August 25th, 2010 
AstroNerdBoy 魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 33 Chapter 299 (manga)
Mahou Sensei Negima! Manga Chapter 299
Negima! Manga Vol 33 Ch 299 Review
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Fate is angry at Negi’s words on having a plan to save the magic world. It is something he has studied between training sessions and this plan is something that Ayaka could help with. Zazie-poyo is not impressed and transforms into her mazoku form to launch an attack at Negi. About that time, Setsuna, Ku Fei, Mana, and Kaede appear, deflecting the attack. Zazie-poyo is surprised at their waking up but links it to Negi’s extraction and decides to send them packing permanently. Negi tells the others he’ll take care of Zazie-poyo but Mana requests that job, telling Negi his power is best conserved for the moment. Negi protests but Mana shows her point by setting off gravity mines that she’d somehow managed to plant without anyone noticing.
As Zazie-poyo drops into the deep pit created by the gravity mines, Mana reminds him of his duties to the others and leaps into the pit. Kaede and Setsuna assure Negi that Mana can handle the situation and hearing Mana’s request for him to trust her, Negi announces that they will move forward.
Zazie-poyo praises “Miko Sniper” Mana as they both fall, but Zazie-poyo points out that Mana had signed on with Chao to stop Negi during the Mahora Festival and now is fighting that very cause. Mana concedes this point but says that she’s willing to bet on Negi. With the heavy magic concentration, Mana is able to use her time-displacement bullets which surprises Zazie-poyo. Mana announces that she has one more thing up her sleeve and with that, her eye and hair glow. Zazie-poyo sees this and Mana confirms the other’s belief — Mana is half-mazoku.
Thoughts/Review: Heh!heh!heh! So, Mana is half-mazoku. There has been some concern voiced by some fans over this revelation but frankly, I love it. Why? Well, ever since Mana revealed she had a special eye when Sayo was first introduced, I figured she was something more than human. Further, there had been some speculation within the manga that Mana wasn’t just a normal miko and might be older than she seemed. My own thoughts had been that Mana might come from the Magic World.
Until now, I’m not sure that “mazoku” were introduced as a species in Negima! They do show up in a number of other titles though. For example, in Ah! My Goddess, Urd is half-mazoku as her mother Hild is full mazoku. Mara is also mazoku. In the Slayers franchise, mazoku are the most powerful of the “evil races,” with demons, and regular monsters down the ladder. Xellos is a mazoku.
I’m pretty sure that youkai have been mentioned (though I’d need to do a page by page check to verify) as Tsukuyomi summoned some during the Mahora Festival to go up against Ayaka and other civilians. The creatures that were summoned by Chigusa are referred to as “oni.” Graf Herrman appears to fall into the akuma category (howbeit a high-level one). As such, the way I understand it, there are different “demonic races” within the world of Negima!, which is not surprising. I should ask the Twins how they might treat the use of the word “mazoku.” They don’t read ahead as we do but they do get the volumes to be translated well before they are scheduled to be released in the U.S.
Anyway, I rather enjoy the idea of multiple “dark races” (for lack of a better term). It does make me wonder if Kagetaro or even Takane might be tied in with the mazoku.
I did laugh at Mana having somehow planted those gravity mines without anyone knowing. Then again, anyone who can pull weapons and ammo from her cleavage could extract mines from some location and plant it.
I’m rather looking forward to the next chapter for it being a mile marker as well as getting us a step closer to rescuing Asuna and Anya.
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The only encounter between Tsukuyomi and Ayaka’s group was at the Cinema Town in the Kyoto arc…
I’m pretty sure Tsukuyomi didn’t appear in the Mahora Festival…
This chapter was made of win, even if it didn’t have any great moments. And I got a good laugh out of the fact that not just Setsuna, but also Ku Fei, went deep red when remembering their KE experiences. Did she start training Negi in something else after the snapshot Zazie showed?
