魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 33 Chapter 300 (manga)
Mahou Sensei Negima! Manga Chapter 300
Negima! Manga Vol 33 Ch 300 Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Despite the brief setback, Negi tells the group that the plan is still going well. He assigns groups to perform certain tasks. Group 1 (Cocone, Johnny, Paru, Chachamaru, Mei, Collet, Takane, and Misora) are charged with repairing both the Great Paru-sama as well as the Manta in addition to securing an escape route. Group 2 (Kotaro, Natsumi, Sayo, Asakura, Bea, and Yue) are tasked with recovering Anya. Group 3 (Nodoka, Konoka, Setsuna, Kaede, Ku Fei, Chisame, Asuna-Shiori/Luna, and Negi) are going after the Code of the Lifemaker. Since there is no longer a safe place for the Sports-4 (Akira, Makie, Yuuna, and Ako), they are coming with Negi.

Before setting out, Paru telepathically asks Negi if one of the hostages they are going to rescue is the real Asuna, which Negi confirms. With that, the main fighters (Negi, Setsuna, Kaede, Kotaro, Ku Fei) take off to clear a path of the summoned monsters. However, Negi ends up quickly dispatching all of the summoned creatures, leaving nothing for the other fighters to do.

Meanwhile, this is being watched on a display by Asuna and Anya. Anya is stunned by Negi’s power growth and expresses the notion that Negi looks cool. Asuna is amused by this and Anya, realizing her mistake, attempts to cover. Anya throws a tantrum over Negi and speculates that Negi might be as strong as Nagi. This causes Asuna to remember her childhood when she asked Nagi why he fought. His answer of saving her puzzles the young Asuna, so Nagi explains that he needs to finish saving the world by destroying the secrets of the world that have imprisoned both Asuna and the magic world for a long time. Gatou wonders about the things that can’t be fixed through destruction, leading Nagi to say that he’s sure someone else will come along to take care of that aspect of the problem.

Asuna reflects on this and on how Negi is trying to save everyone while chasing Nagi’s footsteps until he appears to have reached Nagi. Asuna envisions herself on a stairway at school with Nagi and Negi at the top of the stairs, Negi asking Asuna to come with him. This brings a tear to Asuna’s eyes. Anya sees this and as Asuna says they should be looking for a way out of their prison, Anyway accuses Asuna of being in love with Negi, something Asuna denies.

Thoughts/Review: Wow. Three-hundred manga chapters. Hard to believe that Negima! has come so far, especially since Akamatsu-sensei’s previous works didn’t even come close. ^_^

I mentioned in my Love Hina Manga Special review on how Akamatsu-sensei’s character designs have progressed. That certainly comes through here with the flashback to chapter one of the manga (though some of Negi’s changes can be ascribed to the aging he’s done as a result of spending time in those diorama sphere’s and Eva’s scroll on top of the normal aging that would have been done).

Since this is the 300th chapter, Akamatsu-sensei takes time to briefly introduce us to all of Ala Alba and the rest of the people with them. I’ve seen this done before as a way to try to help new readers who might not have been reading Negima! to quickly get to know who’s who while the story proceeds. Since Kodansha made a big deal over this milestone (and understandably so), there is a good chance that new readers might be picked up.

As to the story itself, I smiled at how Negi cast the “199 spirits of lightning” as I remembered when simply casting a few spirits of anything was all he could do. Of course his spell was deflected but Negi don’t need no stinking spells like that no more. Indeed, I think that this is the first time he’s turned his staff into a pseudo melee weapon ( a halberd of lightning). So much for that sword he brought with him. *lol*

Since only five people moved to attack, I’m guessing Kaede has all of the others stashed in her cloak. Actually, I think that’s a rather safe bet, don’t you? ^_~

I liked seeing Asuna and Anya again. It was fun seeing how Anya accuses Asuna of being in love with Negi (a transference from Nagi to Negi if you ask me). ^_^

Anyway, this is the first big chance we’ve had to see Asuna consciously remember her childhood and her time with Nagi. I found Nagi’s words on leaving the aspects of saving the world (and Asuna) that don’t require destroying things to some unknown person who’d just show up to be most interesting. Yes, Nagi was flippant in the flashback but I think that eventually he came to see that Gatou was right and thus set in motion a plan which Negi is now following (even if unconsciously). Remember, Negi’s gift is not only in sheer power like Nagi, but in his ingenuity and coming up with solutions to problems. Nagi did a great deal on sheer power alone but because he still relied on a spell book and was rather flippant about a great many things, someone else was going to have to take up the mantle and carry on his work without those flaws. Thus, Nagi “dies,” Negi is born, and Nagi’s prediction of someone else showing up comes true. ^_^

Without going back through previous chapters (time constraints), I’m pretty sure that only a select few know that Shiori-Luna is impersonating Asuna. I remember when the Great Paru-sama was coming in for a landing at the Gravekeeper’s Palace that Paru seemed to see Asuna and vice versa. Paru seemed surprised by this and so her asking Negi about it now confirms that she did see Asuna. My question is, “Why is Negi apparently not revealing this to everyone?” I ask because when he gave Group 2 their orders, they were only to rescue Anya. Assuming Anya and Asuna don’t get split up, Group 2 will encounter both Anya and Asuna and I wonder what the reaction will be for those who didn’t know Shiori-Luna was disguised as Asuna.

Speaking of Shiori-Luna, I do wonder how much longer she’ll last with the group. Assuming they rescue Asuna and Anya soon, will Shiori-Luna “die” to save Negi? I’ve long been thinking that this might be the case but we’ll see.

Oh, before I forget, I wanted to comment on Cocone. Akamatsu-sensei gives her the title of “Empire Immigration Program Test Subject No. 18” (or “Imperial Immigration Initiative Experimental Subject #18” depending on the translator). What struck me about this is that I’ve long suspected that it may be that people from the Magic World may not be able to survive on Earth. I know some of you pointed out that apparently Al was on Earth with Nagi and company. I let it drop but my thinking has been that Al may have been a special case, powered by Nagi.

Why did I think this? Well, if all of the non-human residence of the Magic World are pure illusions, powered by the magic of the Magic World, then how could they survive on Earth? Al would be an exception because as has been established, magic power flows from the Magister to the Minister/Ministra. Thus, Al could have survived on Earth with Nagi’s assistance.

With this information, it is also possible that Al was an early test subject as well, maybe even the first test subject. However, look at him today? For ten years, he’s been unable to leave from under the library (or wherever specifically he is under the school grounds), which just so happens to contain structures identical to those on the Magic World. Further, Al is only able to “move” during the times when the World Tree is brimming with magic. The implication has been that the Al that fought in the tournament was just a projection of some kind (and that’s possible) but it may also be the real Al and that what Kaede and the other’s sensed about him being fake was the fact that Al is “fake” when compared to a real human.

Either way, I suggest to you that Al is kept “alive” in part by the magic of the World Tree and has to reside down under the school where the “machinery” (for lack of a better term) is in place to keep from turning into petals (said “machinery” being like a battery that stores power from the World Tree). We’ll see how close or far I am from the mark there.

Anyway, returning to Cocone, I would say that the problem of the Magic World is probably known to the Headmaster and a select few others, which is why Cocone is where she is. Cocone is likely older than she seems as well, which would make her being Misora’s Magister more understandable. I hope we learn more about Cocone in the future.

Conspicuously missing in this chapter is Chamo. I wonder why that is, or did Akamatsu-sensei just forget to slip him in?

So, an enjoyable chapter for me to mark the magical 300th chapter of my favorite manga. I’m looking forward to the group FINALLY rescuing Anya and Asuna! ^_^;