UQ Holder Chapter 153 Manga Review (He who fights and runs away…)

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 153
UQ Holder Chapter 153

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: 

UQ Holder Chapter 153Karin is stunned at Eva’s battle skills as Eva defeats Karin. Karin decides to follow Eva, having come to the conclusion that Eva is not attached to a group of evil wizards Karin was after. As they travel together, Eva tells how she was created to be a fake shinso vampire. Eva also speaks of how the Mage of the Beginning took the weak and powerless and led them to Mudus Magicus, aka: Inverse Mars.

Sometime later, mages from Mundus Magicus came to Earth, taking advantage of things like the Black Plague. Because mages from Mars are more powerful than mages from Earth, they could easily take control. Eva reveals that her goal is to destroy these Martian mages.

Eva heads out on her own to attack a lord whom Eva believes might be an impostor based on reported changes to the lord’s behavior. However, Eva gets trapped when the mage lord springs a trap, blocking her magic but not his. Karin shows up, using her holy magic to defeat the lord. The level of power Karin uses is more than she’s ever used, thanks to Eva’s words about Karin being allowed to live and the power a blessing.

Both sense great danger as a child in rags enters the room. The pair think the child is a survivor, but too late, Eva realizes the child is dangerous. The child uses strings of some sort to butcher Eva. She attempts the same on Karin, causing Karin insane pain and the loss of clothing, but nothing else. Eva’s head says that they are facing an actual High Daylight Walker, resulting in Eva being obliterated.

The shinso vampire attempts to slay Karin again, but fails. However, Karin is now pinned to the ground. Despite being unable to die, Karin has a panic attack at the power coming from the child. The child sprouts wings and continues to approach. She’s rescued by a Japanese man, who teleports them to a far distance. a small Eva is clinging Karin as they continue to flee.

That night at a pub, the main introduces himself as Jinbee. Eva is surprised that a shinso vampire was involved since Dana had said that shinso don’t have an interest in human affairs. The pub is attacked, so Jinbee teleports the patrons to safety, then the trio flee. Jinbee joins Eva and Karin as they battle the impostor mage’s people. Eva mastered doll magic so that she could command an army of dolls and for 20 years, they battled these evil mages.

Eventually, the trio traveled to Mudus Magicus, where they travel to Megalomesembria.

Thoughts/Review:

UQ Holder chapter 153 gives us some interesting story regarding Eva, Karin, and Jinbee’s team-up. Although Eva in UQ Holder is still shown to be somewhat weaker than how we saw her in Negima!, we get some funny results from this weakening.

UQ Holder Chapter 153

Karin Follows Eva

I’m not exactly clear on what exactly caused Karin to decide to follow Eva. After being soundly defeated and made to feel insane pain, Karin decides she’s going to follow the evil shinso vampire wizard around ’cause “reasons.”

The visual irony of Karin following Eva around was not lost on me. Akamatsu-sensei purposefully did this to evoke a reminder of Eva following Nagi around.

UQ Holder Chapter 153

I had a third point, but my original piece got shredded during a PC failure. ? This really has not been my month.

That aside, once Karin and Eva are battle companions, Karin’s devotion to Eva does make sense, seeing as how Karin was able to access her holy powers to their fullest extent.

A Brief History of the Magic World

One nice thing that is in UQ Holder chapter 153 is that Akamatsu-sensei decided to give us a brief history of Mundus Magicus. Reading how the Mage of the Beginning took weak and powerless people to Mars reminded me of The Darksword Trilogy. The difference being that MotB didn’t just take mages to her Magic World.

We also learn that mages from Mars have been coming to Earth, and because Earth mages are few and weak, even the loser mages of the Magic World have no trouble dominating people of Earth.

For some reason, this made me think of the abandoned plot threads in Negima!, where Chigusa had a grudge against Western mages. Granted, Eva, Karin, and Jinbee are apparently in Europe and that could be influencing my thinking. But for Jinbee to leave Japan to go after a Western mage could be a sign that Akamatsu-sensei is willing to pick up that old plot thread again.

