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 159
UQ Holder Chapter 159

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: 

Nikitis demands Kuroumaru address him as Nikitis-sama, so Kuroumaru complies. He then turns his attention to Touta, attacking him and thus “lending” Touta some of Nikitis’s power. Nikitis continues to easily cause Touta to be defeated. As such, Nikitis dismisses Touta as a fake, but Touta suddenly appears behind Nikitis and lands a punch through the shinso’s barriers.

Touta continues to surprise Nikitis by landing blows on him. The two continue to obliterate each other, so Nikitis gives him a pass. With that, Nikitis decides to move to phase 2 of the training and shows how Touta can cause any kind of clothing to appear upon himself. Nikitis wants Touta to focus on appearance.

Sometime later, Nikitis reveals he understands the trick Touta used to land blows upon his person. This method, whereby Touta uses his blood to simply regenerate anywhere, offends Nikitis. Nikitis asks why Touta wants strength. Touta explains that he wants to stop Ialda and help Eva.

In the present, Fate’s head warns Touta that he failed to predict Nikitis getting involved. As such, he warns Touta that “they” are coming after Touta.

Meanwhile, at the Senkyoukan, Jinbee and Gengorou react to an attack on UQ Holder HQ. Sept and Juuzou attack the pair, cutting both in half.

Thoughts/Review:

And so the odd tale of Nikitis in UQ Holder chapter 159 continues.

Nikitis

To be honest, I have no clue what Nikitis is doing in UQ Holder chapter 159. He clearly dislikes Touta, yet during the three month training period, he built Touta up. Nikitis even has Dana’s fetish for wacky style. So if he wanted Touta dead, Touta would have been dead already.

It is possible that Nikitis is bored and simply wants a bit of entertainment before dispatching Touta. I hope that’s not the case, but at the moment, it does seem to be the only logical thing. Otherwise, why would Nikitis attack Fate and put him out of action?

Nothing Much to Discuss

One of the things that struck me about UQ Holder chapter 159 is how little there is in the chapter that seemed discussion worthy. With UQ Holder ending in the next 2+ years, did we have time to spend 19 pages depicting Nikitis pounding Touta until Touta came up with a counter?

The fact that 35 total pages were burned on flashback isn’t a problem per se. Under normal conditions, I’d be fine with taking all the time needed to properly flesh out things. But I can’t help but wonder if while we burn this many pages now, we’ll ultimately end up with a situation where Akamatsu-sensei just has to rapidly shut things down ’cause there’s no more time.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Since I can’t find anything really to write about, I’ll wrap up my review of UQ Holder chapter 159.

• So, what happens between Touta and Nikitis now?
• What happens to Fate?
• Is Nikitis working with Ba’al?
• Will we get some pages devoted to Sept and Juuzou and their backstory?

In the end, UQ Holder chapter 159 is another chapter where the events in the chapter didn’t really jazz me that much. I’m not sure it is the content of the chapter, or me knowing that the manga’s end is approaching.

What were your thoughts on the chapter? I’d love to read them in the comments.