October 2nd, 2013 
AstroNerdBoy ユーキューホルダー!/UQ Holder Chapter 6 Review
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
With Touta having snagged Yukihime’s towel, she agrees to let him have a look, but he says he’s not interested in looking at an old woman’s body. This results in his receiving punishment from Yukihime, causing Kuroumaru to laugh at their antics. This pleases Touta, and Kuroumaru reluctantly agrees to be Touta’s friend, if only for the pact. Touta wants Kuroumaru to address him as “Touta” rather than the normal “Konoe-kun”. Kuroumaru uses “Touta-kun”, causing Touta to ask for the honorific to be dropped. Kuroumaru can’t do that, so Touta settles on Kuroumaru addressing him as “Touta-kun”.
With that, Touta realizes that Kuroumaru is wrapped in a towel like a girl, so he wants Kuroumaru stripped to finally reveal if Kuroumaru is male or female. Kuroumaru flees, and is pursued by Touta and Yukihime, who’s also curious.
The next day, the trio hit the road. Kuroumaru thanks Yukihime for the discipleship. Touta races ahead with Kuroumaru right behind. Touta starts talking of dreams and having Kuroumaru meet his friends, including Shinobu. Their conversation causes him to ask Yukihime if there are other immortals. She says there are, so Touta comes up with a new goal — a team of immortals/undying doing good deeds. Kuroumaru is struck by Touta finding good in what the clan considered cursed.
Yukihime laughs at Touta’s words and starts to speak of someone who had similar ideas as him when suddenly, a black sedan pull up. A guy emerges from the car, addressing Yukihime as “Mistral Yukihime”. More black sedans arrive with yakuza-looking guys emerging, addressing Yukihime as “Ane-san” and rolling out carpet to a limo for the trio to get into. Yukihime tells the stunned Touta and Kuroumaru that she and the person she mentioned earlier created a group of immortals called UQ Holder.
Yukihime wants the yakuza-looking guys to stop the “Ane-san” stuff, but the first guy tells her that since the others are mostly from Japan, it is to be expected. Touta asks if these guys are immortal, to which Yukihime says they aren’t, at least not like herself and Touta, whom are considered in the nobility ranks of immortals. She goes on to describe different methods people have used to become immortal, including body modifications, at which point she looks at Kuroumaru. Kuroumaru sees them all as enemies of the clan, but Touta finds that foolish, stating he wants to be friends with them all.
Thoughts/Review:
Akamatsu-sensei continues the “is Kuromaru a girl or a boy” thing, but appears to be tying it to this body modification thing that Eva mentioned. I think Kuroumaru was born female, but what Kuroumaru is now, who knows.
The joke is old, but Touta’s attempts to get Kuroumaru to address him as “Touta” without any honorifics amused me. I guess it is because in America, we don’t have this issue. It was hard enough for Kuroumaru to address Touta as “Touta-kun” from “Konoe-kun”, which is why Touta eventually resigned on getting Kuroumaru to drop the “kun”.
To the story as a whole, Touta’s and Yukihime’s road trip came to a very unexpected end. What I wonder is how UQ Holder knew Eva was on the move. Eva had lived at Touta’s village for two years, having apparently left UQ Holder to do so. It makes me think that Touta’s parents may have been members UQ Holder for them to ask Eva for help like they did.
Regardless, I had been expecting Eva, Touta, and now Kuroumaru to travel by foot to the tower, meaning we’d get at least a few more chapters before that happened. But, here we are with a large fleet of cars to pick up Eva and company, meaning that next chapter, we should be at the tower.
Also, it seems that with UQ Holder having already been established, then all of the characters that will make up the manga UQ Holder are already in place rather than be picked up like Kuroumaru was. That’s going to make introductions somewhat of a pain. What I mean is that with so many characters coming in at once, who knows how long it will be before we get even the limited background information that we have for Kuroumaru and Touta.
Well, that is what it is.
The assumption is that UQ Holder was founded by Eva and Negi. I hope we get confirmation of whom this person is, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Negi turns out not to be the co-founder.
As to the lackeys in UQ Holder who showed up to pick up Eva, I am amused by their attitude toward her. The use of “ane-san” to address her adds to that whole thug/gangster/yakuza feel. Having Eva be in charge of a yakuza-like organization works for me. *lol*
Now that I think about it, Chamo may have called her Ane-san at times too. Hmmm.
