May 17th, 2016 
AstroNerdBoy ユーキューホルダー! Manga Review
UQ Holder Chapter 123
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Mizore, Kirie, and Shinobu are neck and neck with their respective Touta partner as the three Touta’s attack each other, each giving a reason they want to support their specific partner.
Meanwhile, Santa analyzes the race and figures Kirie has no chance against Shinobu’s skills and Mizore’s powerful machine, but somehow, Kirie stays just in front. Mizore decides to use a ramming technique, but Kirie eludes her, causing Mizore’s Touta to suspect something is up. Kirie’s Touta realizes that she used her time reset skill. Mizore doesn’t understand what happened, but acknowledges Kirie has a skill and forms an alliance with Shinobu to strip Kirie.
After Kirie’s Touta gets her to promise not to use the time reset again, Mizore’s and Shinobu’s two Touta’s attack Kirie’s Touta, who defends against them. As Shinobu and Mizore start to make their move, Honoka races to them with Isana on the hood, where Honoka uses a Shinmeiryuu attack to strip all three girls. As she races past, Isana teases Touta about not being able to choose a girl. She encourages him to make a good choice if he wants to catch them, Yukihime, Fate, or Negi.
Thoughts/Review:
This is one of those chapters that doesn’t have much to discuss about it.
I suppose a “fair fight” is one like this race, which is just a competition with nothing life threatening or destructive on the line. There’s a part of me that rolls my eyes when I hear Touta ask Kirie not to use her reset skill in a fair fight. After all, Kirie’s reset skill is the only reason he’s alive (multiple times).
Since Isana and Honoka had been MIA for the race until now, it isn’t surprising that this is where they’d make their move. Honoka shows her massive racing skills and Isana shows her impressive Shinmeiryuu skills by stripping the other girls without using a sword.
This pretty much has to end in a harem ending with each girl providing something to Touta’s cause. If that’s the case, then the story ropes in Isana, Honoka, and then forces Kuroumaru’s and Karin’s hand to be firmly in the harem. 😉
Rumor says next chapter concludes the race. We’ll see. Otherwise, not much to say about this chapter.
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I kinda hope next chapter is the last chapter of this. It’s light-hearted fun but isn’t really pushing the plot anywhere. And there’s still the lingering threat of Negi and friends that has yet to be properly explained.
Yeah, I’m kinda tired of this too. The harem hijinks stuff at the UQH HQ was fine. The race isn’t doing anything for me.
I can appreciate fun but it’s not fair to the reader to be teased with huge implications then go off in a completely different direction. This is just Ken’s style but I guarantee at least 90% of his readers are far more interested in Neo Ala Rubra than this race. Here’s hoping they crash the race and liven up this arc a little bit.
Ummm didn’t the same damn hijinks happen in the Mahora festival back in Negima before the real show started with Chao?
Well, Neo Ala Alba, I think. 😉
That aside, I think you are correct in that the majority of the readers are interested in other elements, not this race. I’m not even interested in the tournament (and I keep laughing at how Akamatsu-sensei keeps pushing it off), though some fans want to see that. I’m interested in these things.
1) More background info on the UQH members.
2) More stuff related to the main plot, such as it is.
I thought Fate had Neo Ala Alba taken…
Whom did you mean by Neo Ala Rubra then?
Negi/Yue/Rakan/Nodoka/Alibiero.
Oh. The MotB “people.”
Typo? The names in summary section needs to be switched – Honoka driving with Isana on the hood invoking Shinmeiryuu attack? 🙂
When Tota stripped the Konoe girls in the earlier introduction fight, Isana called Tota a pervert for doing that … and now, look who is doing the same magic to other girls? I guess its ok and different for a girl to do this…
Part of me hopes Kirie, Shinobu, and Mizore returns the favor to the two girls too… and not let them get away with what they just did, nor the tease to Tota which involves them too. How many outfits does a girl need for this race?
Then it hits me…. the Tota(s) aren’t affected as in NOT stripped at all so far too….
Yep. 😳 Thanks for the update.
Ha!ha! Excellent point.
Magic cancel…or something.
Tota uses that magic capture/cancel when he blocks a “Flans exarmatio ” sent by a Tota towards Kirie. So I thought as you did magic cancel/capture where it doesn’t work/affect Tota … but …
Maybe another inconsistency … back in cht 110 – Mizore uses ” The Yukihiro school undressing technique ” and Tota is immediately stripped out of his hotel uniform, and Mizore throws him naked and into the hot springs on top of both naked Kirie and Karin.
So we have here ” Shinmei school secret technique – zanma-sho (etc) ” thrown at everyone and only the girls are stripped (again). So I thought, similar incantation, so the Tota(s) should get hit too, but it didn’t. Nor did the Tota’s do any sort of blocking shwing. So it works at times, and others it doesn’t.
I think Honoka was trying to tell Tota that he’s too distracted and not focused on the bigger picture of the race, and more on the girls. This can reflect on how he’s not focusing on the important issues with the MotB and saving Negi that is quickly happening that can leave him behind or too late to do anything while the others are taking action and focusing on winning. (Sayoko’s warning of getting complacent. Eva’s warning of getting caught up in trivial things.)
