September 3rd, 2009 
AstroNerdBoy 魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 29 Chapter 263 (manga)
Mahou Sensei Negima! Manga Chapter 263
Negima! Manga Vol 29 Ch 263 Review
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Negi begins to wind (and thus charge) Chachamaru, who’s now in adult form, which she finds to be pleasurable beyond measure while Akira, Makie, Yuuna, and Ako look for Negi with some sense of attempting to kiss him for a pactio (Akira not really wanting to follow through). Negi learns that too much of a good thing is not a good thing and the smoldering Chachamaru proves. Negi apologizes as this had been Asakura’s idea to set the mood for a pactio kiss with Chachamaru.
Chachamaru reveals that she has had some concerns over performing a pactio because she doesn’t know if she has a soul or not. Negi cites the Youkai Parade artwork, where regular objects that gain life (the Tsukumogami) are depicted along with other youkai. Chachamaru is scared that she does not have a soul and this would be revealed if no pactio card formed between herself and Negi. Negi hugs Chachamaru and assures her that she does have a soul so it will be OK. With that, they kiss but no card forms. The kiss continues with Chachamaru sure it will fail and Negi silently pleading with whomever grants these pactio cards to let it go though as his own magical power is poured into the kiss.
Sayo, who’s been there the whole time in doll form with Chamo, points out that a pactio card has now formed meaning Chachamaru now has a pactio with Negi. Chachamaru sees this and realizes what it means. Negi smiles and hands her the card. Beaming, Chachamaru thanks Negi and calls him in English, “My master.”
Thoughts/Review: There has long been a debate over the idea of whether Chachamaru had a soul or not. Negi’s citation of the Youkai Parade artwork as supporting his idea that Chachamaru had a soul is something similar to what I suspected Akamatsu-sensei would use when it came to giving her a pactio. While the term “youkai” is often translated to the English word “demon” in order to allow English readers to get a sense of them being evil (though not all youkai are evil whereas all demons are), it unfortunately fails to capture the true sense of the word in the case of Negima!
In the Christian belief system, demons are the fallen angels whereas in Japanese mythology, youkai can be created from transformed humans, animals, or even an objects like a cell phone (the Tsukumogami). Not all youkai are born in this fashion because in the general sense of the term, youkai covers quite a bit of ground, including most monsters and supernatural beings from myths and legends. Some youkai are kind and helpful while others are not.
My point is that because Akamatsu-sensei has depicted youkai often in the Negima! series to include the transformed types of youkai such as the Tsukumogami, it suggested to me that characters such as Chachamaru and Chachazero could have a soul. I’ve long thought that Chachazero was ensouled (having a soul placed into her doll body) and that may well be the case. However, she may also be a type of youkai that obtained life of her own after 100-years. The only drawback with that idea is that Chachazero, while appearing to have life outside of Eva, appears totally dependent on Eva’s magic to give her the ability to move.
Regardless, Chachamaru now has her first pactio and Akamatsu-sensei has closed the door on additional pactios for the time being. It is possible that he may reopen that door during the heat of battle, as he did during the Kyoto arc, but that seems more remote to me now. As I’ve mentioned before, for whatever main story Akamatsu-sensei has in store for us, I expect Natsumi, Ku Fei, and Chachamaru to play a larger role in it now that they have pactios.
This pactio is also the first time Negi has been so aggressive when it comes to kissing. Normally, he acts like a 10-year old when it comes to these things but his determination to make sure Chachamaru scored that pactio was a nice touch, more so because Negi’s determination wasn’t so his battle harem gained another official member (Chachamaru having previously been an unofficial member of the battle harem though an official member of Ala Alba) but for her sake and his belief that whether she has a soul or not, it doesn’t matter. The icing on the cake was the happy look on Chachamaru’s face combined with her use of the English “my master” term. In my mind, Negi now ranks higher than Eva in Chachamaru’s hierarchy chart because (1) she has a true pactio with him and (2) she addressed him as “my master.” I think she’ll also continue to address Eva as “master” but Negi will be superior. ^_^
This isn’t a big point I suppose since Akamatsu-sensei has never been consistent on the age-changing illusion magic (whenever it suits the story, the clothing of the person using the magic is altered and when it suits the story, the clothing remains unaltered), but I do wonder why Chachamaru had to be in adult form for the contract and then returned back to kid-sized immediately after.
As an aside, I could have done without the repeat joke of Negi “screwing” Chachamaru. *_* Oh well.
So, it appears that this is our last fun chapter before the drama and darkness of the main story kicks into high gear. I’m lead to believe that this will go on for quite some time but we’ll see. In the meantime, remember that chapter 264 won’t be out next week, so I don’t think there will be any spoilers next Saturday.
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Greatest pactio yet. And this whole chapter has put Chachamaru higher up on my list of fav Negima girls. I like how much she’s changed since the beginning of the series. She used to be pretty expressionless except for the occasional half-smile or raised eyebrows, yet she showed so much emotion here.
Its funny how they seem to see Sayo as sort of a little mascot character almost like Chamo when she’s possessing her doll. That panel with Negi petting her gave me a big grin.
