December 11th, 2011 
AstroNerdBoy 魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 37 Chapter 345 (manga)
Mahou Sensei Negima! Manga Chapter 345
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
During the sports festival, Asuna manages to beat Misora in track; Ku Fei wins a martial arts festival easily; Mina, Yuuna, and Ako participate in a war game competition, and more. Negi, going around with Ayaka, gets word of this via Ayaka. Negi is asking about the final event, sponsored by her family when an irritated Takane approaches with Mei in tow. Takane issues her challenge to Negi since she’s about to graduate and wants to settle things with Negi, but Negi defeats her. She’s upset that upon this defeat, she hasn’t been stripped by him, which has happened in times past. As such, she demands to know if Negi is going to strip her of her clothing or go out with her before they get married.
Negi manages to get away from her with Ayaka in tow, with Ayaka not pleased with Takane’s behavior. Other girls come to confess to Negi, but he has to turn them down. His actions are observed by Yuuna, Asakura, Paru, and Misa. Akira races in to warn Negi, but disappears as an amused Fate shows up, feeling better about his own “disgrace” when Natsumi lead a group right up to Asuna under his very nose and he didn’t know it back on the Magic World.
Negi comes under attack, so he grabs Ayaka and carries her to safety, leading her to be in bliss. Negi finds a tank as well as military and war game groups are after him. A holographic Asakura and Sayo appear to announce the campus-wide event, “Rush the Teachers ☆ The Super Scavenger Competition.” Negi is the bonus teacher where there’s a 100-point bonus for those borrowing something from him for the event, but a 100-point penalty for his class if they allow others to borrow things from him.
Ayaka apologizes since she’d been talked into it and Negi flees. However, Negi is happy with this time to have some fun and make memories since it will help him as he works hard for the rest of his life.
Negi comes under magical attack and gets shot down by Yuuna, who has suppressed his magic for six minutes with two shots. He finds himself facing Asakura, Yuuna, Misa, Makie, and Paru, who are all after him now.
Thoughts/Review:
Nothing really much to say about the race between Misora and Asuna, though the feeling of finality is in the air between them as they chat (even if Misora doesn’t know it).
Ku Fei has learned what its like to be in the majors now. *lol* Well, no more tournaments for her, eh? ^_^;
I liked that Mana was with Yuuna and Ako in a war game competition. Mana has always seemed like more of a loner, save for if she paired up with Setsuna for a mission. I wonder if she’s softening up a bit, or if the time on the Magic World has caused her to respect Yuuna and Ako, even if they aren’t anywhere near her level.
I couldn’t help but get a laugh at Takane. For her to be upset over Negi NOT stripping her…*lol* My feelings on these girls being attracted to Negi is the same as the girls in the canon Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki being attracted to Tenchi — they sense the great power within Negi and that causes them to see passed the notion that he’s only ten. Plus, many of the girls have seen Negi as Nagi and so know what he looks like in older form, and that also adds to seeing passed Negi as a kid.
Based on the way Akira disappeared, combined with how Fate came in to be entertained because of those girls who’d pulled one on him, its not hard to guess that Natsumi caused Akira to disappear.
Anyway, it is also amusing to me that Asakura is not just playing announcer this time, but is also participating. But where’s Sayo in that last frame? I’d guess Sayo was able to be seen in the holographic image because of her artificial body, but she was with Asakura then but isn’t with her at the end. So, kind of a disconnect there.
Finally, Akamatsu-sensei seems to be subtlety addressing the complaints of those who don’t want some light, school fun stories and want to press immediately on into the next deep, dark story. Me, I like having this downtime at Mahora because the Magic World arc was VERY long. I needed this time away from such serious tales and action. Negi’s being pleased at being able to have a little fun and make memories is where I think Akamatsu-sensei takes a mild poke at the naysayers. Negi is ten and shouldn’t have to spend 100% of his childhood behaving as an adult and shouldering the troubles of an entire world.
So I say, “Let Negi and class have some fun and just enjoy the ride.” The deep, dark, life-or-death stuff will be here before we know it, after which, the manga ends. Why speed the end of such a good manga? ^_~
For my money’s worth, I liked this chapter and will enjoy watching the hijinks unfurl.
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Honestly, it slightly irks me that the girls are putting all this blame on Negi and vow to “teach him a lesson.”
There’s also the fact that they decide to cancel his magic advantage by draining him.
If Chapter 346 wasn’t out already, I’d find the biggest flaw in their plan to be right here. Since their Pactio artifacts depend on Negi’s magic, shouldn’t their artifacts be essentially nullified if they no longer have a source of power to maintain them?
