July 9th, 2014 
AstroNerdBoy ユーキューホルダー! Manga Review
UQ Holder Chapter 41
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Yukihime wants to talk to Fate, but he’s not interested and attacks. She easy fends off his attack, but Fate starts targeting her barrier, forcing her to flee and realize that Fate has improved in the 30 years since they parted ways. Karin realizes that they made a mistake in bringing Fate to the caverns since he’s an Earth master. Fate uses a Stone Snake spell to pursue Yukihime. Although she shatters them, Fate binds the shattered stones into a sphere, trapping her within.
Eva shatters the sphere, emerging in her Magia Erebea Krystalline Basilea armament, whereby she transforms the area into ice, giving her the advantage over Fate. Now Fate is on the run from the Dark Evangel. He manages to summon massive blades to point at Yukihime, but she has her own blades pointed at him. Yukihime tells him that while he’s unaging, he’s not among the undying. Fate says that as she is now, he’s willing to give it a shot to possibly defeat her. However, even if he won, he would be at a disadvantage to face Ikkuu, Karin, Kuroumaru, and Touta.
Fate concedes defeat and wants out of the cavern trap. Touta is shocked by this, telling Yukihime that if she won’t fight Fate, he will. Yukihime silences him, telling him he’d have no chance. However, Yukihime isn’t sure about letting Fate go. Fate agrees, but then to give respect to the four who caught him, he agrees to answer one question from each of the four, which surprises Touta.
Thoughts/Review:
To paraphrase Barliman Butterbur from the Lord of the Rings novels, when it comes to remembering things, one thing pushes out another. Such is the case with me and Eva using Magia Erebea in her “graduation” fight with Negi toward the end of Negima. I literally forgot she used ME there, but thanks to all of you who’s memory chips are working within designed specifications, I was able to refresh my own memory, after which I went, “D’OH!” ^_^;
Now to the fight.
I found it interesting that initially, Eva underestimated Fate. For whatever reason, Eva really didn’t want to fight Fate. She made a point of mentioning that he’s not undying, merely unaging. I got the feeling that she doesn’t see Fate as their mortal enemy the way Kirie does.
Regardless, she quickly realized what Fate was trying to do and shifted her battle tactics accordingly, including fleeing in order to gain time to activate Magia Erebea. I rather enjoyed watching Fate become the prey for a time as the fight ends in a draw, though Fate does back down.
Again, we get clue that Eva has been weakened somehow. Hopefully, Akamatsu-sensei will cover this soon. However, I do note that Fate wasn’t sure he’d defeat her, but unlike their first encounter in Kyoto, Fate was willing to give it a try.
Regarding Eva’s change of costume, I’ll be the first to admit that it is odd. Rereading the portion of Negima where Eva activated Magia Erebea, she did change costume there, though she didn’t have armor. As I see it, Eva is using Magia Erebea to form ice armor over her, much the same way that Takane used her shadow magic to form shadow armor/clothing. Plus, Eva’s in an illusionary form, so there’s likely an element of that in her clothing as well.
As an aside, that brings up something that has been nagging at the back of my mind for a while. Akamatsu-sensei has gotten somewhat lazy in how he clothes his characters. It isn’t that I have some kind of “dressing the characters” fetish, but at some point, it starts sticking out to me, after which it starts annoying me. I think back to Negima, where there were base clothing for the characters (the school uniform; Negi’s suit; and Eva’s slutty, loli gear), but when the characters weren’t in school, they wore other clothing. Even Eva would wear frilly, doll-like clothing at times.
In UQ Holder, everyone has one change of clothing and that’s it. If it gets shredded or otherwise destroyed, it magically comes back. I think that Eva has only ever worn her tight, short skirt and tight, button-down blouse. So seeing her in another outfit, it has more shock value, in my opinion.
That aside, I wonder if Fate doesn’t consider himself to be immortal. Eva refers to him as unaging, not undying, but that doesn’t mean mortal.
Finally (and I might have missed something in my haste to get this out), there’s Idiot Boy. He gets lucky in trapping Fate with four other comrades, but chooses to forget Kirie’s story of how Fate crushed them like bugs underfoot in their first encounter, and the evidence of his own eyes, which included Eva not being able to overcome Fate. Yet Mr. Cocky says, “I can take him. I’m Touta!” Eva really needs to sit down with the boy and put him through the hell training that Negi, Kotaro, and Asuna got. That might teach him a thing or two…maybe.
Still, I can’t help but wonder if Touta is going to ask something stupid or something incredibly insightful. I think to throw us a curve, Akamatsu-sensei will have Touta ask something good. We’ll see though.
