June 16th, 2015 
AstroNerdBoy ユーキューホルダー! Manga Review
UQ Holder Chapter 83
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Touta meditates and has the balls orbiting him and the hoops twirling above him as Dana nods off while observing him. Touta’s thoughts are interrupted when a giant dragonfly lands on him. Touta freaks out as Dana wakes up, and though Touta’s heart stops because the hoops hit the ground, he does not fall. Dana sends the dragonfly back to its period of time, explaining that her castle stands in the rift between dimensions, thus she can connect it to any time and place of her choosing. However, when she falls asleep, she loses some control and things come in, such as that giant dragonfly. She asks Touta if he’s developing feelings for something that came in, warning him against this since the things that come in are like illusions.
After Dana piles more hoops on Touta, he easily handles them and thinks about what Dana said. He starts to realize that he meets with Kitty at dawn when Dana’s asleep. It is dawn and Kitty appears on the rail near him, fast asleep. He sees her crying and calling for her mother. When he touches her, he sees her memories as a peasant girl with her mother, who addresses Kitty as Evangeline. Important people on horseback arrive and Eva is now living in a castle. A figure in black tells her she will not dies. She kills, runs away, discovers her parent’s village burned down and her mother dead. After that, she wandered a while with her doll (Chachazero).
Eva wakes up, irritated at seeing Touta, knowing he probed her memories. She attacks him, then runs away. Touta gives pursuit, so Eva uses her ice magic against him. He doesn’t let that stop him, so she attacks him with another ice attack. She gets a great distance from where Totua was, but Touta has followed her. She attacks him again, causing him to wonder what was so bad about him seeing her memories. She demands to know why he’s pursuing her, so he confesses his love for her, saying he wants to repay her. Eva is taken aback by this, but before she can attack him again, Dana shows up. Dana says that this is no more than an illusion and illusions must go home. She’s about to dispatch Eva, but Touta steps in and stops her.
Thoughts/Review:
You know, Akamatsu-sensei should just drop Touta and have Eva be the main character for a while. Man, following her story from the past would be SOOOO much more interesting than the Touta story.
Although Akamatsu-sensei can (and may) change things on a whim, this chapter appears to state that Dana’s castle is connected to all places in time and space, even to other dimensions/timelines. If this is true, then it would be used as the out for when Touta and company emerge from this place and suddenly Eva, as Yukihime, suddenly remembers her time with Touta from the past. “It isn’t a retcon, it is a new timeline.”
I still say that a fair amount of time has passed for Eva in this castle. I say this because each time Touta encounters her, she’s more powerful. (Well, that’s how things have been presented to us, but of course, in two chapters from now, this could all be turned upside-down on its head.)
To be completely and openly honest with you readers, it really pains me to be so critical of Akamatsu-sensei. I loved Negima greatly. I defended it all the way up until the end, although the abrupt ending of the series left a bad taste in my mouth. Eva was a favorite character of mine, so her being brought over to UQ Holder was a good thing for me. We could finally get a chance to see Eva’s past, though at the time, I didn’t believe that we’d actually get to see it. However, Akamatsu-sensei started giving us Eva’s past, and that continued in this chapter.
That being said, I don’t trust Akamatsu-sensei, nor do I trust anything I see on the page. That’s because if he chooses, he can simply blow everything up, come up with a timeline excuse (or other such excuse) to justify changing everything, and then change everything.
In Negima, Eva was implied to be someone of importance. After all, she had a fancy dress and lived in a bloody castle. When Akamatsu-sensei gave us that info, he’s clearly wanting the audience to “read between the lines” and see Eva as nobility (my thinking) or royalty (other people’s thinking). Then in a recent chapter of UQ Holder, Akamatsu-sensei says, “Oh, Eva is a peasant.” After throwing that bomb out, is it any wonder that some folks were displeased by this.
