August 12th, 2010 
AstroNerdBoy Negima! 299 SPOILER Images
魔法先生 ネギま！Chapter 299 (Images)
Here’s what I know many of you have been waiting for — the original-sized, sneak-peek SPOILER images for Mahou Sensei Negima! Chapter 299 as brought to you by anonymous Japanese fans (click pic to make bigger, y’all).
There is one missing page.
Also, I apologize for the very extensive delay in getting these images posted. The thread I was monitoring didn’t have much activity, which didn’t trigger any alert with me since the magazine was not published last week. However, it seems a replacement thread appeared and the images were posted yesterday. *sigh* Oh well.
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Akamatsu delivers once again.
Mana is on my top 5 favorite girls list and for a good reason: she can pull off stuff like this.
Unexpected for Mana to suddenly go off but considering how Zazie’s sister took her down, I suppose it isn’t surprising on that level.
Was the black spheres in the 13th pic what i think they are? It’s Completely plausible. the entire building is saturated with more magic then what the world tree was giving off. Man Akamatsu really knows how to give each girl their moment to shine. I swear in the past about 3 months this story is getting ridiculously awesome. Though I do kinda miss the ecchi. I just cant wait till these chapter is scanlated.
[last page]
is that MAGEA EREBIA??
The black sphere appear to be the time-shift bullets that were used during the school festival.
Mana trance mode activated… That should be EPIC !
Yes Veron, those are what you think they are.
Looks like Mana had leftovers.
(And from what it looks like she used them to remove that thing’s arms)
Well, Setsunas ans Kus reaction after waking up were funny. Then Mana asks what theyre thinking about. Theyd rather not say. Obviously because dreaming about hadaka apron on ojousama would be something you keep to yourself (Though Negi knows XD)
On the other hand, Zazies sister is comfirmed demon. And now seems fully serious. So is Mana, having brought out her Magia Erebea-esque mode though what its capable of…we have to see in 300.
Also is anyone able to translate what goes on between Fate and Negi at the beginning?
Heres hoping that Negima get colour pages for 300 ^_^
Looks like Chapter 300 is going to be NICEEEEE.
We haven’t really got to see Mana “Shine” we have seen skills but not near to this extent (curious how Ku beat her back in tourny) but seems Mana had a nifty trick up her sleeve to pull off this crazy stunt… now i have 3 questions that come to mind
1. What is Mana really capable of.
2. Who is going to fight Zect
3. How is Negi going to approach Fate with his plan, as in will he fight Fate first then explain it or just tell him flat out first then see where it goes from there.
Well, I gues there is still a lot more to Mana than meets the eye.
Always knew that she could put up one hell of a fight, but this is a whole new level.
Mayby the ‘Demon Eye’ she used to detect Sayo back at Mahora will be explained now.
Half demon or something else?
Woah, I count a WTF-rate of 3 moments in this chapter:
WTF1: Onee-san showing her true form.
WTF2: Mana shooting her through the floor.
WTF3: MANA showing HER true form!
MANA ONE DAY YOU WILL BE MINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mana is a half mazoku. From the /a/ thread, seems like they’re possible distinctions between akuma, mazoku, youkai, etc.
Putting it as demon might be generalizing and trivializing the distinctions. I’m guessing mazoku are a higher species, or a different race than demons. Evil race, devil race, demon race, monster race, all these are possible take on mazoku.
Looking at the wiki on mazoku though, under fictional usage
* Having pointy ears
* Having exotic skin, hair, eye and blood colours
* Having sharp claws and/or teeth/fangs
* Having horns, wings, tails, or any features humans do not possess
* Having the ability to transform to other forms
* Look completely human
These seem to closely fit what Mana and the elder sister Zazie look like, especially with how both Mana and Zazie have exotic brown skin, heh.
My opinion? Devil race would be it. Of course, mazoku can differ from series to series. It just depends on how the author makes them out to be.
