December 2nd, 2014 
AstroNerdBoy ユーキューホルダー! Manga Review
UQ Holder Chapter 60
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Touta is battling Kuroumaru and having a hard time of it when Kuroumaru is freed from Sayoko’s spell.
The mission members of UQ Holder arrive at Santa’s location just as Sayoko vanished into petals. Touta tells Santa to hold onto a couple of the petals, then confirms with Kirie that with these pieces of her soul, they can bring her back. Karin warns against this, backed by Ikkuu, but Touta isn’t worried.
Jumping back in time, true to prediction, Sayoko returns and greets Santa. However, she thanks UQ Holder for giving her more time and summons a skeleton hoard. Karin sees her concern come to life, but as they prepare to battle, Sayoko tells them it is a joke and causes the hoard to vanish into petals. She tells Santa she’s glad he came back for her, but she refuses to allow him to come with her into the afterlife. She tells him he can trust Touta, and as she starts to dissolve into petals again, she tells him she loved him.
As she says goodby, she asks Touta to take care of Santa and to remember that their lives now are built on those who died, including Sayoko. Once she’s gone, Touta offers Santa to come along with UQ Holder.
Thoughts/Review:
And so this arc comes to an end.
No reset for Shinji, so no lessons learned there. I guess he and the other students were just fodder to evoke emotions during the story. That’s kind of unfortunate.
I’m glad Akamatsu-sensei had Santa express his feelings for Sayoko, and for her to confess that she loved Santa. Although she’s gone, I suspect that should Sensei want to, she could find a way to bring her back. I suppose it depends on how popular she ends up being and how much Sensei would like to see her again.
There’s a clear attempt to try to say that Touta isn’t as powerful as he is by having a controlled Kuroumaru give Touta a hard time. I’m fine with the element saying that Kuroumaru’s self-doubt causes a reduction in skills used, but after Touta so soundly trounced Kuroumaru on previous encounters, it isn’t correct in my mind to say that “Kuroumaru is holding back.”
Speaking of Kuroumaru, I have to believe that Akamatsu-sensei purposefully gave Kuroumaru a camel toe. Kuroumaru doesn’t have a “noodle,” but Kuroumaru doesn’t have a “hoo-ha” either, so why a camel toe? Unless Kuroumaru secretly became a girl and we didn’t know it. ^_^;
Anyway, swinging things back around to Santa, I’m glad that he got so much character development. He’s the only member of UQ Holder to get any real character development, and that’s sad in my mind. I still wish that Eva, Touta, and Kuroumaru had been able to take a lengthy road trip just for the purposes of character development. Well, we’ll see how Santa gets used in future. I suspect he will get pushed to the side and be used for extra punch at times. I suppose he could be tagging along with Touta, Kuroumaru, and Karin on future missions.
Otherwise, it was a nice chapter. We are moving into the break period in Japan, so I don’t expect there to be anything major for the next couple of UQ Holder chapters.
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And thus, it ends… I must say that I really enjoyed the end of this arc. ^_^ I liked how Sayoko played one last prank on them, acting like she was planning on starting the whole zombie apocalypse again. As for her last words… Some sort of foreshadowing of things to come, perhaps? “If you get too complacent, your world could be turned upside down at any moment.” With Fate talking about saving the entire solar system, and the way the power levels are scalling… Maybe there’s an enormous threat growing, and we don’t know about it yet. If that threat is Fate himself(I highly doubt it), the Mage of The Beginning or some other party that had to do with the death of Touta’s parents(Seriously, I didn’t buy it when Fate said he was the one who killed them)… Only time will tell. Maybe Evangeline herself becomes a threat, who knows. LOL
“If you get too complacent, your world could be turned upside down at any moment.”
some how i think Fate getting backstabbed by his biggest foe plus maker soon …
nothing could deal a bigger shock to the series than Fate’s death
Maybe Koryagina: True, it would be a shock… And I would weep in the corner, as the Fate fanboy I am. LOL Jokes aside, if played right it could be a nice twist. To me, this thing about the world turning upside down… Maybe she meant UQ Holder. What if in the future, it turns out that UQ Holder was not so good an organization as it seemed in the beginning, and Touta faces the dilemma of remaining loyal to Evangeline or finding another reason to pay his allegiance? I guess that would be pretty nice, myself.