With the trio going on their hunt in the Magic World, it would appear that we are finally going to learn why Eva had such a massive bounty on her head. I’m rather excited for that.

The Fake Shinso High Daylight Walker

I have to admit that it still irks me that Eva was reduced from being an actual shinso vampire with the title High Daylight Walker to just some low-rent faux creation. All throughout Negima!, Eva was feared because when it came to “monsters,” by her own admission, she was right near the top of the boss monsters. MotB was about the only person stronger than her.

For UQ Holder, Akamatsu-sensei needed to weaken Eva because otherwise, she’s a deus ex machina character who can come in, lay the hammer down, and not even break a sweat. I get that and I had hoped that there was some sort of explanation for Yukihime seeming weaker. But then Akamatsu-sensei dropped the bomb that Eva isn’t even a real shinso vampire, but is actually a fake. I was quite irritated to say the least.

Sadly, Akamatsu-sensei stuck that in my eye again with UQ Holder chapter 153 by having Eva remind us again that she’s a fake. If it wasn’t for the fact that her being a fake means she’s a speck of dust under a real shinso vampire’s foot, I might not get so irritated by this.

In my mind, MotB should have been able to create a faux shinso vampire on par with the real McCoy’s. I don’t know, maybe she did and it took 700+ years for Eva to reach that point, starting with Dana’s training. (I still say her Yukihime persona seems way too weak). What you guys think? I’m interested to know.

The Real Shinso High Daylight Walker

While I may not like seeing a weaker Eva, on the other hand, I am cool with another shinso vampire showing up. And I had to shake my head ’cause it is another young girl who may as well be Eva 2.0. ?

Still, she established her credentials quickly by slicing Eva up with what I assume were strings of some sort. (Indeed, I was reminded of Eva’s own “string” technique in Negima! to not only control dolls, but ensnare people as well.) Then this girl obliterated what was left of Eva, to the point that I’m not sure what piece was left for Eva to regenerate from.

UQ Holder Chapter 153

I can’t figure out what it was that the shinso girl brought down on Karin to pin her to the ground. When Jinbee teleported Karin away, it seemed to me that he took a chunk of the floor as well, not whatever was pinning her. But I could be wrong there.

Now that this new loli shinso vampire has been introduced, I’m rather hoping that Karin’s story will simply have them sealing her away. That way, she can be introduced in the present as a new threat for UQ Holder.

Jinbee Arrives

Although we aren’t getting Jinbee’s origin story, I do like it that he’s shown up in UQ Holder chapter 153. As I mentioned before, Jinbee’s pursuit of Western mage makes me hope that Akamatsu-sensei may have plans to explore that Eastern mages vs. Western mages plot thread.

That aside, I always had a sense that Jinbee had known Eva for quite some time. It would make sense to me that after meeting Eva in medieval Europe, he (along with Karin) would be devoted to Eva after having done so many things together. Plus, it is cool allowing Jinbee some more time in the sun, as it were.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

As is the norm, I’m behind everywhere, so let me get my review of UQ Holder chapter 153 wrapped up.

  • Although Touta has an extended cameo to remind us that this is Karin’s story, UQ Holder can function quite well without its supposed main character. Although Touta doesn’t annoy me like he once did, I frankly love these flashback stories and want MORE of them. Sensei can even go into more details if he wanted, though the monthly format may prevent this.
  • Originally, the Karin story was reportedly only going to be two chapters. With Jinbee’s introduction, I guess it is no longer Karin’s story, even though she’s telling it.
  • Before Karin wraps up her tale with Touta, I want to see the exact circumstances that lead Eva to have to rescue Karin.
  • Chibi Eva is cute and hilarious.
  • Finally, my life of late can be wrapped up in the panel below. ???

