August 27th, 2014 
AstroNerdBoy ユーキューホルダー! Manga Review
UQ Holder Chapter 47
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Kuroumaru and Touta are in hot pursuit of their immortal suspect while Ikkuu sets up a sniper position. Kuroumaru and Touta quickly discover their opponent has telekinesis as the pair of them find their swords removed from their hands. The two of them quickly recover, grabbing the others sword, and attack, but their target is phased and their attacks are meaningless.
Ikkuu is impressed with their target’s abilities, but while the bullet hits, it passes through and does not activate a barrier to trap the target. To Ikkuu’s surprise, despite the incredible distance, the suspect is able to counterattack, nearly nailing Ikkuu in the process. Santa uses telekinesis to pull Touta and Kuroumaru to Santa’s location, where Santa possesses Kuroumaru, then phases Touta’s head into the surface of the rooftop they are on. Then while still in Kuroumaru’s body, Santa easily bests Ikkuu, removing the android’s head and slamming him into the ground.
Karin chastises Ikkuu and Kuroumaru for being punked, then requests someone dig Touta out of the rooftop. The foursome then confer on the subject, Touta expressing admiration for their target. Karin scolds Touta for wanting to learn psychic abilities since this is something that cannot be learned. Kuroumaru feels shame at being possessed, but Ikkuu says no one could have predicted that. As they speak of how powerful the psion suspect is, they don’t realize that Santa is watching them from the dorm room.
That night, the foursome part company, agreeing to meet again. Karin informs Touta that he’ll have to pay for the damages he caused. As Touta and Kuroumaru walk to their room, Kuroumaru apologizes to Touta, who’s not bothered by it. Kuroumaru wonders quietly about the psion and feels something is off.
When Touta and Kuroumaru arrive at their room, Santa is waiting for them, though neither know this is the psion they’ve been pursuing. Touta is pleased to see Santa in a good mood, and though there’s only one bed, Touta talks Santa into letting him and Kuroumaru share the large bed. Santa realizes the mistake made when Touta sleeps heavily and sprawled all over the bed.
Thoughts/Review:
Considering this is the first psychic (that I’m aware of) in the Akamatsu-verse, and considering the fact that our foursome is at Academy City, well, I just couldn’t help put in another A Certain Magical Index/A Certain Scientific Railgun reference in the tag line of my post. ^_~
Santa does have an impressive range of psychic abilities. Santa’s telekinetic range is pretty impressive. At Ikkuu’s sniper position, he needed a scope to even see Santa. Not only did the bullet go through Santa, but Santa’s counterattack would have crushed Ikkuu had Ikkuu not dived out of the way. Santa is also quite quick, as witnessed when Santa possessed Kuroumaru.
I almost hate to say this, but I rather enjoy seeing Santa punk Touta, Kuroumaru, and Ikkuu. The fact that Santa is spying on them makes things even more interesting and enjoyable for me, since Santa can punk them again. ^_^ (I’m glad we haven’t seen Karin getting punked yet.)
Still, Santa is pretty mysterious, but that makes the character a bit more interesting.
Super-Touta gets a new skill this chapter, this time getting to run up a wall with no training. Since Touta is likely an artificial being who’s been programmed well, I find I no longer get annoyed by this.
I got a good laugh at the end of the chapter, when Touta is out cold, sprawled out all over the bed, forcing Kuroumaru and Santa to sleep on the edge of the bed. In a way, Touta unwittingly punks Santa with his wild sleeping.
So, an enjoyable chapter was found here. ^_^
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If Tota really is an artificial being, it raises questions about Chao Lingshen’s true nature, I guess Chao Xingzai will be pretty important.
I don’t doubt he’ll be back. ^_^
Looking at that last panel, Santa’s white trousers make it seems like he isn’t wearing one (the contrast is bigger because Touta and Kurou are wearing black ones)… it would be a pity if he really is male.
*lol* Yes, it did. I initially thought that as well, thinking, “Man, Santa has to be a girl. Look at those legs and butt.” Then I realized Sensei was trolling us, which he did a couple of times (or more) in Negima.
Touta being a construct doesn’t justify the ability to pull powers of his ass when plot demands it. Either just cut to the fucking chase or at least pretend that something’s up a little more subtly then this.
We’ve seen Akamatsu do it before with Asuna pre-MM (and in much smaller increments, mind you), so why the hell he’s bending over backwards for Touta to play the Greatest Hero Ever card is more then a little grating.
