Aaaaaaand take two!
Technically, there's already been an anime series -- "Negima" -- about preteen wizard/schoolteacher Negi Springfield.
But apparently that isn't stopping them from creating another parallel series, rebooting and revamping Ken Akamatsu's bestselling manga into the visually lush, fantastical "Negima!?" (see, the question and exclaimation mark mean it's a different show!). And this series is a vastly different creation -- while it's rarely faithful to the original manga's storylines, it's still a solid fantasy story sprinkled with some fun comic relief. And chupacabras.
Negi has been assigned to a vast all-girls Mahora Academy in Japan -- but things start going wrong before he even starts. Half-asleep student Asuna witnesses a small magical display, and a vampire is attacking students. A vampire who is also his student.
Even worse, the vampire Evangeline and her robotic partner Chachamaru are targeting Negi, since the boy is her only ticket out of a curse...
Negima--sort of
After Studio XEBEC adapted the first bit of Ken Akamatsu's popular "Negima" manga, many fans were left wanting more. The first adaptation was for the most part faithful to the manga but took a drastic turn at the very end (which I will not spoil here). Though it was all in all a solid adaptation it left fans divided and desiring some more closure. Then the news broke that Studio Shaft would be taking on the franchise, starting with the spring and summer ova's that adapted (kind of?) a little bit more of the manga. Fans waited in anticipation for the next stage of the adaptation, hopefully filling in what got left out.
They did not get it.
What they did get, though, was this delightful little series which simultaneously confuses the hell out of me and makes me chuckle at its oddities.
After adapting the Evangeline vampire arc the story quickly shifts into something original, not following the manga at all. The story here is interesting, but not as good as the story in...
When they say re-imagined, they mean it. But this is definitely the superior anime.
First of all, I love the Negima manga series. The U.S. release is now up to volume 20 and it has been a fantastic ride the whole way through. The first anime series was ok. For the most part it followed the stories laid out in the first few volumes of the manga pretty accurately. Then for the final few episodes they created original material to wrap up the series. Overall, it was fun to see a great manga series in animated form with voices and music, but they really only scratched the surface.
This second Negima anime series starts over and pretty much tells its own story. Some might complain because they want to see the Manga better represented, but I see no need for this. I can enjoy the anime series as an alternate storyline, and this one is just all around fun. The animation is fantastic and the characters are well represented. Since it's a new story I get the same sense of wondering what will happen next that I do when reading the manga.
One bit of...
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