February 13th, 2011 
AstroNerdBoy 魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 35 Chapter 317 (manga)
Mahou Sensei Negima! Manga Chapter 317
Negima! Manga Vol 35 Ch 317
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
“Poyo” and Mana pause their fight, both sensing Negi’s revival though “Poyo” figures it might be too late.
Elsewhere, Takahata and Kurt are still in a desperate fight with hoards of summoned monsters when the first reports of powerful mana storms arrive, turning everything they touch into dust. All over the magic world, massive storms with tornadoes destroy everything in their path and reveal the true Martian landscape beneath.
As this is happening, Setsuna is still in a desperate fight while Ku Fei, Chisame, Chamo, Ako, Akira, Konoka, and Shiori all race on, boosted by a shot by Ako’s artifact when Anya launches an attack to stop them, fearing they would race passed her. She complains that Kotaro and company treated her like a kid and left her behind but has bad news as she reports about what happened with the others and so they have to go help them, especially since Konoka is a healer.
Top-side, Fate arrives just as Shirabe revives. Fate orders her to take Asuna to the designated place as she ponders what happened while she was out, seeing the bound Natsumi and Nodoka. Fate has taken their pactio cards and is amazed that such rare artifact cards have been produced but that the game is over. Nodoka claims to know what Fate is thinking even without her card — he has Negi constantly on his mind. Nodoka cites Negi’s remarks about wanting to be friends with Fate, which she finds to be a good thing. She doesn’t think Fate’s group are bad people and invites Fate to come to Mahora to have coffee at a good shop she knows.
Her remarks are interrupted by a slap from Fate, but she just smiles back. Fate is irritated but before he can do anything, Negi arrives on top of Great Paru-sama. Negi glares at Fate who simply responds that he had grown tired of waiting for him.
Thoughts/Review:
I know some of you guys think this is bad of me, but I’m hoping that “Poyo” turns out to be mostly right in that it is just about too late to save the world. If this is the case, then everything remains on target for Chao to go back in time to try to change history and complete the circle. I kinda tend to suspect that Negi may be able to save all the people, but that the world won’t be the same as it was and living will be tough.
Looks like Setsuna is getting beaten but for all we know, she just won the fight and is just in bad shape herself.
Then, there’s Anya. She suddenly shows up just in time to stop the fleeing girls. I’m still highly suspicious of Anya. While Kotaro’s group has to use Natsumi’s artifact to slip in undetected, Anya is able to “watch the show” as it were without being noticed? I’m just not buying it at this point. If she is working with Fate and company, then there’s a specific reason to alter their course. If not, then it is simply to gather their fallen comrades. We’ll see.
I wonder what the significance of Negi’s harem having rare pactio cards is.
You have to hand it to Nodoka, eh? I know that Paru slapping or otherwise being show to beat Nodoka (whether as a joke or not) has toughened her up a bit, combined with her time with Ala Alba both on Earth and the Magic World. However, Negi’s arrival means that at long last, we may actually bring the Magic World arc to an end and a fight between Fate and Negi begin. Then again, Akamatsu-sensei may have some evil twist planned for us. ^_~
So, not really a lot to comment on. As there’s a break this week, Negima! chapter 318 is scheduled to be released on Feb 23. I’ll be keeping an eye open for spoiler images, should they appear.
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Only thing of this chapter i enjoyed was seeing setsuna and the part where Nodoka was talking to Fate. I too hope its to late for them to save the magic world but something will be done as for Anya maybe she coulda been brainwashed by Fate =p
On side note. I remember reading about your theory of Negi really being Nagi, im not sure this is the case cuz from what we know when Negi made pactio with the princess it came up Negius and when Negi forced pactio with shori it came up with her real name, i dont think the pactio “spirits” can be fooled with magic
silly question…but…
where did nodoka’s pants go!?
The problem with a treasonous Anya is simple – what purpose would she serve? When all is said and done, it still comes down to Negi versus Fate Tertious. Everything else is a sideshow, and anything Anya might do is more or less irrelevant. So while it’s possible that she’s working for the other side, I just don’t see what the point would be.