I’m not sure if this is accurate or not, but it’s interesting; taken from the /a/ thread:
Lesser “demons”, Kotaro, Secchan = Akuma
Morborgran (Canis Niger), Zazie (nee-san), and Mana = Mazoku
Rakan = Majin (lol)
Zecht = ??? (No. He’s not a demon, least not confirmed yet)
Mazoku are often done as something different than demons, but often the term is translated as “demon” or “monster.”
Take the Slayers franchise. Mazoku are a distinct class that is different from demons and monsters, yet the early translations from the 90’s were to call them “Monsters” and regular monsters as “monsters.” In Ah! My Goddess, the “demons” there are in fact Mazoku.
Now, officially, mazoku are a “demonic or magic being; inhabitant of hell (or the spirit world).”
Youkai are a “ghost; apparition; phantom; spectre; specter; demon; monster; goblin. My understanding is that youkai is the general classification that all creatures such as oni, tengu, etc. are classified under.
Akuma are a “devil; demon; fiend; Satan; evil spirit.”
I’d need to look back when Setsuna was first revealed, but I know she’s a member of the Raven Tribe (uzoku) and I was thinking that she is half youkai/half human (hanyou). In a general sense, I believe that is still true but I don’t know if these uzoku fall under any other category beyond being a type of youkai.
Now, in regards to Zecht, it is interesting that Nagi did call him a “youkai” but I mostly attributed that to being an insulting term. Maybe there was more to it.
@ANB
I think you can call all of them “demons” or “monster” as a classification, in the same way you can call cats, dogs, bears, fox, etc as “animals”. But you wouldn’t call a cat a dog, right?
Zazie said she is not from either the Old World or the New world. And since she’s a mazoku?, that means that mazoku generally are from a entirely different world. The bone-looking mercenary from Canis Niger said something about being nostalgic in returning to his world (makai is it?). Anyways, since Mama is half mazoku, obviously one of Mana’s parents has to be a full mazoku who traveled to earth and got married to a human.
Ken hasn’t really establish much yet, but I’m guessing…
Akuma/youkai – Japanese/Earth-related
Mazoku – Demon world
If mazoku live on another plane of existence (“demon world”), then Setsuna would have to be half mazoku as well. I say this because members of the Raven Tribe (uzoku) were summoned by Chigusa. However, she refers to all she summoned as “oni” as did Setsuna later on. Chamo also refers to the summoned as “bakemono” (monsters) and “oni.”
Basically, as I glance through my Japanese tankoubons (and boy do I miss the larger page size of a U.S. release since my Kanji skills are basically nill), Akamatsu-sensei has used a number of terms to describe the summoned creatures.
For the Mazoku, Akuma thing.
An Akuma is a Mazoku but a Mazoku is not necessarily an Akuma. If you were to compare to humans, it’s like a white is a human but a human isn’t necessarily a white. Mazoku is literally “Tribes of Evil” and is a really wide term. Akuma is usually a rather high class mazoku in general throughout the Japanese Fantasy Universe. Mazoku also usually have a human or higher level of intelligence. Mere monsters are usually Mamono.
While Mazoku is more for Western-ish Demons, Youkai is more for Eastern-ish Demons. Honestly, as a whole, it’s hard to find differences between them. Mazoku are often humanoid but lots of youkais can take the shape of humans though their real forms are often more monster-ish (not all though).
Oh for for Mazoku and Akuma, if the setting is around Christianism, often, they’ll use Akuma as the wide term for all Demons and not use Mazoku at all. Probably because the bible calls most of the stuff in it Demons while they tend to count stuff other than Demons from the bible in Mazoku such as Vampires.
Other settings, Mazoku can be “tribe of Magic” instead where they are merely humans that can use Magic but those that can’t use Magic fear them and call them all sort of names and treat them like Monsters.
Woo, hasn’t it been a long time. There are bound to be errors since a lot of the text is lost at this size, but…
Looks like Akamatsu’s paying those old (joking) fan theories a tribute about Zazie turning out to be the last boss.
