August 20th, 2009 
AstroNerdBoy 魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 29 Chapter 261 (manga)
Mahou Sensei Negima! Manga Chapter 261
Negima! Manga Vol 29 Ch 261 Review
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Natsumi reflects on the ball and her dance with Kotaro and has to remind herself that he’s only 10 when she spots Kotaro talking with Mei from Mahora. She’s a bit envious of how easily Mei talks with Kotaro (asking him for his autograph) and all. Paru comes up to “Nagi” and “Kojiro” to tell them they are going to take the opportunity of the Governor-General’s late arrival to form pactios with every girl who doesn’t currently have one. She tells Kotaro that he has to pactio with Natsumi, having someone learned that Kotaro expressed an interest to Jack about becoming a Magister Magi. Kotaro finds the idea of kissing Natsumi not to his liking, which Natsumi overhears after which she flees.
Negi finds Ku and decides to form a pactio with her. His enthusiasm puts her back a bit and she explains that she cannot just kiss him, but may only kiss him if he is stronger than her. Negi understands and since they can’t just battle in the ballroom, they settle for an arm wrestling competition, which Chachamaru judges. Negi underestimates Ku and almost loses but in the end, he defeats her. She races off and Negi follows, apologizing for not respecting her feelings. However, she had left only to prepare herself and she kisses Negi and scores her pactio card thanks to Chamo’s magic circle. Her artifact is the Shinchintetsu Jizaikon and she tells Negi that he has to marry her and take over the Ku Clan. This shocks Negi and leads Ku to say it is a joke, but Chamo remembers Chao and thinks that anything is possible.
Meanwhile, as a depressed-looking Chachamaru observes Negi, Kotaro attempts to find Natsumi.
Thoughts/Review: So, Akamatsu-sensei is going to make Kotaro a Magister Magi then. Well, that’s the only way he can form a pactio because otherwise he couldn’t do it.
I think the pactio system is one that has gotten a tad bit out of hand, mainly due to the hot commodity of pactio cards in Japan (something we gaijin will never get unless we score one from Japan). I don’t have anything other than my gut feeling, but starting with Negi’s pactio with Theo, suddenly, everyone can pactio with everyone and that cheapens the whole system for me. After all, Negi’s ability to form so many pactios AND provide the power to each one made him a rare and special person (and this rarity is still hinted at via Emily’s reaction to Yue’s pactio card). However, if anyone can make a pactio because they have some sort of ability, then what’s the point?
Also, how are these cards/artifacts powered because we’ve not seen any hint of Kotaro having magical abilities, only ki (chi) . It made sense that a mage could form a pactio with a single partner because his/her power would help the partner and the partner would then help the mage. With Negi, his power is so massive, he could follow Nagi’s ability to form multiple pactio partnerships w/ artifact cards. So where’s Kotaro’s magic power? For him to suddenly have a magical ability smacks of retconning.
Well, we’ll see were Akamatsu-sensei takes things. He’s still a really good writer and Negima! is still my favorite manga but I just am not liking were the pactio element is apparently going.
On the positive front, it seems that we may get a resolution of sorts to the Natsumi/Kotaro romantic element. This whole idea of Natsumi being attracted to Kotaro has been around for quite some time now so I wouldn’t mind seeing it brought to a head. I may not be keen on Kotaro suddenly giving out pactios but the part of me that likes the idea of Natsumi and Kotaro being a couple may buy some tolerance. *lol*
It wasn’t too much of a stretch to see Ku Fei being given the next pactio, especially since she’s one of Negi’s warrior babes. He’ll need his front line troops to all have pactios for sure for whatever fight is forthcoming. On the lighter front, I rather enjoyed the possible linkage between Ku Fei and Chao Ling since Chao is a descendant of Negi. *lol* I’m opting for the harem ending whereby Negi marries his entire battle harem. I blame Kajishima-sensei (Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki). ^_~
Still, with Paru and Chamo working overtime to get everyone a pactio, I guess Akamatsu-sensei will take this opportunity to do just that. In Japan, I’ve seen speculation that Akira might be the next girl to score a pactio but we’ll see. I would think Chachamaru might be next simply to resolve the whole “robots can’t form pactios” discussion. She may not have formed a pactio with Eva, but if Chachazero can make a pactio, then Chachamaru can too.
Before I forget — Mei. *lol* I remember her asking for Negi’s autograph back during the Mahora Festival arc (though I don’t remember her actually scoring one) so I laughed when she scores Kotaro’s autograph. Smart girl. ^_^ I’d love for Akamatsu-sensei to confirm Mei as being the step-sister of Naru from Love Hina.
