October 8th, 2016 
AstroNerdBoy ユーキューホルダー! Manga Review
UQ Holder Chapter 129
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
In the Phantasmagoria, Touta is shown typical happenings with his grandfather when Negi was 10 years old and a teacher at Mahora Academy. There’s an incident where he sneezes and strips seven girls, causing Asuna to punish Negi. For homeroom, Negi’s all female students stuff him with breakfast items. After class, Negi spends the afternoon with Setsuna, Konoka, and Asuna doing some shopping. The day ends with Eva arriving to take Negi for some rigorous training.
Albireo Imma reveals himself as the voice who’s been narrating things. Kurobo also shows up, revealing that Al is the wizard that made it. After Al and Kurobo have a “reunion” of sorts, Al decides to show Touta how Eva came to love Negi. Traveling in the Phantasmagoria to the past, Touta observes an explosion on a castle at the edge of a cliff. Eva is falling, but is saved by Nagi, who’s climbing up. Al shows Touta some of Eva’s time spent with Nagi, including how Nagi ended up putting a curse on her and trapping her at Mahora.
Touta is then shown how Negi and Eva met at Mahora fifteen years later. Touta gets to see how that initially, Eva and Negi were opponents, but after Eva was defeated, Negi began training under her. Touta is shown how Negi’s battle harem grew and how Eva was forced into an adult role. Touta also witnesses when Eva kissed Negi and how happy she looked. With that, Touta is satisfied at having seen Eva happy.
Al questions this and somehow, Eva is able to see Touta in this flashback Phantasmagoria and recognizes him. Immediately, the Mage of the Beginning appears behind Eva. Touta’s “tether” to the real world vanishes and he has form in this world. MotB snares Eva while Al causes many spears to pierce Touta. MotB introduces herself as Ialdabaoth (Ialda). With that, she rips Eva in half at the torso while Al slams Touta into the ground with gravity magic.
MotB mocks Touta for thinking Eva was saved. Touta manages to craw to the broken and bleeding Eva. As Eva’s legs regenerate, an angry Touta retorts to MotB that she doesn’t get to talk about Eva’s happiness and vows to settle things with MotB.
Thoughts/Review:
At last Crunchyroll will reveal UQ Holder chapter 129 to the public. At last, we will get to read it.
Man, it has been a while, hasn’t it? However, after such a long wait, I’m happy to say that on a personal level, I loved this chapter, both as a look back at the awesome days of Negima, and as a continuation of the UQ Holder storyline.
Mahou Sensei Negima 2 or Magister Negi Magi 2
Despite its ecchi start, I loved the look back at at the Negima life. From Negi’s sneeze to Asuna going all Naru (Love Hina) on Negi for stripping all the girls, it just made me grin from ear to ear. I got a laugh out of seeing Negi being handled like a certain ermine by Asuna.
I also liked how Akamatsu-sensei managed to work in all of the girls from Negi’s class, even if it was just for a cameo panel. The story of the homeroom and stuffing Negi full of food is a new story, but old ideas that were common in Negima, especially the earlier years of the manga. I loved seeing all of those antics again.
It made me think of how Negima ended. Before we knew it was ending, we had a period of antics, which bothered a lot of fans. I wasn’t bothered because I felt once out of the life or death situation, young teen girls might easily start to forget the things they’d seen and become immature girls again. So it was all fun for me, but disappointing since Negima ended very shortly thereafter.
I liked that Touta recognized Mana, Zazie, and Sayo from his encounter with their older selves. I also liked that he recognized in the form of Isana and Honoka Setsuna and Konoka. (I still think that Isana and Honoka are clones of Setsuna and Konoka respectively.) It is understandable that Touta wouldn’t recognize Ayaka since when he met her, Ayaka was an elderly woman. It would have been nice if Touta pondered about the Yukihiro name, but oh well.
Eva as Eva!
As a long time fan of Eva, I’m glad to see Eva as Eva in this chapter and not as Yukihime. As I’ve said before, it isn’t that I have a problem with the Yukihime form, I just feel that Eva’s true form has a certain level of sass and character that’s missing in Yukihime.
You know, I really hope Akamatsu-sensei takes the time to further expound on things with Eva’s past. We’ve gotten a lot, but I want more. For example, what was Eva doing in that castle that she was literally blown out of? What was Nagi doing climbing the cliff to said castle in order to catch Eva? What kind of things did Eva do with Nagi for the month they were together? And then there’s Eva’s brief time with Ala Rubra.