So, a good battle chapter, but still a lot of questions to be answered.
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I liked this fight and many things surprised me.
All the monsters suddenly disappeared in the place mysteriously XD
I worried when Evangeline was captured in the ball of stone
(I always liked Evangeline, since I saw her in Negima, she is my favorite character, I suppose that by the comments that I wrote, it was known) Although after I surprised when I saw she used Magia Erebea with the armour (I like his new form with the armour, but at the same time it is strange for me XD)
Yeah, as far as we can see Fate is more strong now, and Evangeline is more weaker because she depended on Magia Erebea (I follow wondering the reason about Evangeline is more weaker now than before)
I felt like Touta when I saw all those swords in the darkness, it seemed shooting stars XD
As far as I can see Karin knows Evangeline pretty well, she knew about the Magia Erebea, and apart she knew about Fate because she told Touta that he is called “Averruncus of earth”
Now, about the “pactio” in Negima, it did use too much, but, now it isn’t used here (I don’t know if it will be of use more later) Now on second thought, all the characters have his own skills here, it isn’t the same that in Negima, the characters had a pactio card for fight. Except a few
(In any case, I would like to see some pactio)
I wonder that will happen now, in the future chapters, Who will be the next character to appear?
About your review.
“and the evidence of his own eyes, which included Eva not being able to overcome Fate. Yet Mr. Cocky says, “I can take him. I’m Touta!”
Well, the boy hasn’t control about his emotions and he thinks that is capable of defeat to Fate, he will think that will go up a level in the battle as a super saiyan 2 XD
“Eva really needs to sit down with the boy and put him through the hell training that Negi, Kotaro, and Asuna got. That might teach him a thing or two…maybe.”
Yeah, I want to see that! XD
“Still, I can’t help but wonder if Touta is going to ask something stupid or something incredibly insightful.”
Touta will ask him something like…
Is Yukihime a virgin and by this reason I am the only one adopted child of hers, and this is why she indulges me? or Will you be my adoptive father now? XD
Nah, seriously now, I have the feeling Touta will ask about Negi (So he still won’t tell nothing about what happened with the Magia Erebea)
About Karin, Ikkuu and Kuroumaru, they are more difficult to know about his questions.
An answer for so many questions…
PS: I liked the title “She is the Dark Evangel!”
I think Touta and Kuroumaru couldn’t leave until all the monsters were dead.
Hopefully, we’ll get more information on that.
I’m wondering if the pactio system is still in place or not. I don’t know why, but I keep thinking that this might be the case, and that it is linked somehow with why Eva is somewhat weaker (though still very powerful). I just don’t imagine Eva abandoning Chachazero so easily unless the pactio system broke.
Thanks! ^_^
[…] No spoiler images have arrived yet. In lieu of that, here are the first SPOILER rumors from the upcoming UQ Holder chapter 41 courtesy of Hata. (My review of UQ Holder chapter 41 should come out Wednesday.) […]
Fate is still interested in obtaining Touta, I can’t wait to see what’s so interesting about him, probably related to how he can use magia erebea so easily.
I hope Touta asks about Negi but he’ll probably ask what it’s like at the top of the tower since Fate just came from there.
I know he’s not in this chapter but I’m really interested in seeing how Xingzai is related to Chao from Negima.
Or Touta was grown in a lab as an experiment. ^_~
So would I. ^_^
A hypothesis about Eva/Yukihime becoming weaker:
At the end of Negima! Negi never did find a way to break the curse. He could have just found a loophole or a secondary spell that increased the range allowing Eva to travel. Also, Where’s the World Tree? If the world tree no longer exists, that could be a reason. Eva used to use overflowing magic from the world tree to “stretch” her magical legs while under the curse, she could have used it to recharge as well.
I’m also wondering if Karin ever Mahora. I’ve seen her in the school uniform before, I wonder if she currently attends or previously attended, (and is attached to the uniform). Which raises the question, does our beloved Mahora Academy still exist in this world.
I have a little bit different opinion regarding Eva’s power.
In Negima’s last chapter, it is said that Eva is free from the Infernus Scholasticus (IS), so she should be back to her original power. By original, I mean her state before she got inflicted with that curse.
But regardless of the curse, I agree that the existence of the world tree affect a magician’s power.
I’m still not sure how strong her max power in Negima though, because she only shows her power when under the effect of IS or when it is not full moon. In addition, I think all her fight with Negi were just playing around or training, never a totally serious fight.
I somehow also think that Eva in UQ Holder is weaker than in Negima, but I think the event 30 years ago plays a part here..
