March 10th, 2010 
AstroNerdBoy Negima! Manga Volume 25 Review
Negima! Magister Negi Magi Volume 25 is now included in Negima! Magister Negi Magi Omnibus Volume 9. It is out of print as an individual volume.
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For detailed chapter summaries of Negima! Volume 25 with chapter reviews, look below.
- Chapter 223
- Chapter 224
- Chapter 225
- Chapter 226
- Chapter 227
- Chapter 228
- Chapter 229
- Chapter 230
- Chapter 231
Man, it seems like a lifetime ago since I first read the chapters that compose volume 25 of this excellent manga. ^_^;
Without spoiling anything, recently Nodoka has shown her skills in a tough situation. As I reread this volume, Nodoka’s skillful use of mind reading to pilot Paru’s escape creation (the Flying Manta) made me smile. As usual, Akamatsu-sensei comes up with a way to have Nodoka be skillful, yet stay within character and without making her some super being. So in the current stories (a/o this writing), seeing how Nodoka’s character has grown yet stayed true to herself is a testament to Akamatsu-sensei’s writing skills. Knowledge is a dangerous thing. ^_~
Negi’s fight with Fate is something Akamatsu-sensei had to tease the fans with. Initially, I wondered how this could come off without a conclusion. Fortunately, Akamatsu-sensei worked out those pesky details and while the big villain getting away to fight another day is a major cliche, I feel Akamatsu-sensei manages to do it in a believable fashion.
As to Fate’s name “Tertium” (meaning “third”), most fans believe this is the 3rd incarnation of Fate. I take it a step further and say it is either the latest version of the Spider-Zero program from A.I Love You or it is an artificial construct based off that technology. There is a time issue which folks would argue nullifies my theory, namely that Spider-Zero was created after an earlier incarnation of Fate was around. I would only counter by stating that in a manga where time travel has been a major part of the story at times, there are no time issues. ^_~
Rakan’s battle with Koyomi and Tamaki is so very wrong as Akamatsu-sensei gets to go down depraved roads with panty sniffing, then finds a way to justify it story wise. While this perversion is a bit much for me, I will say that at the end when the girls surrender, seeing Chamo stabbed with Koyomi’s artifact and bleeding after taking all those pictures of the girls without panties makes me giggle every time. Konoka’s remarks on “I think someone is dead” makes it even funnier. Chamo paid once before when he watched Setsuna and Asuna change during the Mahora Festival.
Setsuna’s fight with Tsukuyomi had some really dark undertones including what could be an implied rape threat. I doubt Akamatsu-sensei actually goes that far, but the implication was enough. To see Setsuna defeated is also a sobering thing since she’s one of Ala Alba’s “big guns.”
Having Yue encounter Negi is nice, but the real treat came when Rakan decided to tell the backstory of Ala Rubra and Arika complete with a fight with what is believed to be an earlier version of Fate. This backstory stuff is very welcome by me because it helps put things in perspective.
So story wise, this volume rocks on a lot of levels but there’s still a LONG way to go. *lol*
As before, Del Rey does not have the LE cover art for this volume. However, if my theory is correct and the Japanese have no interest in licensing out the limited edition cover art, nor the OAD’s for that matter, then there is nothing Del Rey can do. It isn’t as though I need the ecchi art, but I like having both versions.
Otherwise, no other complaints about this volume (at least, not at this moment).
If you haven’t gotten into Negima! yet, I highly recommend it. For a shounen manga title, it is very well written to appease to adults as well as otaku and kids.
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Reading this volume with the benefit of hindsight I found that Fate comes off as even more smug and condescending with his talk of “Illusion” then he already did, given the most common theories about the nature of the residents of Mundus Magicus.
Related to this I was also struck with how Gatou’s reaction to some as yet unknown news in Chapter 231 (just before the Consul Agent reveal) was very similar to Negi’s reaction on reading Nodoka’s diary on what the secret was in Chapter 278 leading me to believe that this was when Gatou (and Ala Rubra) first discovered the truth.
On the Fate Spider Zero theory, I would argue that if some of Akamatsu sensei’s manga occur in the same world, it is more likely to be the other way around with Zero (pre Spider infection) being based on Fate given that it is implied in his message to Negi in the diary that Fate has been around for centuries (assuming the Del Ray translation is correct). Or it could just be that Akamatsu sensei likes to reuse character models (to use another AI love you example Toni with short hair looks alot like Asakura).
