The New Manga/Anime Lounge

[Dark Soul # 7]

UQ Holder 134:

The Spell summons the astral projection of Asuna/Twilight Princess to the real world, where she is able to repel Cutlass and dispel Negi-Ialda's magic. Asuna appears to get Negi-Ialda in some kind of binding magic which also filters into Yue, Nodoka, Al, and Jack, since they are all connected to him. She also seems to awaken a little bit of Negi's consciousness from Ialda, at least enough that he agrees to back off and wait at the top of the tower for the true final showdown. Asuna says she will go with him, to help slow down Negi's descent into Ialda's madness which apparently Yue and Nodoka were helping with all these years. With that, they teleport to presumably the top of the tower.

Touta has a cute moment with Kirie in which it seems that he's become painfully aware of her feelings much to her embarrassment. Mana, Zazie, and some UQ holder team members helped keep the casualties down, and Fate is told to go away because they still don't like his plan.

Everyone returns to head quarters, but Cutlass appears to be infiltrating because she isn't connected to Ialda.

I wonder how often they're going to be able to pull off the "save all the civilians off screen" trick. Cause between that and Kirie they've got a lot of bases covered in terms of avoiding collateral damage, and I just feel that at some point both of those are going to fail and it's going to be bad.

With that I've caught up with the series and yeah, Akamatsu is still pretty freaking brilliant and drawing fight scenes. Some of the best of the business really.

Also, the Setsuna-daughter has wings!

Excellent. Now she just needs to tell Kuromaru about her totally awesome grandmom complete with a flashback of said grandma being awesome.

I demands it!

[Hazard]

Linebarrels of Iron updated after I don't know how long.

I don't even remember what's going on, but damn it, I liked that character!

[harashkupo]

I noticed UQ Holder is getting an anime at the end of the year and the only place I've ever heard of it was here. I'm kind of curious about it. What's it like or can it be compared to other series?

[Robotech Master]

I noticed UQ Holder is getting an anime at the end of the year and the only place I've ever heard of it was here. I'm kind of curious about it. What's it like or can it be compared to other series?

It's a peculiar existence, born of Ken Akamatsu's many years of frustration trying to make a straight up Shounen action manga but having to "sneak" all of that into Negima, since his editors all wanted another Love Hina Rom Com. And also from a brief period where he was having it out with his publishers which led to Negima getting an unceremonious end just in case they tried to wrestle ownership of it from him.

Once the dust settled, his next Manga was surprisingly revealed to be UQ Holder, a distant sequel to Negima staring Negi's supposed grandson and the character Evangeline, an immortal vampire from the previous series who is still of course alive. It takes place after Negima, but specifically after Negima in one particular timeline, one where things didn't exactly end happily ever after, and the main character Touta unwittingly ends up discovering that he has a part to play in the mess that was left to clean up. Like Negima, it retains some harem hijinks and fanservice, but unlike Negima's beginning, UQ Holder doesn't pretend its anything but a fighting manga and gets to that in the early arcs. It's a decent series with some fun characters and Akamatsu is actually *really* good at fight scenes. Knowledge of Negima is not strictly necessary, though I suspect makes it better.

Comparing it to other series is hard without lazily saying Negima. I suppose another way to look at it is: imagine Naruto is a sort-of dystopian future, but instead of ninjas with ninja weapons, its people with magic and magic tools, and instead of shadow clones, his main trick is being immortal. And instead of being clueless about girls he actually has most of them fawning over him. And instead of a ninja village, the titular UQ Holder is an organization of other immortals. Otherwise, yeah, slightly thickheaded but talented youth and phenominal power he doesn't know how to control yet joins secret organization and goes on several adventurous, battle-driven quests while he pursues his simple yet difficult dream, only to have that dream put on hold for a bit as secrets are revealed about his family and the evil organizations that want him so they can complete their plans. Lots of good, bloody fights since most of the cast is immortal and can take more severe beatings. And a sword that sometimes talks sarcastically. And boobs. And Lolis.

[Dark Soul # 7]

RM sums up UQ Holder nicely. It's solid series in general with mostly funny humor, a fun world, an entertaining cast of characters and some of the best fight scene in manga (really hoping that the anime can do a good job with those).

