魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 28
Negima! Manga Volume 28 Review

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For detailed chapter summaries of Negima! Volume 28 with chapter reviews, look below.

• Chapter 250
• Chapter 251
• Chapter 252
• Chapter 253
• Chapter 254
• Chapter 255
• Chapter 256
• Chapter 257
• Chapter 258

Rereading the chapters in this volume, I remember how simple everything seemed back then.  Negi and Kotaro had just won the tournament and freed Ako, Akira, and Natsumi from slavery. The group had plans to rescue Anya and Yue from the ruins and then return to Earth.  Of course, we in the audience already knew that Asuna had been replaced and that Yue was free, so it seemed like Negi and the others would realize that something was wrong once they encountered Yue and the focus would be on trying to discover why there was a second signal from the ruins when only Anya should be down there (as Shiori-Asuna was with the group).

However, that line of thought was completely wrong as Akamatsu-sensei simply set up the next sub-arc, that being the Kurt Goedel’s ball and the reveals that will bring.  But that’s to be discussed later.  ^_^

Still, for a week-to-week reader of the manga, it was frustrating for me that after everyone in Ala Alba assumed that the two badges from the Ostia ruins were those of Anya and Yue, no one questioned or even thought of this when they met Yue.  I kept thinking someone would go, “How is Yue here when we are getting a signal supposedly from her in the ruins?”

The other somewhat frustrating aspect is that Shiori-Asuna revealing that she doesn’t have magic-canceling like the real Asuna and it being washed over by the characters (Negi and the others).  This aspect was a bit more understandable since Akamatsu-sensei played on the fact that he’s never had Asuna be 100% on her magic cancel ability (the love potion candies or Eva’s ice spell on her spring to mind).

Despite this and the obvious delay in leaving the Magic World, there were a number of good elements.

• The reunion of Yue with Negi and Nodoka.
• Setsuna’s and Konoka’s pactio, complete with a new pactio card and artifact, something which doesn’t apparently happen that often.
• Shiori’s struggle at continuing to maintain her cover as Asuna.
• The talk of additional pactios, including making sure that Sayo and Chachamaru are included in that possibility.
• The reveal that the Magic World is actually Mars.
• Jack’s encounter with Fate.

Obviously, the reveal that the Magic World is in fact Mars was the biggest thing to come out of this volume.  There had been many hints laid out and in Japan, fans had pretty much determined this to be the case based on Magic World maps and maps of Mars.

The second biggest reveal was the fact that a person who scores a pactio card/artifact with one magister can score a completely new card/artifact with a different magister.  Until now, the only evidence we’d seen of someone having multiple pactio cards all showed them to be identical so this means that Setsuna now has two artifacts and two sources of magical energy.  (As I see it though, this is just a way to have another Setsuna card to collect and there’s nothing wrong with that.)

On a bit of a fun note, when I first read chapter 253, I hadn’t yet started watching Mobile Suit Gundam.  So, though I knew that the body Paru created for Sayo-chan was likely based off some mecha series, I mostly attributed this new body to being like Chachamaru, something which Sayo-chan herself mentioned.  However, now that I am up through episode 20 of Mobile Suit Gundam as I write this article, I now see that Akamatsu-sensei has made a fun tribute to that series as the “torso cockpit” is the same as the “Core Fighter” cockpit used in the Gundam mecha.  The scope piece is the same and this life-sized Sayo-chan body even has Vulcan cannons.  *lol*  Its moments like this that makes me glad I continue to expand my classic anime knowledge.  ^_^

The extras in the volume include a look at Great Paru-sama and an extended, 2-page Q&A with Akamatsu-sensei.  Many of the volumes have included a single question and answer so having Akamatsu-sensei really open up to questioning is great. Most of the questions chosen were pretty good but there were a few dumb ones.  ^_^;  That happens though.

There are translator notes which are always good but I was disappointed that the Gundam stuff wasn’t mentioned.  Well, the twins probably haven’t watched Gundam and thus wouldn’t catch the reference.  Otherwise, no complaints.

So, a good end to Del Rey’s term as publisher of Negima!  Sadly, it will be some five months until volume 29 comes out from Kodansha Comics.