UQ Holder Chapter 153

In the end, UQ Holder chapter 153 wove an excellent tale and introduced the true shinso vampires as a possible massive threat. I’m actually starting to think that Akamatsu-sensei may allow UQ Holder to continue on longer than I expected.

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27 Responses to “UQ Holder Chapter 153 Manga Review (He who fights and runs away…)”

  1. exof954 says:

    This chapter really reminds me of Nagi and Ala Rubra’s crusade against Magica Mundus and the Lifemaker’s forces during Mahou Sensei Negima!. The underdog story, running across both planets while fighting overwhelming numbers, a sassy leader who’s honestly pretty darned overpowered when they put their mind to it… There’s some differences, for sure, but somehow it’s easier for me to see the parallels than the contradictions.

    Also, the title “Lifemaker” now makes more sense for me than it did before. I think I kind of knew on some level that the Mage of the Beginning was responsible for a large part of Inverse Mars’ existence, but having it blantantly stated as “Lifemaker of Mars” really helps to drive the point home for me.

    While I wouldn’t say that this was better than all the previous content (I enjoyed most of the starting chapters, with Eva, Touta and Kuromaru’s road trip and the training session underground with the weighted sword and Jinbei), I will admit that this is definitely better than some of the harem content we’ve had in the past. Still, I’ve enjoyed the series to this point and these chapters are making me enjoy it more!

    P.S. Karin’s huge holy magic attack midway through the chapter? Totally a Gate Of Babylon reference, lol.

    • AstroNerdBoy says:

      This chapter really reminds me of Nagi and Ala Rubra’s crusade against Magica Mundus and the Lifemaker’s forces during Mahou Sensei Negima!.

      Yeah, there’s that, only without the depth.

      Also, the title “Lifemaker” now makes more sense for me than it did before. I think I kind of knew on some level that the Mage of the Beginning was responsible for a large part of Inverse Mars’ existence, but having it blantantly stated as “Lifemaker of Mars” really helps to drive the point home for me.

      I always figured that the Lifemaker (MotB) created the entire Magic World and all of the creatures and demi-human entities. It was the humans on Mars that was more of a question for me. I figured they got there somehow and MotB had to be involved, but now things make a lot more sense. 🙂

      I will admit that this is definitely better than some of the harem content we’ve had in the past.

      I don’t mind harem stuff, but I certainly prefer this stuff. Also, I’m rather hoping Touta gets an actual battle harem, sans Eva.

      P.S. Karin’s huge holy magic attack midway through the chapter? Totally a Gate Of Babylon reference, lol.

      Hahaha! You’re right. I missed that, but yeah. And why haven’t we seen this level of power from Karin to date? I hope we get those answers.

  2. Waffle says:

    I’m absolutely baffled I see people surprised by the fact that the Lifemaker made the Magic World even though. as if the overwhelming evidence wasn’t enough, Albireo flat-out states it at the end of Negima.

    Also, nerfing Eva to avoid her curbstomping everything is futile when people like Dana, who is even more broken, exist. At least Evangeline had a good excuse with the Infernus Scholasticus on her but Dana can do anything, but doesn’t. It’s even more infuriating because she’s a massive hypocrite who doesn’t want to interfere yet constantly interferes anyway by training people and showing them information that would’ve been impossible to acquire otherwise. She is making a definite impact and changes to the outcome of the story so all her excuses are pure bullshit.

    And I’m still hoping Kirie dies or loses her power because not only is she annoying, as long as she exists there is no tension anyway and Akamatsu will have to come up with the most retarded of excuses to keep her from fixing anything and everything.

    As for the whole Shinso thing.. I’m washing my hands of this nonsense. I don’t even know what the difference between the fake and real thing are. More raw power? Special Magic? Something else? Evangeline and Touta can survive near total obliteration (total in Touta’s case) so how is their immortality any different? And what’s the difference between Magia Erebea (the supposedly ultimate immortality technique) and vampire immortality?