Reading all of the flashback stuff with Eva and Negi from Negima, I have a desire to reread Negima. Clearly, designed to bring new fans up to speed and make old fans nostalgic for Negima. I wonder if there will be a small uptick in sales of old Negima volumes because of this.
UQ Holder Returns, Featuring the Mage of the Beginning
Up until page 53 of UQ Holder chapter 129, everything Touta was seeing was via a Phantasmagoria. Negi had often used this when viewing memories. The only time that people in the Phantasmagoria could see outsiders is in Negima when Eva created one in order to battle Setsuna without the restrictions of the curse. That all changed when MotB arrived.
I noticed some interesting things when MotB arrived. First, she seems to have converted the Phantasmagoria into reality. Touta’s tether was dissolved and he obtained physical form. Not only that, but Eva was able to see him as well. Does this mean Touta is now in the past within Eva’s resort diorama? Or is the Phantasmagoria now a pocket reality, created by the MotB? I tend to suspect the latter.
Next, after looming behind Eva, MotB took control of Al. Actually, it may have been just prior to her arrival. Either way, I noticed that Al’s long hair strand stood out when she arrived. That may not mean anything, but the fact that her shadow tendrils began winding around him as he attacked Touto with spears indicates control to me.
Finally, MotB binds up Eva, reveals her name to Touta, then rips Eva in half. As I see it, there are two things at work here. First, MotB has further plans for Eva. Second, MotB is trying to make Touta fall into despair. The obvious reason for that is so that Touta doesn’t get in her way.
Gnostic Religion
With the Mage of the Beginning having revealed her name as Ialdabaoth (I think the manga is making it Ialda Baoth), we have a clear indication that Akamatsu-sensei is using Gnostic religious stuff rather than Christianity. This is certainly a direction I did not expect the manga to take. Not only that, but I think it kills any notion that MotB is connected to Amateru. I could be wrong there, but that’s what I think at the moment.
The introduction of Gnosticism might very possibly explain some of the oddness with Karin and her backstory. If that’s true, then I will be OK with Karin’s seemingly Christian origins with Christ not jiving with Biblical accounts.
Final Thoughts and Conclusion
Not to nitpick, but in the last page, Eva’s left arm is backwards. As such, it appears she has two right arms. 😉
I loved seeing Chachazero back. I wish Touta would have remarked on her. Even though Akamatsu-sensei killed the puppet off, I’d love for Chachazero to have future returns. She is awesomeness, after all.
Finally, how did Kurobo get into the Phantasmagoria? It just appeared, but it never had a tether like Touta.
In the end, UQ Holder chapter 129 ended up being very good for its heavy Negima elements, but also very good for its continuation of the UQ Holder plot. Now to wait another month for the next chapter.
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Its good the manga is back! I really wished it wasnt so ecchi at the start.
This certainly had a mind twisting cliffhanger. Im not sure what the point of MOTB revealing himself to Touta aside a tempting mentally break him.
I’m wondering if Eve was sucked into this artifical reality.
Yeah, I hear ya on the ecchi.
As to Eva, I don’t think she was sucked into this. I tend to think that MotB, as the Lifemaker, simply turned Al’s Phantasmagoria into a pocket reality.
That would make sense that this is an artificial recreation of Eve. Her behavior doesn’t track with her tough-girl attitude she usually displaces. It would also explain why she immediately recognized Tontu after what 500 years since their last encounter in time?
True, but it does appear that Eva recognized Touta after the attack where she took him in and became his guardian.
You know, I had been expecting for the rest of the UQ Holder cast to at least show up in a few panels demanding to know what had happened to Touta. It seems somewhat… unfair to completely leave them out of the special chapter meant to relaunch their series. Even if I prefer the Negima cast, this still feels wrong, because this still was supposed to be their series. Instead, in the introduction of the series to a whole new audience, characters who were supposed to mean as much to Touta as Kuromaru or Kirie don’t even rate a passing mention.
Again, the problem is now the series has identified itself as UQ Holder and Negima 2 at once. It’ll be very difficult to go on without shortchanging one cast or the other. If we just go back to the future from here, the most likely option, then this whole Negima-centered special, the first exposure the new magazine’s intended audience will get to the Akamatsuverse, will be nothing but a fleeting bait for old fans of a cast that already was shortchanged once. If the focus becomes Negima-centered, which I doubt, since the subtitle seems to be mostly fanservice of a non sexual variety, then the UQ Holder members, most of whom haven’t been fleshed out properly yet, will suffer instead. Either option will leave me with a bad mouth taste, because even though I don’t really like most UQ original characters, I prefer when a character is redeemed or improved upon rather than being dumped aside or bashed.
