February 10th, 2022 
AstroNerdBoy The End of an Era — A Thank You!
Now that UQ Holder has come to an end, I thought I’d take a moment to look back as well as thank all of you who’ve come by the blog these many years.
In the Beginning
When I started this blog in December, 2006 (man, has it been that long?), I never thought it would lead to where it did. I mainly just wanted a place where I could write down my thoughts in a single place, rather than repeat myself on forums all over. And while I enjoyed writing for Community Anime Reviews, I needed a platform where I could also write about manga and more. And one of my early manga review series was Negima!
I did notice that my Negima! reviews did pretty well, more so considering how tiny I was at the time. So I was happy that there were other fans of the series willing to read my drivel.
The Spoiler Images
What really caused my blog to explode were the spoiler images for Negima! Back then, the Japanese (or other sources) might post the spoilers, and then they might be taken down shortly afterward. If you were lucky, folks might have saved them somewhere. I decided that I was just going to grab spoiler images, save them on my blog, then folks wouldn’t have to worry about them being insta-purged.
While I did think I’d get a few extra hits from sharing spoiler images, I had no idea how popular this would become. Not only that, but after a while, I had folks who’d graciously let me know if spoilers showed up, or even better, would send them to me directly to share with everyone else. Another person showed me how to find spoiler information about Negima!, which was amazing.
At its peak, whenever I’d release spoilers, I could have upward of 2800 unique hits/hour. 😲 That did tail off toward the end of the Negima! series as I think some folks grew weary. Plus, I said something true, but controversial, which didn’t help. 😅
UQ Holder Days
When UQ Holder came out, there was some initial excitement for the series. As such, blog traffic would increase for UQ Holder spoiler images and reviews. But that quickly started sliding down as fans gave up on the series. There were a few, minor curiosity spikes here and there, but that was it. Even in Japan, it got to the point where they stopped bothering with spoiler images most of the time.
Heck, even I stopped looking for spoilers in the last year or two. Part of this was time constraints, but most of it was because I knew there wasn’t a real demand for it. Even if I could get spoiler info or information, few were interested. Its sad, but what can you do?
And So, Thank You!
Still, over all of these years, so many of you have faithfully come to read my thoughts on Negima!, then UQ Holder. So to all of you, I want to express a heartfelt “Thank you!” It has been one heck of a ride, eh?
And though the folks who long ago dropped UQ Holder aren’t likely to read this, I do want to thank them as well. I really enjoyed hearing your thoughts on things. Sometimes, there were lively debates. But throughout it all, it was great sharing this experience with other fans.
Hopefully, you’ll stick around for my other rubbish. But if not, you know where to find me, if you should ever want to say “hello” in the future. 😁
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I didn’t realize that UQ Holder had come to an end because I stopped reading a while ago myself, lol. But since it’s finished, I guess I’ll take some time to catch up to the ending myself- I still want to see the finale of Negi and Touta’s journey, I just assumed it would never come (and had accepted Negima 355 as a great ending in its own right).
I still check in here occasionally for various things; primarily pulling up your old Negima reviews as I reread the series for another time or taking a look at your Fate and Lupin III content. I never looked at the spoilers, but you’ve got a place in my heart for your reviews of Negima and UQ Holder alone. Thanks for all the years of diligence, and here’s to the future!
Yeah, a lot of folks stopped reading.
After the current Lupin III Part 6 series ends, I do have some other Lupin stuff to watch/review. It was stuff that had slipped my mind. 😅
You’re welcome and thank you for being here!
Unlike most of my generation I never cared for the pokemon anime craze!
It wasn’t until I was at uni and my housemate decided that a couple episodes of love hina was to be that weeks movie night… yes Ken Akamatsu got me into anime/manga in the first bloody place!
While I agree the quality of his work has declined in recent years… I shall miss logging in to see the latest review of his works on here..
I wish him well in his political career and hope that we may-one day still get treated to the occasional one-shot!
Haha! Love Hina was an early anime title for me, after I officially got into anime in 2002.
Yeah, it is going to be strange not blogging Akamatsu-sensei stuff.
I’m told he’s planning some sort of new series. That surprised me, but we’ll see what happens. Maybe the new series will be a bunch of one-shots.
Minisodes in the love-hina/negima/uq holder universe would be EPIC!
Sensei could do something akin to School Rumble Z. Call it “Tales from the Akamatsu-verse” (or something). And then yeah, little one-shot tales from the different series, even A.I. Love You.
It would require him to pull away from politics. While his cause maybe just, I don’t think it will work out well what I’ve heard the issues he was prepare to run on.
Frankly i think it would be nice if he could be able revisit the universe and fill in the big gaps he left as he was trying to “rush” to the end.
I agree.
I was interested in UQ Holder in the beginning, but gradually it lost my interest after the City-Wide Tournament with Afro-san. That being said, Negima was one of my favorites that defined my youth and I loved it.
Haha! The tournament. Yes, the thing that got dropped. I knew it wouldn’t be returned to. 😅
I need to reread Negima someday as well.
Its been long for me as well, since i last posted here, back during the MSN days.
So, long that i forgot which id i used here while posting.
It was either “Huh…?” based on AnimeSuki id or “Shadow Limiter” based on Mangahelpers id.
By the way, Mangahelpers still has that Thread which i created back in the day regarding Pactio Cards. Really worked a lot back then on it, and i didn’t know about Wikia’s back then so did it all there.
I really liked Negima back then, but yeah UQ Holder did cause me to drop the Saga for quite a while, though i now plan to read it full.
By the way, quite a bit delayed, but congrats on 15+ years of Blogging.
Thanks! And thanks for coming back by!
Hi from France !