    Side material for Negima said Shinso were people who became Vampires through secret esoterica lost to time and were almost on the level of Gods, but now of course retcons them to be ..what? Born? Having existed since the dawn of the universe?

    I’m not sure even Akamatsu knows what Nobles are at this point but I suppose we’ll see.

    • AstroNerdBoy says:

      It’s even more infuriating because she’s a massive hypocrite who doesn’t want to interfere yet constantly interferes anyway by training people and showing them information that would’ve been impossible to acquire otherwise.

      It would be neat if our new shinso vampire weren’t dead and caused an issue for Dana that nullified her broken element.

      And I’m still hoping Kirie dies or loses her power because not only is she annoying, as long as she exists there is no tension anyway and Akamatsu will have to come up with the most retarded of excuses to keep her from fixing anything and everything.

      Both she and Dana serve that purpose. I suspect that Kirie’s reset ability allows Akamatsu-sensei to have his cake and eat it too when it comes to bloody violence. I’m thinking the Santa arc as a start.

      I’m washing my hands of this nonsense. I don’t even know what the difference between the fake and real thing are. More raw power? Special Magic? Something else?

      Based on what we’ve seen to date, I’m going to say that Eva had to work her way up to a status similar to shinso vampires whereas the actual shinso vampires have these abilities naturally.

      And what’s the difference between Magia Erebea (the supposedly ultimate immortality technique) and vampire immortality?

      You know, reading this remark, I couldn’t help but think that both Touta and Eva have no vampire need for blood. Eva did briefly in the past, and then again as a means of attempting to overcome Nagi’s curse. But in terms of eating, Eva and Touta both eat real food. As such, I think that ME allows Eva and Touta to overcome their vampire need for blood.

      Side material for Negima said Shinso were people who became Vampires through secret esoterica lost to time and were almost on the level of Gods, but now of course retcons them to be ..what? Born? Having existed since the dawn of the universe?

      It has been ages since I read the side material, so I’d forgotten this. ?

      I’m not sure even Akamatsu knows what Nobles are at this point but I suppose we’ll see.

      Well, that’s a possibility.

      • arimareiji says:

        You know, reading this remark, I couldn’t help but think that both Touta and Eva have no vampire need for blood. Eva did briefly in the past, and then again as a means of attempting to overcome Nagi’s curse. But in terms of eating, Eva and Touta both eat real food. As such, I think that ME allows Eva and Touta to overcome their vampire need for blood.

        (emphasis added)

        …wow. Either my brain is futzier than usual, or I missed a doozy of of plot detail.
        (The latter is plausible, since there have been a few times I was so “Meh” about UQH that I could have passed right over it or even skipped a chapter.)

        • AstroNerdBoy says:

          Well, this is just my theory to explain why Akamatsu-sensei has ignored the fact that Eva and Touta are supposed to be faux shinso vampires.

          • arimareiji says:

            But Touta is definitely supposed to be a vampire? That was the part that surprised me, since I only have a faint notion of anything along those lines. It seemed more likely to be a misplaced memory fragment of another story.

            Then again, I guess that would explain why I think he sucks so much. (^_~)

          • AstroNerdBoy says:

            Yeah, that was established in the first chapter. Then Kuroumaru discovered that Touta had no reflection in a mirrored surface, meaning he was vampire. Then when Dana showed up, Eva said that Dana was the real thing (shinso vampire) while they were fake.

  3. arimareiji says:

    My question: Why hasn’t Akamatsu-sensei been doing material like this all along? XP

    If his heart is set on shounen jump, then material like this is counterproductive. If his heart isn’t set on shounen jump, then why did he subject us to so much shallow nonsense up to now?

    • AstroNerdBoy says:

      My question: Why hasn’t Akamatsu-sensei been doing material like this all along? XP

      That’s a good question. In my mind, it is the fact that he has more control over his creation whereas in the past, Kodansha had more power. But I have nothing to back up this speculation.