Well Mana did get close to Zazie after her bullets were stopped so just tossing mines around her and using them at an appropriate time is not out of the question.
oh also I thought that I thought Chigusa summoned ‘Youkai’ and tsukuyomi summoned ‘Oni’
One of the Monsters Chigusa summoned was a ‘Bird man’ or ‘Bird tribe’ so which ever one that is… Setsuna is half that.
*sigh* The only good thing about this chapter was “Poyo’s” epic final dungeon boss form. Really, REALLY don’t like Mana…which is why I’m so torn with this match up. On one hand, I wanna see what Poyo-san is capable of, on the other, a drawn out fight means more Mana >_>
Here’s what I want to happen:
Negi: Kaede-san! Captain Tatsumiya lost HORRIBLY to Poyo-san! We have things under control up here, Go finish her off!
Kaede: Poyo or Mana?
Negi: =D
Kaede: XD
Well… if Mana is both half-mazoku and miko, then she is best match-up against Final-Boss-Level Mazoku.
On other hand I don’t expect that full battle will be shown, I think that Mana might try to take Poyo to the Demon-Realm/World/Plane/Dimension/Hell/Yomi/Pandemonium (since there is enough magic around).
Zazie’s sister — and by extension Zazie herself, a fact not lost on Chisame — being a demon girl was kind of a surprise, but her Edward Scissorhands act in the prior chapter kinda gave that away. But Mana being half-mazoku (I guess she’s now only a quarter each Japanese and Puerto Rican)? I knew she was badass, but I wasn’t expecting her to go all Black Rock Shooter demon chick on us.
I also LOLed a Setsuna and Ku’s embarassment over their CE dreams. We already know Setsuna was having a yuri fantasy with Konoka (complete with hadaka apron ^_^), but what was Ku dreaming of? It couldn’t have just been martial arts training. Hmmm.
Aren’t Kotaro and Setsuna half-demons, too? Not mazoku, I guess, but it does make me curious about how all the types of demons fit in Negima. Maybe Vetus will have something…
One more for the demon list – one of the bounty hunters that goes after Nodoka. Negi apologizes for the level of force used to take the guy down, as anything less likely wouldn’t have been enough.
😛
Neat little sequence here. It’s interesting that Mana’s managed to hold onto some of her toys from the festival arc. Though now I’m stuck wondering if each time Negi runs into some opposition he’s going to have to peel one or two members of his group off in order to deal with the threat while he goes on ahead.
Just so long as he gets to rescue Asuna himself…
I think a peel off is what will happen so that it is Fate vs. Negi solo. Question is, will we see Negi do a choke-hold on Fate as Nagi did years before?
Of course the wild card is the chibi-mage.
@James — Members of the Raven Tribe were summoned by Chiguse and those were called “oni,” which are a type of youkai but have a specific place in Japanese culture. I believe “ogre” was what Del Rey used to describe them.
As for Kotaro’s people, I don’t know that they’ve been placed into a classification of oni, akuma, mazoku, or just plain youkai. If this were Takahashi-sensei’s work, Kotaro would be a hanyou (half-youkai) similar to Inuyasha.
@Ultimaniac: LOL.
@ShadowOfTheVoid: Maybe half Japanese mazoku, half Puerto Rican?
@junior: Mana holding onto the BCTL’s all this time, coupled with some of the other things she’s said, puts me in mind of a scene from the later Dune books. The Bene Gesserit try to use spice essence against Leto, and he’s amused by the prospect but also surprised that they would have any, given that it’s been thousands of years since it was available. Their response? “Waste not, want not.”
@ANB: Oh, please no. Not with how many people he’s got in the party right now. The Festival Arc peel-off took fifteen chapters, with only a small handful in the party. Now he’s got half the #@$& class.
But unfortunately, I’m pretty sure you’re right.
Anyone else think Mana looks a bit like Alucard from the end of the Hellsing anime?