October 28th, 2015 
AstroNerdBoy ユーキューホルダー! Manga Review
UQ Holder Chapter 99
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Kuroumaru attempts to confess to Touta, who thinks Kuroumaru’s declaration is one of a friend, not romantic love. As such, he states he “loves” Kuroumaru too, but also cites how he loves his other comrades. Kuroumaru can’t believe that Touta didn’t get it, but in a way is glad that he didn’t get it and wonders what would have happened if Touta had gotten it. Touta tells Kuroumaru that he loves her best (as a friend) , which causes Touta to be happy to hear than and then acknowledge that “she” likes Touta as a girl loves a boy.
Shinobu is wearing the inn’s maid costume and shows it to Touta, who approves. Mizore greets Touta with a flying kick and as she’s also wearing the inn’s maid uniform, she wants him to compliment her. She doesn’t like how he doesn’t approve and leaps on his back, which an annoyed Kirie observes, realizing that Touta is about to be taken, then loudly denying that she’s in love with him.
Karin arrives to chastise Touta for not working, but Touta cites that they have no guests, so Karin challenges him to a fight to teach him a lesson. Touta is happy to do so, and Karin is interested in learning if Touta has surpassed her after training with the witch. Karin tells him if he loses the match, he has to leave UQH HQ. Touta happily agrees, saying that if he wins, they’ll have tea together. When she questions this, he says he wants to talk to her, which annoys her and she attacks.
As they battle, Touta reveals that he met Yukihime when she was 16. Karin initially doesn’t believe it, then realizes that Dana could make that happen and so becomes unbalanced and attacks, wanting to know details. In her frustration, Karin brings out her sword and mallet to continue to attack, so Touta produces a portable hoop so that he can use his powers. He tells Karin that he’ll do anything for Yukihime and that he knows Karin will as well. As such, he wants to work with Karin to accomplish this. Karin says there’s nothing they can do for Yukihime, but Touta disagrees, saying he’s going to save the world for her and he wants Karin to help.
Karin becomes angry and presses her attack. Touta lands a gut punch, which causes Karin’s clothing to disappear. Karin is surprised by his power as Touta tells her he’s serious about this.
Thoughts/Review:
For most of UQ Holder, I’ve disliked Touta. Things came too easily for him when it came to gaining more power. He would leap before he looked. He came to whacked assumptions that would make my eyes roll. He was just so unlikable to me. And yet of late, I find that I no longer have a hatred of Touta, and that includes this chapter.
OK, I admit that even in this chapter, Touta has his whacked assumption when it came to Touta’s love confession. To be fair though, in the Japanese, Kuroumaru’s confession is in what folks have told me is the more masculine version — suki-da. And “suki” can be “like” or “love”, depending on how the speaker says it. Touta may have been thick here, but he doesn’t know that Kuroumaru is gender-neuter. Further, he thinks that Touta is a guy, so having a guy say what Kuroumaru said, I can understand how Touta took it as more of a, “I like you” confession.
As to Kuroumaru, seriously, Kuroumaru just has to become a lovely girl now. I think that will happen, and time wise, it should be about that time when Kuroumaru chooses a gender, or just becomes a girl automatically. I really want Kuroumaru to take another step and be honest with Touta regarding the fact that Kuroumaru has no gender at present. I can see Touta saying, “If you want to be a girl, that’s cool. I still like you best (as a friend).” 🙂
While Shinobu may evoke Shinobu from Love Hina, Mizore takes her ojousama part from Ayaka (obviuosly) in Negima, but she’s also part Su, part Sarah from Love Hina. I actually like the way Touta handled Shinobu and how he handled Mizore. I realize this is part of his thickness, but having an unphased harem lead male is something I like. The more he ignores the girl’s who come onto him, the more they’ll try to get his attention (at least, that’s how it usually works with girls in the real world).
As to Touta’s battle with Karin, her defeat at his hands didn’t make me roll my eyes at Touta as it might have done in the past. Touta’s win came from him taking her off her game. The way the fight went, it came off as a calculated ploy on Touta’s part. He really wants to have a talk with Karin and he knows how she goes off the deep end when it comes to Eva. As such, he seems to have used that to his advantage.