The series is UQ first and foremost. Most of the cast of Negima are either absent or deceased most likely. I suspect next chapter will have things snapping back to reality. I think back to when Negi’s entry into the tournament was revealed and the MotB appeared, this seemed a bit similar to that. Only a lot more violent… I do wonder why the Lifemaker’s motives seem to have decayed into destruction. They never came off as this… douchey back in Negima.
Anyway, good chapter all around. Surprised Touta didn’t recognize Yue and Nodoka, especially the latter. Hope things snap back to reality pretty quickly in the next chapter. While the chapter length is great, a month is a long time to digest information and theorize what’s going to happen in the next one. The wait will be a tough one albeit not as tough as the wait for this chapter.
Yeah, well. If we’re just going to lose the Negima cast again, it’s a shame this chapter wasn’t spent looking at them actually doing badass things during the period where they actually were adventurers under Negi’s direction and instead it just wasted valuable and limited room recycling the same old academy routines. You could even have the fanservice during the fights with the Clothing Damage, if Akamatsu thinks it’s such an important selling point for a relaunch.
Instead, we not only had the main UQ supporting cast fully absent from their own relaunching, but the old cast was just brought back for more of the same, which basically feels pointless and gratuitous. If the intent was to show for new readers how close they were to Negi, it’d have been better to show them together in an adventure, since that’s the kind of thing UQ Holder is supposed to showcase, and Ala Alba made their future fame as fighters and saviors rather than students.
There is only so much you can do with so many characters. If you read Negima you know what becomes of most of the main cast. As much as I would like an explanation on Yue/Nodoka I suspect that’ll come soon.
I enjoy UQ’s cast but quite frankly it pales in comparison to its predecessors, especially with the excessive spotlight given to Chis-…err, Kirie. Albiero made the point that Negi was popular with the ladies, much like Touta. Showing a bunch of action wouldn’t have portrayed that as accurately.
“If you read Negima you know what becomes of most of the main cast.”
One panel epilogues out of nowhere don’t make for good conclusions to any truncated character arc.
“Albiero made the point that Negi was popular with the ladies, much like Touta. Showing a bunch of action wouldn’t have portrayed that as accurately.”
What could portray devotion better than showing the girls fighting along Negi and cooperating with him? That’s more of an actual showing of love than random school hijinks. Besides, UQ Holder was supposed to be an action manga first, it makes more sense to spotlight the adventurous side of Ala Alba, the one that just keeps receiving token lip service but little actual focus, now.
The problem is, that only forebodes the same problem may end up befalling UQ Holder’s team itself. As it is, even characters like Karin and Santa, with awesome abilities of their own, have spent long now being sidelined and underused, shoved into stock comedic routines and contributing little to conflicts.
Ah. Good catch there. I think he should have.
Ha!ha! All true.
“I do wonder why the Lifemaker’s motives seem to have decayed into destruction. They never came off as this… douchey back in Negima.”
In fact … First, contrary to what one major part of the fans think, the lifemaker has never been pacifist. Certainly, at the time of Negima, he ordered to his men to not kill “human” (understand by that, “inhabitants of the Earth”, Kotaro and Setsuna are not humans, but still counted as people “saving”) but this is forget that 20 years before Negima, he triggered a global war that lasted 3 years and has killed millions of people, humans as non-humans.
So I tend to think that his degree of non-violence is relative, and depent on several factors. The plan he wants to establish, the mental state of his host after the possession is completed (we now know thanks to Negi that the soul of lifemaker merges with her host, rather than crush and destroy her, and Negi suffers raisonnance for 20 years if you combine all that, it is normal that Negi Baoth, is far more ruthless than Nagi Baoth in his time), the means available to him (probably Asuna, is sealed in an inaccessible location and we do not know what are become the “master key”. Personnaly, I see it “melted” between dimensions to facilitate terraforming Mars. And n any case, the project of Negi Baoth concerns the entire solar system, it is likely that the master-keyes would be useless for this plan.).
