July 11th, 2017 
AstroNerdBoy ユーキューホルダー! 魔法先生 ネギま！2 Manga Review
UQ Holder! Mahou Sensei Negima 2
UQ Holder!: Magister Negi Magi! 2 Chapter 138
UQ Holder Chapter 138
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Yue and Nodoka are depressed after being rejected by Negi-sensei. They try to speculate on whom it is that Negi likes before giving into the tears.
Meanwhile Negi finds Chisame in the classroom. She gets the sense that he’s going to confess to her so she attempts to bail. Negi stops her, confesses, but is rejected by Chisame as she spells out all of the reasons this is a bad idea. She gets angry with him for going to extremes, expresses her appreciation, then walks out. But she feels a tad guilty and peeks back in, where she finds Negi crying.
Ayaka and several other girls in the class attack Chisame for rejecting Negi, especially since Chachamaru confirms that Chisame has feelings for Negi. Ayaka practically loses her mind, demanding Chisame marry Negi since they have requited feelings for each other. Asuna arrives, puts an end to the cheerleaders and Yuuna attempting to seduce Negi, then flees with him in tow. Sanity restored, Chisame explains why she’s fine if in five years Negi chooses someone else.
Meanwhile, Negi doesn’t want Asuna to leave him. So she attempts to comfort him as Paru tells Yue and Nodoka that they again have a chance.
Five years later, Negi, Kotaro, and Fate are part of an attack group of warships going after the Mage of the Beginning. An attack from MotB’s asteroid stops the fleet and forces the trio to a small asteroid. There they find Natsumi in a space suit. Kotaro stays with her while Fate and Negi advance on MotB, who has the form of Negi’s father Nagi.
Thoughts/Review:
And so with UQ Holder chapter 138, we get our first UQ Holder story to not have ANY UQ Holder characters in it (discounting the splash page). Funnily enough, I didn’t miss ’em.
Nodoka and Yue
I love Nodoka and Yue as characters. I like their character arcs in Negima, though I felt that Nodoka got screwed during the Magic World arc by not getting chapters devoted to her arrival and adventures with the treasure hunters. Yue fared better since we got to see her attend a magic school, work really hard to become a mage, and then be instrumental in helping defeat a powerful hippogriff-dragon (or a hippogryph-dragon). Further, Yue and Nodoka have been a great team. As such, it does suck to see how they were hurt, even though it is not expected.
That said, I believe this gives us somewhat of an understanding into why Yue and Nodoka continued to be devoted to Negi for the rest of their lives. Yes, they were rejected. Yes, they were heartbroken. However, Haruna is notorious for pushing those two along. That started with the idea that because Chisame rejected Negi, Yue and Nodoka still had a chance. And like a lot of unrequited love, the one loved is the best person on the planet, so much so that no one else can compare. And that’s kinda how I see Yue and Nodoka. I don’t mean that in a negative way either. They made a choice and decided they’d follow Negi into hell if needed. I can respect that.
Chisame’s Rejection
Chisame rejecting Negi wasn’t surprising to me. I’ve been slowly rereading Negima! over the last few months (and I do mean slowly), but I need to make a point to pay attention to Negi’s visit to the “priest” (Misora) and what she said to him. That said, I have paid attention to where Negi showed Chisame attention prior to the Magic World arc. While Akamatsu-sensei did establish Negi as a fan of Chisame, the story unfolded in a way that did not suggest a romantic interest on the part of Negi. If anything, Negi saw Chisame as a hikikomori girl, who needed to be brought out of her dorm room to interact with others.
Indeed, prior to the magic world arc, the manga is strongly setting up an Asuna x Negi ship. Asuna is Negi’s first partner. Asuna hates kids, but she comes to care for Negi a great deal. Not only that, but Asuna found herself attracted to Negi at times. Asuna was tied for second place in the love chart with a score of of 56: 13 (Friend/tomo) – 15 (Familiarity/oya) – 8 (Love/Desire/koi) – 12 (Pure Love/ai) – 8 (Lust/ero). By comparison, Chisame was lower (at least in July 26, 2008) with a score of 35: 10 (Friend/tomo) – 2 (Familiarity/oya) – 8 (Love/Desire/koi) – 7 (Pure Love/ai) – 8 (Lust/ero).
