August 8th, 2018 
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 151
UQ Holder Chapter 151
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Kuroumaru has a memory dream from childhood. Kuroumaru’s Nii-sama encourages the young Kuroumaru to seek the stars.
In the present, Kuroumaru and Touta do their normal training, observed by Karin, Ikku, Kirie, and Santa. Karen makes an executive decision that they will all undergo additional training with Dana since Dana is a guest at the Senkyoukan Sentouan Annex. However, when the group arrives, Chamo informs them that Dana has left indefinitely.
After hearing what they had in mind, Chamo changes his form to an ermine and tells them about the Pactio system. Chamo believes that Touta should serve as Minister to whomever is the Magister. Kirie becomes candidate number 1, due to her abilities as a pure mage and her feelings for Touta. She protests imitatively, but in the end, concedes. However, her kiss with Touta to form a pactio instead causes time to freeze, thus negating the pactio magic.
Karin makes it clear that she would die before making a pactio with Touta, thus Kuroumaru becomes the next candidate. Kuroumaru objects because Kuroumaru is gender-neuter, identifying as male. Touta doesn’t care that he’d have to kiss the “boy” Kuroumaru, so Kuroumaru flees. As Kuroumaru ponders things, Kirie arrives on scene to have a chat. There, she shows Kuroumaru that Kuroumaru’s lack of power in female form was probably due her Kuroumaru not being used to being in a female body. Thus Kirie concludes that even as a girl, Kuroumaru can be Touta’s partner.
Kuroumaru decides to confess her love to Touta, but he fails to understand Kuroumaru’s meaning. Upon hearing “pactio,” Touta promptly kisses Kuroumaru, but nothing happens. Kuroumaru leaps through a closed window and freaks out about her first kiss. Kuroumaru returns, then discovers Touta’s long term plans. As a result, Kuroumaru is depressed since all Kuroumaru had thought about was being Touta’s partner.
Sometime later, Touta comes to the onsen where Kuroumaru is. They talk for a bit, leading Kuroumaru to have the courage to reveal that “she” has no actual gender. Touta thinks this racial feature of Kuroumaru’s is awesome, causing Kuroumaru to feel relieved. However, Touta now understands that Kuroumaru’s love confession was as a girl to a boy. He also realizes that Kuryuu was in fact Kuroumaru.
Without hesitation, Touta summons Chamo, who forms a pactio circle and Touta kisses Kuroumaru. To Chamo’s surprise, instead of Touta getting the pactio card, Kuroumaru got one. Touta assures Kuroumaru that he doesn’t care if Kuroumaru is male or female as they are partners. However, after the pactio kiss, Kuroumaru notes she is growing breasts again, but she’s OK with that for the first time.
Thoughts/Review:
I love me some Kuroumaru, so I was glad to see that UQ Holder chapter 151 focused on my favorite gender-neuter character. Sadly, I think this is going to be it for Kuroumaru’s focus, meaning we won’t explore “her” background beyond the very generic.
The Pactio
In the early days of UQ Holder, I remember being disappointed that the pactio system wasn’t even discussed, even though I felt that it should have been. Then the elderly Ayaka showed up with her old pactio card, and at least we finally had the introduction of the pactio system in UQ Holder. At that point, I figured it was only a matter of time before pactiones were provided to the UQH crew, and sure enough, UQ Holder chapter 151 provided them.
I was glad to see that the Kirie/Touta pactio failed. I haven’t liked Akamatsu-sensei’s hard push on the Kirie x Touta ship. And since Touta can smooch Kirie anytime they want to stop time, they are going to get plenty of that in the future. With Kuroumaru, it is only a couple of kisses, but hopefully there will be more down the road. More on that in a bit.
Although I’m glad Kuroumaru received a pactio card (and I look forward to seeing it in action), I’m still not a fan of non-mages being a Magister. I know that in Negima!, Kotaro makes a pactio with Natsumi, but he’s not a mage. He’s a melee fighter who uses chi and rarely uses jujutsu ofuda slips to perform a magical summoning. Heck, Kotaro despises mages. But since Akamatsu-sensei liked the Kotaro x Natsumi ship (as did I),
Kuroumaru as a Lovely Girl
I really hope that UQ Holder chapter 151 marks the end of “is Kuroumaru going to grow a penis or a vagina” element. Frankly, I’d like to see Kuroumaru go ahead and become a lovely girl, then use that shift to become the rightful heir of my Shinmeiryuu girls, Motoko (Love Hina) and Setsuna (Negima!). Heck, I want a female Kuroumaru to surpass both of them and become an immortal Shinmeiryuu legend.