I got MY volume 25 in the mail today, from Amazon. Yeah, I wish they included both covers… If I collect manga, I want ALL of it.
so this is where the scene from Get a chance came from
should’ve guessed
I got this the other day at Borders, but haven’t sat down and read it yet. I did read the scanlations, of course, and the whole “Negi Party vs. Fate Party” thing was pretty good, with just about everyone getting in on the action, plus there’s the first parts of “Rakan Sets Out,” which were the first parts of the much-awaited backstory of Negi’s parents. Hard to believe these chapters came out in WSM back in 2008 (last Summer/early Fall), with the collected volumes coming out here a year after they’re released in Japan.
Also, thanks for the LE art for this volume. The looks on everyone’s faces were priceless. I LOLed.
I would not mind having both versions… the ecchi version has more background, and a slightly better toned sky that I could see… (also, Kono-chan’s face reaction is PRICELESS!!!)
Reading volume 25 brings me back quite a ways as well because people miss details (including me) – lol – ironically, I learned the Law of forgetting in pre-calculus)
I picked this one up at borders too along with the first 24 vols that they happened to have i been wanting to buy them and just happen to see them all so was like hey ill go for it, and i read it enough to buy them. Looks like its time to start my manga collection lol. I wonder if after a while if funimation will get the Negima OADs dubbed and when Rakan comes in it will be interesting to see who voices him along with Dynamis and Kotaro.
Even in the regular version, Rakan grins a bit creepily as he stares right up Asuna’s dress.
Personally, I’ve found a bit amusing how Fate runs away from every single battle he’s in with a character. I mean, he’s already supposed to be crazy strong, right?
First fight, he goes “I don’t feel like fighting vampires today TTYL” and disappears.
Second fight he’s like “I have underestimated your sidekicks I will go to fight dragons now and give all my XP to them” and runs away.
Then he actually kills a dragon.
Third fight he’s like “Oh no diplomacy has failed let me run away after I rant about steroids”
During Rakan’s fight with Negi he’s thinking “Damn I could’ve lost my perfect 0-0-0 record there I better go find that key-thing” which is why he was in a bad mood.
When he fights Rakan he actually bothers to “kill” him then says “Killing one main supportish character makes me sleepy I will escape through this puddle that follows me around wherever I go”
This would explain why all his bloodthirsty sidekicks are extremely psychotic, because they’ve had to live off the XP of dragons for God knows how long.
I would be angry too if a cut-scene ended all my important battles early.
@Orion: Funny. (^_^)
Maybe the top two rows of this Order of the Stick comic explain why Fate never kills Negi-tachi?
@orion: this isn’t half that bad actually.
*About the encounter between fate and eva, according to eyesotope from MH, the delray’s translation is “I don’t think I care to face a pure blood high daylight walker just now”, which, like I said back then, is completely wrong. What he’s saying is 「 相手は吸血鬼の真祖では分が悪い」
“If my opponent is a high daylight walker, I’ll be at disadvantage”
So he doesn’t fight because he know very well that Eva is stronger than him.
*At the gate port, he came to… destroy the gate port. Fighting with negi wasn’t at his advantages, since, he wanted to finish all of this before anyone could see who destroyed it. He didn’t even intend to say hello to negi, actually, is was simply because negi interfered, starting to call reinforcements and so on.
And he merely fought negi to prevent him for interfering while one of his comrade was setting everything in order to destroy that gate port. As soon as everything was in place, Fate stopped fighting. Also, by letting negi and his comrades escape, he could use them later, showing false video about them destroying the gate port. He actually turned at his advantage negi’s interference.
If there is already a culprit running around, no one will search other culprits, right?
About the first encounter in ostia, right form the start, he merely wanted to create chaos around so that they could kidnap Asuna without being noticed. As soon as asuna was kidnapped, everyone could retreat, their goals were completed anyway.
About the second encounter, we still don’t know really why in the first place they came here and started to destroy everything. But it wasn’t in order to kill negi and his partners, that’s for sure. So the fact that he retreated without doing it isn’t that stupid.
I wouldn’t be surprised if next chapter, or a few chapter after, we suddenly realize that fate came in ostia that second time for a completely different reason, and that he used the chaos back then to do it without being noticed. Just like the first time in ostia.
Also, bear in mind that
-fate is interested by negi, therefore, he’s thinking that killing without having a good fight, just like when he killed rakan, is a waste.
-fate, and his comrade(except tsukuyomi^^) don’t want to kill “real” humans, as much as possible. After all, fate said it himself, their goal is to save the world (that is, the old world for sure), therefore, real humans. So as much as possible they don’t want casualties. They are good guys after all, just like every villains until now x).
