July 9th, 2020 
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 173
UQ Holder Chapter 173
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Touta wakes up in the Senkyoukan infirmary. Karin briefs him on what happened at the end of their trip to Kuroumaru’s clan area. Yukihime joins them and announces that the Mage of the Beginning is on Pluto. They have six months to get there and eliminate her. As such, they have to depart in one week to start the long journey. Touta is worried that they don’t have time to prepare. However, Kirie arrives and reminds him that they have infinite time, thanks to her power. As such, Yukihime announces they will do serious training.
Touta trains hard, but the girls of the crew relax and have fun. Kirie throws a pajama party for Karin, Kuroumaru, Sept (as the female Sepuko), and herself. Sepuko notes that Kuroumaru is now rooming with Kirie. She feels that all three girls should make their move on Touta. They make weak protestation against this. However, Touta arrives in a filthy state and collapses unconscious. Sepuko strips him and tells the girls this is their opportunity.
Karin, Kuroumaru, and Kirie scrub Touta clean, sans for his extreme naughty bits. However, they clean this too and get him dressed and put to bed. Karin decides that they have to follow Yukihime’s orders and increase their bond level with Touta. The trio plant kisses on Touta. Although still asleep, Touta grabs the three of them and vows that they’ll always be together. The girls laugh and decide to return to this once they’ve finished their mission.
The next day, Touta wakes and finds the girls in bed with him.
Thoughts/Review:
Well, I guess UQ Holder Chapter 173 was the final “fun” but rushed chapter before the push to the end of the series.
Move Along! Move Along!
The way Akamatsu-sensei rapidly wrapped up the arc with Kuroumaru’s clan, it is clear that he wants to move things along to get to an end. Its not that I want a long, drug out story. But this one just felt rushed. And that was really evident with the wrap up pages in UQ Holder Chapter 173.
Still, I am glad we did get to see a bit more about Kuroumaru’s past. But because things were rushed, we didn’t get all of the information I would have liked. For example, I would have liked to have known more about the entity that possessed Kuroumaru. And I would have liked to have known more about the “curse” of Kuroumaru.
Also, I would have liked to have known more of the history between Eva and Kiroumaru. Yeah, this partnership of theirs is a retcon, but it would have been nice to have seen this fleshed out.
Harem Time!
Akamatsu-sensei had his 4P fantasy fun with UQ Holder Chapter 173. But that aside, I loved seeing Karin now officially accept that she’s part of Touta’s battle harem. I know some didn’t think this would happen. And indeed, Akamatsu-sensei seemed to be pushing hard for Kirie to be the sole girl for Touta. That was the one scenario I didn’t want at all.
Frankly, I like the idea of a harem ending for Touta and the girls. In terms of story, it works ’cause as a battle harem, I think they would work better as a fluid team. I’ve no doubt this is what Yukihime is thinking when she “ordered” Karin, Kuroumaru, and Kirie to deepen their bonds with Touta.
Plus, since they are all immortal, it works on that level. And that may be why Shinobu, Mizore, Honoka, and Isana weren’t part of the bonding with Karin, Kuroumaru, and Kirie.
Final Thoughts and Conclusion
While I still have some Internet access, let me wrap up my review of UQ Holder Chapter 173. In the end, the chapter felt like it rushed the ending of the Kuroumaru arc. However, I did enjoy the harem fun with Karin, Kuroumaru, Kirie, and the sleeping Touta.
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Honestly, I didn’t like this chapter the first time I read it. I’m not a huge fan of harem manga(I don’t know why I like UQ holder, I haven’t watched Negima! and I abhor books with overwhelming ex machina plot devices(Kirie, Eva, Dana, etc)). But after reading it again, I feel I can deal with this; it was pretty cute watching them “bond”.
There is a minor inconsistency with Kuromaru though, in one of the cleaning/bathing panels, it’s said that she had male genitals before, which contradicts with Touta finding out she doesn’t have any(Pactio arc), Santa and Ikku seeing her in the baths(Immediately after Santa’s arc), Karin walking in on her(After Touta and Kuromaru joined), and the very first chapter with Kuromaru in it. I’m hoping this is a translation error, because that’s a pretty careless mistake on Akamatsu’s part, which doesn’t give me any hope for the rest of the series.
Ah, yeah, I should have written about that, but alas, it was difficult just getting what I wrote posted. 😅 I’m wondering if Akamatsu-sensei didn’t think, “You know, if Kuroumaru had no penis or vagina, how did they pee?” 😅 But this lack of clarity fits with the other lack of clarity moments in the chapter.
Well, Kuromaru is a bird tribe type, so odds are he/she has a cloaca. This whole ‘I had a wang when nobody was looking’ retcon is kinda annoying and gratuitous, it only raises more questions that didn’t need to be asked, and goes against what we knew previously, so I’m going to just ignore it.
Haha! Well, that’s probably the safest route. 😅
Oh, and another error in Chapter 170, Touta had his arm and hand cut off(the old guy kept it in a jar), and he said he grew it back, which is also against his immortality power(He can’t regrow, only re-connect his limbs), which ruins a section of the “Underground arc” where Touta and Kuromaru were dumped underground and had to kill all the monsters to get his arm back.
Ok, I should probably stop bringing these up, but it does feel…… inconsistent.
You aren’t wrong about the inconsistency.
It’s not a translation error, Kirie asked if he had one and Kuromaru said it’s different when it’s your own.
FWIW, I don’t think it was an inconsistency. You know how Kuromaru always kinda grows boobs whenever he’s leaning more into the female side? I reckon he just has a ween when he’s more of a dude. Touta just caught him inbetween
Well, that’s an interesting theory.
It’s rare for Akamatsu to combine fanservice and genuine romance, and I have to say I actually appreciated it. It didn’t feel like fanservice for the sake of fanservice. And more Karin is always a bonus.
“Big facts” as a friend of mine would say.
So it Kuromaru now officially a girl now? Because it seems like it after this chapter.
It does seem that way.
I can’t lie, the multi-arm hug and head-putting really warmed my heart. I’m usually not into harem elements in this series but when we get scenes like this I feel like forgiving Akamatsu a bit.
The set-up for the final arc is interesting, given that with Kirie’s power it can be delayed indefinitely if need be, but Touta would be the only one who can train in stopped time, right? (Along with Kirie of course). So it’s not like the others will get much benefit out of this arrangement.
Well, it isn’t just stopped time. Kirie can repeatedly have everyone repeat time with her save point.
Also, even for a team of immortals, Karin triggered too big a death flag with those comments. For whom, I don’t know, but it’s as obvious as that whole Mc Bain/Mendoza scene.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOk4hQXbGDs
Can’t watch this at present due to horrible Internet. Maybe next week when I finally am in a stable Internet environment.
Huh… okay, so if they have infinite time to train for the final battle…
If, after their training, they have trouble defeating the Mage of the Beginning, then they come across as idiots for not preparing better.
If they easily defeat the Mage of the Beginning, it comes across as unimpressive because of course they won, they had a cheat!
It’s a lose-lose situation. Bravo, Akamatsu.
This is the same strategy that Akamatsu-sensei used in Negima! He had Negi go into places where the flow of time was altered so that Negi could get months of training in a short time. But for drama purposes, he still had Negi struggle.
All fine and dandy, but Negi still had a time limit, if I recall correctly. Here, Touta and the others can take their sweet time and train as much as they want – heck, the girls are even throwing a slumber party.
Wait until you read the new chapter. While I liked it, even I had to question how things were supposed to work with Kirie’s powers to allow the events of 174 to happen. (My review goes up soon.)