It is also interesting that one addressed her as “Mistral”. Of course, I’m assuming that’s what was intended, but I now see that there’s some thoughts that it may have been a typo and that Mistress was the intended word to be used in the Japanese. I guess we’ll find out eventually.
So, an interesting twist on where I expected things to go. I’m looking forward to seeing where we go from here.
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So, what are your thoughts on the type of Immortals mentioned in this chapter.
To me, the ability to set a Save Point sounds like something similar to Sharingan Genjustu – Izanagi (from Naruto).
http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Izanagi
While having Multiple/Stock Lives is something commonly used in games and have been used in a sort of way in the manga Re:Birth – The Lunatic Taker.
The Re-Incarnated part is obviously a reference to a Phoenix.
Also it seems that we would have higher class/society Vampire (common in many Vampire related stories). Regarding this point, i wonder what type of Vampire is Eva. Is she an Aristocrat type or something else.
And for obvious reason, i am not surprised with the mention of Philosopher’s Stone.
I saw this chart, based off of Canon Rap’s analysis.
http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Michael_V/media/TypesofImmortality.png.html
I get the feeling that Akamatsu-sensei is wanting to explore all of the various types of immortality that we get in games and stories, otherwise why have them all in here, right?
Otherwise, I haven’t thought about it greatly as I’m waiting for some more information to come out. I did recently learn that “Phantom” is actually “youkai” among the immortality types, which is what Nagi’s master was classified as (whether as a joke or not remains to be seen).
>And for obvious reason, i am not surprised with the mention of Philosopher’s Stone.
Yep.
I’m betting on Fate/Tertium being the cofounder.
I feel it matches his backstory of saving random orphans
Actually, that would be interesting.
Actually different from you, my impression is that Eva was just listing the ways she known of obtaining immortality and that Akamatsu used it to hint us about the future characters, and not that those people are already members of UQ Holder. I do think we will meet each of them one by one, or at least in small groups.
That was my interpretation as well.
Hmmm…I hadn’t thought about it like that, but if so, that would make for a more interesting read, assuming Touta, Eva, and Kuroumaru go out and seek these undying folks.
Man, reading this review made me annoyed at Manga Stream. I usually like them as they menage to do a good translation and have a high quality reader. However, I guess they are in the “avoid Japanese works at all cost” camp. Here they completely ignored the “kun” issue and adapted ‘ane-san’ to ‘ma’am’. These change the meaning so much it is not even funny. I am really disappointed now.
Anyway, nice review.
Yeah, I don’t know why they forced Southrop to do that. He’s stated that he’s in the pro-honorific camp but was told not to use them. I know MS has used honorifics on other titles, like Fairy Tail (the only one I’ve seen, and that to check against Kodansha’s adaptation).
MS also use honorifics for One Piece, I just checked. It’s mostly ikore (their cleaner for UQH), who is against honorifics and Japanese attacks. That’s why for example Shinmeiryuu Ougi: Zanganken in chapter 3 was translated.
So I’ve been thinking about Eva seeming weaker, Negi supposedly being dead, and the ending of Negima and I’ve come up with a theory. Forgive me if I’m a little unorganized with my ideas here.
According to Albireo and lots of evidence in Negima, the Lifemaker was a “Vessel Jumper: “Not deathless, but ceaseless.” We see the Lifemaker as a woman spying on Nagi before Ala Rubra’s final battle.
http://i.imgur.com/sxxBFsn.jpg
Nagi and Zecht stay behind to fight while a gravely wounded Eishun and Rakan are carried to safety by Al. Nagi wins the battle and the Lifemaker possesses Zecht and retreats.
http://i.imgur.com/6cE5Ops.jpg
Around the time of Negi’s birth, Nagi sets off to fight the Lifemaker again. Al tells Eva that she got her immortality or vampirism from an individual whom “Ala Rubra failed to destroy 20 years ago and who was narrowly sealed away 10 years ago thanks to the sacrifice of a hero.” Nagi allowed himself to be possessed and sealed under the World Tree.