Chisame:”That is totally a last boss! Design-wise, I mean”
Makie:”Mazoku as in… the kind we see here and there?”
Poyo:”An especially high order among us poyo. Well, I guess it’s about a last boss rank poyo.”
Negi:”I’ll draw away Poyo Rainyday-san! Everyone head to the upper stratum and rescue the others!”
Mana:”No, Negi, you’re our leader and best fighter. Leave this to me and lead the others up.”
Negi:”I can’t do that, we don’t know how far Poyo-san’s powers go! She might even be beyond Fate’s group! I should be the one to…”
Mana:”And that’s why you need to save your strength. Trust me, kiddo.”
Mana activates the bounding mines set up around Poyo.
Mana:”Chao Lingsheng’s gravity mines. Just for an instant, that’s 50 times regular gravity.”
Poyo:”Not bad poyo, miko sniper Tatsumiya Mana! Howver! I have confirmed it poyo. The future that boy heads towards is the one Chao Lingshen hails from! You once fought for her ideals, yet you allow this?”
Mana:”I see… Yes, that’s true. But…” “(the magic in these ruins is as thick as milk… They should work here!)” “…right now, I still want to wager on Negi-sensei.”
Poyo:”?! These bullets, from the school festival”
Mana:”BCTL rounds. And they’re not the only trick up my sleeve.”
“(I haven’t used a full release in five years… But this target doesn’t call for holding back)”
Poyo:”That eye, that form. You’re a…”
Mana:”Yeah. A half-breed.”
I wonder if she’s going to draw more on Hellsing or Black Rock Shooter.
@ASN
Maybe. They might be from a different demon world than mazoku.
Negima takes on and uses both Western and Eastern themes and myth/folklore. I’d imagine youkai and oni are eastern, and have roots there.
The things Chigusa summoned were oni? Looking back now, they do look eastern in design. So, that’d make sense. I’m assuming Ryoumen-Sukuna-no-Kami is also an oni (maybe oni king?) or a mao? Either one would make sense given how strong and spiritually powerful it is.
Akuma depends on context since if akuma = demon and/or devil then it can be used for both western and eastern “demons”. Early on, when Fate was using mostly eastern magic, he did summoned a western “devil”, or to be more precise, a Judeo-Christian one from Dante’s Inferno. Even the lexicon made note of how he used Eastern magic to summoned a western devil.
And for Mazoku… they may or may not be eastern related or rooted from Japanese fantasy. They could be something different. It just depends, I guess. Though, from my small experience of seeing them in fictional use, mazoku tend to be supernatural-like humans (magic, powers, etc) or very humanoid-like, taking on only a minimum of exotic features/traits of a demon or monster; they often are different from the other creatures in their series.
I always considered youkai as faery. Not nice or sometimes outright evil, but something close to nature or spirit world. Akuma and/or Mazoku – now that ARE demons in western sense.
Mana smiled in the last page. That’s a new one. Ku fee’s dream wasn’t perverted nEither was setsuna’s in the last chapter we saw setsuna drinking tea or sumthin in setsuna’s house. I really wanted to see konoka’s face when she woke up… Or nodoka’s that probably would have been funny.
Did anyone notice how Zazie’s sister’s Monster has the tattoos on the other side of its face?
Also it looks similar to takane’s Shadow Magic
There is more to Mana than meets the eye…(yes, pun intended:D)This is an awesome chapter for Mana fans. Page after page of her being badass, and then the last full pic has badASS written all over it! The only time I’ve gotten so excited at seeing spoilers like this was for chapter 294! This is gonna be an awesome 300th chapter!!! I first saw this last night at 2:30 and that’s when I was about to get off my computer.I’m glad I checked! I couldn’t fall asleep that night, and when I saw Mana like that I could have sworn my eyes opened up wider by just a bit permanently. Also, Mana’s face on the last pic is full of win! Awesomest face I ever saw, that is, next to Negi’s face in 294 of course!:D Thank you for sharing this ANB and thank you Akamatsu(sama) for being such an awesome genius!!