Seimei: The Life Maker could be nice, since they said he has the most complete kind of immortality in Negima, I find it highly unlikely that he was actually killed of for real(I mean, in Negima they first said that he could not be extinguished at all, then all of a sudden, he actually WAS destroyed in the final battle? Suspicious): I think they only thought he was dead and then he came back. Again. After all, in the world of Dynamis himself, Cosmo Entelecheia is very good at the military tactic… Of playing dead. Hah. But we can only speculate for now who might be the final boss. By the way, I have nothing against the power scalling, as long as the story is good. Just saying.
Cold Mentol: I’m with you. Seeing Negi as the Life Maker would be like “OH NO IT’S ‘GRAND THEFT ME V’!!!” for the cast, but let’s think about it… Both the MotB and Negi were said to possess the ultimate kind of immortality. Actually, it would make a lot of sense for the LifeMaker to possess him and FUSE the two kinds of immortality in a single being(Maybe Negi’s immortality is the strongest for the body, and MotB has the strongest of the soul) to become the TRUE ULTIMATE PERFECT HOLY SH** WE’RE DOOMED FACING THIS GUY immortal. In a history full of immortals, facing the supreme immortal would be nice in my point of view.
*pay his allegiance to (English is not my first language so I don’t know if that made as much sense as I wanted)
*words of Dynamis himself
Ragna you’re a fan of Fate? I, too, to be precise I am a fan of his character to tepoch of UQ holder. his incredible power, the knowledge he possesses about Negi, Tota and the past of the world but carefully hides, the fact that he is a survivor of the previous generation (negima), his grat charisma, his new classy clothes and MORE evil badass attitude than in Negima. I have already said, but I insist, I prefer him to UQ Holder ^^
Fate is the very reason I started reading Negima back in the day. Before he appeared, I disregarded the story as another sort of Love Hina – but one that wasn’t funny at all, and had a lot of annoying girls with a cast that I seriously couldn’t stand. Honestly, I know I might be alone here, but there were very few of the girls from 3-A I actually liked(Mana, Setsuna and Chao being some of them): When I looked at the first pages of UQ Holder and noticed they were all staying behind Eva(who just so happens to be one of my favorite characters), it was exactly what made me want to give this one a chance as well. As for Fate… Man, he is by FAR my favorite character. When he joined Ala Alba back in Negima, I wanted to give Akamatsu-sensei a hug for not killing him. LOL When he appeared again in UQ Holder, with all his atmosphere of badass and big threat even bigger than before… Honestly, to me, his rematch with Evangeline was the best thing in the series so far. I was waiting for that since forever and… Well, you get my point. I still wanted to see him fight with the good guys at some point, though. Be it in Negima or in Holder… Fate and Evangeline fighting together as back to back badasses? Now THAT would be awesome!
Oh man! I understand why you told me not to talk too fast about you! Actually we have almost the same views on Negima and UQ Holder. I also feel very few conditions for the 3-A and is the reason for my flamboyant reactions to comments Dargor and over-master who seem to have an obsessive affection for her, it makes me almost afraid lol.
For information Tota is only my fifth favorite character. And as I said I have a preference for antagonnistes in shonens (neo-ala alba is VERY badasse I find, I love Ashura Te ^^)
That’s an interesting thought. I guess I’m still not used to thinking of Negi as an immortal.
Btw, by final battle, are you talking about the battle that happened in the timeskip at the end of MSN (timeline C)? I am thinking that timeline C is a timeline Akamatsu-sensei used to wrap MSN up prematurely and not something that leads to UQH!.
Either that one or the one mentioned in Nagumo’s(was that his name?) flashback. And I agree with you, though I don’t know much about the timelines in Negima. o__O Is timeline A the one where Asuna is sleeping? If that’s the case, my guess is that this timeline is the one that leads to the events of UQ Holder – especially because, in that flashback where Negi and his strongest comrades were going after the MotB, Asuna was nowhere to be seen(And Chachamaru was there, just like she wanted). At least to me, this same flashback strongly suggests that the MotB was completely defeated, since Evangeline says “This is the end” and right after that, the young Nagumo says that they defeated the MotB. Now, something funny: At the start of said flashback, Nagumo says they were after the MOST EVIL immortal, the MotB. Then some pages later, as Negi saves him from certain death, he says Negi was the MOST EVIL immortal. Either that is some foreshadowing, or Nagumo is a bi*** that thinks all immortals are the most evil ones – I’d bet my money in the second, though.
