"Anger still looms deep within Spotto"

 Woke up....started remembering everything I ranted about Negima.

 

To this day I still shake my head at what went down. Yes, it is indeed called Negima, but so many of my grievances towards the manga was beyond even that. I began reading the manga after enjoying the Mahorafest and the arcs before it immensely. While I only tolerated the fanservice, I found the mixture of romantic comedy and shounen quite refreshing, something I've yet to see in other works I had followed to that point. While Negi was indeed the main character, we are never to forget the existences of the students and how important they are to the story.

 

Then the Magic World arc happened.

 

At first it seemed like quite the intriguing storyline, everyone stranded across a world no one knew much of, in dangerous climates surrounded by dangerous people. To boot, they all had a bounty on them, framed and shamed as they struggled to survive the hazardous environment. A master plan was involved, gathering the Ala Alba team members and powering up the miniature teacher to take on all obstacles so they could earn their way back to their own world. Indeed, it was a storyline you'd wish to see the end of, to see how our heroes could accomplish such a monumental task.

 

Then another task befell our heroes.

 

Yes, they had to save the world. The world they knew very little of, its only significance being a land Negi's father often trekked through. Our heroes self-righteousness did not allow them to return home letting an entire population be wiped out by the evils of the enemy. But as chapters continued to be released, it became quite obvious that only one character had the potential firepower to do anything against the mammoth that is the enemy. Everyone else, especially those fighters, before they could've been relied as backup, those who could fight as well, hold off the frontlines for our hero to dive through, but soon what role they could play diminished and diminished.

 

They were no longer main characters...and they could be barely called supporting characters beyond one or two, they were side characters now. Our previous main heroine no longer by the side of the hero, instead being held captive for a hundred chapters. When the much anticipated fight between Setsuna and her devliish irredeemable "rival" began, the fight was quickly glossed over for once again, plot. The reveal that Zazie had some part in this gigantic plan was too glossed over, for again, plot. Negi is the only reason this story continues going right? Him and his precious students, who cannot be harmed in any way because that would interfere with their fanservice shots. He continues his plan to defeat the well-intentioned extermist at the end, or at least that's what I would've called him had he actually continued being one.

 

You see, when Fate first arrived to the plot, so to say, he had no qualms about harming Negi or the students. For whatever reason, perhaps convenience, his first act of petrification was not the permanent kind he was supposedly so eager to use. He attempted to impale young Negi twice, once almost successfully killing him and during that same Gateport battle, was about to end Setsuna's movable existence forever. Why would he do such things? All for the sake of "saving" this world, the magical world, from its inevitable doom. He is going through extreme measures to do so, with no hesistance to do such things like aiming for the medic or wiping out the mindreader first. But by the time the final battle arrives, apparently he and his minions have no desire to do any of that messy killing, even of the targets he first pointed out as so very dangerous. His mindset has developed into that of a shounen rival, whose only desire is to fight Negi. They were to complete their duty without any fatalities...that was when the "extremist" left the room.

 

And while that is happening, the usefulness of our beloved students began to wane. Perhaps I should've expected this the moment I realized the majority of the cast is present because they locked lips with the protagonist. They were fine up to the final battle. Their intelligence and teamwork paid dividends when they confronted Godel in the ball. Every student save a few unlucky ones were able to survive in the harsh wilderness that is the Magical World. Chisame rarely needed her pactio card to be of immense use to Negi. But the final battle, when an anticipated fight between Setsuna and Tsukuyomi is glossed over, and Mana is taken out of the fold having to fight Poyo...we are left with Kaede as the sole muscle. Ku Fei, despite her supposed advancement of her abilities is still holding the middleground of our cast. The majority of Negi's team is either intel, medical, or just plain weak.

 

But luckily Fate also had a party of weak minions for them to fight it out and stall a few more chapters. These characters only existed to be comic relief and to give Fate a more sympathetic backstory because even a cold emotionless doll can become a shounen rival. Our final hope, with Negi out of commission, lied on the group tasked to save that pesky princess from the hands of the enemy, with a meek and overlooked character heavily relied upon for yet another artifact coming from the actions of lip-to-lip. And they do it! They honest to God successfully do so.