So Setsuna and Mama are demons/monsters but hide thier real form in a human form?
i wonder if Setsuna will show her real form too.
setsuna isnt a demon.
shes something else
and she has wings
i think thats as far as she could transform.
Negi’s a demon too i think. refer to chapter where ‘i think he learn how to control it’
@speedlemon
“Ku fee’s dream wasn’t perverted nEither was setsuna’s in the last chapter we saw setsuna drinking tea or sumthin in setsuna’s house.”
Setsuna’s dream started with her waking to Konoka making breakfast, wearing an apron and nothing else. Considering that they were in what was supposed to be an ideal world that fulfilled their desires, that’s definitely on the perverted end of things.
As for Ku Fei, yeah what we see of her dream world is pretty innocent and would not seem to merit much blushing. My completely speculative guess as to why she is blushing, is that the fight with Negi that was in the works was not of the “Master testing the student variety.” Instead it was similar in nature to the arm-wrestling contest that earned Negi Ku Fei’s first kiss. With an increase in “reward” to match the increase in difficultly. And Ku Fei was losing/lost.
Man, Akamatsu-sensei knows how to keep building excitement. First Zazie’s sister turns out to be a monster girl much like Fate’s nakama, plus she’s got a wicked-looking summon. Not too far fetched considering her weird claws and her sister’s ghost friends (I guess this means Zazie is herself a monster girl). Then Mana turns out to have a super mode of her own. That I wasn’t expecting. Mana is all sorts of crazy awesomeness and hotness. The 300th chapter is going to be epic.
For the record, Graf Herrman referred to himself as “jyoui akuma” — high-ranking akuma.
Add on, or correct me if I’m wrong.
Youkai: Japanese folklore creatures encompassing apparitions, ghosts, monsters, demons, supernatural creatures, inanimate object or animal that obtains a soul and intelligence after living for so long, etc.
Kotarou – Hanyo (half human, half wolf *insert race/tribe here*)
Setsuna – Hanyo (half human, half albino Uzoku)
Both had one parent as human.
—
Oni: Falls under youkai
Those monsters Chigusa summoned in volume 6.
—
Akuma: Devils/demons
Graf Herrman – Jyoui akuma (high-ranking akuma.
Monster that attacked Negi’s village – Akuma and Jyoui akuma
—
Mazoku: A higher breed (possibly difference race) than Akuma. Last Boss “level”?
Poyo Rainyday – Mazoku
Mana – Half mazoku
—
What about Ryoumen-Sukuna-no-Kami?
What about Ryoumen-Sukuna-no-Kami?
Oooni (大鬼) — “Giant Oni”
More on Sukuna.
飛騨の大鬼神 “Hida no daikishin” — The giant, fierce god of Hida.
Indeed, the name (which was written in Katakana) of Ryoumen Sukuna no Kami has an implied meaning of “Two-sided” is the meaning of “Ryoumen” and “Sukuna” is an actual name. “no Kami” means “of god.” So the name could be translated “Two-sided god of Sukuna.”
So, Ryoumen Sukuna no Kami is not only a giant oni, but also a deity of some sort.
For those even more unfamiliar with Japanese than me: “Aku” (悪) means “evil”. (Which is why it was used as the name of the villain in Samurai Jack.) “Ma” (魔) is something like “demon” or “sorcery”, but not so explicit about the evil; hence “mahou” = “magic”. (Also appears as the insignia of Piccolo Daimaou.)
So “Akuma” (悪魔) = “evil demon”. Kinda confusing for a Christian who’s not familiar with Japanese mythology, since with what we call demons (ie: devils; angels who have wilfully and utterly rejected God and goodness and are consumed with hatred for all creation) you don’t really have to specify that they’re evil…
Grammatically, I am under the impression that [Name] no Kami just means that [Name] is some sort of god, as in “C-3PO no Kami”; translating “no” as “of” (but in reverse) is generally accurate but can be misleading…
And Eva kicked his butt, which doesn’t talk much about his strenght, but hell, Eva herself coulod be considered a goddess or something around the like with her strength
its time for Mana’s pactio~!