      If his heart isn’t set on shounen jump, then why did he subject us to so much shallow nonsense up to now?

      I’ve long felt that originally, Akamatsu-sensei wanted to follow Mashima-sensei’s style of writing. Mashima-sensei’s Fairy Tail had some general overarching storyline, but it was written on an adventure by adventure basis. Mashima-sensei didn’t worry about retconning and such when needed. I imagine that this is a much simpler style of writing. Considering Fairy Tail was a bigger title than Negima!, I can understand why Akamatsu-sensei decided to try this.

      However, we fans of Akamatsu-sensei titles know that his writing is better than Mashima-sensei’s. (Not to say it doesn’t have its own problems.) So Sensei goes back to the harem stuff. He changes Touta so that he’s no longer a massive Mary Sue. And I get the feeling that the manga may be on firmer ground, allowing Akamatsu-sensei to do some back story exploration. Frankly, I want to see more of this, especially for Kuroumaru and tribe.

  4. nt122 says:

    well.. i would like to think at this point in time, Eva has yet to even think about creating Magia Erebea, which pretty sure Rakan explained that she created the ability because she was weak at the time. Since, she probably figured this out while she was in the magic world(which she just now shows up there). So her creating the ME now at this point in this story is because of the power difference between her and the magic world residents.

    Then of course Eva got strong enough that she never needed to use ME again. As for her being weaker now we can probably say it was because she tried using tha spell Negi used to try sealing the MotB.

    For all we know after her experiences in the Magic world, and creating the ME, she did end up becoming one of the strongest. Also, i would like to think that maybe she perfected her doll controlling ability maybe having learned it from that mystery vampire. Maybe.

    So… To me just because Eva has yet to ge to her level we see at the end of Negima.

    if that makes sense at all

    • AstroNerdBoy says:

      well.. i would like to think at this point in time, Eva has yet to even think about creating Magia Erebea, which pretty sure Rakan explained that she created the ability because she was weak at the time.

      It may be that Eva hasn’t learned ME yet at the time she met Karin. Eva isn’t “weak” in a normal sense, seeing how she handled Karin. But up against shinso, Eva doesn’t stand a chance. And I did notice that throw-away line Eva made when they retreated from the shinso about magical research and development. I kinda suspect that by the time the trio go to the Magic World, Eva may have learned ME, or started to research ME. After all, her ME scroll was left on Mars in Jack’s hands.

      (Heh! I can almost see Jack showing up here and this being Eva’s first encounter with him.)

      Then of course Eva got strong enough that she never needed to use ME again. As for her being weaker now we can probably say it was because she tried using tha spell Negi used to try sealing the MotB.

      That’s something I hadn’t considered. Could be.

      Also, i would like to think that maybe she perfected her doll controlling ability maybe having learned it from that mystery vampire. Maybe.

      Maybe. But in my mind, Dana took Eva in simply because Dana recognized Eva as an artificial kin. We know Eva had her doll technique while still at Dana’s castle. From Negima and UQH, it seems like the Doll Master ability was something natural to Eva due to her being a shinso vampire. If that’s the case, then it is possible that all shinso have this ability.

      Still, her experience with the new loli shinso may have taught her new methods of using doll master “string” techniques.

  5. Durra says:

    So, apparently this flashback at the castle occurs at a time several hundred years before she became truly infamous, which is several hundred years before her interacting with Nagi in Negima’s flashbacks. I’m guessing that, while the Daylight Walker is extremely powerful, this Eva is much weaker than than the top tier we know her as.

    Given that we haven’t seen hide or hair of her using Magia Erebea yet, my prediction is that she developed it (or got her butt into gear making it usable) because of how hard this vampire beat her, and she’s going to use it to take her down in this flashback. It would successfully establish Daylight Walkers as monsters, but not quite top tier unless they’re experienced like Dana, and would show that Eva isn’t completely inferior to all real ones.