Plus, there’s the fact that Karin lived up to her Japanese fandom nickname of “Useless-senpai”. I like Karin as a character, but sadly, the reason she was made useless was to allow Touta to be the hero. As such, Karin goes into things serious, but overconfident. That came off when she challenged Touta, and I get the feeling that Touta, having observed Karin in combat long enough now, understood this as well.
What I’d dearly love to see from Karin’s defeat is an exploration of Karin’s past and her involvement with Eva. Let her and Touta have their tea where Touta tells his story (off camera, as it were), but we get to see Karin’s story after Touta asks for it. That would be great, but somehow, I don’t think we’ll get it. I do think we’ll get some more blushing Karin, who eventually joins the Touta harem (along with Kirie).
Finally, there’s the Ayaka and Chachamaru tease of a few weeks ago. This is the part that irritated me. I’m glad to have seen the two characters, and I know this isn’t Negima, but the ONLY reason you tease those characters is bait Negima fans. Unfortunately, Akamatsu-sensei trolls us hard by having them return to wherever they came from without us seeing them chat with Eva, then leave Mizore behind for whatever reason. (I can’t seriously believe that they came to the island so that Mizore could claim Touta as a husband, considering she’s still a child.) I only bring this up because this chapter clearly stated that there were no guests in the inn, meaning no Chachamaru or Ayaka.
In the end, I found I enjoyed this chapter a lot, even to the point of actually liking Touta in it.
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:3
next step: a nice pair and a nice pair of beautiful wings
hm, a winged knightlike maiden who is deeply in love with a Konoe…. feels familiar
p.s.: Kurou-chan once said to Touta’s face, she wasn’t boy nor Girl, so I think Touta actually knows but he doesn’t care about such things
And I think Touta will be fine if he learns that Kuroumaru becomes a girl.
This chapter managed to invoke my general ire, with karin and kodansha’s increasingly potent institutional homophobic editing policies!
Karin has a strong romantic interest in Eva, showcased often enough. The whole Touta will show you that dick is the true path: join my harem you shameful Dyke (because me Touta, me right).
Is quite unpleasant and strange. Shounen weekly magazine is aimed at an older audience, while jump although a younger demographic, allows for far more bloody violence and gore.
So the forbadeance of homosexual relationships in Kodansha as a whole must be internaly policy driven. Especially with SNK’s resident lesbian MIA with foul play strongly suggested.
My, has that been building up. Also proof going forward that Akamatsu-Sensei has no plan whatsoever, just negima troll bait for volume sales!
The hoop is colapsible. It looks good
And it avoids the issue of the boy who can’t use magic getting a hoop out of magic storage. 😉
I hope the fight will continue in ch 100
I rather suspect not, based on Negima. Stripped girls are defeated girls. 😉
Astro: I think it is possible that we have a flashback about the meeting in the chapters to ries (perhaps Chapter 100 Many on the French forums have theorized that Akamatsu attandait Chapter 100 oiyr revelations and resume the plot? . This explains why the four previous chapters were principally made of the character dévelloppement.)
Personally I would not be surprised that Ayaka gave some info Eva on life-maker of movements and she also told to eva that she (Ayaka) will sponsor her own team to martial arts tournament. I would not be surprised Akamatsu is inspired by Ankoku budokai of yuyu hakusho for neo-mahora budokai.
Already because:
1. is a team tournament, as yuyu hakusho
2. But mostly because I well imagine the different teams being sponsored by a patron. Especially now that the supernatural is publicly acknowledged. ^^
Well, we may get a flashback, but I’m still disappointed at not having seen Ayaka and Chachamaru reunite with Eva.
LIKING TOUTA??
LIKING TOURAGRRHRGAHHGRGRHGHRGH
ASTRO, YOU’RE DEAD… THERE WON’T BE A PIECE OF YOUR TRAITOROUS TYPING LEFT ONCE I’M DONE WITH YOU! I WILL FIND YOU! AND I WILL KILL YOU!
*”O fortuna” plays in the background*
Just kidding. xD
I haven’t been taking UQ Holder as seriously as before, but this one was a good chapter. Not as bad as it looked like in the spoilers (Karin’s still jobbing, though, guess some things never change). Anyways, with all this talk about Yukihime and love confessions, I wonder if there will be yet another arc before the tournament begins.