What if the vessel that gave Eva her powers was already a vampire before being possessed by the Lifemaker.? We already know Eva’s power was the same as the Lifemaker’s because of Dynamis’ comments on Magia Erebea during his fight with Negi.
Flashforward to the end of Negima. If Nagi is safe and Negi is free to enact his plan, we can assume that the Lifemaker was completely and utterly destroyed. Here’s where my theory kicks in.
With the Lifemaker gone, every last trace of his power must also be gone, including Eva’s godlike abilities AND Negi’s Magia Erebea. If this is true then that would explain Eva seeming to be weaker here and Negi growing old and dying. Eva’s still by no means weak, she’s a 600 year old vampire, but still not as strong as the power of the Mage of the Beginning. And Touta can rival her because his power is tied to hers.
That’s the only way I see anything we’ve been shown making any sense.
Good theory, I really like this. If Negi had lost Magia Erebea with the Lifemaker gone, he would have already lost it at the end of Negima, though… hm. Interesting.
I always thought this series is an excellent opportunity for Ken to explain the Lifemaker, Negi’s possible death and Eva’s past (as well as some other classmates’ past, like Kuroumaru’s past perhaps resembling Setsuna’s one).
Anyway, I really hope Ken can involve Yukihime in the fights. He will have to give a good reason why he could involve Yukihime without making her overpowered. Curious about this.
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While I am not discounting the possibility of a body jumper, I’ve never been a big fan of this theory for the Lifemaker. Here’s why.
I’ve long believed the female Lifemaker is actually Amateru and that Zecht is somehow related to her or even the real Mage of the Beginning. Zecht was already referred to as an “old youkai” who couldn’t die, no matter how many times you killed him by Jack (there was another place where Zecht was also revealed to be very old despite having a youthful appearance). Al conveniently prevented Nagi from telling the others the truth of what happened there, leaving the impression in my mind that Zecht wasn’t possessed, but was actually their foe all along and they just hadn’t known it (chapter 267).
When the body-jumping theory came out, I thought, “Well, if the Lifemaker can simply body hop, then why did he possess Zecht rather than Nagi if the Lifemaker was just going to possess Nagi later on?” Further, when the Lifemaker shows up and is revealed to be Nagi, no one has a problem with that. We saw Negi and Asuna kill that body, yet Nagi is supposedly sealed under the World Tree, all safe and sound, still possessed by the Lifemaker. But somehow, the Lifemaker was out and about, roaming in Nagi’s body even while the Lifemaker is sealed in Nagi’s body under the World Tree.
Sorry, that has never added up to me. Add to this the fact that Nagi saves Negi while he’s supposed to be sealed under the World Tree doesn’t make sense either.
Further complicating matters is Al. Obviously Al knows something about the Lifemaker. He also knows Nagi is still alive. However, he’s always maintained that he doesn’t know where Nagi is. Even when Takahata asks him, he says he doesn’t know. One could argue that Al is lying, and if it were only to Negi, I’d probably agree since Negi wouldn’t be ready for such a thing. But, I see no reason for Al to lie to Takahata. Therefore, if Al isn’t lying, then I can’t see Nagi being the one sealed under the World Tree.
I’m also not so convinced that the Lifemaker is truly dead. If the Lifemaker is a body hopper, then what prevented this entity from hopping to the next host as the theory suggests the Lifemaker does? If not a body hopper, then I could see the Lifemaker possibly getting killed somehow, but if it were that easy, then the Lifemaker wouldn’t have been alive for however many thousand years.
I don’t see Eva as being weaker yet. She still can cast high level ancient magic spells with no problem. She’s not infallible though, as noted by how Nagi used a brilliant simple trap to defeat her and when she didn’t take Negi seriously, he was able to overcome her. It was only as Negi powered up that Eva showed him more of her own impressive powers.
>I always thought this series is an excellent opportunity for Ken to explain the Lifemaker, Negi’s possible death and Eva’s past (as well as some other classmates’ past, like Kuroumaru’s past perhaps resembling Setsuna’s one).
This is my hope as well.
>Anyway, I really hope Ken can involve Yukihime in the fights. He will have to give a good reason why he could involve Yukihime without making her overpowered. Curious about this.