My main issue with the series is the same as in the later parts of Negima. There's just a bit too much harem hijinks going around for my taste. The less the series focuses on that aspect the more I enjoy it. Mainly because it feels somewhat deterimental to the female cast that almost every single one of them has an arc that's focused on gettin closer to Touta or helping him reach his goals, rather than having any bigger goals of their own. It's less of a problem here than it was in Negima, but it still kinda bugs me.

That and Dana. I really dislike Dana. I want to see Evangeline beat the shit out of Dana. But that's not gonna happen.

[harashkupo]

Oh wow, thanks for the reply. Sounds like it's going to be a fun series to watch. Now I'm definitely looking forward to it.

[Dark Soul # 7]

Recently read through two Shounen action series.

First was Akame Ga Kill. It had fun characters and cool action, but it was the dark places that the author would go to that made it real interesting. Characters died, villains committed absolutely heinous crimes and the main characters are anti-heroes that murder criminals whom just happen to be horrible individuals. And the ending was amazingly bittersweet. Most shounen series go out with a "the story is over but the adventure/life goes on, now you live your life young reader!" kind of ending. In Akame Ga Kill the cast saved the day and reformed the kingdom, but several of them are dead, others have deep psychological scars and some have their bodies cursed for seemingly the rest of their lives. It stands out to me, in a good way, though apparently the anime ending is even more of a downer.

I recommend it, it's a nice quick read for a somewhat darker take on shounen action.

And I've also caught up with Black Clover, which is as about as conventional shounen as you can get, for both good a bad. It's an enjoyable series with a big and diverse cast that have a nice rotation in terms of screen time. It does have some nice subversions to the genre as well, like main character Asta just flat out ignoring his inner evil side and rival character Yuno being a nice and polite kind of stoic fellow.

If you're looking for a new series to follow I'd say give it a read.

[RedWhiteAndBlueSupes]

Recently read through two Shounen action series.

First was Akame Ga Kill. It had fun characters and cool action, but it was the dark places that the author would go to that made it real interesting. Characters died, villains committed absolutely heinous crimes and the main characters are anti-heroes that murder criminals whom just happen to be horrible individuals. And the ending was amazingly bittersweet. Most shounen series go out with a "the story is over but the adventure/life goes on, now you live your life young reader!" kind of ending. In Akame Ga Kill the cast saved the day and reformed the kingdom, but several of them are dead, others have deep psychological scars and some have their bodies cursed for seemingly the rest of their lives. It stands out to me, in a good way, though apparently the anime ending is even more of a downer.

Is the manga still ongoing? I didn't like the end of the Akame Ga Kill anime. I need to catch up on the manga but last i knew Tatsumi had some kind of curse on him with the Incursio armor slowly killing him or something, anyway it was alot better than the anime ending.

[RedWhiteAndBlueSupes]

Nevermind I just read the ending of AGK manga, it's better than the anime at least, meh idk jurys out still on the ending.

[Robotech Master]

Nevermind I just read the ending of AGK manga, it's better than the anime at least, meh idk jurys out still on the ending.

Tatsumi being stuck as a dragon is kinda weird to me, but it is a better fate than the anime, not to mention Mine surviving. Overall I do like the manga ending.


So UQ Holder special editions of Tankouban in Japan came with DVDs that contain AMVs for Negima, set to new animation of what a hypothetical proper anime adaptation with a good budget would look like. Featuring little snippets of scenes from the Wilhelm, School Festival, and Kyoto arcs, as well as things that look like could have served as OP or ED things.

It's cool...but also like twisting a knife in your soul!

[Dark Soul # 7]

Nevermind I just read the ending of AGK manga, it's better than the anime at least, meh idk jurys out still on the ending.

Again, I really like the ending and how bittersweet it. The cast didn't walk out of the conflict unscathed and even though things didn't work out for them they live on. It's memorable and touching if you ask me.

Tatsumi being stuck as a dragon is kinda weird to me, but it is a better fate than the anime, not to mention Mine surviving. Overall I do like the manga ending.

Mine surviving is a definite plus in the manga's favour. And I'm glad that she and Tatsumi at least managed to be intimate once and got a kid out of it. I'm kinda really curious about how growing up is for that kid.

So UQ Holder special editions of Tankouban in Japan came with DVDs that contain AMVs for Negima, set to new animation of what a hypothetical proper anime adaptation with a good budget would look like. Featuring little snippets of scenes from the Wilhelm, School Festival, and Kyoto arcs, as well as things that look like could have served as OP or ED things.