Jokes aside, I still despise Touta as a main (definitely not my kind of character), but I can see where you’re coming from. He did improve. Not enough for me to start liking him, but if he keeps going this way, mayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyybe someday I miiiiight consider, perhaaaaaaps… Disliking him a little less. Heh.
Also, in the beggining, I think you meant:
>> “which causes KUROUMARU to be happy to hear”
😆
I’m still hoping for no tournament. 😉
This was fun and funny chapter. Personally like Touta was taunting Karin to listen to him, by giving her nuggles of information that gets her goat. I like it when she tried to do her magic-powered rocket hammer on him, to have him catch it.
Eraser Magic was little suprising, since Asuna (Touta’s relative) can cancel magic by just touching it. But Karin’s dress exploded, not unlike Negima’s ability when sneezing, but he has magic and Touta does not. I’m curious if this just side effect of being related to the both them.
Love triangle keeps spinning, but i won’t admit this is a harem. Its not, there girls/neutral person in some degrees of interest in him. He said no to one already. It’s fun to see the chaos, but this a mad pursuit for the unicorns. Untouchable creature, Touta wants Eva, Karin wants Eva, Kuroumaru wants Touta, arguably so does couple silent others.
I wonder if this is the setup for the big 100 chapter, if it’s big deal or not i don’t know. Hope so.
I suspect it has to do with the power inside Touta, as I suspect it was with Negi. His normal sneezes just caused a strong breeze. When he was drawing great power, a sneeze had the stripping effect, which came more easily later on when Negi’s natural power levels were much, much higher.
Not technically true. Asuna could cancel spells at will, but still be ultimately affected by it if permitted. Its not something she had full control over until near the end though, and magic can be looped around her via the Kyoto gates.
Doesn’t matter though, because Touta can do everything better then everyone. Heaven forbid that the lesser gender does something better then him.
To me, Kuroumaru was the one who really shone in this chapter rather than Touta. Waffling and indecisiveness in how you feel about someone is a staple of manga, but it gets kinda tedious after a while. I thought it took a ton of courage for Kuroumaru to admit this to him/herself, and then to Touta.
This is just my opinion… but I don’t think it’s necessarily decided yet that Kuroumaru will become a lovely girl. I think Akamatsu-sensei showed us with Setsuna and Konoka that he’s not limited to casting gay people as psychos, rapists, and/or other traditional manga stereotypes. And while the devil is almost certainly in the details of translation, I don’t think the wording of Kuroumaru’s internal soliloquy necessarily excludes becoming male.
I seriously doubt it will happen… but such a development would create a lot more possibilities for character development, something that’s been sorely lacking. The question would be whether it’s possible for a shounen title to have the emotional maturity to handle it the right way, instead of as a painfully-bad joke.
I agree and that’s part of what I like about Touta.
Well, considering this is a shounen title with young boys looking for action and babes, I’m betting on Kuroumaru becoming the lovely girl 😉
Can we all just agree that “Like a girl loves a boy” is a horribly atrocious line? My god Akamatsu, we can have Yuri bait up the wazoo, but still have it end with “ambiguity” at best because you don’t have the cahoonas to commit to anything, ever. Pathetic.
やっぱり僕は。。。女のことして刀太君を好きなんだ。。。！
Can we all just agree that in the future if we bash Akamatsu for horribly atrocious lines, we actually bash him for the lines he wrote and not the translation of it?
After all, all who speak more than one language know that one to one translation rarely work and that there may be some information lose when translating stuff. Heck there is a reason why a translation of a translation is prone to errors even if the translators are doing there best.
Assuming of course you’r only bashing Akamatsu and not the official translators who I’m sure are doing their best!
I really wish (for the umpteenth time) Japanese used spaces. Google Translate insists on connecting “onna no ko” to the following “to” when parsing it. That could be accurate for all I know, but it’s frustrating to frequently see it parse characters in ways that that even I (with only a dangerous smidgen of knowledge) think are likely to be off.
A more literal translation of the line would be “I really do…love Tota-kun as a girl…” We chose to word it the way we did because “love Tota-kun as a girl” might sound like “I love the girl version of Tota-kun”. Maybe it wouldn’t come across that way at all, but we were fighting some serious exhaustion when we translated that. If you know of a better way to word a line like that, please let us know, because this kind of thing is not uncommon in manga.
