August 5th, 2010 
AstroNerdBoy 魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 33 Chapter 296 (manga)
Mahou Sensei Negima! Manga Chapter 296
Negima! Manga Vol 33 Ch 296 Review
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
As Zazie activates her pactio card, Negi wakes up to find himself asleep in Asuna’s bed in their dorm room at Mahora Academy. After their usual antics over that situation, Konoka, Asuna, and Negi see a news report on TV about the crashed Great Paru-sama but none of them recognize it.
Racing to school, late as usual, Negi is beset upon by the Sports Four who enthusiastically greet him. Nodoka shyly attempts to greet him with Yue and Paru behind her. Konoka, Asuna, and Negi come upon Setsuna, who only barely acknowledges Konoka’s greeting, something Asuna notes is an improvement but has Negi wondering what’s wrong with her. After getting a message from Takahata about guest arriving from England, Negi starts class and has to deal with some of the normal antics, including Ayaka wanting to be punished by Negi.
After class, Negi sees Chao and Eva walking out together and is startled by this. In addressing Eva as “Master,” he annoys her and receives a warning to never do it again. Negi is confused by this by receives a telepathic message telling him to not worry since he’ll be able to be OK with Eva in this world too.
Over coffee at a coffee shop with the Sports Four, remarks on how peaceful and happy everything is. While this impresses the girls, Negi can’t help but think that he’s forgetting something. He’s interrupted when Nagi and Arika arrive. Akira, Yuuna, Makie, and Ako are happy to see Nagi again and happy to be introduced to Arika. Arika is shy and formal in her greeting to Negi, who begins crying though he knows not why. His tears jolt Arika out of her shyness. As the commotion continues, Zazie observes and notes that this is the paradise known as Cosmo Entelecheia.
Thoughts/Review:
I’m glad I recently started rereading the old Negima! volumes because this chapter certainly is both a flashback to the way things were when the manga started but also a reminder of how far some characters have come in such a short amount of time (story wise though for us, it has been years). I’m not sure about you guys, but I do hope for a bit more time back at Mahora before the next major arc starts. We might not get it though and this may be Akamatsu-sensei’s way of giving us a taste of Negi-sensei at school before returning to the nitty-gritty of the plot.
Whether this turns out to be the case or not, I have to say that this trip into a world that might have been made me smile. Akamatsu-sensei went down memory lane with all of the old favorite moments from the happy-go-lucky days with Negi sneaking into Asuna’s bed to sleep with her, Konoka getting up to fix breakfast for everyone, the mad race to school, Negi’s magical sneeze, Nodoka’s shyness around Negi, Ayaka’s mad lust for a 10-year old boy, etc. The way Akamatsu-sensei did this, I just can’t help but wonder if this isn’t his way of touching base with the story’s roots as we approach the 300th chapter.
Also, this chapter served as a means to work back in the other girls of the series who’ve had to be forgotten due to the nature of the Magic World story arc. I know there are some that have waved off this chapter for the most part, but I liked it.
I found it interesting that Negi chose to hang out with the Sports Four at the coffee shop that he went to with Asuna in volume 4 (where they met Eva and Chachamaru). That was probably the only unusual moment in this chapter of the way things might have been.
I did get a chuckle at Eva’s reaction to being called “Master” instinctively by Negi. *lol* Interesting that if this is a realm of fantasy that Negi would have Eva be cold to him although Zazie did basically state that even here, Negi and Eva could get close.
Finally, there’s Nagi and Arika showing up as a couple, looking the same as they did 10-years before. Well, that’s understandable if this is all from Negi’s fantasies. I chuckled at the shy Arika who then goes into action at seeing her son in tears. *lol*
I noted the pendants on Nagi and Arika. I need to go back and check Arika’s other appearances (and that will happen as I continue to move through the old volumes) but I do note that Nagi wore a pendant in many of his flashback appearances. It may mean nothing, but for some reason, seeing both Arika and Nagi together with matching pendants, I couldn’t help but wonder if that means something.
So a fun chapter that allows Akamatsu-sensei to romp a bit in the happy-go-lucky times of the manga for a bit. ^_^
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Sorry to be picky, but Negi’s mom and Nagi’s wife is Arika. Not Akira, the swim team girl.