Still, why are Mei, Takane, Misora, and Cocone all wearing school uniforms to a formal ball? ^_^;;;
Oh yeah — I guess that since Akamatsu-sensei’s Latin writer is no longer on the team, the amount of Latin in the manga will drop off to almost nothing. I’m guessing that’s why Ku’s artifact has no Latin name but rather a Chinese name. That’s rather a bummer.
So a fun chapter, though a bit unexpected (prior to seeing the spoiler images at least) that Akamatsu-sensei would slow down things to give Ku a pactio during the ball. Kudos to all of you who predicted this would happen though. ^_^
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>Still, why are Mei, Takane, Misora, and Cocone all wearing school uniforms to a formal ball?
1. Most likely money problems paired with…
2. As Misora said Mahora is famous. They are Mahora student.
i rather think that sayo will be the next (partner)because i think the pactios will come as in chapter 253 .(and excuse me for my English:it’s because I’m a French teenager so…. )
I’m hoping for Aisaka myself, though Chachamaru definitely deserves one. Also, I was wondering why those four are at the ball in the first place, next being the lack of fancy dress.
Also, that would really suck if there wasn’t any more latin and other ancient language spells and stuff in Negima, that honestly is my favorite part of the series. It makes Negima incredibly unique, y’know?
And so, I propose a toast to Negima, I hope everything ends well! *clink*
PS: the new preview update for the comments is pretty cool!
because we’ve not seen any hint of Kotaro having magical abilities, only ki (chi) .
He’s a demi-dog god remember, his very being is partly magical.
I’m opting for the harem ending whereby Negi marries his entire battle harem. I blame Kajishima-sensei (Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki). ^_~
I’ll drink to that.
would think Chachamaru might be next simply to resolve the whole “robots can’t form pactios” discussion. She may not have formed a pactio with Eva, but if Chachazero can make a pactio, then Chachamaru can too.
Well, as I seem to recall Hakase mumbling about how Chachamaru had been given an enspelled soul, I think it’s highly possible.
Akamatsu-sensei’s Latin writer is no longer on the team? (‘o’) Where do I sign up? I’d do it for free without a second’s hesitation.
I definitely agree on two points:
One, I hope Chachamaru is next. At least in my mind, the storyline to now supports it more strongly than anyone except Makie. (Chachamaru would be first, if it weren’t for the potential conflict because Eva is her master. There’s just too much payoff in letting her resolve the “Yes, I have a soul” question.)
Two, pactio does seem to be getting cheapened of late. (Especially with the possibility of a Kotaro retcon.) I even find myself kinda hoping that Paru fails, to be honest. (‘~’) I love Makie and Akira, and still hope they get one… but the farther pactios spread out of the battle harem, the cheaper it seems to be. Almost to the point of turning Chamo’s joke from waaay back when into reality, that pactio is a generic power-up that gives you clear skin and makes you feel genki.
Not to mention “WTH could Ako, Yuuna, and Akira get for an artifact, logically?” A giant syringe and jumping shoes were silly even as a disposable cameo in the first anime, and I’m not sure how a Water Blast would translate into an object. Actually, now that I think about it… what would Chachamaru’s artifact be?
Sorry for splitting, I forgot to address al and leo.
@al: Wrt your first point, yeah… as often as the first two get stripped, they’re probably in permanent debt paying for clothes. (^_~) More seriously, I suspect it was some permutation of “to make them more recognizable” and “oops.”
@leo: Your English is perfectly fine. (^_^) I forgot to address Sayo in my previous post; do you have any idea what artifact she might get? Possibly hitodama, like in the first anime?
on the top of page 13, Ku Fei really showed her strength….
@al103 — Considering that Godel seems to have arranged for Negi’s companions of all sorts to come to the ball (including Tosaka and Mama Bear), one would think that the Governor-General would arrange for appropriate dresses to be provided to Takane and company. That’s my thought at least.
@leo — I think Sayo will get a pactio before too long.
@Orion — I think there will still be limited Latin, at least in what we’ve already seen. New stuff is where I think we won’t see more Latin and if so, that will be unfortunate.
@Hugh — I was unaware of him being a “god” at all. ^_^; I believe he’s “hanyou” — half youkai/half human, but so is Setsuna, only Setsuna is a member of the raven tribe (Del Rey mistakenly called it the “bird tribe”) whereas Kotaro is a member of the dog tribe.