Dargor your memory is decidedly selective when it comes to Negima. Early in Negima, Asuna manages to remove magical capacities she even managed to cancel the magical barrier of Eva I think. And that was BEFORE her amnesia is revealed! (chapters 90-100) for such prowess in fight. His early exploits date back well before his duel against Setsuna. If I follow your logic Asuna would be a bad hero because she acquires skills both close too.
Also we know from the start that Tota has amnesia, we even had a short flashback where Eva erases his memory. The character of Tota is NOTHING different Asuna, therefore you charge non-stops in Tota you should too charge to Asuna (knowing that I have never found anything wrong in her development) but you will never admit^^.
The author explains that Tota has amnesia and it is MOSTLY an artificial being EXACTLY for not make a clone of Negi.
Even astro-san suggests that it is pleased with the development. your obssession always surprise me (in the bad sense) lol ^^.
Note anyway that despite this “power-up miracle” Tota and his gang have been properly exploded by santa. PLEASE stop with your obsession on Tota pity.
You love the character of karin I think… This character insupporte me much MUCH more than Tota. You think Tota arrogant? No, it is not arrogant, it is much more humble than you think. Karin IS arrogant.
Here is an example, in this chapter. She allows to take high Ikku, Tota and Kuro by accusing them of incompetence! BY WHAT RIGHT ?! She was not there! I would have liked even “perfect miss” to fight santa, she would probably have suffered the same fate!
Honestly I had compassion for her when Xinquai (to whom I wished the worst death for him at this time) but more tortured manga progresses the more I dream of even to see her suffer the most atrocious torture! That teach her humility! Grrrr
Astro : On the artificial nature of Tota I do not think that will be the sole cause of its rapid progression. His amnesia also plays a role.
I think Tota was designed from genes Negi (and maybe other fighters) to have a natural talent for fighting. Thereafter he trained before his amnesia.
Por paraphrase Yuko-san ^^ “Even if the mind forgets, the body never forgets…” ^^
By cons I think Magia-Erebea just him well with his blood.
On Karin, she did acknowledge that Ikkuu, Kuroumaru, and Touta obtained more information than she did eight years ago. She was sent packing back then, and she’s keen to overcome her failure. When it came to her chastising the trio, Karin is just being Karin. I don’t sense she was truly being serious in her remarks, though she comes off stern and such.
Touta being a construct reminds me more of Fate than Asuna. Maybe Asuna was developed a bit ‘artificially’, but i think she was born naturally.
Even when Asuna doesn’t have her memories, she’s still able to cancel most magic and use kanka quite easily, with a few help here and there.
Whereas in Touta’s case, since it’s likely that he’s a construct and may have a lot more abilities than Asuna, it’s no wonder if he gets a lot of power-ups so fast. It’s just like finding a program that has been buried very deep in the hard disk.
“Even if the mind forgets, the body never forgets…”
I think that’s a good way to put it.
Yep, I agree. Touta seems to have been constructed to be more of a true flesh-and-blood entity, unlike Fate.
If he’s artificially created, he’s probably artificially programmed. I kinda see Touta now as an improvement on the Fate model, only with flesh and blood vs. whatever substance Fate is made of.
However, that doesn’t make Touta less annoying. It just means that I now just roll my eyes when this happens.
I’m not convinced he’s “programmed” (Which still does not justify it from a Doylist perspective, since all it does is continue to reinforce the whole “Oh wow look how cool and awesome and special he is” thing. Touta is quite frankly all of the bad Negima fan fic OC’s rolled up into one wish fulfillment ball.) in the same manner that Fate is, or that he’s the same type of construct at all. In all likelyhood Akamatsu is speeding Touta off so he can become end-game material quickly just so we can get to the big fish, because who the hell wants to wait for characters to develop when there’s action afoot!
What’s more irritating is that Touta has effectively served to be a giant black hole in the plot, sucking in anything else that does’t revolve around him being special and awesome into the void. Seriously, Kuromaru’s exists only to continue to sing praises to him and be the Yamcha that has yet to do anything remotely useful aside from firing off some fireworks. This serious has been abysmal in how it handles the rest of its cast, and given that 3-A was given to the wolves when Akamatsu got tired of Negima, I have no doubt its only going to get worse when everything is said and done here.
Well, we have no confirmation yet on who constructed Touta, so he could be different from Fate. But still, what’s the point in constructing a person if it’s on the same or lower level from a normal person? Touta’s abilities until now seem to indicate that he has been “programmed”, or at least trained before he lost his memories.