Timeline A is Chao’s original timeline. Asuna is sleeping in timeline B. Although technically, she can be considered sleeping in both timeline. It’s just that there are 2 Asuna in timeline C :p. There should be other timeline(s) formed around Mahora fest, but most readers tend to ignore those.
If you mean the battle in Nagumo’s flashback, maybe it’s because he doesn’t know what MOTB is capable of.
I vote for the life-maker, not only because I LOVE this character, but also because it makes sense to me. Akamatsu mentioned from Chapter 24, it is not for nothing! I am sure he will be the main antagonniste of this manga, like Fate in Negima ^^.
About the escalation of power, I know some people complain. But personally it’s not my case, not only for the many reasons that I have explained many times and the fact that I like it^^, but also because on reflection, the power scale is … remained at Negima level.
You do not believe me? Who is the most powerful character in the manga (although we never saw him fight seriously or obtained his official statistical power level) … The life-maker! Or if that is the main antagonnist of UQ Holder (what I hope! ^^) Then the only thing that will Akamatsu, was show us the top of the power scale he ALREADY wanted to show us in negima, but he found himself unable to do because the ala-alba (negi included) was probably too weak compared to the life-maker, even at the end.
So no, powers levels do not explode in fact, when you think like that ^^.
I have a mixed feeling if MOTB turns out to be the main antagonist of this manga. On one hand, it could explain many things (MSN tie-up, Negi’s disappearance, etc). But on the other hand, I kinda want someone completely new to show up as a main antagonist, with MOTB only appearing in flashbacks.
I understand your point of view, moreover Fate would also make a great main antagonniste, despite having had this role in Negima. Honestly I prefer his version UQ holder. In Negima it was really too “machine” (admittedly there is one, in some ways, more of a “homunculus” I would say) simply remaining of the life-maker’s legacy until his rebirth. In UQ Holder which is put forward, is his leading role, the undisputed leader of the neo-ala alba, almost the ruler of the solar system. His strength also seems to have increased tenfold and he has gained presence. And I like his new clothes! (lol). No seriously, in the end it does not desappointe me if he is the main antagonniste.
HOWEVER. The life-maker has hardly been exploited in Negima, in fact you could almost say that it is almost a “blank canvas”. Background unknown, unknown actual maximum power, unknow spells and techniques, unknow immortality type, unknow real targets and goals ect.
He is a character that enough untapped for Akamatsu attribute him the role of principal antagonniste. I mean, lol, he uses Fate again! If he can then reuse the character we know perfectly like Fate (and managing to make him more badass!), Why does not he reuses the life-maker that we hardly know?
In addition, the loop will be completed, the last mysteries of Negima will be answered also Gravekeeper I think^^). This way is the both easyl AND perfectly legitimate for sensei ^^.
So let the authors of fanfiction (like me ^^) the task of inventing new enemies threatening the universe in 2500, I’m sure they have full of ideas to further expand the advantage akamatsuvers. I myself have a few. hehehe ^^.
But I admit that reuse life-maker several times in the following centuries UQ holder tempt me too ^^. Everything will depend on the fate that Akamatsu lie him at the end of UQ if he is well the main antagonniste. Will he be sealedvagain, or permanently destroyed? I like the first option personally. I appreciate the fact that the mage of the begining is advertised as being truly indestructible, a sword of Damocles that the world will continue to face sooner or later. Beceause lasting peace does not exist.
For me, this is the message of Negima and UQ holder. The goal is not to create a perfect world but absurd to improve the world as much as we can. As Negi has in Negima with his plan (which was successful, not perfectly, but it was successful. The mundus magicus is saved, thanks to the terratorming of Mars, and the magic is perfectly integrated in society and it’s cool! ^^ After yes , climate disaster of 2050 ruined his dream to bring also a new era of prosperity to the Earth through the magic and terraforming, but I think Tota will complete what have begun Negi ^^, it’s all.).