Regarding Chachamaru, I know I’ve long believed that Chachazero had been ensouled but I don’t remember such thoughts about Chachamaru. That said, in Japanese culture, everything has a soul of some sort as I understand it. That’s why non-alive items can become evil youkai (~demon) under certain conditions (such as a cell phone used for evil that it becomes alive as a youkai). I can’t really explain it, but Hiroko-sensei explained it to me several years ago and it is quite fascinating.
Anyway, my point isn’t that Chachamaru is evil or will become youkai, but that the concept of her being “alive” is very much in line with Japanese thinking. Heck, that was a major theme of “Chobits” — are robots alive?
@arimareiji — you should send in your request to be the Latin writer via Kodansha. ^_^
As to your first point, I don’t think there is a conflict with Eva being Chachamaru’s master. Eva has lots of automaton servants with Chachazero being chief (as Eva’s official partner with a pactio) and Chachamaru being #2 as bodyguard for Eva during her weakened condition. The fact that Eva let Chachamaru go on the trip combined with her remarks to Chachamaru prior to the robot’s departure suggests that Eva already knows that Chachamaru has deep feelings for Negi and wouldn’t be surprised to see Chachamaru pactio with Negi.
As to the pactios, I figure that Akamatsu-sensei wanted to give every girl in the class a pactio since he even designed a card for Eva way back when. That said, there are girls not currently in the battle harem that have been shown to be pretty impressive during the Mahora Festival.
– Akira: She seemed pretty good in a fight (as seen both in the Mahora Festival arc and in her featured chapter where she gets Negi’s ring back) and combined with her actions on the MW to be willing to protect her comrades, she’d be a good addition to the battle harem.
– Yuuna: Yuuna not only fought and took on a leadership role during the Mahora Festival battle, she retained those magic guns and again took on the leadership role when it came to attempting to score an Ala Alba badge (even though she and her group failed).
– Sayo: She’s already part of the battle harem so she should get a pactio no matter what, although she has a pseudo pactio via Asakura with that custom golem flier.
– Makie: She’s been on Akamatsu-sensei’s pactio list going back to volume 3 so I think he will make sure she finally gets her card and artifact. She does have some ability though as we first saw in volume 3.
– Ako: Another girl whom Akamatsu-sensei long has eyed for a pactio. Question is, with Konoka already being a healer, what will Ako be? Her card from Akamatsu-sensei showed her to be a nurse, but she really hasn’t had anything much said about a nursing ability and her skills shown have been in the musical area. She doesn’t seem like a good fit into the battle harem but a 2nd healer might not be a bad thing.
– Natsumi: I like Natsumi, but the only reason to give her this pactio with Kotaro is to get them to kiss and to get her a card.
As to what Chachamaru’s (or anyone else’s) artifact would be, I couldn’t even begin to guess. Chachamaru already has weapon abilities (the blade and gun her arms can transform into) and the ability to fly. However, I’m sure Akamatsu-sensei will come up with something clever.
Well, in Chachamaru’s case, a pactio would deny us the magic-recharging scenes:
http://www.onemanga.com/Mahou_Sensei_Negima!/190/17/
As for what her artefact could be, a laser canon or the like would fit prety well. But I’m expecting Akamatsu to be more creative then that.
As for Sayo, an artificial body that increases her telekinesis and other ghost abilities.
BTW, about Akira’s pactio, I may be wrong, but her and Ako’s development might be similar(or identic) to that of Yue and Nodoka: from Akira suporting Ako’s love to becoming her rival in love.
As for their artefacts, I heard a rumor that they may be complementary with the already existing ones.
Natsumi’s may give her the ability to disguise herself(very usefull for they infiltration they planed).
As for Yunna, difinetily guns, posibly barier piercing ones.
i’m mostly eyeballing an Pactio with Yuuna … simply going from what i believe the battle harem still needs … long range combat (sure, you could argue that Yue is allready but …)
Her Pactio would certainly (as far as my guess goes) be two guns (possiblely expied from Nastuki’s elements in MaiHiME’verse)
Arm wrestling is serious business X3. Its kinda cute AND awesome how this chapter played out, the art expression always makes the mood almost perfect (I say almost perfect cause the image on top of page 13 made Ku looked semi-manly buff XD, other then that, Ku looks gorgeous).
I don’t feel that the pactio is cheapening everything, the more the merrier, and considering that that the running of the story isn’t in its ending stages, theres still time to slowly butsurely blend the others in.