LOL
I just thought about something — Cocone is stated to have come from the Magic World but that doesn’t mean that she too might be part mazoku.
Man I hate Mana >_>
Also, more transformations? What’s next?
Kaede developing Sharingan?
Ku growing a tail?
Setsuna with a beak!? o_0
“Kotarou – Hanyo (half human, half wolf *insert race/tribe here*)
Setsuna – Hanyo (half human, half albino Uzoku)
Both had one parent as human.”
But, Setsunas white wings are special right? Shes a Byaku-u (“White Bird”)
or a good omen. According to the 12th volume lexicon anyway. With the note that “those with high spiritual classifications have been feared for their power & avoided. In anthropological terms, this is called a taboo. Be it good or bad, people tend to avoid taboos.”
“to look upon a taboo individual is similar to looking (inappropriately) on a high priest or a member of royalty– in other words, dangerous. In a society where the culture of taboo exists, the common person avoids the taboo indi. The reason Setsuna distances herself from her people is similar to this– her white wings made her different (albeit very pwrful). As a side note, it should be noted that those with blue & red wings are sim. looked upon as good omens, as is a bird with three legs.”
So… shes a special good luck high powered white winged 1/2 Uzoku?
While Kotaro is (according to Chamo) “He’s like a wolf-man. They’re really strong!” [Though the del ray version uses fox-boy which was another of the things chibisetsuna mentions..]
So he comes from a heritage of naturally pretty strong youkai?
While shes a special case within the uzoku?
Are Uzoku strong typically?
–http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wamy%C5%8D_Ruijush%C5%8D–
Uzoku is just a word for birds?
While Inugami at least have their own wiki entry… Hmm.. is it a case of generally more powerful vs a rare high lvl among generally less powerful? Does anyone know?
——————-
But, Setsunas white wings are special right? Shes a Byaku-u (“White Bird”)
——————-
Though the text has never come out and said it, there are fan suspicions that she’s an albino. Also, when Setsuna first reveals her wings she refers to them as ‘ugly’. As a result, I don’t think that there have been any references within the manga to indicate that there’s anything positive about her having white wings.
Indeed Setsuna’s wings are taboo coz they’re white. Crows don’t like ’em white for obvious reasons. Those crow beliefs are probably nailed in her pretty head i.e. calling them wings ugly. But enough about Ms. Popular WTF Mana’s gonna own Poyo’s ass!! Thought Negi would fight her tho hmmm well I guess it’s natural for the author to make him save his energy for Fate I guess. I’m guessing Cocone might be in the same line as Mana though, they’re much too similar in facial features (hell she passes as young Mana) but too early to say that.
You know… a stray thought occurred to me…
Some of the discussion here has focused on the idea that Zazie’s sister is a summoned-being type of individual. And she’s definitely accompanying chibi-mage, suggesting that if she was summoned then he was probably responsible.
Assuming that’s true…
What does that mean for Zazie? Would that mean that Zazie was summoned as well? And that would beg the question, who summoned her and why? The obvious thing to look for would be for a connection between Zazie and one of the other students in the class. It’s not exactly common to see her interacting with other members of the class, but there have been times when it’s happened – for instance, when she gave Negi tickets for the Nightmare Circus (which unfortunately we never got to see) and when she sat with Sayoko in front of the local convenience store.
There’s also the time during the Festival that Zazie told Ayaka that she’d watch the class’s haunted house and the long “conversation” that she had with Ayaka over the phone. In the latter instance, Ayaka seemed to have no trouble understanding Zazie, even though Zazie’s replies were constantly rendered as “…” by Akamatsu-san. Is it possible that there’s a connection between the two – possibly tied to why Zazie is present in the first place?