This explains for me why the current mage beginning tolerate terrorist actions of Cutlass, and why the mage of the beginning of the Great War did not hesitate to trigger a global war. Each lifemaker is both identical (they have the same memories) and different (they have personalities and means of act, differents)….
True, show at least a few panels of the other UQ characters are doing something in the current time … but as ANB has said, there are not many chapters that don’t have Tota in it.
I wasn’t surprised the UQH folks didn’t show up. After all, none of them were taken into the Phantasmagoria. Initially, I was wondering how long Touta might be taken to the past. But now that Touta is battling the MotB in the Phantasmagoria, who knows what will happen.
As to the Negima 2 subtitle, I don’t think it will mean a great deal other than Touta officially picks up Negi’s quest vs. MotB. We may see Mana and company more, and Touta’s harem status may get more confirmed. That’s my expectation, at least.
Negi’s quest against the Lifemaker never amounted to that much in Negima proper– for the overwhelming majority of Negima’s lenght, there isn’t even any hint to the characters the Lifemaker might return. Negi’s quest and the series’ main arc was about finding Nagi instead. The Lifemaker being the goal was pretty much a last minute addition, and thus hardly something that defined Negima as a whole, enough as to make it a worthwhile reason to call UQ Holder its sequel. Ditto for the whole Space Elevator affair, something that only gets mentioned in the final two Negima volumes.
Let’s be frank here: the ‘Negima 2’ subtitle holds little to no logical narrative reason and is just a marketing gamble instead, banking on name recognition from a franchise that sold better than UQ Holder, regardless of either’s quality or lack thereof, which is another debate on itself. It’s a purely mercenary move, and a very transparent one at that. But Touta’s character arc, despite the surface similarities, is not the same as Negi’s. Negi started his quest without knowing the world was at stake (and for that matter, it’s only a parallel world that gets introduced way into the series that is in any actual risk of destruction– even the future war on Earth wouldn’t happen if not because of Mundus Magicus), while UQ tries to paint a much more global sense of menace from the start, and that has an impact on Touta’s Hero Journey which Negi’s lacked until much later into his own story.
And in any case, it’s in very bad taste to start this saying ‘Negima 2!’, giving an extended tease of the old cast that made the first series what it was in the first place, and then dropping them back as soon as possible to get back to the UQ cast that got neglected in the first new chapter. It just paints how crassly commercial this move is– and granted, this is a commercial manga, much like any other backed by a corporation, but there are far more subtle and tasteful ways to do a series restart than this, that doesn’t really favor either series’ cast.
“I wasn’t surprised the UQH folks didn’t show up. After all, none of them were taken into the Phantasmagoria.”
Come on, Astro. You are better than this. Surely you are aware of the concept of parallel narrative that goes back and forth from one point to another between scenes; it’s one of the oldest staples in the storytelling dealing with extended casts, and by this point UQ Holder has grown into its own extended cast, even if very unabalanced in its treament.
Hello guys!
What’s written in this page? I could not read the chapter in Crunchyroll.
http://anime.astronerdboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/UQH-CH129-SP11.png
:'(
Sorry, I’m so busy these days, I can’t keep my head above water. The answer is there now. 🙂
Basically, Touta is saying that since he got to see Eva happy with Negi, he’s satisfied and doesn’t need to see more of Eva’s past with Negi and how she fell in love with Negi.
Thank you!, Really Thank you!!.
You’re welcome
So….
whats going on? is Al on her side by forced, or is he dead or whatever? aside from that last moment, is the MotB trying to test touta? for what reason? is it to make him fall into despair like you think?
im lost..
We don’t know what Al’s status is. He may be controlled. He may be a replica of the real Al. We just don’t know.
Hopefully, the next chapter helps clear things up.
Sooooo, the chapter on crunchyroll is still locked behind a paywall, it isn’t available on Kindle to buy. Yet the latest Attack on Titan chapter IS available. Why is THIS, the only series that I frequently face piracy as my only recourse.
The real oddity is that all the volumes and individual chapters for UQ Holder are available to buy, up to 128.
I think it may have come out early on CR. Either way, I’m not sure why it is behind the paywall. It may be because of its monthly status, but that’s just speculation. There may be licensing issues at work here since it shifted to a new magazine, even though it is still a Kodansha magazine.
I think its good for Touta to see Negi as he really was rather than the way he’s remembered. He was developing a complex…
To be fair, Negi did see Nagi for the goofball he was back in Volume 3 of Negima, and it didn’t diminish his hero worship any. I imagine this will be the same.