This is a shounen manga after all. At least there is a possible explanation for his quick development, and it isn’t purely because of determination/willpower. (On the contrary, it seems that Touta lacks willpower. :p)
Even if the story is not as good as we expected, if it has a proper conclusion, then I find it forgivable. MSN has a good story, but its conclusion, if it can be called a “conclusion”, really disappointed me. Besides, there is still a possibility that UQH’s story will provide a conclusion for MSN. That alone is a good enough reason for me to continue reading UQH.
Oh, wait, maybe its connection to MSN is the only reason I continue reading UQH. JK, lol.
huh? “JK”? What does that mean? lol.
And yes you right another element that makes me think that, contrary to the view Dargor and some other people seem to think, UQ-Holder is perhaps less cliche that Negima lol.
As you already said Tota does not use the “power of friendship / will.” While Negi excuse me but the way he learns the magia-erebea parchment Eva (a flashback to all his friends) and the way he control at the end (“I resurrected after having a near Death Experience with all my friends there! “was ultra-cliche!
Obviously at this stage of Negima (chapter 47), Negi does not nonplus used the deus ex machina, and it is not excluded that Tota had to kind of experience later in the manga.
But what is interesting is that Negima (which is supposedly less cliche than other shonen (ahem) used one of the most overused cliche of the genre! Lol
So it makes me laugh when the elders of Negima screaming “UQ-Holder is filled with cliche” then that was the same for Negima lol.
is called a ^^ dishonest criticism. What do you think Cold-san?
JK = “Joking” or “Just Kidding” (depending on whom you talk to)
I think he is different than Fate — a step above Fate.
I think it may have to do with the residents of the Magic World, continuing the work that began with Cocone.
That’s my main reason for reading. ^_~
(sigh)
Well how many times must I repeat it? “TOTA HAVE NOT SO POWERFUL!” He has won NO serious fight so far! NO (for me it did not beat kaito is his “berserker mod” who beat him) He does not know the minimum set apart any vital techniques to fight in the Akamatsuvers (the shunpo). It does not control any style, it only swing his sword from right to left change gravity. I find it rather pathetic that powerful then why do you claim that he is a Gary Sue? WRONG!
With regard to the developement of the characters there you are REALLY bad-faith. The developement of the characters in Negima at this stage was almost the same point. Incidentally Setsuna also VERY long served as Yamcha eh (like kotaro) His only achievement was his final victory against Tsukuyomi at the end of the manga.
Also ALL the characters in Negima (except Negi, Asuna, Eva, Konoka and Setsuna and antagonnists) had a horrible defect. The TOTAL lack of background!
Seriously besides being a nest stereotypes atrocious (and some dare to say that UQ-Holder is cliche was the joke of jokes!) We have more the impression that 3-A is the creation of a secret laboratory as Tota except that in their case there is no indication. They have NO past. But for me the past is very import in the development of a character, is what motivates their choices in the future and model the philosophy, personality! For me the cast of Negima is partly due to missed here and not called me “yeah but if he had continued it would have been different Negima”. Not Dargor if after 200 chapters we still learn nothing from the past Kaede, ku-fei or Kotaro, is that the author never want to talk to us.
Oppsition by the background of the character could be very import in UQ-Holder. In just 47 chapters we have this information:
Tota: it is connected to Negi an unknown way, it has the magia-erebea, his “parents were murdered two years ago but it is implied that they were not his real family he could be a clone. .
Kuromaru: He come from reverse-Mars (mundus magicus), belongs to a stranger brenche of Shinmei-ryu, it is from an unexplored continent in Negima. He has two brothers who seem hair. It could be a relative of Setsuna.
Ikuu: he comes from a wealthy family who owns everything that has to do with the technology. He remained in a coma 70 years.
Karin: it is 600 years old and is one of the first people to have received the affection of Eva before or Negi Nagi. She was touched by the divine light for unknown reason.
Kirie: was the only one who has not yet revealed anything with Gengoro, their past is probably related to their immortality.
Jinbei: He eaten mermaid flesh 1300 years ago then became a samurai. He met Nagumo when he was younger (2065?).
You call that a bad developement? Not me. Unless development means for you: “10 Chapter boring dialogues that are useless, between the characters in which absolutely nothing happens except that the characters have” understood what they were looking for “(lol)” if ever is the case I will be even less of agreements with you lol.
These informations are more interesting and well-better development for me than the endless “Oh Negi Sensei is too kawaiii !! Want plush as” 3-A, which has start murire that during the mahora tournament!
About Kuromaru he should soon shine. He already seems to reflect the nature of the powers of Santa. In addition, Santa can go immaterial and to possess people but we all know a technique Shinmei Ryu can counter this. Zanmanken ni no tachi!