Keep in mind, of course, that it’s pure speculation at this point…
Touching a bit more on the “albino Setsuna” thing, Eva notes right before their Festival fight that not only are Setsuna’s wings pure white, but she also dyes her hair and wears contacts. A true albino would have white hair and red eyes, but could hide those attributes by dying her hair and using contacts to hide her eye color.
Uzoku is just a word for birds?
It’s for Raven/Crow Tribe/Clan. Del Rey translated it as “Bird Tribe” because the Kanji for Bird and Crow is almost identical.
So setsuna doesn’t have a true form????
I’m getting really confussed hehe
@anon — As I understand it, Setsuna’s true form would be her winged form. She hides her wings through unknown means to pass herself as human.
Oh Thank you very much for answering ^.^
But I’m kinda dissapointed Setsuna doesn’t have a badass form
Once again thank you for answering ^-^
Wow spoilers!? I didn’t even bother checking anything this week because I figured all the otaku in Japan would be too busy fapping to all their Comiket “treasures.”
Haha, finally some more Mana background… looks like the gunslinger girl really is full of surprises.
Wow, I just realized… did we ever get to see Kaede’s dream world? Man, all of Kitsune’s predecessors get screwed story wise.
To: Junior
——————-
But, Setsunas white wings are special right? Shes a Byaku-u (“White Bird”)
——————-
Though the text has never come out and said it, there are fan suspicions that she’s an albino. Also, when Setsuna first reveals her wings she refers to them as ‘ugly’. As a result, I don’t think that there have been any references within the manga to indicate that there’s anything positive about her having white wings.
———————————–
Volume 12 period 108 Lexicon Magicum Negimarium.
Under the first entry:
“Byaku-U (“White Bird”) [sorry about no kanji]
Since the most ancient days of Japan’s history, large, white-winged creatures have been considered good omens. In the twenty-fifth volume of the Nihon SHoki (“Chronicles of Japan”), the mythical tales of the phoenix, kirin, byaku-ji, & the byaku-u, as well as those of other creatures & their perceived good-omen appearances, are told (an albino crow may also be interpreted as a positive omen). In the twenty-first scroll of the Engishiki (“Ceremonies of the Engi Era”), the white winged-creature is described not only as good, but as the essence of the sun, reflecting upon them the highly spiritual position “Spirit of the Sun.” Traditionally, those with high spiritual classifications have been feared for their power & avoided. In anthropological terms, this is called a tabooo. Be it good or bad, people tend to avoid taboos. Ernst Cassirer(1874 -1945) elaborates on this concept in his book, An Essay on Man “Sawaranu kami ni tatari-nashi,” a Japanese idiom equivalent to the English “Let sleeping dogs lie,” comes from this culture of taboos.
According to Cassirer, to look upon a taboo individual is similar to looking (inappropriately) on a high priest or a member of royalty— in other words, dangerous. In a society where the culture of taboo exists, the common person avoids the taboo individual.
The reason Setsuna distances herself from her people is similar to this–her white wings made her different (albeit very powerful). As a side note, it should be noted that those with blue & red wings are similarly looked upon as good omens, as is a bird with three legs.”— the complete entry. So yeah… it’s positive. Hmm also in the actual manga proper Evangeline asked her if her wings were white & if she dyed her hair & wore contacts right? She also reacts badly to the name Ala Alba.. hmm I can’t think of where she actually said that the white wings we see on her back are white wings though… ugg..
To Anon: I just meant that when I looked it up (I got this blog first, then 6 other useless looking entries then wikipedia)
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wamy%C5%8D_Ruijush%C5%8D–
& it just said the translation of the word is Birds (which is why I put a question mark. I was wondering if the pronounc. was the same but the reading was different. Sorry that I wasn’t clear about that…)
wow!!
Mana!!!
She is Black Rock Shooter!!!!!!!
=o=b!!!