Yeah, that’s the aspect I’m looking at as well. Touta is looking to be OP as well though. ^_^;
With how many non-humans have been in the series, I don’t see Zecht being and old youkai as anything particularly special in this case. The way I see it he’s not much different from characters like Zazie, Mana, Kagetarou, that four-armed bounty hunder demon. The thing that convinces me on the lifemaker possessing the woman and Zecht is the dialogue. They both mention the oddly speciific 2600 year life. The consciousness of the Lifemaker has been around for 2600 years. Also, how would you explain Al telling Eva that she didn’t kill the one who gave her her powers and that he was sleeping under the world tree?
Nagi won the battle. He was obviously stronger in that moment so I don’t see it as anything strange that he couldn’t be possessed. Though I can easily envision a scenario where Zecht was taken out during the fight and used to escape. OR, The lifemaker could have left Nagi the first time on purpose to break him. When the Lifemaker is taking to that Averuncus in the woman body, she asks who Nagi is, basically describes him as the perfect example of humanity then laments her long 2600 year life. When he possesses Zecht, he tells Nagi to know his 2600 years of despair. Probably wanting Nagi to question his reasons for fighting, then saw fit to possess him during their final battle. Nagi was most likely possessed of his own will later just to be sealed away. That was the sacrifice that Al was talking about. It was either, A, the Lifemaker couldn’t possess him the first time or B, Saw Nagi as interesting enough to spare until a later time.
I think you’re forgetting the gravity of the situation when Nagi/Lifemaker appeared. He wasn’t just out and about for no reason. The linchpin holding both worlds together, the world tree, was going haywire and the entire magic world was being wiped away. With everything happening to the tree it’s not hard to come to the conclusion that the seal on him weakened in that moment.
I really don’t see a reason why Al should tell anyone the truth unless necessary. That moment of necessity came when the seal started weakening which is why he started telling Eva everything.
It’s already well-established how broken of a character Nagi was. With Negi in danger I’d imagine he put everything he had into coming to the rescue. Think back to Rakan reconstituting himself by ‘guts’ alone after being erased. I know that’s kind of a reach but it’s a shonen action manga. You have to think in tropes especially when Akamatsu-sensei keeps using words such as “Like in those video games you like so much.” And i do like them a lot ^_^
Speaking of tropes, that would perfectly explain a body hopping entity being destroyed. Again, it’s a shonen action manga. It’s not that completely destroying the Lifemaker was ‘that easy.’ The idea is that our main character is just that amazing. The main character is there to do the impossible; to overcome insane odds and save everyone. This is evidenced by the fact that everytime Negi accomplishes something he’s met with expressions of utter disbelief and awe. Not just anyone can save the world.
Like I said with Eva, It’s not surprising to see a 600 year old vampire use ancient magic. I’m sure there are still very, very few people that could stand up to her one on one. I’ll admit, there haven’t been any instances so far where she’s been required to use any more power than she’s shown but to me, that’s just a big problem with the story itself, whether my theory is right or wrong. If she is still just as strong as before then nothing for the rest of the series can pose any threat without seeming stupid. Full powered Eva without the curse tethering her in place? Why care about any problem from now on without it being as super frustrating as that first bounty hunter? This series shouldn’t really go on if the rest of the problems are going to be “we’re losing because Eva was somehow tricked out of the fight.”
How would Nagi know that Negi was in danger?
You may end up being completely right on all this, but there are things that just don’t add up with me. As such, I want Akamatsu-sensei to go into ALL of this and explain things properly. ^_^
That question, like all the other stuff could have been explained if Akamatsu didn’t give up on negi’s tale. Though all evidence that is actually shown in the story points to a body jumper. Any arguments against it is just questing story tropes. Always shaky ground when talking about cliched things like action manga. Chapter 323 pretty much confirms it to me, especially after Al compares the scenario to video games. I guess you’d have to play more jrpgs to get it.
By looking at the character introduction pages one can roughly guess where the UQ Holder members are:
– The Robo-Science guy seems to be at the capital, as we see the bottom of the tower.
– The girl in the Mahora uniform is on Earth somewhere; she seems to be on a road similar to what Yukihime & co were travelling on.
– The dark-skinned guy is hard to pin down, but I guess he’s in the Magic World.
– The glasses guy with the multiple lives battles monsters, so seems to be in the Magical World, too.