The magical tornadoes are rather surprising. During her conversation with Negi, Zazie’s sister indicated that there were still several years before the magical collapse started (specifically, she said that the collapse would start within nine years and six months). But now we’re seeing tornadoes that are believed to be connected to the collapse. I doubt that Zazie’s sister would lie about the timing of the collapse, so that means that something else must be going on. Perhaps Fate’s ritual is actually accelerating the collapse? I’ve had a feeling from the start that he’s being played for a fool, and it’s possible that his ritual is in fact designed to speed up the collapse.
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where did nodoka’s pants go!?
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Off the top of my head, I can’t remember her ever wearing pants. I think she’s always worn a skirt – which fits with her shy, demure personality.
On side note. I remember reading about your theory of Negi really being Nagi, im not sure this is the case cuz from what we know when Negi made pactio with the princess it came up Negius and when Negi forced pactio with shori it came up with her real name, i dont think the pactio “spirits” can be fooled with magic
You’re forgetting Asuna. ^_~
The problem with a treasonous Anya is simple – what purpose would she serve?
Two purposes. First one being a lighter one whereby Anya removes her female rivals for Negi’s attention, the chief one being Asuna. The second one is her mother. I can see Anya having learned more about the attack that caused her mother to be turned to stone. So, if there’s a chance to return her mother to normal and the cost is helping CE capture Asuna for a ritual, then why not?
Perhaps Fate’s ritual is actually accelerating the collapse? I’ve had a feeling from the start that he’s being played for a fool, and it’s possible that his ritual is in fact designed to speed up the collapse.
There’s no doubt in my mind that the ritual is purposefully speeding up the collapse. However, I don’t think Fate’s being played up for a fool. My reasoning for this is the “Rewrite” stuff they’ve been doing whereby he sent Jack to CE-land. If the system is going to collapse, then it is a failed system. So, why not archive all the magical residence to CE-land and shut down the system (Magic World)?
As I see it in computer terms, Fate just wants to archive the residence of MW and shut it down but the archived residence get to live out a life of whatever. Negi’s plan is something I be would be akin to a reboot whereby the MW is restored and the collapse averted (at least for a great while to come).
Of course, we still don’t know what Negi’s plan is, but that would be my guess.
re junior
about Nodoka
pants ch316 page 4
chapter 317 panty shot
hmmm
Technically speaking Anya was working for Fate. In exchange for agreeing to behave, not try to escape, etc, they agreed to unchain her from the wall and stuck her in a maid outfit, and set her to caring for Asuna.
I’d imagine that did include some freedom of movement about the palace where she wouldn’t be attacked. Similarly she and Asuna were allowed to freely watch Negi’s initial invasion, so I don’t find it all that much of a stretch that some means would be available to her to check what was happening elsewhere in the castle.
Plus it makes perfect sense that Kotaro and company would leave her behind somewhere safe. She’s still a child to most of them, and she’s pretty inept in combat by their standards. If Anya while insisting she’d be fine let slip that nothing would attack her unless she tried to leave a certain area, they’d cheerfully leave the liability in the safe area.
@ ANB, omg i cannot believe i forgot that i shame myself =(
ANB –
First, you completely misunderstand my question. I didn’t ask what Anya gets out of betraying Negi. I asked what purpose her betrayal would serve. CE doesn’t get anything out of it, and it doesn’t really affect the plot. The battle at this point has devolved down to Negi and Fate – whoever wins, wins. The only way that Anya might be able to betray Negi in those circumstances is by threatening one of the students if he doesn’t lose. But Fate’s been looking forward to his duel with Negi and would specifically reject such an underhanded tactic.
As for CE (the alternate dimension, and not the organization), what do we really know about it? We don’t know how much Fate himself truly knows about it and his comments regarding himself (i.e. calling himself a ‘doll’) seem to suggest that his will isn’t entirely his own. Suffice to say that I wouldn’t be surprised if The Mage of the Beginning has been lying to Fate about what will happen to all of the people “sent” to Cosmo Entechelea.
@junior – Interesting idea about Fate being played for a fool. I get the feeling we’ll find out pretty soon.
Agreed about Nodoka’s pants. Reposting part of my rant in the 316 review, when I saw the raw and was almost livid:
I just realized: WTH?
I know Fate has a fetish for dressing up (and hence undressing) Asuna, but in every previous case I can think of, it could have arguably been one of his female henchmen who did it.