I’m thinking that prior to the Magic World arc, when Akamatsu-sensei shifted the story from his original design, one of the things he changed was having the Asuna x Negi ship. So even though he forces Negi with Chisame after separating Negi from Asuna, she becomes Asuna’s replacement as an advisor. But back in the day, I never saw Negi as being keen on her. It wasn’t until the end of Negima when it became 100% certain that Asuna was out of the running. But even then, I wasn’t thinking “Chisame!” I was thinking Eva, Chachamaru, Nodoka, or Yue (or a combination).
In that vein, I do find it funny that Akamatsu-sensei seems to acknowledge that there was no real foreshadowing of Negi picking Chisame in Negima based on Chisame’s words in this chapter.
The Youkai Ayaka and the Asylum Inmates
I know the antics of the usual trouble makers (plus Akira and Ako for some reason) in regards to Negi troubles some fans, and I completely understand those feelings. For me, Ayaka and company are acting in character, as established from early on. Outside the cheerleaders and the twins, the others had participated in the horrors of the events in the Magic World. The troublemakers have always been thus, so for me, the events of the Magic World weren’t going to change them. And they still are immature, young teens girls.
I will admit that Ayaka’s reaction, where she goes “youkai” on Chisame made me laugh. Here’s an ojousama who’s pure love for Negi is at an 18. (She scores 52 overall, though I’ve felt her ero score of 5 was always too low.) So I understood her demanding that Chisame “reconsider” her rejection because having a requited (romantic) love with Negi is ultra rare. And Ayaka actually means it when she says that for Negi, she’s prepared to fight the whole world if needed. But I still found her antics funny.
So while I have no problem with the usual troublemakers giving Chisame issues, it is a little odd to have Akira (even if limited) and Ako get in on things. Ako went so far as to activate her pactio along with Makie and Ayaka. Ako and Akira had been slaves, so I can understand them being very attached to Negi, who saved them. (And Ako fell in love with Negi’s “Nagi” persona.) I’m just not sure I agree with Ako going along on this nuttiness. But at least Akira wasn’t shown to do more than question whether Chisame had feelings for Negi or not.
Judge Asuna, aka: Asuna-oneesan
While Ayaka may be the official class president, it is Asuna who lays down the law on the other girls. Her wrath was targeted at the cheerleaders and Yuuna for trying to seduce Negi. But she also spared Chisame from further harassment by Ayaka, Ku Fei, and the others. And in doing so, Asuna was able to cause the situation to calm down by allowing Chisame to “get back on her horse” as it were while Asuna fled with Negi.
It is things like this that always made me really like Asuna as a character and hate it that she was put on the shelf for most of the Magic World arc. To be honest, I’ve always liked the “Judge Asuna” aspect of Asuna’s character. I remember her saving Kaede and Setsuna on the Magic World (hope I got the names right — it is late at night as I write this in between work issues).
Asuna continued her role of “oneesan” to Negi, which I believe was forced on her around the time of the Magic World arc. On one hand, she comforts Negi, but on the other hand, she scolds him for going to extremes (much as Chisame did). Here too, we get a glimpse as to why Asuna would leave Mars to help Negi.
Love at Age 11
Negi’s confession and reaction to being rejected made me pause and think hard back to my own life at age 11. I guess it was about that age that I became more aware of girls as girls. Boys and girls would “go together,” which mostly meant hanging out together and holding hands. A few of the most popular boys were said to have already had sex at this point. I was never sure if this was true back then, but years later, I discovered there was a tradition of a secret club of high school girls who made it their mission to “educate” hot young boys. So yeah, some folks had even started having sex at age 11.
Anyway, I recall the girl I liked at 11 moving away. I remember being very sad about this, but she kept her promise to write, so we kept in touch for many years after. I remember being sad when I returned to the U.S. and planned to come see her to discover that she was now in a serious relationship. I believe those events led me to where I am now, for better or for worse. In that same light, I believe that the Negi we see was forged from Chisame turning him down, for better or for worse.
Time Skip
I liked that five years later, it is Negi, Kotaro, and Fate leading the attack on MotB’s base of operations. I would have preferred to have seen a bit more exploration of how Negi and company came to uncover the location of MotB, but I guess Akamatsu-sensei didn’t want to waste that many chapters. After all, I suspect UQ Holder is on probation, thus Akamatsu-sensei needs to make sure that he can completely resolve all Negima plot threads (or at least the main ones since I suspect he’ll ignore Arika and Eva’s time with Ala Rubra).