I got the feeling that I may get my “lovely girl” aspect of my wish, based on the ending of UQ Holder chapter 151. The last time the issue was addressed, Kuroumaru had resolved to just be male and be Touta’s battle partner and friend. However, Kuroumaru still had some feelings. Now, Kuroumaru seems to accept being a girl. Resolution is what Kuroumaru’s gender story thread needs.
Now, I want to see more about Kuroumaru’s past. I’d love to see the UQH folks take a trip to Kuroumaru’s homeland. I was so frustrated in Negima! that Setsuna never received such a treatment. I know that the main story is Touta defeating MotB, but in my mind, taking a moment to explore Kuroumaru’s character and race even deeper would be awesome. I doubt we get it though.
Setting Up a Proper Battle Harem?
Akamatsu-sensei has already turned UQ Holder into a harem series. In all of Sensei’s previous works, there’s a harem element, but in the case of A.I Love You and Love Hina, the MC had a clear girl in mind in the harem. In Negima!, I think Asuna was the chosen girl, then Sensei changed his mind and rammed Chisame on us because “megane girl”. While Negi had a “battle harem,” on the romantic front, he was mostly about Asuna, then Eva, and then Chisame got rammed in there.
Frankly, with Touta being this weird clone-homunculus thing, I’d be happy with Touta needing a proper battle harem. With Touta, Karin, Kuroumaru, and Kirie being immortal, why not have Touta marry them all. Yeah, Karin is the hard nut to crack (and I laughed at the look on her face when presented with the prospect of kissing Totua for a pactio), but it can be done. She’s already show signs of slipping, so we need some Karin love as well, not only for her backstory on her powers, but on why Eva saved her. Oh, and her shell needs further cracking until she’s forced to again admit that she has feelings for Touta. 😉
Final Thoughts and Conclusion
I keep jutting back and forth between writing this review of UQ Holder chapter 151 and dealing with constant dings from offshore. As such, I need to get my review wrapped up.
- Dana doing a disappearing act made me roll my eyes. 🙄 I am hoping we’ll see Karin actually forced to undergo some Dana training.
- I liked seeing Chamo in his ermine form, complete with mustache. 😆
- I also liked seeing Touta actually crack the books to study. So glad his character is no longer annoying like it used to be.
In the end, UQ Holder chapter 151 is a pretty good chapter, hopefully marking the beginning of the close of the Kuroumaru gender thread, where Kuroumaru ultimately becomes a lovely girl.
Posted in 
Tags: 
Karin’s comment about dying before ever making a Pactio with Touta is even funnier when you remember that she is probably the most immortal character in the series.
Haha! True. Which is why Eva stated that Karin and Touta should hook up.
I think there’s actually a wasted opportunity this chapter; with Kuromaru and Touta calling themselves partners I think they each should have recieved a Pactio card from each other.
This may negate the magic-boosting side of the Pactio but both of them could recieve an artifact from it and it would show that they’re equals working alongside each other rather than master & servant.
Well as far as the pactio system goes, it is a one-way process. That’s because there’s a Magister and a Minister. You can’t have both parties be Magister and Minister to each other at the same time. It wouldn’t work then. The Magister provides all of the energy to the Minister, to fuel the artifact and give the Minister an offensive/defensive boost.
I understand what you are trying to say about them being equal partners, but the system is set up to have one master and one servant.
I’m pleased and annoyed. Akamatsu-Sensei could’ve done this chapter over 3, when he was weekly. A lot of basic ‘math hasn’t been done in us holder. Like how fate is relevant to the story. We only got hat recently ,but it should’ve been done alot sooner. And in not doing so, Akamatsu-Sensei wrote himself into a corner, where progress was impossible becuease he has spent created basic apparatus for the series to proceed.
Still don’t know anything about Karin. Hope he keeps up with resolving character story threads.
Likewise.
I’m surprised you didn’t go in this direction, so I’m wondering if there’s something I’m forgetting that makes it impossible*: Eva-Touta pactio. Right after Kirie’s failed, I actually started wondering if we would see one in this chapter.
* – Well aside from it possibly making the dynamics even more “the rules are whatever Sensei says they are today”, and perhaps DragonBallZ-style broken. “I have enough power to destroy the universe 53 times!” “Well, I can do it 79 times!” “Ha! Mine is over 9000!”
I honestly didn’t consider it. ? But then I’ve been opposed to the Eva x Touta ship, which I guess would include a pactio.
Chamo didn’t inform everyone that receiving a pactio simply involves the exchange of fluids between the wizard and his partner. Karin is likely more willing to exchange her blood with Touta like in the blood brothers ceremony than kissing him. Karin will not mind becoming one of Touta’s partners , but kissing him is not what she wants to do. In Japan, the first kiss is a very important experience. Kissing is one of the ways for a partner to receive a pactio. Of course, Chamo was just being his perverted self. Kissing is the quickest way for a partner to receive a pactio.