Just to clarify, I have no problem with the line or your translations in general. Heck, I’m far from being good enought to judge such things in the first place.
But this week I have the feeling to remide some certain special people that they may be not even remotely as smart as they think they are.
No worries; you’re right to question a translation when something seems off. I’m more concerned about what the problem is with that line (translation or otherwise), and how it can be improved in the future.
If you are talking about Dargo’s comment, I think he’s complaining that Kuroumaru isn’t feeling this way in a homosexual fashion. I could be wrong though.
Thank you soooo much. I, and I imagine a lot of other fans, feel honored to get an explanation from some of the (if not “the”) best in the business. ٩(^ᴗ^)۶
You made the right choice, I think – the meaning is relatively clear, but some percentage of people would have misunderstood it the way you described due to their mindset at the moment they read it.
I hope I’m not being importunate, but I’m extremely curious: A very long time ago, my English teacher taught us that “as” used in the manner above would unambiguously identify Kuroumaru to be a girl. (When contrasting “like” and “as”, she said that the former indicates that the two things being compared are similar, and the latter indicates they’re literally the same.) But even if this is still the case, trying to impose English usage onto other languages is extremely dangerous. Do you think this was the intended meaning, or is there room for ambiguity?
Aww, thanks for the compliments!
As for your question, I think as always, it’s a matter of context. In this case, there is room for ambiguity, because Kuromaru is gender-ambiguous. Also, while I think you’re right about “like” versus “as” in some situations, it’s not always true in others. We have a lot of metaphors that use “as” to describe people in relation to things that they are not: sly as a fox, hungry as a horse, etc. It’s true that the Japanese “toshite” is more used in the sense of things that are literally the same, it’s more like “from the position of” a girl, in this case. So it’s kind of like Kuromaru is saying, “I love Tota from a female standpoint.”
…And I hope that all makes sense.
Personally, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the line as you translated/adapted it.
I was wondering if you could tell me, what the romanji was for ‘white crow’ from chapter 95.
It does make sense, and thank you again. (^_^)
that may be partially my fault, because in the original the こ is written in kanji 子. When tipping that line, AND DOING SOMEONE’S ELSE WORK *hust*, I forgot to change it.
“But this week I have the feeling to remide some certain special people that they may be not even remotely as smart as they think they are.”
Smoooooooth. Next time, save yourself the trouble of calling me a moronic retard and just do it. Less patronizing that way.
“Assuming of course you’r only bashing Akamatsu and not the official translators who I’m sure are doing their best!”
Can’t say I’ve ever had any issue with the twins work, both in Holder and Negima. Like I said, Akamatsu’s use of Kuro’s situation has been…well, incredibly demeaning. Unless he actually makes the decision to be a guy, but Akamatsu is not the type of writer to commit to anything until its way late in the game.
“Can we all just agree that “Like a girl loves a boy” is a horribly atrocious line?”
Considering the official translators thought you were criticizing them could you eleborate this line? Afterall they asked for feedback on how to improve their translations from you. Or could you apologize for your improper use of words? Afterall I wasn’t the only one who seemingly missunderstood your critic. And the word you used were rather rude.
“Smoooooooth. Next time, save yourself the trouble of calling me a moronic retard and just do it. Less patronizing that way.”
I wouldn’t call you a moronic retard. I would call you someone who after 99 chapters doesn’t have the cahoonas to commit to dropping this series which obviously isn’t to his liking. But instead rages on, spreads nothing but vile language, was asked several times why he keeps reading this series and starts attacking the author on a personal level.
I don’t pretend UQ Holder is perfect or that you can’t criticize it. Heck I done so myself! But at this point what you do has nothing to do with criticism anymore. You keep rambling about the same shit over and over and over again, condemning UQ Holder at every possible point and even if there isn’t something to complain about you have to drop some kind of “polite” line to express your contempt for the series.
Let me ask, what do you consider you would have to do, for you to consider your own behaviour questionable?
“Like I said, Akamatsu’s use of Kuro’s situation has been…well, incredibly demeaning. Unless he actually makes the decision to be a guy, but Akamatsu is not the type of writer to commit to anything until its way late in the game.”