One thing that I’ve been wondering about, there were a couple honorific changes lately. Ku’s seemed like more of a joke than anything “Negi-bouzu-dono.” But It would be kind of cool to see her start calling him “Negi-dono.” And Chachamaru took out the honorific altogether, just calling him “Negi” and I LOVED that. I hope she keeps it that way ^_^
Sayo is usually a scene stealer. This time, the pactio ended up keeping Sayo from stealing the scene but I do admit that Negi petting her doll form with her appreciative “Eh, heh, heh” laugh came pretty close. I’d like to see Sayo score her own pactio at some point.
As to Ku Fei, her addressing Negi as “Negi-bouzu” became an affectionate way of addressing him, much like Eva addressing him as “boya.” Adding the word “dono” to the end of “Negi-bouzu” would be Ku Fei’s way of showing respect to the boy she has been master too who is now her master. ^_^
As to Chachamaru, she did use an honorific of sorts when she addressed him as “My master.” I wonder if she’ll continue to call him “master” from here on or will she address him as simply “Negi.” That will be interesting to follow.
I’d imagine most people had the same “Huh, what?” moment about her sudden transformations between bodies – it was kinda jarring. I suspect Akamatsu-sensei took the liberty in order to make a point about how serious they both were with the kiss, not just the pactio. (Not to mention the squick factor of two prepubescents making out.)
The “screwing” jokes themselves don’t bother me nearly as much as the… well, stupidity and/or insensitivity on Negi’s part. She repeatedly asks him to take it slow. She repeatedly shows signs of serious distress when he doesn’t. And yet he’s baffled that once more, it’s not “as good for her as it was for him”? That doesn’t fit his character very well.
Her facial expressions are just perfect for capturing the inherent comedy, once you get past the “Why is Negi being so stupid?” aspect. But her afterglow-y expressions after the pactio spoke volumes by contrast. Almost enough to make me wonder whether laclongquan‘s hypothesis in the spoilers thread was right. (^_^)
i’ve been thinking if yunna would become a mage in the future since her parents are mages, and the sports team could be patios for her, thats why the author left them unpatioed with negi
Yuuna becoming a mage and making a pactio with the sports girls. I like it, I like it!
Knowing Yuuna, she’d probably try to pactio with her dad *_*
About the reason why Chachamaru returned to her original form: well, since it would be a problem if someone would see Negi, since he’s wanted as the prime responsable foe the destruction of the Gates. And it would also be a problem is people belive Nagi-sama is a lolicon. And besides, the only truly secure place was the roof, but it was allready ocupied,so…
No matter how we look at it, this is definately one of the more noticable pactio moments. I enjoyed it, though can’t say for sure if it tops everything, its definately with a top-tier scene.
The “screwing” was so lol “Opps my hand slipped” XD Nice and slow yeh :3. What I liekd about this chapter I guess is Chachamaru’s character development, there was always a build up for her thinking about her having a soul, but I didn’t think she’d think as deep as “what if the card doesn’t come up?!” Once again, fantastic story writing from akamatsu-dono.
Its too bad the pactio buidling stopped. And just noticed theres always three in a pattern right after asuna (to a certain extent)
kyoto: nodoka, setsuna, konoka
festival: yue, haruna, chisame
MWEnter: Kazumi, Kaede, Negi(w/Theo)
Ball:Ku, Natsumi(w/Kotarou) and Chachamaru
And finally, here cat? Its definatelly….Kanako’s Kuro?! (Love Hina baby yeh!) XD Come on! More LH references! =D
Best way to translate youkai is either “faery” or “japanese faery” i think. And it perfectly fits with even of them in myth and legends are NOT benevolent at all on general purpose. It even more fits with youkai/kami distinction is more often then not is just official title and almost nonexistent… exactly like with many “fair folk”, especially of Tuat(h)a de Danaan (sp?) – with many of them being Celtic gods like Llugh, Llir, Morrigan and so on.
Why is Sayo so cute?
Arrrrrgh the winding-up scene in this chapter was exactly the same as the earlier one down to the dialogue. AKAMATSUUU.
Wow, this is definetily going down in my list of favorite chapters. Although, I agree with arimeiji, it seems completely out of Negi’s character to not know how a pactio would feel, with the whole “making 30-fucking-million of them”, not to mention 2 in less than an hour. I mean, the whole “youthful innocence is kind of hard to swallow, considering the whole “paipan” thing back in volume 7.
Other than that, this chapter was both awesome and hilarious. Rofl at Chachamaru’s face in the last panel here, btw.
http://www.onemanga.com/Mahou_Sensei_Negima%21/263/16/
Well, i think i know why she turned back: if she were kissed that way in child-mode, the lolicons would go crazy, dont you agree? And that’s not very nice…
Well, i think i know why she turned back: if she were kissed that way in child-mode, the lolicons would go crazy, dont you agree? And that’s not very nice…
*perverted laugh*
well I’m kinda sad that sayo who was referred as one of the princesses did not get her pactio