I agree. We don’t have all the pieces, but something bad happened 30 years ago.
Hmm at the moment it is clear it is a magical power issue.
In terms of physicality, her vampires powers are active again. As to why she has been weakened… We will have to see what akatmatsu pulls out but I believe Evageline has adopted negi pacifist nature and is less of mass murdering evil vampire.
That’s an interesting idea. Certainly Eva has mellowed and matured a great deal. The vampire angle in Negima was downplayed for the most part in Negima (especially as time went on), except to call her a shinso vampire, but if she’s a vampire not engaged in vampire things, then that might be why she weakened.
I’m also wondering if Eva’s change in attitude is partially why Chachazero was abandoned.
That’s a good point that I hadn’t thought of.
For some reason, I’m thinking Karin did attend Mahora at some point, then continued to wear the uniform as her battle garb.
We’ll see if Mahora is still around or not.
Going to read the translated Rawls in a bit but I agree with you astro.
I read the full Chinese Rawls and it nice to see fate considering to fight but since he stronger than base form Evageline and is slightly hesitant but yet confident he can best a magia erebea equip Evageline, proves how strong the young boy is now (also was subtly hinted that negi when he was alive was even stronger than fate)
Anyways now that the how strong is Evageline gauge is sorted, we just need the flashback and explanation from akatmatsu sensei, other than that…
The unaging part is interesting… That means fate is likely going stay at primum age or he is still 12 and is using illusions. Also in terms of his mortality, I would coin fate as a homunculus.
Yeah, we need a lot of that. ^_~
I think his true form is that of a kid, and he’s using illusion magic.
I don’t necessarily feel Eva is weaker. I mean she’s more of a traditional mage than a brawler like Negi and Fate. Given allies that help her stall for time she’s in a class of her own as we saw when she took out the Averruncus series with a single spell. Without allies capable of stalling him she can fight him but she’ll have to do it Fate’s way, so her greatest strength is sealed.
Also, during the battle in Ch 342-343 it looked like Negi alone was outmatched but Negi + Asuna could fight her evenly. I could see Fate, who is after all relatively young during Negima, growing strong enough in the 70 years since then that he could Solo her.
But she did learn a lot of brawler/fighter techniques over the centuries.
Especially since once he’s absorbed new spells/fighting techniques/whatever, he never forgets them and never has to train to learn them or to get better at them.
Fate dies have decades of experience that the averruncus lack.
Rather than spend decades training minions from scratch, the Mage of beginning made overpowered dolls who are generally several years old from creation, fate being the active the longest out of all averruncus in negima at the point since he was never shut down or destroyed.
Fate and his ilk are basically programmed like computers and given all the knowledge they need. In Fate’s case, he continues to upgrade himself through his experiences or whatever else he happens to absorb knowledge-wise, via whatever method he does that (reading books and observing others).
“Finally (and I might have missed something in my haste to get this out), there’s Idiot Boy. He gets lucky in trapping Fate with four other comrades, but chooses to forget Kirie’s story of how Fate crushed them like bugs underfoot in their first encounter, and the evidence of his own eyes, which included Eva not being able to overcome Fate. Yet Mr. Cocky says, “I can take him. I’m Touta!” Eva really needs to sit down with the boy and put him through the hell training that Negi, Kotaro, and Asuna got. That might teach him a thing or two…maybe.”
What translation did you read? In the translation I read, Touta got upset and said something impulsive, aka something people do.
Seriously, the guy’s two point something years old, give him a break.
Which is why he needs to be taught a lesson so that he doesn’t get impulsive. ^_~
Oh boy, I’m so happy that the team is being rewarded for their meth-addled, borderline insane, “You can get a chimp to hook me up to a EEG machine and pronounce me clinically brain dead” plan. What the shitting hell Kirie? You somehow didn’t account for the fact, despite the bile coming out of your in detailing Fate and having the most knowledge on him, THAT PUTTING THE EARTH MAGE UNDERGROUND WOULDN’T MAKE HIM STRONG!? Never mind your so called “plan” in the first place, you somehow just KNEW that Eva was actually going to be down there to begin with, keeping your precious team from getting their asses ripped in half by giant obelisks of doom? With what? Zero to no forshadowing, with zero gurantee that your best case scenario is somewhow going to work?
Seriously for a second, this entire plan requires the fucking planets to align or something. Not only does she have the contitution of wet tissue paper, she needs to make physical contact with Fate just to make sure she can kill herself. BUT WAIT! She also needs the other numbers to somehow magically know that she has a unpetrify app so they can not get the heck out of dodge before that timer comes up, and hope and pray Eva gets to bail them out AGAIN so they don’t their stupid asses killed. Come on.