It's cool...but also like twisting a knife in your soul!

Yeah, it just reminds me that I'll never get to see the Setsuna/Evangeline fight, among other things, in animated form.

Some of it also looks like a promo for a fighting game, and I instantly wonder what a Negima version of the Ultimate Ninja Storm series would've been like. Awesome is the answer.

[Dark Soul # 7]

UQ Holder 135: Kirie-focused chapter as she and Touta get closer to one another. It's partly thanks to Jinbei who plays cupid and reveals his power to switch the places of two people or items. But he does it too haphazardously leading to many awkward situations.

Yukihime is much better at being cupid, actually suggesting that they just go out so that Touta can get over her. Which I wholeheartedly encourage so that we can forget about that subplot and never mention it again.

[Robotech Master]

Yeah, it just reminds me that I'll never get to see the Setsuna/Evangeline fight, among other things, in animated form.

We got the OAD series, which was better than nothing, but man why couldn't they at least give us a series of OADs to adapt arcs step by step. You don't even have to worry about censorship that way.

Some of it also looks like a promo for a fighting game, and I instantly wonder what a Negima version of the Ultimate Ninja Storm series would've been like. Awesome is the answer.

Dude, I once had a dream that something like this existed. Not quite 1:1 Ninja Storm, but a really fast paced fighter with 2 vs. 2 local multiplayer, blazblue-like combos, and a roster so big that it included side characters like Fate's ministra harem and the Shadow guy that Rakan teamed up with in the tournament. Then I woke up and realized it didn't exist. Sadness.

UQ Holder 135: Kirie-focused chapter as she and Touta get closer to one another. It's partly thanks to Jinbei who plays cupid and reveals his power to switch the places of two people or items. But he does it too haphazardously leading to many awkward situations.

Yukihime is much better at being cupid, actually suggesting that they just go out so that Touta can get over her. Which I wholeheartedly encourage so that we can forget about that subplot and never mention it again.

Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised that the chapter went forward with actually advancing their relationship to that degree. While I really doubt Kirie will relent to officially dating next chapter, the whole ordeal nonetheless seems to have propelled her to main girl status.

I'm really curious is that was always Ken's plan, or if he's simply noticed that their pairing is well received and is going with it.

[Dark Soul # 7]

We got the OAD series, which was better than nothing, but man why couldn't they at least give us a series of OADs to adapt arcs step by step. You don't even have to worry about censorship that way.

It didn't even need to be all the arcs. They could've just covered the big moments like Negi vs. Rakan, all the pactios that followed that and Ala Alba taking on Fate's team with the overly long name for the finale and then made up an average nice anime ending. That would've been just fine too.

Also, I've watched this clip and the Negi vs. Evangeline fight a bit too much lately.

Dude, I once had a dream that something like this existed. Not quite 1:1 Ninja Storm, but a really fast paced fighter with 2 vs. 2 local multiplayer, blazblue-like combos, and a roster so big that it included side characters like Fate's ministra harem and the Shadow guy that Rakan teamed up with in the tournament. Then I woke up and realized it didn't exist. Sadness.

Oh that would've been cool. And awakening style transformations for everybody, Negi could go into his lightning form, Koutarou transforms into his black beast mode, Setsuna pulls out her artifact from the pactio with Konoka etc. I love that kind of stuff.

Alternately, I think a Kingdom Hearts/FFXV style action RPG would've suited the series well too. With multiple characters to choose from, alternate camera angles for local co-op team missions and epic boss fights.

Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised that the chapter went forward with actually advancing their relationship to that degree. While I really doubt Kirie will relent to officially dating next chapter, the whole ordeal nonetheless seems to have propelled her to main girl status.

I'm really curious is that was always Ken's plan, or if he's simply noticed that their pairing is well received and is going with it.

Kirie's general character arc and popularity reminds me a lot of Chisame, with the difference that Kirie seems to be more totally in love with Touta, whereas Chisame could go kinda either way with Negi. But yeah, unless the other candidates start taking action and develop their relationship soon Kirie could totally become the main girl.

[harashkupo]

Keijo manga finally ended at the chapter 177 with a good bang.

That's nice to hear. Such a hilarious show. I don't know what was more fun, the over the top humor or the buttload of shonen references.