    • AstroNerdBoy says:

      So, apparently this flashback at the castle occurs at a time several hundred years before she became truly infamous, which is several hundred years before her interacting with Nagi in Negima’s flashbacks.

      Yeah, that’s likely right, although Eva is already fairly infamous based on how Karin, Jinbee (who’s from Japan), and the Martian Mage address Eva.

      Given that we haven’t seen hide or hair of her using Magia Erebea yet, my prediction is that she developed it (or got her butt into gear making it usable) because of how hard this vampire beat her, and she’s going to use it to take her down in this flashback.

      I can see that. Eva made the throw-away line after retreating from the shinso is that they needed to do magical research and development. And it was 10 to 20 years from the shinso encounter to their arrival on the Magic World. Eva is wearing black clothing similar to MotB garb, so maybe Eva knows it now. OR, maybe going to the Mundus Magicus is where Eva discovers ME. We’ll see. I hope Akamatsu-sensei doesn’t rush this flashback.

  6. WMC says:

    I hope this example of yuri will convince readers to take a long look. Lady Nakatani-sama’s “Bloom into You” soars way above the usual cutesy stuff, and with no prurience.For one thing her artwork is some of the best. Next time you’re in the bookstore put your fingers on the cover of volume 2. The two heroines in her tale run down a shady lane, hand-in-hand, with Touko leading and Yuu in shadow about to emerge; note that the picture extends continuously all the way around the front and back covers. Also, this identical scene is produced complete a couple of pages inside, without overwritten titles. Note the exquisite shading. It’s one of several examples in “Bloom into You.” Her cover for volume 5 poses Yuu and Touko in front of the aquarium wall, and it radiates again with beautiful, subtle shading. The girls’ postures and expressions tell the whole story. Furthermore, the author often gives us full page illustrations of Yuu, that are irrelevant to the plot, at the beginning of chapters. An example: inside volume 5 you’re immediately confronted with Yuu leading Touko up a fantastical spiral staircase. Great stuff.

    Also in volume 5, chapter 24 covers their date at the aquarium, which I urge every manga devotee to read. Even it you’re only “browsing ant bookstore, which I do all the time, read this one chapter.

    Nakatani-sama’s plotting and character development are terrific.

    • AstroNerdBoy says:

      Yuri isn’t my genre, but then very little is these days. ?

      • WMC says:

        Yeah, ordinarily It wouldn’t be mine either, but this transcends the ordinary in a big way. I’m a fully hetero adult male with hunter genes, but I love this yuri masterpiece “Bloom into You.” Boy or girl, man or woman you could too.

  7. Mattcgw says:

    A very good chapter, Akamatsu-Sensei should’ve done this ages ago, but he always dragged his heels when it came to necessary information. Rakans big flashback movie epitomises this.
    I hope this arc goes on for a year. Its very enjoyable and interesting. Also, that we see some tender moments between Eva and Karin, and a very deep kiss ?.
    I’m confused as to why Akamatsu-Sensei would already retcon karins backstory in uq holder!
    She’s supposed to have met Eva nearly after a century of Eva being alive, after rescuing her in Italy from being burned as a witch. But this new backstory makes Eva much older than that.

    Notably because, becuease Eva was over a hundred, the last she meets Touta in the rift. And she makes no mention of Karin. Despite them meeting being established right at the beginning of the series.
    Sigh, I’ll wait and see, infill after this brilliant arc of over, and expect Touta to be the audience surrogate.

    • AstroNerdBoy says:

      She’s supposed to have met Eva nearly after a century of Eva being alive, after rescuing her in Italy from being burned as a witch. But this new backstory makes Eva much older than that.

      I couldn’t remember what chapter this little nugget came from, so I hadn’t checked it yet. But something did feel “off” about this encounter, more so since Eva, Karin, and Jinbee hung out for up to 20 years. So I’m hoping for some kind of explanation as to Eva saving Karin from being burned at the stake.