For UQ Holder chapter 83, Akamatsu-sensei realizes that he has to reconcile what he established in Negima with his new establishment in UQ Holder. Now, Eva was a peasant girl who was taken in by some important person or entity (because you can’t presume ANYTHING) to live at a castle. After some amount of time at said castle, a figure looking like the Lifemaker, turns Eva into a vampire. In Negima, it was stated that she killed the one who did this to her, and that old Negima image is used in this chapter of UQ Holder.
I get that Akamatsu-sensei is trying to make Eva’s past even more tragic. Had this stuff been revealed in Negima, I can only imagine the pages of discussions that would be had, both in English forums, and on Japanese forums. Now, because one is never sure what Akamatsu-sensei will or will not do or say in his manga (and I think he does this because he wants to keep people off balance and unable to guess what will happen at the cost of a naturally flowing story), one wonders if this is really true or not. Akamatsu-sensei has put out the notion that the Eva we see here may be a mere illusion of some sort, implying that it may not be real, or it may be real, or it may partially be real.
It really saddens me to feel as I do here because I am getting my wish in having more of Eva’s life explored. I want to see more of this in UQ Holder. Sheeze, Eva should have her own manga, starting from her time as a peasant girl and working through the years, eventually meeting Nagi and company, and then culminating with her fated meeting with Negi and class. To me, this would be such an awesome story, certainly much better than the Touta story to date.
Speaking of our main character, I guess Touta gained new language skills since he had no problems understanding what was spoken in Eva’s memory-dream.
And I guess that Touta picked up yet another ability, that being the ability to read people’s mind by touching them.
Touta standing up to Dana means what? Does she squash him like a bug? Does she just dispatch Eva to where ever anyway? Is this were we get some “I used magic to make Eva not remember you when she next encounters you in 800 ears and saves your life”? Who can say.
So while I should have very happy feelings about more of Eva’s past being explored (and I am glad to see it), my inability to trust Akamatsu-sensei and this story brings me down because he’s doing things just to keep people from trying to guess where’s he’s going. Oh well.
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Astro : Uh … No astro, from the previous chapter I KNEW Eva would be adopted by the lifemaker. T do not have to watch so many series fantaisy than that. Farmers adopted by noble, it often happens in fantaisy.
Who has more, I repeat, NEVER na was confirmed that Eva was of noble birth. It could have been adopted, which was confirmed here. And honestly I find it more logical. For I have always found that étrebge Eva if she was noble, leaves his family to live with a total stranger. I know that at the time was common, especially as a political hostage. But considering that Eva was a black magic guinea pig, this logic of political hostage disappeared.
Limit I find the story of the peasant picked up on the roadside by the lifemaker much more consistent … Sincerely
In uq holder negi disapeared 30 years ago.
In negima 2065.
That means timeline uq= negima
Yes but… In UQ Negi disapeared ALSO in 2065, not 30 years ago.
But yeah UQ timeline = Negima timeline for me (more especially Negima timeline B (Asuna sealed)).
That 30 years was a spelling mistake, I’m pretty sure it was corrected to 20 years later?
Yes but I Answered to Dominic who was written “30 yars” lol.
I agree with your comments.
To be honest, a story about how a son or descendant of a powerful man is trying to become like his predecessor is getting a bit redundant. I mean we already saw that in Negima. A story about Eva would be so new and refreshing and awesome
Yes indeed.
The page color lol “Sleeping beauty” Seriously? XD
This chapter, finally… I know a part of the Evangeline’s past!! After so many years waiting for it…
I suppose that she was a daughter of peasant parents and a noble saw her and took her to his castle. (In an image of the castle there’s a lot of dolls…) Then, the Lifemaker arrived and turned her in a vampire. Then, the place was destroyed, but, I don’t know who was the person that burned all the place (Evangeline… Things were really tough for her T_T)
(The Evangeline’s past, the village of Negi also was burned, now that I think about it)
The mother… She looks like Evangeline/Yukihime… Especially in the hair. And “Kitty” LOL The mother called to Evangeline “Kitty”, then, the name of “Kitty” really was a name that her mother gave her.
