Negima! Manga Vol 27 (Ch 242) SPOILERS
魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 27 Chapter 242 (manga)
Mahou Sensei Negima! Manga Chapter 242

Summary/Synopsis:

As Kotaro takes care of Kagetarou, Negi juices up to fight Jack Rakan. Jack is surprised at speeds that surprise Jack, including the Shundou technique. Negi pounds on Jack with lightning-like speed and Jack realizes that Negi’s “juiced up” bit was actually the Thousand Bolts spell.

In the stands, Chisame is not even sure that what Negi did is even possible. Chamo confirms that it is possible and that Negi developed this technique with the sole goal of defeating Jack with it. Chamo notes that there are only two people who’ve mastered the Magia Erebea (Eva and Negi) and only Negi has used it with the Thousand Bolts spell. Negi has named his new technique “Raisoku Shundou” — the “Lightning Shundou” (Lightning Speed Instant Movement). Because Negi is moving at the speed of lightning, Jack can’t compensate. Since Shadow-Eva advised Negi to go for the kill, Negi isn’t holding back presses his attacks, ending with a Chiha Yaburu Ikazuchi attack, though Rakan puts up a defense.

The furocity of Negi’s attacks distracts Kagetarou and gives Kotaro a moment to make a full transformation into beast form. Meanwhile, Jack comments on how Negi isn’t pulling his punches and to Jack’s surprise, Negi blasts him with another massive attack while Kotaro smashed Kagetarou. The resulting energy discharge causes people outside of the stadium to decide to check out what’s going on. Meanwhile in the stadium, both Kagetarou and Jack are out to the surprise of everyone with talk beginning to be that maybe this “Nagi” actually won.

Ako also sees this and and initially calls to “Nagi-san” in her mind, then corrects herself and thinks “Negi-kun.” In a flashback moment, “Nagi-san” and Kotaro come back from a match and Ako is assigned to bandage “Nagi-san” up. Seeing her reaction to his bloody bandage, Negi is concerned by she pulls herself together to proceed on. Negi thinks of when Ako told him that she liked “Nagi-san” and his conversation with Chisame on the subject. Ako starts to pass out and falls on “Nagi-san’s” lap before lifting her head to find herself face-to-face with “Nagi-san.”

Thoughts/Review:

So Negi used the Magia Erebea to basically become the Thousand Bolts spell rather than cast it outright. This nice thing about this is that Akamatsu-sensei laid the groundwork for this back in the Mahora Budokai when Negi absorbed his magic missile spell for an attack (“absorbed” is not the right term, but its close enough). I like how Akamatsu-sensei has such a good grasp on what has and hasn’t been done before and thus Negi suddenly mastering this new technique doesn’t stretch credibility. Negi’s done similar things before and has always been shown to be a quick study.

As to the fight, GOOD to see Kotaro in beast form. However, it is sad that because Negi is in the fight with Jack, that overshadows Kotaro’s fight.

While Jack (and Kagatorou) are down at the moment, I do not for a moment think that they are down for the count. I expect that before the count out is completed, Jack will get up and make some wisecrack comment about “is it my turn” (or something like that). I’d be stunned if Jack is actually down for the count.

This may seem weird, but the Ako revelation is more interesting to me. Now that she knows that her “Nagi-san” is in fact Negi, I like that she’s accepted it. I hope that Akamatsu-sensei reveals exactly how Ako came to know the truth and how she has been able to accept the outcome. It may be a stretch to ask for this now, but I do hope that we learn more about Ako’s scar at some point.

One side note — Natsumi’s reaction to Kotaro’s transformation (“Kota-kun got all hairy…”) was a laugh out loud moment for me.

Negima! Chapter 243 is delayed a week so no new Negima! next Wednesday (and no spoiler images this Saturday).