Good point. I also think Touta will now be down with a harem having seen Negi with one. 😉
Not to sound too negative.
I wonder if UQ Holder doesn’t work out and if Akamatsu-sensei desperate to income he won’t resort to restarting it turning into sitcom situation that always was without the galactic problems.
I won’t want that, thou was originally drawn into the series because of the comedy, despite me being a admirer of scifi/fantasy material that he was evolving Negima into.
Well, I think there will be some harem hijinks down the road. I think it will be more of a blend — dark, then some comedic relief.
Yea! The wait is OVER! and have enjoyed this chapter, re-reading it several times.
We now know new things about the MotB. More small clues, and even MORE questions.
This flash-back seems more a elaborate illusion, that looks very much of biased/distorted scenes based on the real past events from Negima, and at the same time the same tool to keep Negi brain-washed and under control by making it appear as real.
Maybe that was the plan to get Tota separate and isolated from everyone else, and possibly brainwash Tota too with the same method, just as the illusions of Yue and Nodoka did to calm Negi when they were outside the space station.
Makes me wonder if what Yue and Nodoka said was false too about Tota’s creation, since all of them are controlled or illusions of the MotB.
Sometimes I get the impression that the MotB is jealous of Eva, and determined to keep any man away and out of Eva’s life and keep it miserable for Eva. First was Nagi, and then Negi.
It makes me question if Tota was made by Fate and Eva. If so why would Eva be also attracted to Tota in a romantic way, if Tota is her creation, like another puppet?
Or was the affection/romance just to lure the MotB so that Eva can finally trap the MotB via Tota and free Negi and possibly Nagi??
I kept going back to the Negima chpt 355 about Eva during the break.
“Her promise with the boy regarding infernus scholasticus (school attendance hell), was carried out together with the rescue of her loved one. Although she had obtained her freedom, she held back her own grimness of the past, and continued to watch over, the fate of the boy, and of the girl in whom she saw herself. How things went with the one she loved is a story for another time.”
I interpret that as Eva watches over ‘of the boy, and of the girl’ which I think is referring to Negi and Asuna.
Eva does rescue of ‘the boy regarding …’ I’m thinking referring to Nagi or ‘her loved one’.
In Negima and in this current flashback, Nagi didn’t see Eva the same way Eva saw Nagi, so the mutual attraction/love again, wasn’t shown.
The ‘one she loved’ – has to be Tota, and is exclusively UQ.
That’s assuming that Akamatsu-sensei already had the idea of Touta firmly established at this point and knew that he’d have Touta with Eva. I’m not convinced of that.
That being said, even though Nagi was never romantically attracted to Eva, Eva was in love with Nagi. So the story of how things went with the one she loved is likely about Nagi. His tale remains untold, even now.
Good reasoning ANB! There is the Eva x Nagi ship that is very much there with not much released information about that relationship. It is also Eva’s first love too. So it can go that way too.
I also agree with you ANB that Tota is also better at being strong/mature enough not to get provoked or upset or jealous by Alberio. He was genuinely happy for Eva, actually thanking Alberio for showing the past. Not getting the reaction the MotB wanted.
I don’t know if brainwashing is the right term. I think part of the plan may have been to get Touta out of the way. If his looking at Negi’s life caused him to move aside, great. However, since Touta wasn’t getting upset or whatever with Negi x Eva, MotB stepped in to take another approach to move him aside. That’s how I see it, at least.
All of Negi’s comrades may be artificial lifeforms, based off of the original. Or they may be controlled. Or they may have willingly decided to go with Negi’s plan, assuming Negi decided to follow form and try to help MotB.
Just how deeply she’s attracted to Touta is unknown to me. And it is rather creepy when you consider she took him in as a guardian.
That being said, assuming Eva did indeed have a part in making Touta, Eva met Touta before she made him. So her affection for Touta is more akin to a childhood crush, as I see it.
But we’ll see.
Eva is wearing plush slippers on page 43! Interesting that Akamatsu drew her with those slippers!
What about it do you find interesting?
Eva has most of the time has been drawn dressed well or with a ragged over-coat/poncho and at times bare feet. Rarely in ‘comfy’ clothes, like PJs or footwear one would wear at home in the house, that usually goes with those booties – it just didn’t go with the outfit/uniform she was wearing. Those slippers/foot warmers/bunny booties are more for the in-house use.