Then, the name of Kitty, She didn’t hate it. She really disliked it because the name always did remember her mother…
Evangeline told in Negima to Setsuna and Asuna:
“I lived a carefree childhood in a castle under the custody of a ruler somewhere”
I though that she lived in a castle, but, it turned out it was because a noble took her there.
Well, finally, Touta did realize that “Kitty” IS Evangeline, isn’t he?
I remember that Evangeline told Nodoka in her resort:
“I do believe that knowing the past of a Boy you like would be something of an advantage” Lol
About EvaxTouta, I don’t have problem. But, I don’t want that Evangeline falls in love with Touta because he changed her memories to know this “Evangeline”. I wouldn’t like see Evangeline still MORE different! I hope that it doesn’t happen…
Please, I hope that Evangeline’s memories don’t change and that this Evangeline comes back to her time because I don’t imagine “two Evangeline” in the same world lol
(Although it don’t like me to see her dissapear. it isn’t her fault that she went to this time)
The end of the chapter, Does it mean that Evangeline is an illusion?
“I believe I told you not to get too attached, they are no more than illusions and lost illusions must be sent back home”
Isn’t she the Evangeline of the past of the “Evangeline” of the present? Then, I suppose that it won’t change the memory of the Evangeline true.
I wonder like Evangeline will react when she knows that Touta knows her past…
PS: About the immortality of Touta, if he already was immortal before drink the Evangeline’s blood, then, Why did Touta need drink the blood? ._.
I admit, I am glad to see more of Eva’s past. I would enjoy seeing a lot more.
I’m not sure what that means.
Opps! Darn those plot holes. 😉
We get it, UQ Holder wasn’t what you wanted. Now can you please, please stop acting like it’s the 2nd coming of Twilight?
Yes, we know it’s got problems, but you keep on blowing them out of proportion. Yes, Touta can be irritating, but he’s not the Anti-Christ like you make him out to be.
Yes, we know that some things have contradicted what you thought was canon. But can you please, please stop acting like it’s some massive crime?
It is legitimately painful by this point. I’ve been reading your reviews for years now, and seeing you like this isn’t a turn of events I can take pleasure in.
I add that in addition, alot of thing you think Canon Astro-san (the nobility of Eva for example) have NEVER been confirmed! Can important that we have implicitly thought it was NEVER confirmed
For Magia-Erebea was a bit more specific I admit. But I explain that by the fact that each user in the Maga-eErebea creates his own original technique, different from the previous. Thus even though each has the same bases ME components (“Armationem”), each version is different and original.
And I repeat but with sentences of of Dynamis and Fate about this, always thought that the lifemaker was the true inventor of the M-E, Eva just sincerely believed, having invented it.
Calling UQ Holder out like the sloppy mess of a series it’s proven itself to be is hardly the worst offense here.
Yeah, it is depressing that Akamatsu and Holder brought us to this point, but by chapter 50, I pretty much figured any hope this series had was pretty much washed up.
Being me, I still stubbornly cling to hope. 😉
I understand and appreciate your comments here. I have tried to be fair to UQH. As such, when there are things that I like, I speak positively about them. When I do, there are longtime readers of the blog who will write a comment saying something like, “How can you be so blind as to praise this tripe?” When I go the other route and become very critical of something I don’t like, I run the risk of alienating readers like yourself. UQH is that one title where people like it or dislike it, and aren’t really keep to read things overly positive or overly negative.
As I stated in this review, it pained me to write the negative things I had to say. However, I felt I needed to say them. I tried to give kudos as well, but I admit, it is difficult to do because I no longer trust Akamatsu-sensei as a writer. He’s being way too cagey so that he can hedge his bets and not restrict himself from going wherever he wants in the future. To me, that makes for poor writing, but for Akamatsu-sensei, that makes for easier writing.
Anyway, I have noted your concerns. I cannot promise I won’t be negative again, just as I cannot promise that something won’t happen to cause me to sing praises. I can promise that I will continue to attempt to be true to myself. That’s all I can do.