I liked seeing Kurt return and lead the fleet in its futile attempt on MotB’s asteroid.
I also loved seeing Natsumi part of the action. It was kinda hard to follow, but it seems that Negi, Fate, and Kotaro parked a ship like the Great Paru-sama on an asteroid near to MotB’s asteroid. It seems that there are others inside the ship since Negi asked Kotaro to defend “Natsumi-san and the others.” So how does Kotaro forget that Natsumi is around?
So next chapter, we should witness what happened between Nagi and Negi. I still want to believe that Nagi isn’t actually dead. Negi’s solution to problems isn’t to kill his opponents, but to defeat them and then come to an arrangement. I guess I’ll find out if that happens soon enough.
Final Thoughts and Conclusion
I want to apologize to regular readers for being so delayed in getting this review of UQ Holder chapter 138. My work schedule and the lack of sleep that comes with it has made things rather difficult. When I have free time, I try to write, but often sit and stare. And when I take breaks from work, I have been playing the Fate/Grand Order game. But I am thankful to have a job, even if it does leave me exhausted.
- I’m annoyed that Crunchyroll was two days late on releasing UQ Holder chapter 138. The chapter is released on the 8th in Japan, which would be the 7th in the U.S. So assuming 09:00 Japan time to officially start selling the chapter on the 8th, that would be 8pm ET on the 7th in the U.S. Yet we had to wait until 8pm on the 9th in the U.S. before Crunchyroll would post the chapter. 🙁
- In Negima, Asuna went to Mars to go to sleep immediately after high school. Here, Asuna is apparently not asleep and is reported to be half a day away. Why she wasn’t with the fleet when it attacked, I don’t know. That aside, whether this is the “good end” for Negima or some totally new timeline remains to be seen.
- I’m hoping we see Eva somehow involved in the confrontation with Nagi. Granted, she may still be cursed and tied to Mahora, but if Akamatsu-sensei could work that in (along with a very much alive Chachazero), I would love it.
In the end, UQ Holder chapter 138 had its amusing bits as well as its intriguing bits regarding Negi meeting his father, who’s possessed by MotB. I’m rather looking forward to the next chapter.
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We know that Nagi wont die here because this is the Happy end timeline and he was around in the final chapter. Dana said that shes gonna show them the other timeline so they can see how they defeated the MoTB in it.
As for Asuna Im glad that she ended up being in the Oneesan role rather than falling for Negi with the rest. After all it was revealed in the Magical world that shes Negis Aunt since shes Arikas sister And it wouldve been creepy if she ended up with Negi (Though Im sure Akamatsu wouldnt have cared if he wanted them to end up together). I personally prefer her current relationship with Negi and it makes her stand out as the Heroine instead of just being another love interest in the Harem.
Asuna and Arika are related, but they’re not sisters. Asuna has at least over a century on her, so how much the family line stayed intact from that point going forward means they’re only distantly related.
In other words, its a convenient loophole that makes it so they may not be directly related if Akamatsu ever wanted to go that route. Doubt he will, but who knows.
Ah, that’s what I was thinking.
Well, a writer apparently builds these kinds of trap doors to activate if needed.
I need to go reread that chapter. I wasn’t thinking that this was that timeline, but I guess it makes sense. But that means that even in the happy timeline, Negi was rejected.
I can understand that.
I don’t think Asuna and Arika were sisters. Asuna was used like a weapon and I believe it was implied that she was “stored” until needed. So I think Asuna is much, much older than Arika was.
I pretty much called how Chisame would react. I still don’t really get why Negi likes her best aside from a physical standpoint, but it makes sense from certain angles. Also given the ending of Negima, it’s the only logical choice because almost anyone else in the class would’ve leapt at the chance. I was kinda hoping the other girls would give her an appropriate punishment but Asuna wouldn’t like that… While it’s nice to finally put that part of the story to rest, it’s still a little unsatisfying because Chisame continues to be stuck up about it, even though she clearly likes him in return. And again there’s the whole Naru-clone angle but I’ve said my piece on that. While you can blame the rest of 3-A for overreacting, Chisame was still pretty rude about shutting him down, and given the series ending, we know that Chisame will never hook up with him. There’s still hope for a Nodoka/Yue/Negi threesome somewhere down the road at least.