As you wrote, i started going to your blog because you were a very reliable source for Negima spoilers. But it was also your great analysis on the story, and the very interesting debates and theories in your comment section that made me come back religiously every time. I never interacted, but it was a very pleasant reading everytime, even when I had a different point of view on a chapter or a character.
UQ Holder was disappointing, but we all stuck to it to see if maybe we could grasp a little tiny piece of answer for the story that really matters…. Thank you for keeping this little ritual of writing your toughts on the new chapters, even when you (and all of us) became less and less interested.
It was a great pleasure to read you during those years ! As for know, you are not blogging about mangas I follow, but maybe – and I hope so – at one point i’ll start a new manga and discover that you’re blogging about it 🙂 When this happen, it’ll be a pleasure to come back.
Have a very nice day, and thank you again for this journey !
Haha! We did have some debates back in the day.
You are welcome and thanks for coming by and reading everything!
If it wasn’t for Love Hina, I wouldn’t have come across Negima…. and of it wasn’t for Negima, I wouldn’t be drawing fan art…
Well, there you are. 😁
What damn shame is came end, but it was nice ending.
Feels like we missed out or parts were skipped in the story to get to Chapter 192, but here we are.
Thank you for your diligent work to keeping everyone ahead regardless of the popularity swing of Love Hina/Negima/UQ Holder. You did great Job, AstroNerdBoy.
You’re welcome and thanks for always being here!
I have been reading your blog since 2008, ever since I started Negima 15 years ago, it was always a pleasure find fans, never an option for me locally. I won’t complain too much about UQ Holder ending, just wanted to express that the ride was fun while it lasted, even with disappointment after disappointment, still great to have these memories that shaped my teenage years.
UQ Holder I haven’t actively read since 2019, it’s lowest lows weren’t even better than the average Negima chapters, I couldn’t get invested in the series since Akamatsu was going off on tangents ever since UQH went monthly.
I hope Ken retires, I say that with respect for the work he used to put out. I was always hesitant to criticize his work, but I learned its fine to simply admit not everything your favorite artist makes is incredible. I wanted a Chao spin off manga for a decade, but since Shounen is about appealing to boys, a female protag won’t appeal to Japanese boys, it’s just the nature of the industry.
I am honored you’ve been around so long. Man, where does time go? 😅
I hear ya. If he gets elected to political office, he won’t have time to do much with manga. But, there are rumors about him doing a new series. However, part of me suspects he’s just giving himself an option in case his political career doesn’t pan out.
I know what you are saying, but I’m not sure that’s 100% true. A Certain Scientific Railgun is a shounen manga with a mostly female cast, lead by a female (MISAKA Mikoto). It has been going since 2007. There are other titles, but I’m just not versed in them. However, even in a series like Negima!, I think the boys liked powerful characters such as Asuna, Setsuna, and probably even Chao.
Regardless, feel free to stick around for other stuff I put out. Granted, it may not be your cup of tea, but you never know. 😉
I still have fond memories of following Negima chapter to chapter, and the Zazie reveal really sent shockwaves not only through the Negima community, but even throughout the anime community at the time. Negima has always had great potential as a series that has been unfortunately unrealized due to poor marketing and lackluster adaptations. While it likely never would’ve reached the status of the highest tier of shonen, it always felt like it was right there at times.
I can’t help but look at a series like Fairy Tail for what could’ve been, because it was a fairly niche series at the beginning before it exploded in popularity thanks to an ongoing animated series, merchandise and even a few video games that made their way overseas. Of course you and I both know which is the better series between those two. 😉
My interest in anime as a whole has waned considerably over the past number of years, though I always followed on Akamatsu’s exploits until the very end, and while I don’t want to believe it, I do think this is where it ends. In the age of anime remakes, I pray to our Lord and saviour Jack Rakan that maybe there’s a Negima remake somewhere down the line because it could really thrive with a big budget studio and proper marketing. I saw Akamatsu tweeting praise for Demon Slayer and ufotable and I couldn’t help but think “What if…”
As I said in the UQ Holder finale post, One Piece is the only series I still follow (though maybe I’ll check out the Shaman King remake if word of mouth is good), and that’s more due to the large time investment on it (since 2004 I think) than anything else, as even that series has worn on me over time.
Ken Akamatsu’s career has been a fascinating one, with huge highs but a boatload of missed potential. I still distinctly remember getting emotional over the anime ending of Love Hina before reading the manga and realizing how terrible the animated adaptations actually were, a common theme throughout Ken’s career…
I’ll keep an eye on Ken for the future but I really don’t think he’ll be doing any new series, especially with a political career at hand. Even if that fails I don’t think he’ll have the physical and mental fortitude to tackle another long series. It’s easy to forget but chronologically, UQH was almost as long as Negima was. He’s been doing manga for… like 30 years now about?
Just…. please, get Negima a proper animated series. If you have to crowdfund it I’ll happily chip in a couple grand. Or a DBZF style fighting game… Just anything to put the series on the map where it belongs. Don’t let it fall into obscurity, Ken!
Yeah, for sure. And she’d been sitting on the shelf for so long, it was almost as if Sensei had forgotten her. Shame she got forgotten for the most part as UQ Holder ended.
I can understand that. There are very few anime titles I’m actually interested in from season to season. But I do have a big backlog of stuff to watch one day.
That would be lovely for sure.
Hi, did you know that the Tankobon version has some extra pages after the end? I saw this on 4chan. What do you think? Do you think Ken will create a new manga starring Gengorou?
https://imgur.com/a/KSEztTG
https://desuarchive.org/a/thread/237628344
I haven’t read the final volume. As to what Ken does, I guess it depends on if he gets elected to the Upper House in Japan or not.