      • Alethea Nibley says:

        It’s chapter 20 where the assassin Chao confronts Karin and gives the audience part of her backstory. He says it was Karin who was burned at the stake, her reputation grew, then another girl came along and the two of them both disappeared. There are no inconsistencies with the story we’re getting now.

        • AstroNerdBoy says:

          Hey! Thanks for the info.

          There are no inconsistencies with the story we’re getting now.

          I don’t disagree there. But the impression I was left with back then is that Karin was living in a village in 1492. She was then accused of being a witch. Karin allowed herself to be subjected to brutal punishments, including burning at the stake. She wasn’t harmed. Then someone looking like Eva comes and rescues Karin. And this was possibly Karin’s and Eva’s first meeting.

          With this latest chapter, my thoughts were that if Karin started hanging around with Eva and Jinbee for 20 years, then how was she separated from Eva and Jinbee in order to need to be rescued by Eva (or someone looking like Eva)? That’s the gap I want bridged and hopefully, we get more info on Karin’s backstory.

          And though it doesn’t need to be said, I want to again express my thanks to the two of you for all of your great work with UQ Holder. ? As an aside, I bought Fruits Basket another and was very pleased to see that you guys are the translators. I still haven’t read it yet, but it is on the pile.

  8. Missingmoney says:

    I got no objections with Eva being a fake. Even in the original series, it was shown that she was an experiment. She was never a real deal to begin with.

    What gripes me is that the way its presented, is that all her achievements were downplayed. We were meant to believe this whole time that she was some powerful being that even the likes of demon lords were to avoid, then suddenly out of nowhere a group of ‘real’ vampires show up and outshines her like no one’s business.

    Introducing real Vampires that are monstrously powerful is fine, but it shouldn’t come at the cost of nerfing Eva like this. We know as readers, Eva worked her way from the bottom to the top through hardwork and eventually gained a fearsome reputation.
    Real or Fake doesn’t matter, what hurts is that these ‘real’ vampires just appear suddenly and she’s kicked off the throne supposedly because she’s a ‘fake’.

    It would be one thing if it was said that ‘real’ vampires were like naturally overpowered and that even Eva would rather not have anything to do with them unless needed and when askes why, she would say that unlike her who worked her way up, they are just naturally powerful and have a different set of thinking that makes it hard to deal with them so she does her best to avoid them rather than them being so much powerful that even she in her prime can’t deal with them.

    • AstroNerdBoy says:

      I got no objections with Eva being a fake. Even in the original series, it was shown that she was an experiment. She was never a real deal to begin with.

      Yes, she was shown to be an experiment, but Eva was feared as THE High Daylight Walker. If Akamatsu-sensei had some idea back then about Eva’s story, I suspect there was no Dana or other shinso vampire in the mix. Eva’s story in Negima! comes off as someone who was forcibly changed from human to shinso (true ancestor) vampire, sorta indicating she’s the first of the vampires. However, she was just a weak vampire in the beginning, so she spent a lifetime of struggle, overcoming her weaknesses and those trying to kill her, and eventually rising to become a boss-level entity, 2nd only to MotB.

      What gripes me is that the way its presented, is that all her achievements were downplayed.

      I agree totally here. With UQ Holder, Eva was rescued early on, thus she was protected. She may have had to go through harsh Dana training, but still, she was protected from those who would slay her. And while in Dana’s care, Eva became a powerful mage and learned the doll master techniques. But this makes the Negima! story of her overcoming all odds a lie of sorts. Yes, Eva was powerful and I suspect we’ll see the reason she decided to create ME.

      Real or Fake doesn’t matter, what hurts is that these ‘real’ vampires just appear suddenly and she’s kicked off the throne supposedly because she’s a ‘fake’.