The 5 years later pages harken me back to when Negima was at its most epic. Those pages looked amazing and truly showed what could be done with enough time (and assistants). UQ Holder remains a painful reminder of Negima’s abrupt ending and what could have been had Akamatsu not closed up the series so shoddily. During its best moments, Negima was easily up there with One Piece and Naruto in terms of sheer shonen awesomeness and it was nice to get a glimpse of that yet again before we head back to Touta and his… less cool companions. Hell, this whole flashback reminds me a lot of when Kurt showed Nagi footage of his father.
While I really liked this chapter, it really, really makes me miss Negima and how much fun was had during the journey. It also serves as a painful reminder that UQ will never, ever reach that level of fun and awesomeness and probably won’t even come close, especially due to questionable writing decisions and character forcing.
Well, we kinda see that in that Yue and Nodoka did join Negi-MotB.
That’s true, though initially I was confused on how Natsumi was on the asteroid. But then lack of sleep may have caused my confusion. It wasn’t until my 3rd read through that I realized that Fate, Negi, and Kotaro were standing on the asteroid observing Kurt’s fleet attacking MotB’s asteroid base.
I agree here.
Yeah, I don’t think UQH will ever reach that level. Had Negima ended properly and UQH was just set in the Akamatsu-verse, not shying away from dealing with Negima elements of magic, pactio cards, etc., UQH would have been better. And I still think UQH suffered from not having Eva, Touta, and Kuroumaru doing a proper journey to UQH-HQ, but that’s just me.
Heh, so basically Chisame isn’t against dating Negi but as that time he was still a freaking 11-year-old kid (and a teacher & hero with responsabilities that goes with), she wasn’t interested, yet it could be possible if 5 years later they wouldn’t have move on to something else. Way to go Chisame! One of the few with morals and common sense.
Haha! That’s true, which is why she and Asuna were on the same page here (Asuna being the other one with common sense).
Ditto. Finally a girl with independent thinking than most of her class. Chisame showed the most grown up, cool and logical headed, and realistic and believable approach to not having a relationship at that time. I found it cute she was trying to hide behind her school brief case/bag. Chisame wants to be sure its not hormones or puppy love but a real mature love relationship and that time (5 yrs) shouldn’t be a factor if its real love. I can see how Negi being more mature than his age would be attracted to her. Though rejecting a relationship with Negi for now, she still likes him very much and was hurt that she made Negi cry, and wanted to stop him crying before being attacked and accused by the rest of her class. She also was still open to a relationship when Negi is older. So it opens Nodoka and Yue a chance to get Negi too.
On another thought, The space fleet brought back memories for me of the original Starship Yamato/Star Blazers type space ships except for the Yamato which is a very old series. I thought I was going to see it in the background and it was the Gamalon fleet attacking.
And I need to get back to watching Space Battleship Yamato 2199. ^_^;
Don’t forget that Chamo had a second love chart (which I don’t remember if we ever got to see it) near the end of the magic world arc, where it was stated that Chisame was now one of the highest. Her feelings for him were well established.
As for Negi’s feelings for her, I find it kind of strange that he apparently developed them before the magic world. All of their most significant and meaningful interaction was there, and I don’t remember any sign of Negi having a crush on anyone until after the magic world arc. She waa basically his bedrock and advisor during the magic world, but before…?
I was looking for an updated chart. I don’t remember ever seeing it. The only ones I have pretty much identical. I’m guessing Akamatsu-sensei kept updates hidden because he didn’t want to be tied down to anything.
I agree, there was none. I think Akamatsu-sensei is acknowledging this by having Chisame remark on the lack of foreshadowing.
Before, she was just a student whom Negi was attempting to bring out from her seclusion. But I guess Akamatsu-sensei just has a think for “megane” girls.
Ah, found the reference to the updated chart (though we never actually see it):
http://imgur.com/a/35I9C
Ah. Thanks!
Very well paced chapter, Akamatsu-Sensei put an lot of panels with text next to them, maximising advancement of the story by density.