I was expecting the usual mary-jane style flats or heels, sandals, or even army boots that she sometimes wears with her lolita outfit or a school uniform – like what she wore in the classroom (page 18). So it caught my eye when I saw her wear the bunny booties, and thought it was odd she would be wearing them. It was something that didn’t fit Eva and maybe a flaw in Alberio’s imaging, like a indicator/hint that this version of the past may be close to what actually happened in the past, but not accurate.
Then when Eva sees Tota a few pages later, everything changes, and I’m not sure if this is still in that Phantasmagoria, or a trap, or in the actual past, and if in the past, what happened to Negi? Is he standing there in the water?
The reason to showing Tota the past was to get him up-to-speed with the current events. But now, with what is happening, I start to question if this is this how Negi got involved with the MotB to save both Eva and Tota? thus the cliff-hanger at the end of the chapter. Gotta wait another month!
Still I’m happy UQ is back, and that this chapter showed many characters — finally including Chamo. I almost missed seeing him in that one panel.
Thanks for the clarification.
All good questions.
Yes, he did get his cameo. ^_^
Funny thing though it’s early to say, i was looking forward to Touta working up the ladder up to the top of the tower. One of his DREAMS and focus of his character since the early days.
Sensei seem to skip all that, about glimpse how the solar system inhabited now and interplanetary drama/politics that Touta could end up changing to here grandpa, fight for world. I got nothing now.
Well, it may be that Sensei is going to resolve the MotB thing, then return the series to a more UQH-centric thing. Who knows.
The thing is, UQ Holder the organization seems very aimless without the Lifemaker’s machinations. It makes no sense that I can see so far to resolve the Lifemaker situation away from them and then return to them, since their goals are so vague (after more than 100 chapters!) facing Fate and the Lifemaker’s threat is all they’ve got going for them.
Thank you Overmaster on the clarification on Madoka!
For me, there are several story lines started and different from any Negima beginning dealing with the UQ org and then kinda forgotten or fell into a black hole of nothing…
– when Tota fought the cyborg, werewolf, and blind swordsman, sent from a crime syndicate, and created Tota’s 2 million yen debt for damages.
– that bounty arc where that teacher/bounty hunter that tried to stop Eva for the price on her head, but that arc made Tota into a immortal.
– Kuromaru’s arc or that school that sends their members to destroy monsters like those in UQ.
– Nor much about anyone else at Senkyokan either outside of Tota’s small group of holders (Karin, Santa, Kirie, Ikkyu) , or other possible UQ holders at other remote locations if they have them. Or even the last two other holders (from promo group pic) that haven’t made their appearence
– Continued training by Dana — Tota didn’t finish his training by her either.
– What of the tournament that Tota was depending on to train and improve, and also win to help him with his dream to go to the top of the space tower, and money to help pay his debt. Which seems moot at this point of the story.
So there is a lot of potential story material that is still there, if and when the Negima arc finishes. At least we had the Sayoko arc which introduced Santa
Re- Your thanks. It was nothing, you’re welcome. Glad I could be of help.
The debt issue is awkward now, since it’d be quite heartless to press on Touta for money when UQ Holder already have lots of money and Touta’s got so much to worry about, including saving the whole world. Trying to charge him a gigantic sum UQ Holder doesn’t really need, especially with Kirie around, after that would be in quite bad taste and not really funny, just a d*ck move. Mizore might offer to just pay if for him, but Touta would simply refuse claiming he has to do it on his own… but once you’ve saved the world, everyone is endebted to you rather than the other way around. So I hope that plot point never comes up again.
The immortal hunters… well, power escalation makes hard for them to return as viable threats. By now, if the Lifemaker’s vanquished or still the major ongoing threat, guys who were soundly beaten at the start of the manga aren’t much of a credible menace. It’s like trying to bring Chigusa back by the end of the Mundus Magicus arc. Even trying to pull stronger immortal hunters out of nowhere creates a whole bunch of issues– if there are immortal hunters powerful enough as to menace post-MOTB’s hypothetic defeat Touta and Evam why didn’t they just wipe UQ Holder off before the series started? What were they doing in the meanwhile?
Basically, the Lifemaker, a generations spanning recurring arc villain who’s been a looming threat over two series, raises the bar too high. Underwhelming in actual shown results as the Mage’s been so far, the villain has been charged with so much hype and in-universe credit as to make difficult for any previously unmentioned, not even hinted at, newer villain to surpass her, and going back down the power scale is not the way action shounen tend to work.