“For him to suddenly have a magical ability smacks of retconning.”
Not really, I just remembered takahata’s Iaiken abilities, where the fusion of both magic and ki is used even though he himself couldn’t incantate magic.
And I always questioned that concept of if everyone knwos pactios are great, why doesn’t everyone do it (in the sense of the general population in the story). I liked to think Akamatsu will eventually explaining the true nature of the pactios soon, cause I’m still wondering what the big difference is between the probationary and permanent pactios.
LoL and I agree with many things about the Kotarou x Natsumi pactio, only sad thing is it sorta breaks Kotarou’s individual statusas a non-mage. I’d have been more satisfied with Batsumi being the mage and him getting the card, but Natsumi needs a card too, and this is how it all played. Also, DORAMA! Mei Sakura love triangle? X3
I was unaware of him being a “god” at all. ^_^;
Back in Kyoto, he mentioned being a half-breed (implied outcast) of the dog-gods, and then there is his name, Inugami, Gami is another form of Kami.
only Setsuna is a member of the raven tribe (Del Rey mistakenly called it the “bird tribe”)
Or to keep the professionally offended off thier backs, after all, there is a real Crow tribe in the U.S.
And in regards to Chachamaru, Hakase was thinking on how she was made, with Cho’s tech and Eva, somehow (as Hakase doesn’t/didn’t believe in the concept of “souls”), magically encasing a soul in her. But that’s from the U.S. releases.
Here is the possibility of what artifacts are possible for the rest of the girls would get (according to me).
– Akira: she would be getting a pactio connecting her affinity with water. Most likely a artifact which can both heal & attack (as is the nature of water).
– Yuuna: most likely magical weapons such as Guns, Cannons, etc (similar to Jack’s multi-form blades artifacts)
– Sayo: what a ghost doesn’t have is a body and i think her artifact would be a body which grants her alot of physical powers
– Makie: hers is a bit difficult one but my guess would be a capturing/trapping type artifact
– Ako: don’t think her artifact would be a healing type but instead would be a protection barrier creating type which would help her protect people (she hates blood & faints when she see it which would in my view decreases her chance of becoming a healer but she still wants others to not get hurt so a artifact which decreases the amount of damage taken would be perfect for her). Also there is a possiblity that her artifact might be something which gives power-boost support to her team.
– Chachamaru: as being a robort i think her artifact would give her the ability to use magical attacks (since presently she has lasers and physical combat abilities)
– Natsumi: i can’t think of anything for her but i am sure her artifact would depend on who she does the pactio with
@Hugh Roe: Or to keep the professionally offended off thier backs – Hey, I resent that remark! (^_~)
@DeltaResilience: And I always questioned that concept of if everyone knwos pactios are great, why doesn’t everyone do it – Oh, the double entendres that could lead to, especially considering they start with kissing. (^_~)
~~I liked to think Akamatsu will eventually explaining the true nature of the pactios soon, cause I’m still wondering what the big difference is between the probationary and permanent pactios. – Good point; I wonder about that too. I have the feeling that he’s been holding off on fully explaining it, to try to keep maximum possible leeway in using them – that could wind up biting him later.
@fg7dragon: Well, in Chachamaru’s case, a pactio would deny us the magic-recharging scenes – One of my favorite scenes ever. (^_^) Her expression is priceless, not to mention the string of &*(#$ #{>@% %#$~!@ coming from someone so extraordinarily polite.
Count me in with the “Sayo should get some sort of physical body” supporters. All I could think of was hitodama, but the body idea gives more possibilities. Random thought re: Sayo – is it just me, or has the idea that she’s restricted to the school or to Eva’s magical artifact more or less flown out the window?
Theodora is the Princess of the Hellas Empire so odds are she has had some magical training. Still Kotaro forming a Pactio doesn’t make much sense since he is a Ki User, but will see how it plays out soon enough, however he could acquire an Artifact via Mei thus increasing the Love Triangle between her, him, and Natsumi (which will be fair considering Negi is in the middle of a… a… I can’t even think of a name for the shape Negi is in right now…).
Just to add: The number on Negi’s pactio card is 496 the number you get when you add all of 3-A’s class/pactio numbers together, now think how his Artifact works. I’m guessing Natsumi will form a Pactio with Negi first then after Kotaro begins his Magister Magi training will form one with him later maybe at that Christmas Ball Yuna mentioned? ()
Makie and Ako already have official cards made by Akamatsu. Makie’s is Gymnastic Equipment and Ako’s is the Big Syringe (The most offensive healing artifact ever-it is a big needle think about it).