Favorite moment from this chapter, probably in my favorite top 20 from any chapter: “Personally… punish…?” *nosebleed*
Oh, Iincho. Just when I thought those jokes were a dead horse, you prove me wrong with a bang. ^_^
I see the Akira-Arika confusion again…
What confusions? ^_~
Fixed it all and thanks all for the alert. ^_^;;;
in 297 it;s reviled that it;s not Zazie but Zazie’s sister. Zazie is in the dream yes but the pactio belongs to her sister.
I’m guessing that there will be a return to Mahora Academy after this is all over – largely due to the fact that Akamatsu made a point to show Iincho and the others still in Wales being summoned back to school. On a tangential point, I suspect that Iincho knows/has figured out more than she’s letting on right now…
One of the things that I found odd about this chapter was Arika’s rather shy attitude. We saw her like this in Kurt’s “movie”, but only around Nagi – and seemingly largely because she was having a hard time reconciling the seperation forced by her rank with her feelings for Nagi. I would expect that after ten years that problem would have disappeared, particularly around her immediate family. My guess is that her shyness is largely because that’s how Negi saw her in Kurt’s “movie” – i.e. her appearence in Negi’s dream world here is drawn from what little Negi knows about her.
We saw something similar with the Mahora Tree, which we know is glowing in the real world – but isn’t glowing in the fake world that Negi and the others have been drawn into.
Of course, that’s just a guess…
Woot, scanslated 298 is out – I guess cnet managed to make some headway on his RL obligations and is catching up. (^_^)
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@junior: I strongly suspect you’re right about Negi’s KE being a reflection of his perceptions rather than what would have “actually” happened.
It’s only circumstantial, but if Negi is supposed to have just arrived for his first semester, why does Konoka say Negi and Asuna do the bed-fondling routine all the time? And elsewhere, why do the sports girls already know him before class starts?
It’s because Negi’s trying to have his cake and eat it too. His paradise is to be on close terms with everyone, especially Asuna. But it’s also being able to resolve misunderstandings and bring people together. (Which requires that there be misunderstandings to resolve, like Negi:Eva and Setsuna:Konoka. YMMV on the implications.)
One more thought: If this really is Negi’s paradise as shaped by his perceptions, then he’s only been playing innocent all along. Otherwise, how could he have understood how Iinchou would take his “personal punishment” line? Which begs the question of – if he knew that’s how she would take it, why would he say it? Simple answer? He really is the Thousand Pimpster, and enjoys the girls’ attention. He’s only playing hard to get.
@ANB: The “Thousand Pimpster” bit reminded me… did you ever get the JPG I sent about a month ago? (I meant to ask after a week or two, but forgot.) If you did but didn’t reply because you found it offensive, my bad – I just didn’t know if you’d gotten it.
You are going to have to refresh my memory. I get a TON of e-mail and it is possible that it got filtered somehow. I’ll do a look-see but I don’t remember anything being sent to me in the form of an image, especially one that might be offensive. ^_^;
Arimareiji –
This isn’t Negi’s first semester teaching. When he’s mentally orienting himself after waking up, he remembers that it’s his second term teaching.
Also, the personalities in the world – at least in this case – aren’t based off of what Negi would consider the ideal version. Note the indifference from Setsuna and Evangeline. Instead, they’re based on how he believes they would have reacted to him if two critical events (specifically, the events of volumes 3-6) had never taken place. Volume 3 is when he starts to develop his relationship with Evangeline (note that when “Nagi” talks to Evangeline during the Mahora tournament, it’s indicated that he probably forgot about Evangeline’s imprisonment; given that, he’s probably removed it here, which would remove the need for Evangeline to go after Negi). And volumes 4-6 are the Kyoto arc, in which Konoko is kidnapped and ends up renewing her relationship with Setsuna. Negi only went to Kyoto in order to find out more about his father. If there’s no trip (because Negi no longer needs to learn about his father), then Konoka doesn’t get kidnapped, which means that she never renews her friendship with Setsuna.
Those pendants have been seen before.
As noted, Nagi wears one in most, if not all, of his flashback scenes. Eishun wears one too, not only in flashbacks but during his visit with Negi and company on the last day of the Kyoto field trip.
Even Asuna wears one during the Eight Days Later arc and its immediate aftermath.
I suppose it’s a simple enough shape that it could be an accident of wardrobe design…
[…] which is totally out of character for her? I know that some of you did a bit of speculating in the 296 review, and I agree that while the world Zazie’s sister created is based on a world where Ala Rubra […]