocky relationship continues - not that Asuna has
any option but to try and get on with him, since they're stuck sharing
a room... Negi's determined to try and do something nice for her,
though, and comes up with a quick-and-easy love potion - something for
her to use in her pursuit of Takahata-sensei. She's hard to please,
though, and in a fit of bad temper forces Negi to drink his own potion
- leaving the poor guy fending off the advances of a class-full of
attractive young girls...
3 - Bathhouse Rub
Like most kids his age, Negi's not all that keen on bath-times, but
when Asuna notices he's starting to stink up their dorm room, something
has to be done - cue a late-night visit to the bathhouse, although
unfortunately for them, it seems most of the rest of the girls have had
the same idea...
4 - The Dreaded Afterschool Session!
Negi's beginning to doubt his teaching skills, but he's still
determined to try his best. Just as well, as a number of his students
(from here on known as the Baka Rangers) are in need of afterschool
make-up classes - including Asuna, who really doesn't seem to be able
to get her head around this 'learning' thing...
5 - Super Dodge Ball Competition!! Go Girls! (Part I)
Senior girls - who'd have 'em? When his students are bullied by a group
of senior-school girls, Negi has trouble asserting his authority.
Takahata-sensei steps in to calm things down on this occasion, but it's
not long before they're back, sensing that there's not much Negi can do
to stop them. He comes up with a 'sporting' way to settle things,
though - a dodgeball competition. If his class can win, the seniors
will leave them alone...
6 - Super Dodge Ball Competition!! Go Girls! (Part II)
What Negi didn't realise was that the seniors' dodgeball team were the
regional champions - meaning his class are going to have a really
hard time of beating them, especially as they don't play fair. A little
inspiration, though, and it seems the girls may just pull it off...
Extras
Character Sketches, Translation Notes, Preview of Negima! volume 2.
If you seen or read Love Hina, you'll pretty much have an
idea of what to expect here. Ken Akamatsu seems to have found his
formula & stuck with it - so take Keitaro & Naru and change the
relationship from romance to big sister / little brother, and you have Negima!.
Add an extra 30 girls, shake well, and the setting is complete. What
you end up with is a manga that's easy to read, isn't going to tax your
head with philosophical musings, and is a lot of fun in the process.
Problems? Nothing too serious, so far. The cast is possibly too
large for comfort - to have any hope of remembering who's who you'll
need to refer back to the class list quite often, and it'll be a while
before everyone gets a reasonable showing, but that's not a major
gripe. There's also a reliance on Negi's unfortunate sneeze for comic
value (when Negi sneezes, any girl in his vicinity is liable to lose
her clothes), and I worry about that gag being overdone, but we'll see.
Presentation-wise, Del Rey have done a good job - 'authentic'
unflipped style, all SFX translated, and translation notes provided.
The artworks nice & clean and shows a good amount of detail - and
Akamatsu-san's character designs are as attractive as usual.
Overall, then, not bad at all - I'm interested in seeing how the
story progresses, but hope it doesn't fall into the trap of relying on
a few gags at the expense of everything else. |