Thanks for expressing your concerns though. I really do appreciate them. 🙂
So the point of this revelation was what? http://manga.redhawkscans.com/reader/read/mahou_sensei_negima/en/0/333/page/14
So her origin story, is back to it’s genre savvy self, she was vamped by some crazy black mage who hungered for immortality.
With that in mind we can forgo anything intelligent from this series henceforth.
Also that colour page was of appalling quality, it looked like a cheap piece of fanart.
Do not say “there is no hope for this series aaahh why Lord God!” because your theory, to which you clung you obstnément (which was nothing but a theory) was destroyed.
A is subject, before u tell me that the life-maker has always wanted to do good in his own way (which is true party) I would still remind yourself that life-maker’s allies have used the inhabitants of the mundus -magicus they had cleared to fight for them! You have not forgotten that Dyamis uses a “FORCED invocation” to remind Virxo Nagasha since Coso Entelekeia eh?
Personally, taking it as well as Eva’s past into account, I have always wondered if the lifemaker had no ulterior purposes secrets, darker, and more wills to save the world.
And I’m glad Akamatsu seems to go in this direction.
And for the appellation “my daughter” this may be because he was the one who vamped. In the stories of vampire, who has a human vamped often called his victim “son / daughter”.
And even in Negima it was said that Eva was adopted by the life-maker she said “I have been adopted a lord,” and she never spoke of a clear parentage link.
So quiet you lol, I join the opinion of “Gore17”. ^^
Even in Negima, we learned that this mage was the MotB (or rather was heavily implied to be the Lifemaker). There was a retcon there as Eva’s story was she killed the one who turned her into a vampire. At the end of Negima, it was like, “Yeah, I know you think that’s what happened, but that’s not what happened, so yeah, the MotB is the one who made you the being you are today.”
Once upon a time, I jokingly shipped ChaoxEva based on this panel, http://manga.redhawkscans.com/reader/read/mahou_sensei_negima/en/0/296/page/11 looks like I wasnlt so far of.
Back reality though, it would seem sensei will never rise and will only fall. Sad really.
I didn’t get that at first, then I remembered Chao is Negi’s decedent and Touta is his homunculus.
I wonder if this part of Dana’s bigger plan to bring Eva and Touta together. She did say that she wanted Eve to truly know what’s like to be in love. Which is kinda bs, since she had Negima’s dad and arguably Neggie for spell since Neggie wasn’t aging either until he was kidnapped.
Yeah, I agree. Although this could be retconned further by having Eva fall for Touta, get sent packing from Dana’s castle (which Eva somehow replicates for her diorama bottle), whereupon she hooks up with Nagi and crew (but only when Arika wasn’t there), falls for Nagi, gets trapped, falls for Nagi’s son, etc., all because of Touta’s connection with the two.
I do think it should be pointed out that, if you look carefully at what Eva reveals in 109th Period of Negima!, she never said she was royalty. In fact, she specifically says, “I was taken into the custody of a feudal lord somewhere, and spent my childhood in his castle.” (Emphasis into “taken into the custody of,” as opposed to “grew up in the home of.”) Of course, this is just the omnibus translation, which I personally like to think is more accurate. But anyway, Asuna asks if that means she was a princess, but she deliberately dodges the question. The point is, Akamatsu didn’t change the story at all–Eva’s past remains as it was from Negima.
This is off topic, but I’ve been wondering who you guys are and how you got into manga translation, and what sort of work system you use?
I’ve been studying Chinese at university and I was thinking joining a scanlation group would be a good way to improve my language (more appealing than economy translations!), so I was curious what route you took into official work.
Thanks in advance if you get a chance to reply!
I’m guessing you already know that we’re manga translators, which I think answers the question of who we are, at least in this context. I don’t think you were looking for a philosophical answer or a detailed personal history…
Anyway, we work for various manga publishers doing freelance work, which is how most manga translation gets done these days. I think the best way to get into it these days is to introduce yourself to publishing company representatives at conventions, or make connections (for example, we’ve helped some people get jobs in the manga industry). We’re pretty sure most publishers will give you a test to see if you’re up to snuff.
