August 20th, 2015 
AstroNerdBoy ユーキューホルダー! Manga Review
UQ Holder Chapter 90
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Touta speaks with Kitty in his mindscape, where a hint from her allows him to absorb the water and lightning of his hand via Magia Erebea, to her pleasant surprise. She identifies this Magia Erebea technique as Sinus Magnus, which is the power of his left arm. Touta is not excited by this, so when asked, he says he didn’t earn this power as he’s just copying his grandfather. She’s bemused by this since in her time, only the nobility complain as he has done. However, she understands that in Touta’s time, things are much different.
Kitty tells Touta that she’d be pleased if he mastered Magia Erebea because it is something she took from a curse and turned into a technique, although she doesn’t know how Touta came by it.
Touta realizes this is the Kitty he’s been meeting, so he asks why she’s here. She says she left a bit of herself behind to check on him. She then states that her appearance in based on his tastes, which seems to delight her. She then tells him that greatness is not in the hand dealt, but in what one does with the hand dealt. With that, Touta’s arm attacks him and he awakens on the battlefield with a partially dressed Kuroumaru.
Touta activates his Magia Erebea Sinus Magnus and has Kuroumaru hand him a hoop. Ruin Ishkur is amused by this, citing that he was once defeated by a human with a weird technique. Touta tells it to bring it on, so Ruin Ishkur attacks with his Thunder Spear. As Touta is canceling the spear, Ruin Ishkur gets behind him with a giant lightning sword, but Touta absorbs the power of Thunder Spear, flashes to where Kurobo was and grabs the Gravity Blade. He then counter attacks, slicing off Ruin Ishkur’s hands, grabbing the lightning spirit’s sword, then appears to defeat Ruin Ishkur.
Holding the Thunder Sword, Touta absorbs it into himself, knowing he now has some of his grandfather’s power.
Thoughts/Review:
I’m REALLY ticked with Crunchyroll for their delay in putting out the chapter, but you can read that rant here (if you haven’t already done so).
I’ve been troubled by calling Magia Erebea a spell when I believe it was referred to as a technique in Negima. Since Touta cannot use magic or spells, it made absolutely no sense that Magia Erebea should suddenly be classified as a spell. As a technique, it made sense that Touta could use it because people like Asuna and Takahata in Negima could use the mana-chi combo technique kankaho even though neither could cast spells.
So out of curiosity, I checked the chapter’s raw and Magia Erebea is referred to as “waza”.
技 【わざ】 (waza)(n) technique; art; skill;
So Magia Erebea is being called a technique in the Japanese, and that makes sense. I think the Twins (and if they drop in, they can certainly correct me if I’m wrong) used the term “spell” because Eva derived Magia Erebea from noroi.
呪い 【のろい】 (noroi)(n) curse; spell; malediction;
As I see it, Eva took a curse-spell thing and turned it into a magical-like technique called Magia Erebea. To me, that is not a spell, which requires incantation and the like.
I will refrain from commenting on the ease at which Super Touta’s learned and mastered an ability to defeat an entity that apparently only one person has ever defeated.
Touta is creating some kind of mindscape (or phantasmagoria) in his mind that he goes to when knocked out. The fact that Eva was there because she’d left a tiny piece of herself in his mind was very interesting. It really makes me think more than ever that Chachazero actually has a piece of Eva in it.
That being said, I get the feeling that we’ll see this Eva in Touta’s mind again. I have to believe that Touta, Kuroumaru, and Kirie will encounter some other trials on their way to obtaining the objective, to say nothing of hooking up with Santa again. Since Eva in Touta’s mind warned him about the danger of Magia Erebea, I have to think she’ll show him how to master Magia Erebea, which he’ll do in rapid time.
As an aside, I will say that this Eva has never looked more cute to me as she did in this chapter. 😉 (Update: I see others agree as well.)
Finally, to those of you who were stating that Touta was using Kuroumaru for storage purposes, it would appear that you are correct since Touta had Kuroumaru produce the hoop for him to use in order to use his combo-power against Ruin Ishkur.
We’ll see where Akamatsu-sensei takes this thing (and if Crunchyroll can screw up publishing the chapter again).
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UQ Holder: Bad Fan-fiction now brought into manga format! Who needs cool concepts and a quirky cast of characters? Why, that would only distract us from the the glorious and resplendent main character, who clearly deserves everything to happen to him at all hours of the day. Dear god, I’m not sure what’s worse, that there is someone actually writing this mess, or that there’s an editor that gave it a thumbs up.
But hey! That’s all fine and dandy! Here, look at all this nice Eva bait. Isn’t Eva a cutie? What, you think its a cheap Negima hook being used because no one would otherwise look at this mess? Nevermind that, look, its Eva! In a hat! Isn’t this interesting?
😆 Touche.