I would also think that since Negi is the “master” in the Pactio partnership, he would have some way to cancel out their artifacts as well (maybe using “Abeat” to transform his partner’s artifacts back into cards, resulting in them no longer being able to use said artifacts because of the lack of magic to summon them again).
All in all, I honestly see this as more of an arc to teach Negi a few things.
1. He can’t always depend on his partners and friends to help him. Despite the entire Magical World arc reiterating again and again that Negi doesn’t have to fight by himself is pretty much tossed out the window when the “enemies” are his own partners. In a way, this feels like a bit of backtracking on his development as a person.
2. He can’t always depend on his magic capabilities. Yes, he learned about this during the Library Island arc, but considering that since then he’s had to go through countless training montages to get to this point, taking away his magic is forcing him to remember that he’s still in a 10 year-old’s body.
3. Since he has to face his own class, this is forcing him to consider his students’ strengths and weaknesses. He knows how powerful they can be working together and even more so if they combine their artifacts. Nodoka’s mindreading, Misora’s speed, Natsumi’s blinding ability…the list goes on and on. Negi may be a prodigy, but the deck is pretty stacked against him. He has to figure out and remember what his partners’ weaknesses are in order to survive all of this.
So this arc is in a way teaching him independence and humility…if he needed it. Seriously, the way the girls are going about it feels like they’re picking on him again (like they did in the Akira/Negi chapter when he lost Eva’s ring). All in all, I honestly hope Negi can pull off a reversal and teach the girls not to mess with the protagonist. >;D
Hey now, the “Teach him a lesson” is less of a serious thing and more along the lines of “We want to cause more mischief and have a reason to do so” I think this is really about bringing out who Negi is actually interested in and resolving some other, completely non-essential issues. Like Ku Fei confessing. NOT NECESSARY but still awesome. I love the “BUH-WUH” look on Negi’s face. It cracks me up
Honestly, it slightly irks me that the girls are putting all this blame on Negi and vow to “teach him a lesson.”
Well, the thing is, these are young, teenage girls who’s logic is flawed from the start. They may have skills beyond girls their age and certainly they’ve experienced things normal girls wouldn’t, but at the end of the day, they are immature girls who think with absurd logic.
Since their Pactio artifacts depend on Negi’s magic, shouldn’t their artifacts be essentially nullified if they no longer have a source of power to maintain them?
Well, Negi has been tapped out and Chamo wondered how he could still front magic to his partners. That was part of the reason I formed my “Negi is Nagi” theory. Somehow, Negi’s magical reserves going into the pactio system doesn’t get impacted.
I would also think that since Negi is the “master” in the Pactio partnership, he would have some way to cancel out their artifacts as well (maybe using “Abeat” to transform his partner’s artifacts back into cards, resulting in them no longer being able to use said artifacts because of the lack of magic to summon them again).
Negi does have the Master Cards, so you are right, he SHOULD be able to send the artifacts back to card form. Early on with Asuna, it was he who controlled how long Asuna’s artifact was active before giving her a copy of the card that she could use at will.
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1. He can’t always depend on his partners and friends to help him. Despite the entire Magical World arc reiterating again and again that Negi doesn’t have to fight by himself is pretty much tossed out the window when the “enemies” are his own partners. In a way, this feels like a bit of backtracking on his development as a person.
I disagree. His enemies aren’t his partners and friends. Indeed, Negi is grateful for having memories here even though he is the chased one. The girls may have their absurd logic thinking, but in the end, I expect that they will be the ones to grow and understand Negi better.
2. He can’t always depend on his magic capabilities. Yes, he learned about this during the Library Island arc, but considering that since then he’s had to go through countless training montages to get to this point, taking away his magic is forcing him to remember that he’s still in a 10 year-old’s body.
Well, this one is certainly something that he should learn. Actually, Eva should have been pounding that message into his skull all along. I think she has and he does know some non-magical martial arts techniques like Kaede and Kotaro have.
3. Since he has to face his own class, this is forcing him to consider his students’ strengths and weaknesses. He knows how powerful they can be working together and even more so if they combine their artifacts. Nodoka’s mindreading, Misora’s speed, Natsumi’s blinding ability…the list goes on and on. Negi may be a prodigy, but the deck is pretty stacked against him. He has to figure out and remember what his partners’ weaknesses are in order to survive all of this.
Well, Negi has always been a quick thinker, which is how he’s gotten this far.
Seriously, the way the girls are going about it feels like they’re picking on him again (like they did in the Akira/Negi chapter when he lost Eva’s ring). All in all, I honestly hope Negi can pull off a reversal and teach the girls not to mess with the protagonist. >;D
Well, the girls do need to be taught their place. ^_^
Hey now, the “Teach him a lesson” is less of a serious thing and more along the lines of “We want to cause more mischief and have a reason to do so”
Well, there is that element too. ^_^