If you’re looking to improve your language skills, our recommendation would be to translate manga for your friends. We would never ever recommend joining a scanslation group, because we don’t approve of piracy. We started by translating light novels in our free time. Thankfully, those translations never saw the light of day.
Out of curiosity, have you guys translated any light novels professionally?
The answer to that is yes, but the publisher was quite dissatisfied and took us off the series at volume three. We’ve gotten better at prose translating (we think) since, but we’re not super eager to take up another light novel series, because they’re ridiculously time consuming.
I’ve had a couple of translators tell me that translating manga is one thing, translating a light novel is a whole other beast. You guys are basically confirming that here, not just because of the time factor, but because it is prose vs. speech bubbles.
I really haven’t been a fan of the official light novel translations I’ve seen. There seems to be too much of a push to Westernize them, as there was with manga in the 90s.
Ultimate Bngo ! my Friend !^^
Also according to the official translations I done by you in volume 36, page 155. The lifemaker calls Eva quote “My daughter”. You have also said akamatsu has not changed Eva’s backstory. Yet, this has been contradicted in this chapter as Eva’s mother and presumably father are presented to the reader as fact.
Therefore, the official translators cannot be both wrong or right. So unless the lifemaker is Eva’s father. Akamatsu has altered some detail of Eva’s backstory.
Because, being taken into custody is not the same being adopted.
I thought the Lifemaker called Evangeline “my daughter” because the Lifemaker created the life-form that Evangeline is now, which is not what she was before she was adopted.
yeah, I agree with you
By that logic the lifemaker would have to call most lifeforms on mundus magicus/Inverse Mars his children or descendants, since he created the dimension they exist and evolved in, hence the secondary title Lifemaker. The deity does not.
However, the pseudo god has a family and a lineaged of which he/she refers to on those familiar terms. The deity’s daughter the first Queen of Osita and founder of the pactio system of whom both Asuna and negi descend from and the Gravekeeper that also claims to be both negi’s and asuna’s ancestor. In volume 31 chapter 284 page 5 the lifemaker makes its first reference to family in any shape or form “Imperial Princess of Twilight child of my blood”. ( I had always found this a bit long-winded, but I must trust your translation, for I hold no other choice.)
Only twice has the Lifemaker done so, Therefore the Lifemaker calls Eva it’s daughter in a literal sense. The Lifemaker also created the Averruncus, but does not regard them in Familial terms of family or kinship.
Since the Lifemaker is not a vampire it calling Evangeline family is also not applicable.
Therefore, Eva’s backstory has been altered in some capacity.
Okay, let’s try a different logic. Some person of high rank took Evangeline into custody–this much we know for certain. Since Evangeline lived in that person’s castle and wanted for nothing, it’s not too much of a stretch to say that, after taking Evangeline into custody, said high-ranking person adopted her. We also know that Evangeline wanted for nothing, which means she was treated as a member of the family and not as a servant.
Whether or not being adopted is the same thing as being taken into custody, being a adopted does require being taken into custody, and of course Evangeline wouldn’t want to acknowledge the adopter as a parent because of what that person did to her. In that case, the Lifemaker could have called her “my daughter” as a reference to that adoption.
On the other hand, if, as you suggest, the Lifemaker did literally biologically conceive Evangeline, why would she have to be taken into custody in some castle somewhere before the Lifemaker could experiment on her and make her into a vampire?
Not the word “girl” can be used because it has raised since his arrival at the castle until his vampirism.
We do not know Eva combiens time spent with the life-maker until he trensforme, if it is it took 4 years.
Moreover, even if I do not like the idea of doing the life-maker a real “misunderstood hero” (for me it should rather be “dark gray” (wanting to save the world while fulfilling personal desires) that ” light gray “(just want to save the world and bring back the peace and the love at any price even use violence.) If’s why I’d rather he vamped Eva selfish desire of knowledge rather than to save it.
BUT, the chapters anyway has given indications that your theory WOULD be (and not “IS”) right, the life-maker has said “your body will not die.” Certainly it shows her immortal state yes, but it can also stated that she was in danger of death before the experiment.