I don’t know if Karin will get a pactio card, but I do want to see her fall for Touta despite herself. But a kiss and a pactio is something I wouldn’t mind seeing.
I’m not sure i agree with you, Astro about Touta being a clone-homunculus thing. He had a actual mother. He wasn’t in a test tube, unlike his later siblings. He’s more likely has dna of his “grandfather” Negi, and Asuna, but he get title grandfather from another thing. Another parent.
Anyways, Kuroumaru could be the one for him. He seems to register Kuroumaru more emotionally than Kirie did. of all the possible matches, Kuroumaru seems to have been the one who interested him on more girly love feelin. Perhaps more than are lovely ancient-lolia Kirie does.
Well, the origins of homuculus did involve gestating of a human fetus in a womb, though originally it was a horse’s womb. I suspect that if the Touta we saw being born is the MC of UQ Holder, he’s still a homunculus, created from the DNA of Asuna and Negi, but I’m also thinking the Konoe DNA as well. Touta’s Mother is likely a clone of Konoka, which would put the generational gap in.
As to Kuroumaru, I’d say Touta is closest to her since Kuroumaru was the first immortal he encountered after he and Eva started their road trip.
Not a fan of it either — to me, Touta is still a cheap consolation prize and him being a genetic potluck seems like the perfect metaphor. If he were a handbag, the designer nameplate would say Happy-Happy Thousand Negisuna Sprangfeeld. (^_~)
Obviously, cynicism is a large part of why I immediately suspected this was a setup for them to pactio. But I do still believe that given Sensei’s apparent motivations* for the story, it’s very likely.
* – Speaking of which, I’m also cynical enough to believe there’s more than megane to why Chisame became alleged Best Girl. If we get any former cosplay idol characters, watch out storyline.
(My apologies, I noticed too late that I didn’t nest this properly.)
No problem. The nesting thing doesn’t work quite like I’d like with WP.
I do wonder, is Evangeline capable of making Pactios with others? Because I have a suspicion that Evangeline is going to eventually end up being Magister to Touta’s Minstra, since the powerboost Touta brings is going to be important against MOBT, and I imagine that the next battle against the MOBT is going to go down to a two on one battle between the MOBT and Eva + Touta again, just like it has the first time round.
I do recall that Minister’s can have multiple pactios with Magistras. If this recollection is correct, it’s not out of question for Touta to have two pactios with Eva and Kirie as Magistra. Though something tells me that both potential Pactio partnerships may well be forged by one of the alternative means (one of which I believe is an exchange of blood, something that would be extremely fitting if Touta ever makes a Pactio with Eva.)
Also, the Pactio between Touta and Kuromaru seems to be a permanent pactio. Is this the first time we have seen a non-provisional pactio being forged on screen in the Negimaverse?
In theory, she should be able to. She did have one with Chachazero, and a doll contract with Chachamaru.
Well, they did establish something like this in Negima when Negi became a minister for a brief period of time to allow him to fight Jack in the tournament.
You know, I forgot about the whole provisional/permanent contract thing. It should be a permanent one, as you said.
Well, this definitely goes into the “It’s About Damn Time!” folder. I’ve always preferred the Touta/Kuro ship pretty much since the beginning. They get along well and are already BFFs, Kuromaru has a much more pleasant personality than Kirie, and her feelings seem more genuine. Touta/Kirie always felt kind of forced, almost as if Akamatsu wants the standard tsundere to always be the main love interest. The only time he broke with this is in the “bad ending” timeline that preceded UQ Holder, with Negi hooking up first with Nodoka and Yue and then with Evangeline, and those relationships were marred with tragedy.
I agree here. Akamatsu-sensei does like his tsundere-megane girls. Kuroumaru is the more natural fit. I suspect Karin would be a good fit too. Heck, even Mizore is a better fit with Touta than Kirie.
I know he probably won’t do it, but this time, I want a harem ending. I want the MC to have his battle-babe harem. ?
Has there been any jabber how the Manga itself if performing since the anime aired? Are they getting the right numbers to keep soldiering on or they just setting up things for what could the end game. Its kinda hard to know what going on with manga. Since the inpending crisis is postpone due to wacky race to the top of the tower on hold.
Side Note: I know this manga, but my observation of this world leaves me to believe this. I would find it HARD to believe the global governments, never mind interplanetary national ones have been ignoring the situation with the World Tower. Terrorist attacks, “Dead” hero suddenly appearing during the games with legendary associates battling against a random team in the tournament with criminal Eva and her former partner Fate side by side fighting EACH OTHER. Is sensei like totally ignoring things?
I haven’t heard much of anything, but I don’t think the manga has been doing too badly.
Likewise, unless someone was able to cast some incredible global spell over the Earth to make folks not worry about it.