魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 34 Chapter 307 (manga)
Mahou Sensei Negima! Manga Chapter 307
Negima! Manga Vol 34 Ch 307 Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Shiori uses her body to shield Homura and gets stabbed by Negi, whom to Dynamis’s delight, begins to go out of control and has to be restrained by Kaede.  Konoka decides to heal Shiori to prevent Negi from completely being consumed by the darkness as Ku Fei, Makie, and Nodoka help Kaede restrain Negi, getting burned in the process.  Chisame slaps Negi across the face and gets cut on the face as a result, but she manages to show him that he’d only grazed Shiori rather than mortally wound her.  Shiori says that Negi moved his hand to the side at the last moment.

Hearing this, Negi “burns out” and falls forward, appearing to turn to stone.  Konoka’s healing artifact and spells do not have any affect on him as his body temperature drops and his breathing becomes shallow. Shiori advises advises not moving him as he’s likely on the verge of falling into darkness.

With the sounds of Setsuna’s battle with Tsukuyomi going on in the background, Homura is joined by Koyomi and Tamaki.  Homura demands to know why Shiori, who was supposed to spy on Negi’s party, is helping Negi.  She explains that with Negi being someone that Fate actually acknowledges, Shiori decides to believe in him after spending a night talking with him.  Homura and the others are not convinced and Homura is about to attack Shiori when Dynamis, no longer having any legs, says they’ve already won.  Even if Negi didn’t completely fall, Ala Alba’s trump card has been removed from the playing field and thus they have no one who could face Fate in combat.  Further, there’s only an hour and forty-three minutes until the plan using Asuna is complete.

After Ku Fei shuts up Dynamis, Kaede, Yuuna, Makie, Nodoka, Chisame, Akira, and Ako (and likely Konoka) decide to press forward with the fight.

Thoughts/Review:

OK, so Shiori only gets scratched and Negi is removed for now.  Question is, do we get a sequence of Negi in his own mind dealing with the darkness?  If so, I wouldn’t expect for it to last too long unless there is a surprise waiting there.  Akamatsu-sensei doesn’t have a track record of completely repeating previous things. I note how the Mahora Budokai was done in great detail whereas the tournament on the Magic World was only touched here and there until Negi’s battle with Jack.  So, we’ll see where that goes.

Shiori’s survival with only a scratch boosts her arguments about believing in Negi when she talks with Homura.  Homura’s reaction is pretty expected though how quickly she forgets that in saving Negi, Shiori also saved Homura’s life.  Dynamis may have stopped Homura from attacking Shiori, but Homura, Koyomi, and Tamaki are going to have to be dealt with.  Does Fate show up now and thus deal with them by having them return to the bench?  Not sure but we’ll see.

Chisame’s cut gets dealt with comedy-style.  She has the cut, then has the magical, comedy bandage, which is gone next time she’s seen.  To be honest, that disappoints me but I’m sure it is easier for Akamatsu-sensei and staff to deal with, especially since they’ve been struggling of late to get pages out.

Speaking of “dealing with,” I noticed that Ako suddenly lost her magister costume.  It would make no sense for her simply shelve her artifact and change back during battle but what do I know?  I’m not sure if that was a mistake or deliberate but I guess we’ll find out next chapter if Ako is seen again.

I couldn’t help but be reminded of how Akira does not have a pactio with Negi and how she’s been a pillar for him at times.  She’s the only one in that whole group who doesn’t have a pactio with Negi and I can’t help but wonder if Akamatsu-sensei might have her form a pactio with Negi while he’s in his current state and thus be able to help him somehow.  I think this is a VERY long shot, so much so that I don’t think it will happen, but the thought did pop in to my head.

Negima! is on a break, so no chapter 308 spoilers for sure this week (not that I believe any images will show up the following week).