I knew Mama wasn’t a normal human ^-^
I mean look at thier class, theirs a freakin Vampire in there (I love Eva, she my idol)
LOL
*cough*raw up on reddevilshn’s website*cough*
Zazie is the final boss
TL is out, and cnet used “demonfolk” for mazoku.
I honestly cannot agree with that at all. It sounds horrible, and doesn’t present a clear enough distinction between the other “demons”. In fact, demonfolk is doing the opposite with the “folk” implying people/general race.
Curious. Can someone check chapter 275, using the vol. 30 tank raw, and tell me what those monsters summoned by the Grand Master Key are called (akuma, or whatever)? I know those can’t be the typical kind of demons, so I want to know what are they called in the original text.
Just a quick note, everyone is stating how Setsuna has white wings, I don’t think anyone has pointed out that her hair is really white too. It was established early on that she dies it black, lending credence to the belief that she has a form of albinism which in the animal world can often lead to death for predatory and prey animals alike.
–Pillslanger
Can someone check chapter 275, using the vol. 30 tank raw, and tell me what those monsters summoned by the Grand Master Key are called (akuma, or whatever)?
I believe they’re generally referred to simply as “shoukanma” (“summons”), but from Yue’s description, it doesn’t sound as though they fit into any ordinary category of monster; they’re doll-beings fashioned of shadow. To wit:
“Hmm… it would seem that they are not summoned mazoku at all. Rather, they are constructed from the maso [demonic/magical element] of darkness; mere “shadows” of mamono [monsters, demonic creatures]! // This is a very rare form of magic; somewhere between that of a shadow-user and a puppeteer.”
Incidentally, in the previous panel, Emily says “It shouldn’t be possible for this many akuma to suddenly appear out of nowhere!”, and Collet responds with “Akuma?! Are they mazoku, then?!” …So it seems like we’re not the only ones for whom the distinction isn’t exactly clear ~_~
TL is out, and cnet used “demonfolk” for mazoku. I honestly cannot agree with that at all. It sounds horrible, and doesn’t present a clear enough distinction between the other “demons”. In fact, demonfolk is doing the opposite with the “folk” implying people/general race.
I don’t think it’s perfect either, but it’s the best I could come up with. I don’t want to leave “mazoku” untranslated, that seems like too much of a cop-out, and “demonfolk” keeps a lot of the feel of the original word IMO (even if it does throw up nasty pluralisation issues). If you have any better suggestions, I’m all ears.
@Carlos Net
I see. Thanks. Oh if you can, what about from the recent of chapters? When Tsukuyomi did a mass summon against Negi and company? What were those “shadows” refereed to as?
I think Emily saying “demons” was just an inference on her part, and as a general categorization. It’d be as if she said “cats”, and Collet asserting via visual observation based on their characteristic and such, would go on and say “Cats?!” Are they jaguars, then?!”
And about demonfolk, what about devil instead? I think for the Negima universe, “devils” can be considered demons, and having them as devils will give them enough distinction from other demons. Then again, I think that might be somewhat off from the term mazoku…
If you’re curious as to what Del Rey used in volume 24 for mazoku, it was “demon tribe”. Imo, I wouldn’t go with that.
Leaving “mazoku” untranslated isn’t a cop-out in my opinion. I understand what you are saying after years of talking with Japanese translators and my own slow journey in Japanese studies. I think of the term “tsunami.” As a kid, it was almost always translated as “tidal wave,” mainly because of that cop-out notion (IMO). However, when the science community started insisting that the word “tsunami” be left untranslated for the sake of accuracy, it has now moved into the mainstream.
I see mazoku in the same regard. As I’ve said before, in “Ah! My Goddess,” mazoku was translated as “demon” but since mazoku are the only demon-like race in that universe, then the word “demon” can be used without issue.
However, in a series like “Slayers” or “Negima!” were there are different demon-type races, leaving mazoku untranslated works IMO.
BTW, thanks sir for ALL the work you do for the Negima! fandom! ^_^