Doesn’t this answer it?
That could be the answer. It really is hard to say since Akamatsu-sensei has been known to “tweak” things when the story requires it.
Heh!heh! Needs of the current story. 😉
You’ve got an excellent point there. Touta does tend to be all over the place.
Okay, I have been wanting to say this…
But DAMN, Ken’s skill at drawing a Girls body is really friggen good, and better if not the same than in Negima. yes, i think the girls are sexy looking, i am putting aside the fact for their ages.
Haha… Okay now Imma done.
I wanted to be serious too.
What did Honoka mean by telling Touta that he would have a hard time catching up to Fate, Eva, and the twins themselves? are they really that friggin powerful?
@nt122 Their grandparents are two of the strongest/Prodigal mages born in a century, both with lineages traced back to divine like beings. So yes, they should be that powerful. Even without knowledge of who/what was the proxy surrogate, which I would assume to be rare magical race with a unique reproductive trait.
That splash page, ecchi image he did a while back of Eva as Yukihime in her unbuttoned, white, man’s shirt agrees with you greatly. 😉
I think that is the implication. The manga really leaves me with the impression that Isana is much more skilled (and powerful) in the Shinmeiryuu arts than Kuroumaru is. Honoka’s Eastern mage skills were quite impressive. As a team, Isana and Honoka are hard to stop. They are still young and don’t have as much experience, but in terms of skills, I think they are better than Touta.
If they are clones of Konoka and Setsuna, Isana’s and Honoka’s skill can be much greater (possibly engineered to be better) than the original two. They are kinda close to the age Negi was when he became a teacher, and thought its expected if related to Negi. If they are important to the upcoming battle with the MotB, they have to be able to defend themselves, and also effective in a offensive attack. These two and Mizore have yet to be shown what they are truly capable of doing. We only have seen little teasers of their true ability. Makes me wonder if Isana has a pactio with Honoka already too.
That’s exactly what I think has happened.
She might, though Akamatsu-sensei has really pushed the pactio system off to the side. Other than seeing Ayaka’s card and having Kuroumaru (I think) mention the pactio system without calling it by name, it has been MIA in UQH.
Even I could see that Touta has to step it up, because there’s a lesson to be learned in these races, considering that Touta has chosen to take on a task that is to be focused at all times, because anything that could happen when it the event with MOTB does come that affects the outcome of what will happen to Negi. If Touta is make the third option happen in a way that not even Eva could have seen this to make it possible, then he has to get past all obstacle that may obstruct his goal of saving Negi. I know he can do it no better as I knew Negi could do it when I read the series for the first time a long time ago. The banter Honoka threw at Touta is just another thing meant as a lesson in order for Touta to overcome his obstacles, the limits of not only what he could do, but what his team could do.
Touta barely knew a thing about magic and all that, and his seemingly incapability of producing magic, because he lived in a place without that kind of knowledge, not to mention the circumstances of his origins. Touta has to force himself to make things happen, and rely on his team, as there are some things he can’t do himself. Now as much as it still irks me to see a MC get taunted, it is only because others depending on the person sees him as someone who is capable of doing a lot more, but they feel they need to be a bit rough on him, so he himself can see what he’s doing wrong so he can do things right, or someone who they still think is incapable of a task that he claimed to do. I think of the former for some of a his allies at least. Tbh no one is going to start out life having experiences like Eva, Negi, Isana, and Honoka.
I saw Touta as no better than a rookie, who has to start out like everyone else, regardless of their circumstances of their birth and their aptitudes for magic and other things. He’s just no better than any other MC I’ve seen and read in stories, He could have been a lot different if he started out elsewhere. He could have been a villain raised in the wrong hands. We don’t know jack until things transpire.
Touta is a part of something with his family, being incredibly powerful, and he has to find some way to become as strong as them somehow, surpass them somehow. Do things that not even Negi and Fate have done. His limitations also opens ways to improve himself. He may not be like Negi, but he doesn’t have to be. And yes the story should focus on other characters other the MC. I’m just saying that regardless of how the MC started out, what matter is progress, and learning from all things around you to prepare for what’s coming up ahead. It may even be just as long a story as it predecessor for him and the others to get there. But hopefully, it’s one that’s interesting to say how far he’s come since he started out as someone with a dream to reach the tower.
Touta used to annoy and irritate me, but of late, Akamatsu-sensei has been writing him in a way that doesn’t irritate me.
In my opinion, this kid is no surprise. He reminds me of other shonen protagonists, some similar to him anyhow. He doesn’t irritate me as much.
He is in the vein of other shounen main characters. However, for quite a long time, Touta could just do things ’cause “reasons.” He could see someone do something and just master it in no time with no effort or formal training. He didn’t want to train. He didn’t want to listen to anything but his own stupidity.
Now, he’s willing to train. There is effort made on his part to get better, not just master something ’cause reasons. And personality wise, he doesn’t irritate me as much because he does listen to others. As such, when he’s stupid, it doesn’t grate on me like it did.