 

...then a bunch of Fate clones show up and RUIN EVERYTHING.

 

Why? Just so Negi can wake up and KILL THEM ALL, with one Fate takes out to fully show us, the readers, how much he totally isn't an extremist anymore! He even saved his rival's females!

 

Kaede is taken out (but manages to get ahold of the key) quite easily, and several of our non-fighting friends fall as well, despite how supposedly bloodthirsty these clones are, who have none of the hesitance Fate holds, their damage to said girls are neligible. They'll be conscious in a few chapters with no permanent or even temporary consequence. Apparently saving the world only gives you a few bruises and bumps, especially when you are hopelessly outpowered by psychotic doll clones. Everyone's favourite man saves them all afterwards. Then he and the no-longer-a-bloodthirsty-extremist rival duke it out until Fate, because of how much he has softened, merely surrenders, giving in to Negi's idea of saving the world. Yes, let's rely on a ten-year-old boy who has zero experience in politics everybody! He's such a prodigy he'll manage it anyway! Meanwhile our female heroines, who as we can tell have absolutely zero power to really do anything in the actual fight, decide to save Asuna the sappy shoujo way, by holding hands and thinking of all the funtimes with our unconscious-forever princess. This is what these girls have been reduced to. This.

 

But then the rest of Cosmo Entelecheia show up and RUIN EVERYTHING! Again!

 

More impalement that literally can't kill Negi this time because he is some sort of immortal vampire like Evangeline! (Such nonexistent suspense!) These older guys show up and finish what Fate never could but luckily even Negi is saved from the likes of such beings by ALL THE TEACHERS AND EVA and Rakan who revives because he can, (or Asuna already used the key to reset button I forget) and defeats all those terrorist bastards. Evangeline particularly, when she decides to freeze them FOREVER. 

 

Yet again, someone shows up to ruin everything.

 

The CREATOR himself shows up, worfing basically EVERYONE in vicinity...until Asuna (with Negi) decides to smack him with a sword, and then we are revealed he is possessing Nagi's body, and then he disappears.

 

FINALLY the Magical World arc ends. Finaly. 

 

Idealism. There is nothing wrong with idealism. TTGL has a brilliant display of idealism, despite all the hardships and everything that may happen, you still continue on, head high, and believe you can do what you want to do, to challenge and defeat everything that attempts to surpress your immortal willpower. Negima's idealism is bullshit. Everything is at stake, absolutely everything, and half the cast waltzs through this predicament as if it were just a game. Meanwhile, we are treated with various shots and angles of these jailbait females naked because idealism and fanservice go hand-in-hand. The antagonists seemed to have softened this era for the sake of not harming those poor little students one bit, else their bodies be unfit to show the gazes of the readers. In the past era of Nagi and such, it was all no-nonsense, straight to the point. People died. Consequences were permanent, wars left orphans. The reason it's so dark in this era is because the heroes are not porcelain females but grizzled men. 

 

But now we can fix everything with a RESET BUTTON!

 

I'm not even going to go into the ending of Negima...we all know the response to that. This rant is just the summary of everything I had a problem with. The plot itself; the focus on one character and one character only. Kotaro's a pretty lousy rival if he gives up and actually calls himself a supporting character during the tournament. His goal was to be Negi's equal! He should still strive to be so no matter what. This even includes other characters who call themselves supporting characters in-canon. Though Negi's all like "you are the main character of your own story" their stories AREN'T THE STORY. What Negima feels like is Akamatsu wanting to do a shounen and a shounen only. So he starts off with the romantic comedy harem to fool the editors/publishers, then fully and completely transitions into a shounen, almost abandoning the characters of old from before. My favourite part of Negima was not the beginning or the end, but during that transition, when there was a delightful mixture. But we all know from the Magic World arc that wasn't his goal. 

 

And so the inner anger continues, forever to live on due to the great disappointment that is Negima.

This may be my last rant ever on Negima, unless something drastic occurs.