If you put all of this together, it makes sense. For sure, akamatsu sensei is merely using all of this to postpone every time the fight between fate and negi. But it’s
really well done, ImO ;-).
And yes, I know you were being sarcastic, but still, I couldn’t help but answer like this :p.
Not entirely relevant to this post but Vetus has put up his translation/interpretation of an extended Q&A from Volumes 28 & 29 of Negima that clear up some questions as well as raising new ones
http://vetus.wordpress.com/2010/03/11/vol-28-29-digest/
NOTE: LONG POST AHEAD
@arimeji: Ha, that would explain why Fate’s so interested in him, along with his line “I never needed training”. Maybe this is the third one because you can only have one main rival per manga?
@Zefyris: That translation gives a new spin to things, especially with the “Fate is only as strong as Negi plus whatever’s needed to beat the crap out of him” thing. Because Negi was still a weakling (comparatively) Fate would be no match for Eva.
And how’s this for a new pet theory: Fate is (from a non-negi viewpoint) the protagonist of Negima! *gasp*
The following contains backstory that may or not be made real but it is FICTIONAL at the moment. I’m pretty sure it doesn’t contradict anything, though.
We know he was an artificial construct, right? What if soon after he was made (and was very weak because he had no rival to be stronger than) Chigusa found him.
He reluctantly made a deal to help her if it meant he’d get a rival so he wouldn’t be helpless to carry out the legacy of his master. To me that sounds like a juicy dark hero plot.
While concealing his emotions, he struggles with killing bystanders, opting for a NON-eternal petrification that healers could fix. The only people he really hurt were Negi, Asuna, and Setsuna because they willingly entered battle, which is showing some level of morality.
He only stays after Chigusa’s goal is reached (which he disliked in the first place because his little politician brain knew such conflicts couldn’t be solved by pure brute force a la the Lifemaker) because he needs the antagonist Negi to consider him his rival so he can save the world!
That accomplished, he runs away because he doesn’t like unnecesary casualties and legendary vampire is right in his face and trying to kill him. The trait he shares with Negi is his reluctance to get bystanders involved, they just express it differently.
After that, Negi trying to catch up to Fate gives him more power, as he gathers his allies from the corners of the two worlds, reforming the dream team Cosmo Entelechia. In his travels he realizes the Magic World is falling apart far quicker than he imagined, and realizes he must act now.
While it was assumed that Fate messed with the security of the gates, what if it was the weakening of the magical world that caused the magic barriers and such to weaken at the transport things?
By sealing off the gateports, he could have been protecting the Old World from fallout if the Magic World collapsed, preventing more Veteres from entering the Magic World while it was so unstable, and ending complications arising from the Old World knowing from what was happening.
The Old Ostia gateport is the escape-route for himself as well as the people he saves.
His main inner conflict is his hatred of long hair, which is why he wouldn’t team up with Kurt, the main reason why he erased Rakan, another reason why he was so angry when he was watching the fight (Negi was too lazy/busy to cut his hair) and his main reason for holding Anya hostage. That and his overprotective ministra hate her for bumping into him.
When Fate tries to use that contract artifact, everyone thinks it’s scary because Negi wouldn’t have been able to protect his friends if Fate changed his mind. I really doubt he’d go off on his end of the deal, especially since his version of mercy to bystanders and kindness to the “illusory” people of the Magic World seem to be his big traits.
Sorry for the long post, but I need a bit more. This is like my version of ANB’s Negi=Nagi
Continuing: (just a bit more, I promise!)
Note that this is the first thing Negi’s partners do after seeing Fate. They look just a bit like evil minions.
Also Negi has the most stupid reasons for antagonizing Fate in the beginning. “I don’t like what my dad doesn’t like”? Really? Sounds more evil than good, compared to Fate’s reasons.
Later, Fate found the Code of the Lifemaker, his master’s power, and put his plan into motion. From Negi’s ideal viewpoint his actions are despicable, as each life, even if it’s an illusion, deserves to live. From Fate’s cynicist viewpoint, Negi’s goal is ridiculous and unobtainable, as the Magic World is irreparably broken, and has to realistically save everyone that isn’t an illusion, and grant eternal bliss for everyone that is.
Depending on whether Negi’s very very VERY unrealistic goal works or not, it might be that Negi was the person that goes down in history as preventing an attempt to save 67 million mages in the biggest catastrophe in the history of worlds, while Fate and Kurt were the heroes that couldn’t triumph over evil.
There. Would this be the best plot twist ever or is it just me?