Yeah, there’s plenty of material for after MotB, but for Negima fans, MotB resolution is king. 😉
mmm. good points OverMaster.
The series needs a primary villain and the MotB/Lifemaker is probably the prime one, and it may get dragged out for the whole length of the manga to end in the last chapter whenever it happens. What we may be seeing now is the initial ‘intro to the players’ skirmish.
But between the battles, it will probably not always be going to battle with the ultimate powerful MotB. We know the destruction of Earth is its goal, and saving Negi and Nagi seems to be part of it too, but not one long battle. I would think a series of battles.
I’m expecting hijinks, but also lesser powerful beings that may challenge other UQ holders where Tota may or may not assist. It would allow the other minor characters to shine — I hope this happens. The immortal hunters for example may try to attack UQ again, or that samurai clan going after Kuromaru for defecting. Maybe the immortal hunters have been in battle with UQ for some time, we don’t know much – and we now may see some of this as they send more people to destroy UQ by their abilities. The crime syndicate may also send thugs against UQ also for interfering with their plans of control and possibly extortion. So they may not be as powerful as the MotB, but bad-ass enough to give UQ a problem that UQ has to solve. Kinda like the Quincys in Bleach, and the different villains that Ichigo had to face. It wasn’t always Aizen or Bach. BUT its just what I hope UQ can be… we shall see what the Akamatsu-sensei does with this manga.
Well, originally, their mission was to find rogue immortals. That’s how Santa came to join the ranks. And there are other immortals that were shown whom we’ve not seen. And we know so little about the other members of UQH.
Any idea when we’ll hear anime announcements?
Other than what we’ve already heard? Not sure.
Butts and butts and more butts ==’
what rly stood out to me in this chapter was AL’s/ku:nel’s sudden snap in attitude and facial expression after touta said he was just happy to see eva smile genuinely.
there were also a few moments earlier in the chapter I got the impression that AL wasn’t really 100% AL like he had some malicious intentions and was really trying to get at something.
2 panels specifically pages 28 and 30.
page 28 when he said: “so that IS what’s bothering you.”
and page 30 when he said: “well, tota-kun? are you curious?”
both involving tota’s feelings for evangeline. almost like the actual purpose for showing tota the past was to get to that point; not just for the sake of re-introducing the negima characters in UQ holder or to not leave tota in the dark and show him everything so that he can make his choice as was said at the end of chapter 128.
if the MOTB decided to alter the phantasmagoria just after AL asks tota if that’s really how he feels than that choice was obviously not the 1 the motb wanted
I’m not really sure what to make of it I literally just finished the chapter and its fun to speculate.
I enjoyed this chapter. I’m curious what this will lead up to and the significance of why the MOTB appeared when she did in regards to tota’s last reaction before she arrived
That’s when I think MotB took him over.
Well, he is working with MotB, and MotB has an agenda.
Still, it will be interesting learning more about what the MotB is after.
I know its how its drawn and is not supposed to be that person, but on the page that Ayaka (class rep) is saying good morning to Negi, the next panel shows a girl drawn or looks like a smiling Karin saying ‘morning’ to Negi too. BUT with a different type of bag or looks like a sack on her back, and not her sword.
That’s Kugimiya Madoka, one of the three cheerleaders in Class 3-A. She had Karin’s character design from the start of Negima.
Yeah, Akamatsu-sensei does have a limited range on character designs.
That’s Madoka. 🙂
Something that was bothering me which shouldn’t really matter. WHEN was visit of Touta’s?
He arrives in part of the past when things seem to be usual business at school. So Negi hadn’t gone to Magical World / Inverse Mars YET? Or is this after the fact?
Granted this is a recreation of Negima! but i wonder if Sensei was paying attention to when it was.
I’d say it’s somewhere after the sports festival arc. Chao is still missing so it’s definitely after the Mahorafest arc and Negi’s level of sneeze seems to indicate that it’s well after he mastered Magia Erebea, to say nothing of Asuna’s mastery of her own arts. There were a few skips towards the end of the series so it’s hard to pinpoint but it’s probably sometime between one of the late skips.
