Mahou Sensei Negima! ~ Shiroki Tsubasa~ ALA ALBA 03 (Finale)
魔法先生ネギま！～白い翼 ALA ALBA～ (OAD) 03 (Final)
Negima! Ala Alba (White Wing) OVA/OAV 03 (End)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Anya learns of how powerful Negi’s “battle harem” is but she also learns of Negi’s determination to find his father and avenge their village. With that, Negi and company as well as the rest of the class spend some of their summer vacation watching movies, hanging out, going to Comiket, etc. Afterward, the members of Ala Alba return to Eva’s resort to pack and get ready to go.

Eva wants to test Asuna and Negi one last time and Asuna manages to score a scratch on Eva’s cheek. This results in Eva encasing Asuna in a giant boulder of ice, which she escapes from. After the group plus Chisame take off for Wales, Al, Eva, Chachazero, and one of Chachamaru’s “younger sisters” are having tea and discussing the trip that Negi and company are taking.

Thoughts/Review:

SHAFT had to love this episode — after all, it was a lot like Negima!? in presentation, which didn’t exactly give me a good vibe. However, except for some bits skipped here and there, the shorts from the manga were all pulled to my satisfaction so in the end, all’s well that end’s well. Still, I never could quite shake that bad vibe every time SHAFT did their Negima!? imitation, which was quite often. ^_^;

There was one new anime-exclusive short featuring Satsuki, Misora, and Cocone. I liked it because it fit well within the context of all the other shorts about what different students were doing over the summer. At the same time, it did have Misora state that she’s going on a trip to the same place as Negi, which was something we didn’t learn until later in the manga when they were already there. So having her say, “I’m going” works for me and since Satsuki is aware of magic and such based on the manga, it may be that she knew where Misora and Cocone were going for their summer vacation.

Another item of interest is the Zazie short where she joins Sayo outside the convenience store. This is a moment where SHAFT cut a tiny bit from the story by not having Zazie’s critters talk. So we didn’t get to see Sayo actually concerned for her safety when one of the critters asks if it can eat Sayo. Also, SHAFT had them like ghost in that they were somewhat transparent like Sayo. That didn’t come across in the manga.

Finally, there’s Chachazero. I love Chachazero as a character and in anime form, she’s had so freaking little to do. So hearing her actually converse was a bit strange. Due to the animation, she loses her constant grin to talk and drink, which was very strange. I wonder if that is how Akamatsu-sensei envisioned things? Regardless, Chachazero has a “Keh!keh!keh!” laugh that I always imagined was a slow, evil laugh. However, SHAFT has the seiyuu voice the laugh rather fast and to me, it doesn’t make Chachazero sound like a devious doll — it just made her sound kinda dumb. ^_^; Maybe that’s how Akamatsu-sensei envisioned things.

For the most part though, I rather enjoyed this episode despite the Negima!? feeling. Some of the stories having been brought to life in anime form gave me new chuckles while some just left me with a smile. Either way, it was still an enjoyable experience.