魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 24 Chapter 214

Summary: Asuna, Setsuna, Konoka, and Kaede are being taken to Ostia via a flying ship (looking like something that would sail the seas) who’s dolphin captain knows their wanted status but is helping them just the same. After the captain gives them some information on Ostia and the forthcoming celebration, he wishes them well and they are on their way (in disguise as animal humanoids). They see an ad for fight tournament, featuring Negi and Kotaro in young adult form. Konoka wants to find Negi right away, but that’s out of the cards since they have to be careful, considering all the bounty hunters they’ve had to dispatch. Asuna takes charge and dispatches the other three girls to scout out the area, looking for potential escape routes and the like, leading Konoka to chuckle that Asuna is acting like a proper outlaw and Kaede to reflect on how reliable Asuna as become.

As Asuna explores the city, she has the feeling she’s been here before and remembers the dreams she’s been having. She arrives at a remote platform at the end of the floating island and knows she’s been there before. She reminds herself that this can’t be, but she then hears a voice and looking, it is Nagi telling the child Asuna to come to him as the view is much better there. The vision fades as Asuna approaches and she sees Negi instead. After determining Negi is not an illusion, Asuna embraces him deeply twice, happy he’s alive. They do some catching up with Asuna noticing Negi having grown taller and become more mature. Negi reveals he’s been able to learn some stuff about his father but the tales can wait. At the moment, he wants to know if Asuna has been having dreams or visions.

Thoughts: The girls aren’t wearing much of a disguise, but I like the outfits Setsuna and Kaede wear. They could either be some high-class security folks (I think of Cardcaptor Sakura and Tomoyo-chan’s security ladies) or even yakuza. ^_^

Asuna’s past has been one of the most intriguing parts of the series for me. While I’m interested in Negi’s past (and whether he is Nagi in disguise or not), Asuna’s just seems more interesting to me. It really is a shame that Peter David downplayed Asuna’s skills in the early Del Rey manga (and indeed, he downplayed Nagi as well) because from the start, Akamatsu-sensei has said that Asuna was special. I’m hoping we get more than just some teasing.

I loved the reunion of Negi and Asuna. They’ve been apart for a long time and since Asuna is Negi’s first partner, it is great seeing them back together again.

I’ve started hearing rumors that Akamatsu-sensei may be close to wrapping things up. I don’t get that feeling yet, but I have another couple of chapters to read (as of this posting) so we’ll see.