The Sports Girls don’t seem to know about Negi’s magic, wondering what’s happened after Negi strips them, while by the end of Negima the whole class was well used (even if still annoyed) at it. So that would seem to put the whole thing before Mundus Magicus, plus the fact Negi doesn’t go into Lightning Mode after sneezing, like every other time he sneezed after that arc (when he only stripped Chisame and when he stripped the whole class).
Post Mahorafest, pre Mundus Magicus would be my best guess, although it’s difficult to say for sure since there any many small logical flaws, including how Asuna keeps her full underwear while even by the manga’s end she only could keep her bra.
Then again, it’s worth considering the whole vision seems to jump back and forth in time, including the kiss with Eva that happened DURING Mahorafest. And of course, if it’s all an illusion created by the Mage rather than an actual glimpse into the past, anything goes, as the MOTB might have just cherrypicked elements from different points to create an overall picture of Negi’s stint as a teacher. Probably close to Negi’s own vision of his situation while in Poyo’s mirage, but closer to reality in broad stroke details.
Yeah, there are a lot of things that put the time frame up for questioning. Negi openly uses a spell and Asuna openly uses kankaho in front of everyone. After the Sports Festival is where I was thinking this likely was, but Negi wasn’t around a lot then.
Yeah, after the sports festival sounds about right.
Considering how Asuna openly uses kankaho, how Negi openly cast a spell, and how folks reacted to Negi’s sneeze, I kinda want to say that this was after they came back from Mars. But then again, Negi wasn’t around much then, so it might be before. It really is hard to tell.
Another, and maybe the main reason why this can’t be set after Mundus Magicus is right after that arc Negi was not 3-A’s homeroom teacher anymore. *Fate* was.
And, again, the Sports Girls are puzzled by what just happened, which wouldn’t make sense after they learned about magic in Mundus Magicus.
It could be just prior to the trip to Wales.
What Eva said to Negi seems to stick in my mind:
Sounds like Eva’s life being changed by the MotB.
I’m beginning to wonder if Negi had shared his plans with Eva right before this happened. It makes a bit more sense from the earlier chapter when Negi-MotB hugs Eva earlier and whispered in Eva’s ear that:
ANB, your idea of Negi making a deal with the MotB is making more sense. The statements are making me consider that Negi allow himself to be absorbed as a way of re-forming the MotB. Its something that Eva knows and Negi was saying she was right. Most of it we don’t know as yet.
But yeah, the MotB isn’t done with Eva yet too. Negi-MotB also was enticing Eva:
I think Eva already made her decision a long time ago.
I also wanted to see how this quote notation works…
Well, it fits Negi’s pattern, going back to his first encounter with Eva. Negi doesn’t like seeing folks he fights as villains per se. With Eva, he was afraid of her, but he wanted her to attend class and not do bad things. When he realized what he could learn from her, he then wanted to be her apprentice.
Kotaro — similar story. Negi reaches out to him to be allies and friends.
Count Hermann — Negi defeats the demon, but doesn’t kill him, showing him no malice.
Fate — Negi fights him for ages, but eventually with the goal of becoming allies.
And there are other instances of Negi and former foes becoming friends and allies.
So with MotB, it just made sense to me that Negi might defeat her in combat, but want to find some alliance/friendship/whatever to solve MotB’s issue a different way.
Ha!ha! 😀 I’m lucky in that I have a comment panel for all comments and it includes all of the cheat buttons for a WYSIWYG interface. ^_^
I am trying to re-read Negima too. I’m forgetting details on Alberio’s ability. He can create clones with their powers for a short time using his books (his pactio?).
So it is possible Eva and what is being shown to Tota is false, and a creation by Alberio. Maybe the foot warmers was his way of making fun of Eva too. If its using a pactio, and one made with Nagi, then Nagi is definitely alive.
So its getting harder to keep up …. Alberio could be a creation of the MotB, so a MotB creation then creates the illusions and clones being shown to Tota and maybe Negi too, including the ones of Eva, and twisting the past to convince Tota of a false or modified history, and failed to invoke a jealous response from Tota. Maybe Kurabo is also a illusion too, since it just seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.
How many more weeks to wait for the next chapter?
Yes, I believe that was his artifact. But Al also had the form of a book, which was never explained.
I suspect that Al created the phantasmagoria they entered. I suspect that MotB “made it real” with her Lifemaker powers.
But yeah, Al could be a recreated by MotB, complete with Al’s powers. I think the history shown was pretty accurate because I think MotB would initially rather win Touta over than go through the trouble of fighting him.
Not sure. A couple at least, I think.