That aside, we technically have no word on whether or not Asuna could actually cast magic. The Negima bible (Even though some of its stats are for laughs) lists her magical potential as “?”, as opposed to not actually be able to use it. So I’d say theoretically, there wouldn’t be anything stopping her from using magic, but she frankly just does not have the mind set for it, and has a training regimen much more suited for her own strengths.
Well, Asuna is more like Takahata, who can’t cast spells. So in order to fix this they both use Kanka, which i am guessing is used by people who can’t use spell.(Gatou is one of them obviously)
That’s probably why it’s listed as ‘?’. So, Asuna can’t cast spells….but she was used as a weapon… gah… (the wiki also says that asuna is actually 25….meh)
Unlike Takahata who is explicitly stated in the series being unable to string spells together, there’s no mention of Asuna being unable to do anything of the sort. I can understand the line of reasoning applying it to her, but I don’t think its particularly sound since it only relies on baseless assumption with no real backing to it.
As for Kanka being developed to counteract not being able to use magic, ehhhh, not true. Its only explicit design was to allow the use of incorporating both Ki and Magicka in a way that they don’t conflict with one another, receiving the benefits of both.
Actually can use ‘Magic’ or rather Magical Energy since Kakahou is the mix of Magic and Chi.
Also Magic Cancel like Magia Erebea is a ‘Technique’ derived from a magical energy source.
This source of magic is likely what is preventing both Asuna and Touta from generating/casting their own spells.
How should I put this… I suppose this would be their natural affinity…
Like in Fate Stay Night Shirou only has the affinity and element of sword hence he can only produce swords and nothing else whilst Rin can produce anything due to having an affinity for multiple elements.
Magic Cancel is White Magic and would be Asuna’s source of magical energy so I guess her affinity and element is Erasure/Negation whilst Touta possess that along with Black Magic which would be Magia Erebea and the affinity/element of consumption
She was put “on ice” for a time, I think. But I may be misremembering things.
She could draw in manga, but you are correct — it is an assumption on my part that she can’t cast spells.
Will he carry the loop everytime with him
It appears that he has Kuroumaru carry it around for him. But that is the initial weakness of Touta using his new abilities.
What we have learned:
Touta was suffering from blocked sinuses previously, and…
Kuroumaru is not only a girl, but also a living handbag.
I’m beginning to see it as a more sinister, more-clone-than-you-realise type thing, just to work around the fact that Touta has levelled up yet again. If they can create clones with the original’s mind, learned skills and so on, that’d make up for Touta being good at everything. But that would need some investigation into ‘they’ that made him, otherwise we don’t see any price paid for his powers. And consequences of other people having those powers.
I also think the main issue is the abruptness of the chapters. Nothing has a chance to settle in the mind, even though he’s had the doubts, the ‘journey’, the training, the sweat. Awesome artwork this time, though.
One mooooore thing.
They seriously need to share focus with someone else. Other characters only exist as Touta’s transport. If Eva is a love interest for Touta, then a lot of her screen time feeds directly back into him. I’m hoping Santa will be floating in the castle above the box, playing games on his phone.
😆 😆 Funny.
Good point.
That would be nice, but Akamatsu-sensei has Touta as the main character, so no one else can get focus because his story isn’t about UQ Holder, but Touta (as he relates to Negi).
Well, this is stupid. If all it takes for Touta to use Magia Erebea armament is having spells with elemental affinity’s thrown at him. Then why have him train with Dana?! It only took him a week to create an equilibrium with his dual-nature’s, so he could restrain his magical cancel enough to absorb spells and not just use Magia Erebea as do or die beserker rage defence mechanism.
Problem, now is what’s next!? He stores the high Ancient spells for Armament in scrolls/in small flasks like Eva did when she first fought Negi. But Double Armament will quickly show it’s limits, as Touta cannot not cast basic magics, Negi could. The reason Negi made Magia Erebea so lethal was because of the fusion of Ki and Magic, prime example: Cherry Blossom Fist. Which was Negi gathering a prime number of arrows/Sagitta into his fist and releasing them upon contact.
If all Touta is going to do is stat buffs, Ken should’ve just given him Konokaō instead and instant summon charm on the Gravity blade. Long post short, Ken has officially written himself into a dead end and since he’s dependant on this series fiscally it won’t end in 4 years, therefore he cannot have Touta warping reality via Code of the Lifemaker Rewrite because that’s endgame.
P.S. The ever eminent Hata said that Touta will not need the Spell that is mostly likely hidden in his book, citing what spell would be useful to him at this point. I would Propose that if there does happen to be a Spell in the book, then it will most assuredly be Titanokt’ono, that Touta will draw out like ulquiorra did for his Lance of thunder and lightning, and spam it like Gilgamesh/Quincy.
Touta will then progress to spamming the upgraded version, Black Dragon Advent.
To be able to consciously use his power.
Now we just need the explanation of his magic cancelling right arm.