Yeah, there’s a lot to accept, which is why I think Kirie has made tons of trips back so that she could be sure that Eva was waiting for them in the caverns.
“Eva really needs to sit down with the boy and put him through the hell training that Negi, Kotaro, and Asuna got. That might teach him a thing or two…maybe.”
Reminder, Eva has been training him for the past two years. I doubt her training of Touta has been all that different from the training from hell Negi got (all of a few months of it that Negi got mind you) other than the lack of magical training in her regime for Touta. So next time you’re complaining about Touta being powerful “without any training”, keep in mind that he’s likely received at least 4 times the amount of training from Eva that Negi did by the time he went to the magic world.
“Still, I can’t help but wonder if Touta is going to ask something stupid or something incredibly insightful. I think to throw us a curve, Akamatsu-sensei will have Touta ask something good.”
I foresee a few likely possible questions from Touta. Either he’ll wasting it seeking confirmation about Fate’s involvement in the attack on the slums, or seeking to learn Fate’s motives in attacking the slums. Or he’ll ask Fate one of the questions he’s been reluctant to ask Eva about such as his parents, his past, or his (unknown to him) Magia Erebea transformation.
Alternatively, KA could go the comedy route and have Fate count Touta’s “Really?” at the end of the chapter as Touta’s question.
Not convinced. Touta has neither the drive nor the initiative Negi had during his training (He didn’t give a flying fuck about learning Shundo when it was brought up), and if Eva gave him the hellish training Negi received, he’d at the very least would be a lot more savvy when it comes to fighting beyond “Dur hur I don’t lik ur face”. Never mind that Eva herself has completely done a 180 in personality and does not have an inkling of the agressive asshattery she put Asuna and Negi through, never mind the fact that Touta “trained” with his friends. Those four years didn’t amount to shit, and the only substantial training that he took seriously came from those eight months spent underground.
Never mind the fact that he had people pop out of the woodwork to train him (Which he got down in record time) and got a Magia Erebea freebie with no extra charge.
I can tell from what little we saw of Touta training that he wasn’t given “hell” training. Eva has mellowed quite a bit. When Kotaro first asked Negi about his training, the trauma of remembering it caused him to shake in fear. We got to see some of that training in how Asuna was handled.
Touta’s training with Eva when they lived together, while certainly well above average for normal humans, was nothing like what Negi went through. Besides, Touta wasn’t interested in getting stronger. He only wanted to do just enough to get through Eva so he could go to his precious tower. ^_^
*LOL* I’m glad he didn’t go that route, but that is funny.
My hypothesis on what each person will ask:
Ikkuu- I believe he’ll ask more about Tsukuyomi. This is based on the fact he noted she was also a cyborg yet had an unfathomable amount of battle experience which made his battle with her difficult. So I’m sure he’d be searching for more info for any future encounters.
Karin- I’m guessing she’ll ask Fate what his grand design is, what he’s actually attempting to do. She seems pretty level-headed so I figure she’d seek this info as a way to possibly better combat the powerful hand.
Kuroumoru- With the desire to be accepted and protect Touta, I’m sure the question will pertain to why Fate is so desperately wanting to take Touta.
Touta- The most obvious assumption is a question pertaining to Negi. Considering the two people he’s most focused on is Negi and Eva, I think its a good possibility he’ll ask Fate to clarify his statement about why he believes its Eva’s fault that Negi died….assuming Fate doesn’t count his “huh, seriously” as the question he asked.
But that’s my hypothesis, who knows how it’ll really go…least till next chapter.
Interesting choices, and one correct prediction, but for the wrong person. (Ikkuu asked Fate’s purpose rather than Kuroumaru.)
You know, one thing that i love the most about Akamtsu is that he writes powerfull female characters. We have yukihime/Eva and karin who are strong, they know how to fight and they don´t need any man to protected them and Kirie, who isn´t a figther but a great mastermind/planner.
As for the chapter itself i enjoyed the fight. I´m still wondering what are Akamatsu plan´s for Fate but i´m intringued that he´s no longer immortal or that he only has long longevity.
P.s.: Please tell me you are keeping with the recent chapters of Koe no Katachi 🙂
Don’t forget Karin! She’s wicked-bad! ^_^
I’m not current, but I think I’m close to chapter 30 now. (I’m not at home to see what the last chapter I read was.) It is kind of hard for me to read, only because I feel badly for the main characters. ^_^;