Liked the Ayaka demon gag.
Curious that Konoka and Setsuna have such little panel time, I wonder if theirs an underlying rights issue.
Akamatsu-sensei should have all the rights to all of his properties. You noted that Sense was making efficient use of his pages this month. I suspect that he just didn’t have the space to really do more than give them a single panel. 🙁 Hopefully we get more about them in the future.
@AstroNerdBoy
Konoka hasn’t been referenced by name, what so ever in the series, you would’ve thought that Eva would’ve lied and said that his grandmother was Konoka, because Touta should’ve asked who his grandmother was.
No one in the mahoha academy seems to recognise the last name of Koneo (only that Akamatsu-Sensei may be hinting with Mana that she’s the headmistress, probably) she’s supposed to be ( hypothetically) a mage greater than both Nagi and Negi, hell Eishin is supposed to be one of the top shinmei-ryu (with the last name of Koneo) and kuro doesn’t recognise the name, Takahata has a legacy a hundred years in the future. And he’s way more minor than even Kotaro.
Even more so, you’d think jinbei would make a joke about Touta being the next emperor/ aristocracy. (guys 1400 years old, not far of the reign of nakatomi no Fujiwara)
Point is, the Koneo name should have alot of different reactions, and it’s meaningless.
Hell, the lifemaker attacks earth practically, her (probably) (who apparently think Negi-lifmaker, is their grandfather) (said grandfather doesn’t recognise them, so shrug) grandchildren are placed in peerless danger, and she doesn’t even appear let alone call them to check on their wellbeing. (Theirs also little reason for her to dead, unless she was killed.) plus, Touta’s in Kyoto, where her (ancestral?) home is and Eva doesn’t point him there.
If she isn’t brokering peace with the Shinso or some ungodly horror faction, I won’t accept much else from Akamatsu-Sensei, unless it’s a damn good reason or plot point.
(and unlike cutlass, Touta and the Twins actually look like their from the same family tree)
The above, is my thought process on why it’s a rights issue (the holder could just be courteous, for Akamatsu-Sensei and allowing them to appear for continuity sake)
Also no mention of, of Negi sharing a room with Konoka either during Santa’s arc.
Konoka and Setsuna’s granddaughters still seem to have had an aristocratic upbringing and very good magical training, so the Konoe family still would seem to have some major credit to its name. We saw a fair lot of Konoka and Setsuna during Touta’s first Negima flashback as well. My guess is, since Akamatsu can’t show a gay marriage in a Japanese magazine, it’s difficult for him to show a lot of them without being forced to develop their relationship beyond teasing, ergo why we likely will see little of them from this point on.
IIRC, post Mundus Magicus Negi and Asuna had stopped rooming with Konoka, and Konoka and Setsuna didn’t get to see them often anymore, hence why it was such a big deal for Setsuna when Asuna returned. In the large scheme of things, the stage we all are familiar with, that of the Power Trio living together, probably was very short lived in-universe, and hence probably overlooked by the other characters.
My guess is Konoka and Setsuna are dead during UQ Holder (or else I don’t see them allowing the twins to work for Fate), but it’s probably a moot point– Ayaka is alive and she and Chachamaru, Mizore’s guardian, seem to have nothing to do whatsoever with Mizore anymore, leaving her completely to UQ Holder’s designs. If Konoka were around the same thing would probably happen with her, since Akamatsu either can’t or just doesn’t want to write logical, hands-on familiy authority figures (heck, even Kirie doesn’t seem to answer to any relatives either. Does she even run her own company on top of everything else…?)
As a hanyou, Setsuna should be alive unless she had been killed. Ditto Kotaro.
Chapter link for grandfather.
http://www.mangareader.net/uq-holder/123/18
I’m not sure Konoka’s name not being mentioned means anything. It may be that for whatever reason, Akamatsu-sensei hasn’t mentioned her. I’m not sure why the Konoe name never promoted any reactions. But as to a rights issue, there shouldn’t be any. Akamatsu-sensei owns the copyright to Negima! and UQ Holder.
Just jumping in here to apologize for the lateness of the chapter. Part of it was that the translators had to translate it over 4th of July weekend, and were also attending Anime Expo. We tried to hammer it out on time anyway, but the sleep deprivation was too much and we didn’t want to sacrifice quality for timeliness.