Besides, if one believes the spoils of Chapter 48, we should have a flashback or information about the past of Santa (hey still backgroud! ^^). So NOT the development of the cast of UQ-Holder is not missed, he even went to be more successful than development of the cast of Negima I think
Even iIf Touta’s not programed, he’s been given the ability to self-upgrade himself.
He makes me think a lot of a ghost with the possession and going through people (i’m sorry my english is very poor D:). The only thing different is his offensive powers so maybe a magic ghost
No problem on the English.
It will be interesting to see what Santa truly is. I’ve been thinking astral projection, but ChaosProphet mentioned a cyber, holographic projection, which I think works even better since Santa is so skilled with tech.
Hmm Touto being “artificial being” surly brings someone the “serie models” in mind which we saw in MSN in CE, like Nii & Septendecim and the other guys who never got a name lol
This brings a quite interesting question up. As seen in one of the backflashes as Eva found Toutas dieing parents? or guardians at the time, she said something like: “but that boy is arleady…. ” but never finishes her phrase. So, here comes the riddle:
1; Touta related to Negi
2; Fate interested in him for saving Negi
3; Eva, as “daugther of MotB”, recurated him as vampire
3; Touta may being in a way artificial
4; Touta out of the “Konoe” family… Head family of the Kansai Magic Association ?? ( Im surpised that nobody remembered that one till now )
==>> Summing it up, i wouldnt be suprised if the Konoe family/Kansai Magic Association created some artificial being with the knowledge of the MotB and implateded the mind/ghost or an actuall human being who died in order to do something… as Fate catched wind from it, he tried to stop it, while Eva tried to save them, which leads us to the point where we are now, story wise <<==
To Santa, i first thought about "ghost" as i saw his ambility, but heself goes the "esper" line. Imo he is more of a hyprid maybe. A mix out of more then just 1 category… maybe some esper boy/girl who died ages ago and become a ghost, but due his/her esper powers, he/she didnt become a regular ghost, but a totally new form of exsistence.
I don’t think it has been forgotten. It is just that nothing has been made of that in the story yet. Considering Konoka was another mage with massive magical reserves like Negi, then the Konoe genes and the Springfield genes may well have been part of the mix for Touta’s creation.
As to Santa, it will be interesting to learn if Santa is an esper or something else.
Santa being the first ESP(or PSI) user in this universe now I dont feel so bad when i made a RP character who is an Esper(i went to zettai karen children method of esper) for a Negima RP XD
Well, there should be espers in this world of magic, chi, and other supernatural abilities. But that’s just me. ^_^
dun dun dun , Who you gonna call ? GHOSTBUSTERS !!! dun dun dun
wait there would be a guy can act like Ghostbuster here : the black swordman , he might be shinmeiryuu demon , half Setsuna half Mana lol
but he is not around Japan now (as Eva said) so hope Kuroumaru not getting possessed again
dun dun dun , Who you gonna call ? UQ HOLDER !!! dun dun dun
Heh!heh!heh!
I also find your Index espers jokes amusing. But on that matter according to Karin Santa’s powers are the kind of unique ability that there should exist less than 20 on the solar system. The name itself, unique skills means that only one person have each, so there should exist many espers like in Index.
And I think chances are Santa unique power is something else but that he can use in the way he showed us trying to make people think it’s like an esp power.
So thinking about what Karin said, who we know from the universe that could be called unique skills holders? Santa, Kirie, Asuna (her magic cancel probably is considered one)? Maybe Makabe’s power (from Eva’s description seems like something unique).
Karin’s one was caused by a curse/blessing from a god so while there may not be others that are affected by the same thing as her, I don’t think that counts as a unique skill.
Thanks. While I’ve not read anything from the Index franchise, I obviously saw the anime. However, it is the Railun side of that house that most interests me, both anime and manga-wise.
I liked your taking the astral projection theory of mine and turning it into a cyber projection using computer technology. I no longer have A.I. Love You (except the last volume, which has the Fate-like character Spider-Zero in it), but I think the artificial girls there had special abilities. They could certainly assimilate into computer systems. As such, I’m thinking Akamatsu-sensei may be taking more of a page from that work, but we’ll see.
The page that Touta is inside of the building in that only look the legs X’D
Psionic Powers something that Touta can’t learn according to what Karin said
This new information about Santa, I suppose that they will tell to UQ Holder, I don’t know if they will send someone to help there
I wonder as they will find out that Santa is the person that seek and I wonder that Koroumaru wanted to tell with “But psionic powers, I don’t know what it is… But something feels off”
there must be something that can hit to Santa
You know, if Touta suddenly starts using psionic abilities, I will be annoyed. ^_~