– The long-haired one & the one with the cigarette seem to be on the moon or on the ‘real’ Mars.
– The Vampire kid is on Earth, obviously. Where is anyone’s guess.
– The girl with the save points is hard to pin down by her surroundings, but I think she’s on the space station at the end of the elevator. That sea of plushies just give that impression to me.
Nothing is set in stone, of course, but by their present location it is possible to roughly guess their order of appearance (if Akamatsu doesn’t suddenly catapult Touta & co into space in the next couple of chapters).
Well, these are my thoughts on the matter. We’ll see how right I’ll turn out to be. 😉
Works for me.
Man , To be honest , Im not liking how Akamatsu is turning everyone ” Immortal ” , I Thought Eva and Setsuna told that ” Immortality ” Was impossible to achieve , Since many Wacko Magicians tried and failed , Eva wasn`t even Immortal to begin with , She was ” Turned ” Into an Immortal by the Mage of Beginnings , So i`m guessing with UQ Holder , Eva and Negi turned them into Immortals , And since this is all about ” Immortality ” Im not beliveing that Negi is dead , Until we get a Full-explination on his Magia Erebea and Immortality and Death , Rather than the Gravestone , Perhaps a flashback ?
But anyways , That`s my guess , I Cant wait for Chapter 7 And meet all of the characters , I`ve been waiting for that little-person who has a Hood on the Promotional Art that looks like Zecht / Gravemaster.
Immortality (不老不死 ) refers to agelessness and deathlessness. This is what Negi gained when he was reborn with Magia Erebea. It doesn’t mean he is unkillable. Whether Negi is truly dead or not… I’d say he is. Just for the sake of Touta because elsewise Negi will steal the show.
And I don’t remember anyone saying it is impossible to achieve immortality. All I remember is Albireo talking about a “body without destruction”/ceaselessness.
The manga’s name is UQ Holder. Almost everyone already guessed after the first chapter that the depicted characters in the color spread are all in some way immortal.
>And since this is all about ” Immortality ” Im not beliveing that Negi is dead , Until we get a Full-explination on his Magia Erebea and Immortality and Death , Rather than the Gravestone , Perhaps a flashback ?
Knowing Akamatsu-sensei, he’ll tease for a while on this…a LONG while. ^_^;
I didn’t like the pace of this chapter. The chapters before took a slow approach by developing Touta and Kuroumaru, which is okay, but suddenly next chapter, Touta is talking about founding an immortal family; then, out of nowhere, Yukihime is greeted by Yakuza-like people and we are introduced to the already existing group of immortals. No hints, no foreshadowing anywhere that would suggest an already existing group and because of the slow pace before, it happened way too soon in my opinion.
And I bet we will see another Kuroumaru gender joke next chapter. Though now that it is hinted that Kurou had body modifications, Ken might drop the running gag now. I wish.
When I read the chapter, I thought “Huh, somewhere I have seen this type of immortality before”. Guess I play too many games and read/watch too much manga/anime. ^_^ I actually had to laugh after reading CanonRap’s observations about the different types of immortality because I had similar thoughts, especially the Type-Moon related ones.
Anyway, I don’t think Ken has introduced us to all the types of immortality yet. It will be interesting to see what the main plot is. Though I doubt it’s just about Touta making some immortal buddies…
>I didn’t like the pace of this chapter. The chapters before took a slow approach by developing Touta and Kuroumaru, which is okay, but suddenly next chapter, Touta is talking about founding an immortal family; then, out of nowhere, Yukihime is greeted by Yakuza-like people and we are introduced to the already existing group of immortals. No hints, no foreshadowing anywhere that would suggest an already existing group and because of the slow pace before, it happened way too soon in my opinion.
Yeah, I agree. I was expecting more of a journey and time to do some character exploration, but now, we suddenly have UQ Holder showing up and ending all that.
>And I bet we will see another Kuroumaru gender joke next chapter. Though now that it is hinted that Kurou had body modifications, Ken might drop the running gag now. I wish.
I hear ya. Sometimes, these jokes drag on way too long.
>Anyway, I don’t think Ken has introduced us to all the types of immortality yet. It will be interesting to see what the main plot is. Though I doubt it’s just about Touta making some immortal buddies…
I think there’s more to Touta here than meets the eye, which may be the point of the manga.