Chapter 180 of Negima! came out with five color pages showing the cast. As I figured, all non-Japanese characters would be played by Japanese actresses. This only leaves the role of Negi in question, which of course will no doubt be played by a Japanese boy. Some of these girls look way too old. I gather that the ages of the actresses is from 12 to 22. Yeah, a 22-year old girl looks like she should be in middle school. *rolls eyes*

Here are some images for you (which were blown away because of where I had them stored…oh well, I can re-upload IF someone requests them):

And the manga version of the class role:

Well, this is typical Japanese dorama casting — don’t bother trying too hard to get the look right and most certainly no gaijin!

Here are some other pages (notes from O_o — thanks!):

Page 2:

Asuna (top)
Misa (bottom left)
Sakurako
Madoka
Kazumi
Sayo (bottom right)

Page 3:

Setsuna and Konoka (that seemed pretty clear)
Yue (bottom left)
Haruna
Yuuna
Misora
Akira

Page 4:

Ako (top left)
Nodoka (top right)
Ayaka (bottom left)
Natsumi
Chizuru
Ku Fei
Mana (bottom right)

Page 5:

Makie (top left)
Chachamaru (top middle)
Eva (top right)
Kaede (middle left)
Fumika (middle middle)
Fuuka (middle right)
Zazie (bottom left)
Chisame
Satomi
Chao
Satsuki (bottom right)

Well, I don’t expect much from this, but no doubt I’ll watch just to see a train wreck. *lol* I’d be interested in hearing what you guys say about this.

Update (4 August 2007): There’s an official live-action website from Shounen Magazine.

Update (5 December 2007): I’ve seen the first episode. Its awful and so bad that I’m not even going to bother reviewing it as I’d planned. Even if you don’t know Japanese, the horrible acting just screams through. Ugh. Awful. Why Akamatsu-sensei agreed to this (beyond the money), I don’t know. They did get some characters proper hair color (Chachamaru for example) but…*shudder*