Finally, yes, the life-maker not called “my child” all his creatures.
But we can consider that Eva having the same power as him, the force of darkness, it is the only one outside of his children of blood (Ostia Royal family), he considers eva to be called “child.” The averruncus were only homunculus / golem overpowering that he had created and did not hesitate to sacrifice them if necessary. Yet he also showed them compassion and did not require them blind adoraion.
If he is capable to feel like that for “dolls” made almost in “industrial method”, that he will feel for his most perfect creature, the one that most like him, almost his successor in some ways.
Do not can he call her “my daughter”?
You cling to a single meaning of “son / daughter” when there are very many! And when thy INTERPRETATION proved to be potentially false you scream in scandal. Broadened your horizon a bit my friends.
I repeat but even before the revelations of Chapter 83 of UQ and despite the fact that the life-maker calls Eva “my daughter” at the end of Negima, I never, I mean NEVER considered the lifemaker and Eva was a literal (blood or even adoption), but rather symbolic parentage link.
I risk getting into trouble here because there are things Akamatsu-sensei seemingly implies, only to have him go some other direction and then bridge that gap.
The impression I have always had when it came to Eva being a creation of the Lifemaker is that she is the Lifemaker’s unique creation — an immortal, shinso vampire. There had been some minor implications that shinso “High Daylight Walkers” were not unique to Eva, hence Dana in UQH. The way Akamatsu-sensei has structured things, it seems that the Lifemaker decided to create their own version on a true shinso vampire — Eva. After that, a true shinso vampire (Dana) took Eva under her wing and trained her.
@Alethea & Athena If you are, who you claim to be. And you care that great a deal about how your work is viewed, then common sense would indicate, that the two of you use both your Bachelor’s in japanese. and send a message to Akamatsu’s twitter, asking for guidance or clarification, in regards to his work.
A simple solution really, given how poorly UQ holder! is doing in general he’ll probably tell the entire story in its current incarnation.
If you are talking about the story, I doubt very much that Akamatsu-sensei is going to tell anyone anything. Japanese fans ask him stuff all the time and he doesn’t answer. Most authors don’t answer stuff while a story is being told because they want you to read the story.
You have your idea of how things are regarding Eva and the Lifemaker. The Twins have explained what has been accurately translated and how it would be interpreted. I know you want a definite “Is Eva the biological daughter or not?” question answered by Akamatsu-sensei because you believe Eva must be the Lifemaker’s biological daughter and that’s now how the story is displaying it. I would say that he already has answered that question in the manga in the manner the Twins have spelled out.
That was always my interpretation as well. It also came off as kind of mocking Eva in a way.
Curious Astro-san, The replay input for the Twins latest comment is absent, is their an unknown issue. I do; however, intend to reply to them once. This issue is resolved.
There’s not really a problem per se. It is just that after a certain number of levels, there is no reply button because the comment system won’t indent comments any further to prevent them from becoming unreadable. If you want to reply to the Twins, you’ll have to reply to the first comment that has a reply button (which I think is yours) and just indicate that you are addressing them. Maybe something like, “@Alethea & Athena —“
😆 Well, so do I because you guys are awesome translators. 😀 (And I still say it is a shame that Kodansha Comics didn’t let you both correct all the omnibus volumes to where you took over the series, thus giving it a single, unified voice.”
I won’t go quite that far, but I get your point. Back then, I think one could easily say that Akamatsu-sensei didn’t know if Eva was a princess, a member of the nobility, or as she’s become, a peasant. Or rather, he left things in a way so that in future, if he wanted to make Eva a princess who’d been caputured by a feudal lord, or if he wanted to make her a member of a noble family who was saved by this lord, or whatever, Akamatsu-sensei could do so.
That being said, back then, no one I knew was saying, “You know, I think Eva was some peasant girl.” There were a lot of people saying they thought she was royalty (I wasn’t one of them, though I did think she was nobility) because that was the feeling given at the time by the manga.
[…] on how she kept growing in power with every encounter, and she learned Japanese. As I said in my chapter 83 […]