And I guess I can understand him taking away Nodoka’s backpack and Natsumi’s cloak, in case they had magic items of some sort.
But compare p13 of the last chapter to p14 or p16 of the current chapter. Why the @#$% did he feel it necessary to remove Nodoka’s pants!?
I’m a little too much of a Nodoka fanboy, and I’m still upset about Paio’s trying to sexually assault her (starting with gratiuitously pulling off all her clothes) and then it being played for laughs later. Yes, I know I should repeat the MST3K mantra a few times for my own good. (^_^);
Now towards the end of the chapter, we would see something quite ironic… where Fate seems to be reacting like a Tsundere to the tied up character – Honya (unexpected from a mild, calm dude like Fate). Does Fate have feelings that would propel him to lose, or is it just more conviction of winning the fight? This seems to predict the downfall of Fate in one sense, but Negi will have trouble beating Fate (in the sense of a pun ).
I don’t think Fate removed Nodoka’s pants. It’s rather that since Nodoka and Natsumi don’t have their pactio card, they are no longer able to use the outfit associated with it. Nodoka also lost her bunny-backpack as well as her little body armor, not just the pants :p
I think Anya is too much of a side character to be associated with CE.
I’m a little upset that, after all the efforts of Negi’s party, they are back to the beginning with Asuna still unconscious and the Key still in Fate’s possession. Nothing really happened during the last 8 chapters except the fact that we know that the mysterious mage is one of Negi’s relative.
Negi’s party efforts didn’t even really delay the activation of the world rewrite spell. One could expect that Fate’s team would have to restart the incantation of it when you remove its 2 main catalysts (the Key and Asuna). But that’s not the case here …
Fate is lame to hit Nodoka like that, now I hope he gets destroyed by Negi which is probably what is going to happen in the next chapters.
About Negi’s plan, I think its execution will be the next arc of the story (exposing his secret plan and saving the MW won’t be setteled in 3 chapters, I hope) . I was wondering in chapter 316 why the world tree seemed to be sending a giant laser in the sky (to Mars ?!). Could it be that Negi wants to pump out energy from the 13 (chapter 139 page 11) sacred places of Earth to save Mars (sending energy to Mars with the same laser beam style) ? I mean, this manga has a lot of RPG element and I was just thinking it missed a quest like “go to the X temples around the world and take the power of the Elementals”.
re nodoka
the problem with the pactio theory is she wore that outfit while treasure hunting.
and it had pants
did nodoka just offer fate “hot coffee” haha
I honestly hope Setsuna has a fight. Her character has been building up to it
@Anonymous2: That’s possible, but if their outfits disappear when their Pactio cards are taken, why only some parts of their outfits? Akamatsu-sensei hasn’t exactly been shy about showing the girls unclothed.
@Anonymous2: That’s possible, but if their outfits disappear when their Pactio cards are taken, why only some parts of their outfits? Akamatsu-sensei hasn’t exactly been shy about showing the girls unclothed.
My guess is that the pactio users switch back to their former suit once they cancel their pactio’s outfit (1) or when they lose the card (2). Advanced pactio card users wouldn’t be foolish enough to activate their pactio card while naked, which would result in a the user being striped in case (1) or (2) happens.
The clothes we see on Nodoka and Natsumi in chapter 317 are what they were wearing before activating the pactio card.
Maybe that’s a bit too much of an explanation and Akamatsu just wanted to draw a panty shot of a tied Nodoka just like he did with Asuna recently.
@Anonymous2/4: Maybe that’s a bit too much of an explanation and Akamatsu just wanted to draw a panty shot of a tied Nodoka just like he did with Asuna recently.
Ockham’s Razor would strongly suggest you’re right on that score. (^_~)
But as far as their outfits go, the ones they’re wearing aren’t the outfits we last saw them in before they switched to pactio. Actually, I’m not sure if we’ve ever seen them dressed exactly thus.
IMO, what CE gets out of Anya being a traitor is another card to make sure their mission is completed successfully. Fate’s fight with Negi may be important to him but making sure the ritual goes forward as planned is still top priority. So if Anya can do anything to facilitate this, then so much the better for them.
Of course Anya may not be a traitor at all but simply a character Akamatsu-sensei couldn’t really work into the plot. I just like the idea that she might be something more. ^_^