So Sinus Magnus allows him to absorb the powers of another user like Negi Final Trump card but Touta ability and form is directly proportional to what he is hit with rendering his raiten taishou two to quickly degrade from level two to level one to nearly come undone.
Other than that… Rakan did explain Magia Erebea as Eva ultimate forbidden technique developed in her early days.
A spell would be a technique that requires incantation whilst a technique can be activated whenever. This is also the reason why magic cancel will not entirely wipe out the technique
Also translator note, of which infuriates me because the Twins should be doing this, and not I, Sinius Magnus means taiindou 太陰道/Great Birth Canal. Which they should know as it was in the 9th Omnibus translation notes, from Period 248, this should’of been put in. BBecause it alters the circumstance of Touta’s Magia erebea usaged.
The impression in this chapter without it, is that Touta has achieved a high level of mastery. However with the TL note, the impression/interpretation changes; to that of touta can only use enemy magic for Magia Armamentation
Thus, touta will not to equip a stored spell and levels the power creep significantly!
Actually Negi was never a Chi user… rather than train Ki from scracth the boy genius substituted it with his own magical energy.
So Ku Fei for example would use Chi to Shunpo, Negi on the other hand would use Magic rather than Chi.
As for his Cherry Blossom Fist, Rakan said it was just a basic and simple trick. Negi would cast the Magic Arrows, draw them in like he was to store it like a delay spell but instead of storing it away he releases it to enhance his punches.
The Great Birth Cannel is Eva’s ultimate concept and technique for Magia Erebea which she never completed. Negi completed it as his own original spell/trump card against Rakan. Sigus Magnus is the ability to absorb an external source of power and convert it into your own.
Downside for Touta is… this is only affective against magic or chi energy users… making him as only as strong as they are. Vs Fire Spirit he gains Fire powers, against Eva he gains Ice Form… against Fate he gains earth powers and so on
The only kind of translator notes we’ve seen from CR are margin notes, so they are few and far between for all their titles.
Thank you for commenting on this. When I re-read your comment just now, gears started clicking, and I realized that one very loose Latin translation for Sinus Magnus would be “Really Big Body Cavity.”
…I’m not going near that with a ten-foot pole. (^_~)
Sorry, I lied. 🙁
I can’t resist explicitly making the bad joke that Touta’s new power is “Great Big A**hole”.
Har!
So he is now god lvl or something cant die,chancel magic,absorbs evrything 🙂 Joke aside would be nice to see him absorb other elements
I’m guessing he might be able to do just that.
I wonder if Touta has magic done automatically for him in his head since there likely no time for him to have studied it on his own, he more a melee fighter if any. I know he has his great aunt’s ancestral magic canceling ability, but it doesn’t mean completely he isn’t able to use some power. I think later on, Akamatsu-sensei will reveal how Touta is able to do this with speed he doing it. I think he a prototype super magic soldier for some organization and those scientists (his “parents”) were ones worked for them.
I’m curious how Eva got in his head in the first place, she drawn pretty nicely in this chapter. I suspect this maybe his mind’s eye version of Eva like how she had scroll copy of herself in her Magia Erebea instructions.
Now. I wonder if were done with training time, it’s almost Akamatsu-sensei decided to switch gears so speak and speed us to slightly quick end so he take another break from doing a series. I’m not sure if he wanted to draw for another 10 years on the same manga.
Yeah, not really sure when she could have put a piece of herself with him.
Unless it was the food…..
Considering how Eva put a piece of herself in a scroll once upon a time, I tend to suspect another method, but that’s just me.
In a way it makes sense to me that Tota gained some new skills quickly and seems to be good at all that stuff. As a clone I doubt they would take years to teach him if they could use him right away(and who other than Yukihime could show him?). Besides, if what Santa found in the UQ database was not a mistake and he actually is just four years old(this is just my theory) they might have created him like this on purpose. I’m rather curious about who “they” are.
Yeah, his background is unfortunately the only thing I find interesting about him.
I’m starting to think that if we get that background info, the manga will be almost over.
From story perspective, this isn’t good story telling. Making Touta a homunculus gives an explanation as to why he can to anything.
well, at least Touta acknowledges the fact that Raitan Taisou comes from Negi, so in other words he doesn’t think of what he just did was his own ability but rather than Negi’s, which means that he’s admitting that he could only do it because he is Negi’s clone.
If it goes down that route then Touta is going to start feeling like he’s just a copy instead of his own self.
Literally Kuromarou and Kirie was talking about to Touta last chapter or chapter before.
Although he didn’t acknowledge Negi at the time, he did something similar with Magia Erebea when it first appeared. Eva gently scolding him in this chapter for having that attitude, which is why I think he accepted things as having come from Negi, which Touta has now inherited.
Next chapter:
“AND THIS… IS TO GO… EVEN FURTHER BEYOND!”
*Goes Super Touta Saiyan 3*
That doesn’t make sense?
Welcome to Touta.
“Enjoy the ride.” 😉