Except you didn’t said it, otherwise this whole missunderstanding wouldn’t had happen. Assuming that you don’t assume that I’m supposed to memorize every post of you here on this blog.
P.S.: Just out of curiosity, how many languages do you speak or can read?
“Considering the official translators thought you were criticizing them could you eleborate this line?”
I thought it was pretty simple, but I’ll admit that my choice of wording was poor when I wrote that initially. Basically, the entire subtext there is that a girl wanting to be romantically involved with a boy is somehow entirely different then a boy wanting to do the same. As I said before, since this is coming from the man that gave us so much UST with Setsuna and Konoka, the fact that specific distinction has to made is incredibly jarring. Knowing and having friends who have struggled to come out makes this issue hit pretty close to home.
For the wording itself though? I don’t really see too many options to translate it without losing the intended meaning. This is obviously an issue where a common turn of phrase does not quite roll off the tongue as well when translated. Either way, I don’t have an issue with the line itself.
“But instead rages on, spreads nothing but vile language, was asked several times why he keeps reading this series and starts attacking the author on a personal level.”
I’ve said it before, so I don’t really see the reason to reiterate. If it bothers you, feel free to ignore me.
“Let me ask, what do you consider you would have to do, for you to consider your own behaviour questionable?”
Going after people because they like a thing I might not. Any person on a professional level (Or amateurs, but they require more nurturing feedback if they actually want to grow in their hobby/profession, if they’re seeking critique) is not free from either their writing habits or work itself getting rebuffed, criticized, or speculated on, but the spectators? Trying to beat down someone on a personal level based on their conduct is unproductive, and leads to potential tragedy. See the suicide attempt over in the Steven Universe fandom. People are free to disagree about things, and it can even get heated, but throwing insults at someone because someone doesn’t like how they conduct things can be more damaging then people realize, which is why I’d rather avoid it.
“P.S.: Just out of curiosity, how many languages do you speak or can read?”
Two, though I tried my hand at Latin for a few years when I was in college. Only did two semesters of it though, so my understanding of the language is very, very basic.
“Basically, the entire subtext there is that a girl wanting to be romantically involved with a boy is somehow entirely different then a boy wanting to do the same. As I said before, since this is coming from the man that gave us so much UST with Setsuna and Konoka, the fact that specific distinction has to made is incredibly jarring. Knowing and having friends who have struggled to come out makes this issue hit pretty close to home.”
I’m sorry to hear that. But Akamatsu doesn’t know about that, he doesn’t live in the same culture as you do and like someone else mentioned, while he is the author, there are other instances UQ! holder has to go before it is published. When we do not know all details blaming everything on one person, especially such an hot topic, has nothing to do with criticism.
“I’ve said it before, so I don’t really see the reason to reiterate. If it bothers you, feel free to ignore me.”
I generally do. But due to your poor chose of wording this time you involved somebody else and there is more see below.
“Going after people because they like a thing I might not. Any person on a professional level (Or amateurs, but they require more nurturing feedback if they actually want to grow in their hobby/profession, if they’re seeking critique) is not free from either their writing habits or work itself getting rebuffed, criticized, or speculated on, but the spectators?”
I agree, partially. In addition those who are willing to share his/her opinion should also be allowed to get rebuffed and criticized on. Afterall there are “professionals” who are paid to share their opinion. “Critics” should be open to critism. And poor Astro also has to get his fair share of critism on his blog. 🙁
“Trying to beat down someone on a personal level based on their conduct is unproductive, and leads to potential tragedy. See the suicide attempt over in the Steven Universe fandom.”
I agree and find that disgusting, but…
“People are free to disagree about things, and it can even get heated, but throwing insults at someone because someone doesn’t like how they conduct things can be more damaging then people realize, which is why I’d rather avoid it.”
I agree too, but…
“Can we all just agree that “Like a girl loves a boy” is a horribly atrocious line? My god Akamatsu, we can have Yuri bait up the wazoo, but still have it end with “ambiguity” at best because you don’t have the cahoonas to commit to anything, ever. Pathetic.”