Yuna: I’m not too sure really. A gun artifact might make sense, but if Mana ever joins the group she’ll easily be beat in skill. Course Mana is a sniper or “dead shot” styled gunner while Yuna is the other kind: a trigger-happy nut styled gunner. So they balance each other out that way….
Natsumi: She is an actor so Disguise would be her power, maybe in the form of a Mask?
Akira: Water related obviously. She’s strong so maybe a Magic Staff (or Trident maybe?) that can casts water based spells, but still be used to fight.
Chachamaru: Armor with a lot of firepower. Her arms only become a sword and whip, so getting some long range attacks would be good.
Sayo: Again not sure. She’s a ghost more so a Japanese ghost a Yurei so maybe a Lantern that can summon “fire like spirits”.
@arimeiji: I think the deal with Sayo is that she was previously anchored to the school and its campus, but Eva’s doll served as the new anchor. Remember in volume either 20 or 21 when Asakura is sewing the voodoo doll into the chibi-Sayo cover?
Also, about the Kotaro-Magister thing, I don’t think it’s too much of issue, considering how Chamo pretty much compared ki to be focusing internal energy and magic power gathering external energy. I think it hinges on how Akamatsu plays it, it could either be good or bad.
Also, for my thoughts on the Pactios (if Paru has her way) are:
Akira: Either a water-attack trident, or enhanced scuba-gear or a submarine if there is going to somehow be an underwater level later on.
Yuna: I’m thinking Magic-Disruption Rifles so she can act as a replacement Asuna to break Fate’s barriers.
Makie: Either some crazy-ass ribbon or all the gymnastic equipment. Possibly they can transform from one to the other.
Ako: I’m thinking barriers or area-of-effect healing (compared to Konoka’s unit-based). That or sonic-attack electric guitar.
Natsumi: I was also thinking disguises or illusions to go with the actor motif.
Chachamaru: I have no clue.
Sayo: either an upgrade of Paru’s Sayo-bot or spirit/demon summoning stuff.
Although I’d prefer slightly if Kotarou finds himself unable to form a good pactio with Natsumi, I disagree that there is a large problem with Kotarou forming a pactio for a couple of reasons. The first — also stated by orion — is that ki and magic power are basically the same thing with different sources: http://www.onemanga.com/Mahou_Sensei_Negima%21/92/05/
This point by itself I don’t think is all that a convincing a reason why he should be able to form a pactio, but a highly skilled user of one of the two of magic or ki might be able to use techniques of the other type to some degree. For example, Negi was able to use Setsuna’s shikigami: http://www.onemanga.com/Mahou_Sensei_Negima%21/42/17/
On the same page in chapter 92 in the Del Rey version, it is mentioned that some techniques (even excluding Kankaho … probably mispelled) use both ki and magic (espcially if the techniques are strong) (see reference above). In the scanlation that I’ve checked, it says that onmyou users use magic (I wouldn’t be surprised if that is a typo). But if either case is correct, it is likely that Kotarou has some aptitude with magic.
I think that Negi –despite his power — is still in training, officially being a magister magi is not a prerequisite for being the master in a pactio.
Among the reasons why I do not think that Kotarou should form a good pactio is that unless told otherwise, he is an amateur in magic and that pactios are not common despite the possibility of buying an item to form one from a store (suggesting that it is not easy to form a “good” one).
First, I don’t think the system is being cheapened. I think the whole system was very oddly made “special” during the whole Yue arc when they tried to imply it was rare. On the contrary, they have freaking Pactio vending machines it seems in other parts of the magic world so that country must be an anomaly (maybe they outlaw kissing, after all, people have gone to jail for oral sex when crazy police decided to apply sodomy laws – that amazingly can be defined as such in some states).
Also, I never heard anything suggesting anyone couldn’t be pactioed, so maybe everyone has a secret power.
Kotaro, also says during the Rakan match to Mr. shadow user that Asuna’s sword is the ultimate enemy to magic users especially spirit magic users like us (implying that his inugami techniques are not ki/chi but actually a type of magic). I’m wondering if this is also a case of retcon (retroactive plot changes).
I once saw Makie and Chachamaru’s cards Makie had five gymnastics equipment and chachamaru was holding a gun like the barrier breaking one she used in kyoto so I wonder