魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 32
Negima! Manga Volume 32 Review

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For detailed chapter summaries of Negima! Volume 32 with chapter reviews, look below.

• Chapter 286
• Chapter 287
• Chapter 288
• Chapter 289
• Chapter 290
• Chapter 291
• Chapter 292
• Chapter 293
• Chapter 294

From a story perspective, there were a lot of great things here.  The long-forgotten students in Wales are finally brought back in for a few extended cameos to get them back to Japan as the Magic World storyline enters into a climactic phase. Yuuna, Makie, and Ako all get pactiones, but while Akira gets a chapter pretty much dedicated to her (which was nice), Akamatsu-sensei decided to pass on giving her a pactio.  I wonder why.

It was fun seeing the real Eva be manipulated into calling Ayaka to have the Wales group come home, but it was more fun watching the faux Eva battle Negi with Negi eventually getting that much needed level up.  His method for handling Tsukuyomi by grabbing her by the throat and then proceeding to prevent her from taking Nodoka as a hostage just ruled on every level. The fight to get the Great Paru-sama and Johnny’s ship to the Gravekeeper’s Palace was pretty sweet too.  Of course, seeing Zazie at the end was the best, wasn’t it. ^_~

This leads me to a major complaint against Kodansha Comics.  For the SECOND volume in a row, the fools in charge of Kodansha USA have decided that the cover art from the Japanese tankoubon (not to be confused with the dust cover art, which we do have as our cover art) should not be included even though the Twins tweeted that they translated it. This would have included some notes from Akamatsu-sensei on Zazie and frankly, I wanted to read them.  I’ve no clue what is going on at Kodansha Comics, but it is starting to really get me irritated. We’ve had these pages from Del Rey from almost the beginning (they didn’t start with them, but a few volumes in, they picked up the earlier volume’s cover art/notes and continued thereafter).  Kodansha Comics even were including them until volume 31.  I want those back.

Fortunately, Kodansha Comics graced us with the omake Misora Kasuga’s Life Counseling, which was humorous and fun.  I did note that Hata-sensei from Hayate the Combat Butler got a question in here as well, which I loved. Also included are the Zodiac and Element charts for the class and some explanations. Translator notes are here (cool as always) as is a Japanese preview of volume 33.

I wish Kodansha Comics would have included the color artwork from the LE cover as an extra, but I suppose this will never happen (more so since Kodansha Comics can’t be bothered to include the cover art and notes).  For those wondering, here is a side-by-side of the two Japanese tankoubon covers, courtesy of カートゥン☆ワールド- (Cartoon World).

Speaking of cover art, it appears that Kodansha Comics couldn’t be bothered to send their cover artwork to online retailers (or did not do so in a timely fashion). Many did not have it. That’s just crappy all the way around.

So while the volume is a good one, Kodansha Comics appears to be traveling down an “up yours, customers” road and I for one am not happy about that.