English isn’t my first language, but I’m pretty sure this is non of the things you described “rebuffed, criticized, or speculated on”. If you start with such a tone, it is more than fair if people reply in the same tone. And lets be fair, this:
“But this week I have the feeling to remide some certain special people that they may be not even remotely as smart as they think they are.”
is nothing compared to what you did here or in the past. So if you want to “rebuffed, criticized, or speculated on” feel free to do, but please do it in a civil tone. Because quite frankly at the moment you have more in common with these people:
“Trying to beat down someone on a personal level based on their conduct is unproductive, and leads to potential tragedy.”
As a puplic figure Akamatsu probalby isn’t going to care about your “critism” or even know about it, but this shouldn’t make poor behaviour excusable.
To end this:
When we, the group I work at, prepare presentations we do test runs do get constructive feedback and improve it. Afterall in one thing people learn in Germany’s schools and universities is that good critism is valuable and should be seeked. And based on this quote of yours:
“Going after people because they like a thing I might not. Any person on a professional level (Or amateurs, but they require more nurturing feedback if they actually want to grow in their hobby/profession, if they’re seeking critique) is not free from either their writing habits or work itself getting rebuffed, criticized, or speculated on, but the spectators?”
I think you seem to partially agree. But after 99chapters UQ holder it is what it is. So what are you trying to accomplish by your “critism”? I honestly don’t see e.g. what wishing for its cancelation is going to accomplish or what hating on Touta for doing things a main character does will bring fruit to. In the context that you seek on average a constructive dialog of course.
Can we all just agree that “Like a girl loves a boy” is a horribly atrocious line? My god Akamatsu, we can have Yuri bait up the wazoo, but still have it be “ambiguous” because you don’t have the cahoonas to commit to anything, ever. Pathetic.
I was surprised Kourumaru, he declared yourself his love, but, Touta thought another thing, poor Kuroumaru, I feel a bit sorry for him, when he thought “I can’t deny it anymore, I really do love Touta like a girl loves a boy”
Shinobu looks a bit like Karin with her haircut and now with the same clothes…. In the page 7, when Karin said “Enough of your foolishness Tota konoe” I thought “Are there two Karin?”
About Mizore, on her way to greet Touta lol, he is talking quietly and suddenly, she says “hiya!” hitting his face XD
Kirie, she was talking alone and Santa “who are you talking?” XD And when Mizore called Touta “darling” lol I think she will say “darling” all the time.
The “fight” Touta and Karin lol
he said “I met 16 year old Yukihime” and Karin losing control while was thinking all those things, All we need now is for he says “I will give you Yukihime’s photos compromising that I did in secretly during the time that I was living with her the two years” XD
“I’m gonna save the world” lol and saving the world, will he save her? well, if he defeats the Lifemaker, he will be able to save the world and seal her darkness forever
The last page, Karin ended up naked lol the next chapter he will have to buy new clothes for her XD
I wonder the next chapter what will happen, well, I know it will have a color pages ^^
Yeah, that’s true.
Heh! Now that you mention it, I wouldn’t be surprised if this came up as a joke, adding to Touta’s bill.
Poor Karin, and poor Karin’s clothes… the average butterfly probably has a longer life expectancy. (^_~)
“Finally, there’s the Ayaka and Chachamaru tease of a few weeks ago. This is the part that irritated me. I’m glad to have seen the two characters, and I know this isn’t Negima, but the ONLY reason you tease those characters is bait Negima fans. Unfortunately, Akamatsu-sensei trolls us hard by having them return to wherever they came from without us seeing them chat with Eva, then leave Mizore behind for whatever reason. (I can’t seriously believe that they came to the island so that Mizore could claim Touta as a husband, considering she’s still a child.) I only bring this up because this chapter clearly stated that there were no guests in the inn, meaning no Chachamaru or Ayaka.”
Chachamaru and Ayaka were going to sign in for the manga, but they saw the treatment female characters get here, wisely chose quitting, and got the heck away while they could, leaving Mizore behind because dammit but she’s bloody annoying.
Har!
Thank you for a much-needed *snerk*. (^_^)
But I think that if we ever get an in-story explanation, yours will probably still be much more satisfyingly-logical. (^_~)
Mmm hola yo pienso que kuroumaru elija ser chico porque touta no le gusta las lolitas planas ni las adultas xD y si kuroumaru desde ser chico va a pasar mucho mas tienpo con touta y talves kuroumaru tenga la oportunidad en que touta lo corresponda :3