I understand the first half of your post and I share your opinion, that’s why I don’t mind to see MOTB reappear as an antagonist in UQH!. And sorry to say this, but I don’t fully get what you’re trying to say in your last two paragraphs..
The reason I don’t want to see MOTB as the main antagonist (or last boss) is because it seems unfair for UQH!’s story if UQH!’s ending = MSN’s ending. However, depending on how this story is played, I could change my mind.
Cold_menthol : I understand what you mean. So let’s take an example about my point of view. Do you know Tokyo Babylon and X / 1999? X is the result of T-B. Yet the two stories are completely different, but the clamps benefit from X to complete the history of Subaru and Seishiro that began in tokyo babylon. Here would be the same. The life-maker will surely have very different goals than he had in Negima. Just because whatever his plan, he will no longer concern only the mundus-magicus but the entire solar system probably.
It is likely that you hardly hear parrler of the “code of the life-maker”. The begining of the mage will probably be looking for any new goals, I like to think so.
At this point, I can’t imagine yet what kind of goal he could have in mind. There is not enough hint for me.
I’m not too familiar with clamp’s works, but from what I know, their works are usually related to each other. I’m more familiar with Type-Moon’s works, and I guess I can use “Tsukihime” and “Melty Blood” for your example.
Even if MOTB is the ultimate villain, I don’t think we’ll see the character for a long while.
I was wrong, next magazine issue is next week. It’s a double issue so the week after that should be a magazine break.
The dearth cometh.
the fight goes down too easy plus the last prank of Sayoko make me feel that whole arc from the point Sayoko attack UQ H till end were just a test that Santa needed to pass , Sayoko could totally get rid of 340k souls and die easily if she wants
but R.I.P Sayoko , she were one hell of boss , who beats up 5 numbers in mere 5 mins
without even introduce her plan…
Yep, which is why I always said Sayoko is very powerful, among the top tier.
I like how this rc is wrapping up, I hope next chapter we don’t go straight back to UQ Holder, I hope they look around MMahora a bit, I assume that Touta will find out something about Negi, maybe see a picture of him and 3A.
I’m really hoping UQ Holder gets an anime, I think it has a better chance of being successful than the Negima anime because there’s action in the very first chapter,
YES it would be too “what the fuck!” AWESOME! I love the idea would make a fantastic turnaround. But I do not think it will happen right away (or even that it will happen one day lol). But if you’re right I think the life-maker will appear before that. Personally I think his first appearance between volume 8 and 10. It can also be before that. ^^
Looks like you got a little of your wish. 😉
And thus ends a great story arc for UQH. I’m glad that Santa got to be the real hero here, being the one to defeat Sayoko. While they were never meant to be, at least they parted ways on good terms. Overall, this arc did a great job of introducing, developing, and adding to the main cast a new character. But now that Santa’s arc is over, here’s hoping there’s further character development and back story for our main character, as well as exploring the mysteries of what happened between the end of Negima and the beginning of UQH. 60 chapters in and we still know very little about Touta or the fates of Negi and the rest of Ala Alba. Perhaps the next arc will focus more on these parts of the story. At minimum, I’d like to see more Touta/Kuro ship tease.
P.S.: I don’t think Kuro-kun had a case of camel toe. I think that’s just the seam of his/her pants zipper.
And I like how Sayoko was defeated as well. It felt natural and real to me.
Touta plus Karin, Kuroumaru, and even Kirie and Eva (I so want to know more about her past).
It is VERY suspicious to me. *lol*
It was a touching chapter. At the end, they came back with the ability of Kirei.
I wonder if they will tell UQ Holder what happened about the mission
It seems that Kuroumaru controls his strength with Touta, isn’t he? because in this chapter he seemed more strong as usual
I would like to see the way that UQ Holder will recieve to Santa and I wonder with whom Santa will share room
Let me see if Evangeline appears more in this arc…
I would like that if there is an anime of UQ Holder, it be faithful to manga
PS: When is the break period? Is there this week a chapter? Thanks
Well, as we found out, they had to write a massive report about this. *lol*
I think it is too early to produce an anime. We’ll see what they do though. Akamatsu-sensei’s works either haven’t been animated or were never completely animated (and what was animated wasn’t faithful to the source material).
I’m behind on responses, but there’s no chapter for December 17.