      I don’t disagree with the sentiment here. For me, Eva being a “fake” means her reputation was a lie. How the heck does a faux High Daylight Walker get that title and be treated as if they are the only one? As I mentioned earlier, the term “shinso” means “true ancestor.” In other Japanese literature, shinso vampires are like vampire lords — insanely powerful and not subjected to the weaknesses of regular vampires. And more importantly, they are the first vampires.

      In Negima!, there was no question that Eva was THE High Daylight Walker (at least, in my mind). She was THE shinso vampire. She did not dispute this title. And when others came to know of Eva, “High Daylight Walker” was one of her chief titles. Again, she never disputed this title. But in UQ Holder, every time the subject comes up, Eva’s like, “Yeah, I’m a phony, fake, fraud, loser who’s been pretending to be something insanely powerful when I’m nothing of the kind.”

      If I had to guess, chapter 154 will show how Eva got her reputation. And maybe Akamatsu-sensei introduced this new loli shinso and made her look similar to Eva so that he’d have a reason why folks thought Eva was actually a shinso and not a fake.

      Now that I think about it, MotB supposedly turned Eva into a faux shinso vampire. We don’t know why (and it doesn’t make sense on the surface). And we don’t know why Eva would even know she’s supposed to be a faux shinso vampire, though I suppose Dana could have said something.

  9. Rob C. says:

    Will these side stories keep the series afloat though as fascinating they are?
    Their going now into the guts of the Negi universe, where little has been told about how the Magic World is and how it co-existed with the Earth while non-magical humans moved to science based civilization. They still had a link like airport in england to connect with Mars, i remember how it was handled like it was daily exchange as flight coming to and from airport.

    Motb must been doing the hands off approach after she forged the Magical world yet aware something wrong. I keep thinking the the experiment the result in Eva’s change into a daylight walk vampire was her side-project efforts make artificial servants resulting in Fate.

    MoTB could been messing with Human development on Earth if she wanted take over the place via steering it’s nations to inversely doing her bidding.

    • AstroNerdBoy says:

      Will these side stories keep the series afloat though as fascinating they are?

      I think they can. It can be risky to do major flashback side stories in a manga because if one doesn’t care about the characters in the flashback, or the story being presented in the flashback, one loses audience. KareKano is a prime example of this (for me at least) where the mangaka decided to do lengthy explorations of the two MC’s parent’s backstory. I wasn’t interested in any of that, so the manga got very boring after a while.

      But as Negima! proved, a good backstory with characters we know can be very enjoyable. The interesting thing about UQ Holder is that I believe it can hold up quite well without Touta having to be front and center of everything. We’ve seen this when Akamatsu-sensei allows other characters to take center stage for a time.

      I keep thinking the the experiment the result in Eva’s change into a daylight walk vampire was her side-project efforts make artificial servants resulting in Fate.

      This is something I hope gets explored further.

      MoTB could been messing with Human development on Earth if she wanted take over the place via steering it’s nations to inversely doing her bidding.

      I’m don’t think she wanted to take over Earth. Otherwise, why lead an exodus from Earth to Mars? I think she thought she could create an ideal society, but in the end, humans are humans.

      • Rob C. says:

        Sorry for such late reply, since we haven’t update yet. I just hope the side-stories don’t simply take over people will forget what series their reading if they pick up a chapter find it has nothing to do with title characters with exception maybe kara and Eve for this instance.

        I agree that supportive role characters should get the spot light, i’m just curious overall how the series going at this point.

        I didn’t quite find the anime that good. I wonder if had long term effect on the manga.

        • AstroNerdBoy says:

          …i’m just curious overall how the series going at this point.

          I don’t have any actual data, but my sense is that the manga may be in a healthier state today than it was a couple of years ago. I no longer sense that Akamatsu-sensei is pushing to wrap up the story, but is instead taking time to explore Eva’s past. And I love it.

          I didn’t quite find the anime that good. I wonder if had long term effect on the manga.

          That I don’t know. I’m with you in that the anime didn’t do anything for me.

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