Fate was beaten by Nagi in the flashback movie and was only able to defeat Rakan thanks to the Code of the Lifemaker, so it makes sense that he’d be at a disadvantage against a full power Eva as well.
@Orion: Personally I wouldn’t like it, I prefer my stories to be more on the idealistic side.
@orion: sorry, I’ll read it after, when I’ll have recovered from the blow I took with mister random’s last post.
I mean, I just wrote that :
http://mangahelpers.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1838143#post1838143
Seeing how long it’s taking me to write in English, that was harsh. How much more unlucky can I have been, seriously.
I do own this book since like 4 months, and we translated it at the fuc**** same time.
Alright. It’s not like it’s the first time I waste my time I guess ^^”.
Yikes…I get busy and behind and all this discussion happens. ^_^; Still, let me get cracking here so I can get back to what I need to get done.
@Mister_random — Not only does Fate come off more smug, but we see how Akamatsu-sensei was laying the clues before us so that when the secret was revealed for sure, it wasn’t a red flag moment.
I agree that Gatou likely learned the truth of the world back then.
And as to Spider-Zero and Fate, I like your thinking here. While Akamatsu-sensei does like to modify character designs for new characters, I don’t think that’s at stake here. I think that Nitta-sensei is the one aspect to say, “same universe,” as well as Hakase’s remarks about the brother and sister team working on AI at MIT.
@mastermack0 — I agree.
@ku_fei — Not sure what scene you mean as I don’t know “Get a Chance.” ^_^;;;
@Shadow — You’re welcome. I’m hoping to be able to continue to share the LE art.
@Yakitatefreak — Yeah, it is amazing the little things one forgets or doesn’t note as important until a re-read. That’s why I wish Del Rey would just re-translate volumes 1-5 to get them right.
@Nick — I’d love to see the OAD’s licensed, but my gut feeling on this is that the Japanese are going to play the “no gaijin” card and not license out the OAD’s as they are limited edition OVA’s to reward Japanese “Negima!” otaku.
@Orion — I hadn’t noticed that about Rakan on the cover but now it makes me laugh. ^_^;;;
As to Fate, I don’t think Fate is so much running away as he is just leaving the scene. Akamatsu-sensei needs a way to keep a final battle between Fate and Negi from happening, which is common in many shounen manga of this type. Heck, in American comics and cartoons, you have the same thing. The difference is that Fate’s exits aren’t cliched (at least, not to me) and Akamatsu-sensei has set things up so that Fate says the encounters are usually accidental, not purposeful. That alone buys Fate an “exit at any time” card. ^_^
@Zefris — Thanks. I see you’ve explained this far better than I did. ^_^
@Mister_Random — Double thanks! I’ve updated the blog links to include that site now. I’ve been meaning to for some time since they have good stuff there and I doubt they’ll start deleting things because it doesn’t meat Wikipedia’s standards. ^_~ (I loathe Wikipedia.)
@Orion — I don’t think Fate made any deal with Chigusa. I think he was sent there. For some reason, I want to say that Konoka was the reason and that until Fate’s group discovered who Asuna truly was, Konoka was the target. Remember, Konoka has incredible power which Chigusa was going to use until thwarted in the attempt. Eva’s arrival in Kyoto put an end to any further attempts to grab her until she was safely back in Mahora, at which point their focus shifted to Asuna and her magic cancel ability.
“Sorry for the long post, but I need a bit more. This is like my version of ANB’s Negi=Nagi”
*LOL* Not a problem. ^_^
Fate does see himself not as a villain but as a savior. However, in his mind, slaughtering vast numbers of people to save the people is justified. That’s the kind of thinking of people like Stalin, Hitler, Mao, and other authoritarians.
I think that you are correct about the gateports because that fits with his pattern to date of trying to not harm humans.
@Anon — Eva, as a shinso vampire, is one of the highest-ranking monsters in the Negima! world. Without his cheat, Fate has no real chance against Eva and neither does Negi. That’s what makes Nagi’s capture of Eva so much more impressive. He took the path of least resistance rather than go toe-to-toe with her. Bloody brilliant if you ask me. ^_^
Which reminds me, I still want to know what Eva was wanted for on the Magic World.
@Zefyris — Hey, we appreciate the efforts. ^_^ Chalk it up as a Japanese-English practice session. ^_~
@ANB: Given how people in the middle ages didn’t like vampires, and that one shot of her leaving a battlefield behind (plus in the Kyoto arc where she mentioned she used that spell against bounty hunters that would have no problem killing a little girl)…
Probably murder, and a lot of it.