The work you guys do also goes up on comiXology, right?
That said, I’ve got no problems with you guys putting quality over speed. I think you guys are the best translators out there due to your “accurate while fully readable” translations. CR could do something to let us know there’s a delay. I just find it odd that comiXology had the chapter up “on time” but CR was two days late. (Although CR usually just opts for the 1 day late anyway because of how their system is set up, which is annoying.) I suspect that CR doesn’t have anything in place to handle weekend releases properly.
@Alethea Nibley
Gotta say fantastic stuff, being able to buy chapters from/via Amazon. It gives me the instant gratification that I want and collective ownership of the series chapters, so I don’t need to buy the paperbacks anymore.
How far the industry has come, (RIP Redhawk, the only group to pick shounen Kodansha titles, and the only ones who did Seven deadly sins, right from chapter 1. They have my respect)
Also, the translation work is really good; how I adore commas.
It’s far better than the volume 3 work, with the broken sentence structure, now everything reads fluidly from panel to panel.
Also, a question for the translator’s, since UQ holder went monthly, has the writing (as in the construction of sentences, word play, Kanji use etc) changed? I feel like it’s more direct in tone, than when most of the dialogue was fluff a la, Eva and Touta, Dana chapters.
Sorry for Johnny comes lately moment. I had read it when it first came out.
This is nice back-fill, though i do think that Sensei went bit far to make sure Chisame situation was sunk so to speak. Frankly i found Chisame response refreshing, he only 11 years old even if he super mature. Even for Japan. That just not going be something that everyone going to click with. Especially back then in the early 2000s or 1990s. The class room antics were amusing, i wish they just go ahead print Negmia Vol 40 and get it over with.
Sadly, UQ Holder own creator can’t kick off a descent sorry that will appeal to people in Japan who read’s his stuff.
Anyways, the jump 5 year i though was strange. Not because it wasn’t event UQ Holder hadn’t mentioned in the past, it just its too-soon. Unless this separate event from big dust up where Negi “died” in the fighting.
How Nagi ended up with MoTB (again) is another weird thing. I do think perhaps Akamatsu changed his mind about the final defeat of MoTB for UQ Holder’s multi-timeline story. I’m semi-angry that he has to put on the Negi Manga rescue of UQ Holder. I like the adventure with less fan service, but i guess that’s not what pay the bills in Japan.
That’s true.
I think that the moment it was seen as the direct sequel to Negima!, Negima! fans wanted to see the plot threads of Negima! resolved.
I’m only just beginning to see how true that is. ^_^;
They finally release a teaser preview to uq holder negima 2 the art looks good
Yeah, I saw that. I was planning to include it with a spoiler image post, but alas, no spoiler images have appeared. 🙁
There has been a promo image depicting Ala Alba vs. (part of) the UQ Holder team, plus the anime’s Japanese page has new character designs on Touta, Yukihime, Kirie, Karin and Kuromaru.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2017-08-04/uq-holder-anime-reveals-teaser-video-more-cast-theme-song-artists/.119744
The announced voice cast so far:
Yuka Takakura as Touta Konoe
Yuki Matsuoka as Yukihime
Yūki Hirose as Kurōmaru Tokisaka
Rina Satou as Negi Springfield
Ai Kayano as Kirie Sakurame
Yui Ogura as Karin
Yuri Shiratori as Sayo Aisaka
Natsuko Kuwatani as Yue Ayase
Akemi Kanda as Asuna Kagurazaka
Akeno Watanabe as Chachamaru Karakuri
Yui Horie as Makie Sasaki
Miho Sakuma as Mana Tatsumiya
Mamiko Noto as Nodoka Miyazaki
Junko Minagawa as Ayaka Yukihiro
Akira Ishida as Fate Averruncus
Sayaka Harada as Shinobu Yūki
Akari Kitō as Mizore Yukihiro
What happened to Santa and Ikkuu, not to mention Jinbei, is anyone’s guess.
ANN is dead, apparently.
They have some alternate URL now.
By the way, those manga spoilers are quite late this month, eh? It’s as if the providers barely even care anymore.
Not sure what happened there. I’m guessing that spoiler providers didn’t feel compelled to share anything as there wasn’t anything really too compelling that happened.