魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 32 Chapter 294 (manga)
Mahou Sensei Negima! Manga Chapter 294
Negima! Manga Vol 32 Ch 294

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

As Paru reports to Kurt and Takahata about the 500,000+ summoned demons, Ricardo and Theo have their fleets help open a hole so that Great Paru-sama and Johnny-san’s ship can get through. The fighting members, including Sayo on her Gatling gun, keep the demons from stopping them but then the two ships encounter two giant, fire-breathing dragons. The dragons are too powerful and the fighting folks retreat to the Great Paru-sama as Paru orders all power placed to the ship’s shields and that everyone get inside since the dragon’s threaten to overpower her defenses. Negi and Setsuna come to the rescue by removing one of the dragon’s claws before Negi takes out both dragons with a single Dios Logche spell spear.

With that, both ships traverse through the intense magic field where they pass a barred window where Anya, Fate, and Asuna are. The palace’s automated defenses open up with a massive barrage of missiles (of some sort) and both ships end up crashing into the palace levels, abandoning the previous plan. Negi, Setsuna, Mana, and Kaede leap out ahead of the crashing ships where Negi insures they land a little less severe than they otherwise would. Establishing that everyone is OK, Negi plans to leave a small guard force with the ships before moving out. Kaede senses someone approach and as Mana points her weapon at the distant figure, Negi senses this is not an enemy. However, he and the others are shocked when the figure turns out to be Zazie, one of his student left behind at Mahora.

Thoughts/Review: Remember when a small dragon (it was more like a wyvern) gave Negi serious pause and prevented him from discovering Al? Then remember when said beast chased his non-battle hardened harem during the Mahora Festival? Ah, those were the days, eh? ^_~

Dragons have been a marker of sorts within Negima! for how powerful characters are at a given point in time. So Negi’s first encounter with Yue and Nodoka is to flee after being rescued by Chachamaru. Then next, they have to again flee from the beast, and that’s with Setsuna and Kaede in the group. The next encounter doesn’t count since it simply made sure they were invited to Al’s tea party and then left.

However, when Ala Alba arrived on the Magic World, they had to battle dragons, either as a measure of survival (Chachamaru facing a dragon to save Negi; Yue, Emily, Bea, and Collet having to fight a hippogriff-dragon to save their lives) or as a means of training/earning money (Kaede battling a dragon for a very long time before defeating it and taking a horn; Asuna and Setsuna battling a dragon for its horn and some money). So we see our group getting stronger. Then when Negi dispatched a group to try to find Anya, Sayo came back with a throw-away line about their having defeated some dragons.

Now, we have two, giant, fire-breathing dragons that are certainly powerful enough to take down both Johnny-san’s ship as well as Great Paru-sama. Negi is able to take out both dragons with his custom Dios Logche spell, which is more impressive than what Fate did to that one dragon where he used his petrification earth magic to take it out without breaking a sweat.

I loved how Setsuna had Negi’s back while he took out the dragons though. ^_^

I lost track of Yue, Bea, and Collet after the dragons attack, though I’m going to guess that they made is safely back to Great Paru-sama. (Update: I just noticed Yue with Konoka on one of the “monitors” when Paru talked with Johnny-san.)

Now, as they approached the Gravekeeper’s Palace, I think it is pretty clear that Fate, Anya, and Asuna saw Negi and I’m going to guess that Negi saw them. Question is, did Paru see them as well? Her reaction seemed to me that she did the real Asuna, which is why when Shiori-Asuna (Luna) shows up behind her, she’s startled. The subsequent defensive barrage from the palace prevents her from pursuing that line of thought any further, but I do wonder if Akamatsu-sensei has some reason for letting Paru see the real Asuna.

Its funny how Negi’s plan got scrapped so quickly. However, that works for me because that is what often happens in real life. The misquotation, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray,” (“The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft a-gley” is the correct quotation) by Robert Burns comes to mind. Another quote that springs to mind is, “Plans get you into things but you must work your way out,” by Will Rogers. Well, Negi and company are certainly in things and now must work their way out…if they can.

I liked how Negi, Setsuna, Mana, and Kaede “eject” themselves from the crashing ships and land in front of them (Negi softening their landing as I saw it) to prepare for some other attack.

And now, for the bombshell — the appearance of Zazie. There’s no doubt that Zazie’s appearance is the one thing that no one expected. It is just staggering to the mind and I remember when the spoilers came out, my blogging ahead plans came to a halt as I sat in stunned disbelief for a time. It is interesting that while Kaede sensed the approach of Zazie and Mana pointed a gun at her while she was still in the distance, it was Negi who seemed to notice that this wasn’t an enemy before he saw whom it was that approached.

Some noticed Zazie’s hands, which seem claw-like in the frame where she is fully revealed. Its funny but that has been an aspect of Zazie from early on.

What I want to know is, “What the heck happened to her bird?” ^_^

I’ll save more comments about Zazie for the next chapter since she does even more surprising things there. That said, Zazie’s appearance in this chapter caused not only massive shock waves around the globe, but also began fueling speculation both in Japan and outside of Japan that the manga may be ending soon, especially since Akamatsu-sensei had stated that Zazie would be revealed in the final story-arc. It was amusing to see what Akamatsu-sensei caused and I rather suspect he and his staff had a good laugh reading various Japanese blogs and boards. ^_^

So, an insane chapter to end volume 32 on. The action was one thing, but Zazie’s unexpected appearance was the icing on the cake.