Negima! Manga Vol 36 Ch 330 Review

魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 36 Chapter 330 (manga)
Mahou Sensei Negima! Manga Chapter 330

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Fate and Negi are down, but Negi is amazed to see the cloaked figure approaching and reviving all of the previously "killed" members of Kosmo Entelecheia, including the Lifemaker.  Despite Fate having switched sides, his fight with Negi bought them enough time to come back in full force. Despite his injury, Negi rises to face his opponents, telling them with his plan, they need not follow the course they'd laid out.  They aren't impressed by this nor the fact that Negi is the son of the Thousand Master.  As a result, KE blasts him with multiple, massive spells but Negi is defended by Fate.  

As the two fend off the attacks from KE, Shiori and Konoka gather the girls to try to save Asuna as her waking up is their only hope with only five minutes left on the clock. However, Primum and Nii stand in their way and with the blink of an eye, Primum takes Mei out with a massive bolt of lightning. Nii attacks with a massive inferno attack and it is all that Ku Fei can do to protect the girls. Chamo realizes the desperate situation as does Negi, who is distracted by the attacks on the girls. Fate gets taken down by the brawn member of KE while three others all cast 1000 Thunderbolts on Fate and Negi.

Fate and Negi down, Secundum taunts Fate, who had previously slain him, telling him he could go join his girlfriend for an eternity of coffee while he tells Negi that he can go to the world where his mother and father await. However, before Secundum can cast his final spell, his arm is grabbed by Eva, who is shadow-gating in.  Secundum is surprised as Eva tells Negi that she had to help her weak and troublesome disciple.

Thoughts/Review:

If you'll pardon the cliched, Japanese response to the end of this chapter -- KYAAAAAA!!!!  ^_^

It may be my own tire eyeballs, but I'm still not 100% sure on the the first resurrected figure.  I'm calling him the Lifemaker because one translator ID'd him as such. However, the Lifemaker and Mage of the Beginning were always the same person, or so I'd thought.  Well, I'm sure you guys will help me as well as a good night's sleep. ^_^

Where's Chibi-Mage?

The setup for Eva's arrival kinda mirrors her arrival to save Negi's bacon in volume 6, but I don't mind at all.  Negi is again in an impossible situation where he has fought well but now is outmatched.  It makes sense that the MotB would bring back to life all of the former constructs now that there's so much magical energy there to do so. 

I feel sorry for Mei. I'd like for her to get stronger and kick some arse but she often gets the short end of the stick, and fairly quickly.  As Mei got taken out in this chapter, I couldn't help but recall how in the Mahora Budokai, Kotaro wondered if she should even be there considering how weak she was.

Still, lets get onto the real deal -- the last page of the manga. ^_^

When I saw this page, I felt the same way I did when I read volume 6 and Eva arrived there -- totally excited and squealing like a schoolkid. ^_^  Back then, we'd seen Eva toying around with Negi in volume 3 but there were always hints that she was extraordinarily powerful -- a final boss-type character.  While her shadow-gating in to save Negi's keester in volume 6 was very nifty (combined with how she laid the smack-down on Fate, forcing him to beat a hasty retreat rather than fight a shinso vampire), she never got to show us much. Sure, she defeated Ryoumen Sukuna no Kami, but that wasn't so impressive because it wasn't able to fight back (best way to defeat your opponent is to make sure your opponent can't fight). 

In the end, we only got a taste of Eva then. Akamatsu-sensei has wisely kept her out of Negi's battles, though she does observe, as she did during his battle with Graf Herrman and during the Mahora Festival.  During Negi's training with Eva, Chachamaru, and Chachazero, we again get a taste of Eva's power and awesomeness.   Negi's fight with faux-Eva during his training on the Magic World doesn't mean much either other than to tease.

So, when it came to Eva, there were two things I wanted to see.  First, I wanted more on her backstory, including the circumstances behind her being turned into a vampire, what she did to score a high bounty on the magic world, and how she met up with Nagi and the rest of Ala Rubra.   Second, I wanted to see Eva unleashed and in a real fight where she's trying to slaughter her opponents.

Thanks to how Akamatsu-sensei has crafted the ending of the Magic World arc, he tied Eva nicely in with the Mage of the Beginning and thus we start to learn a bit more about Eva's past with hopefully more to come.  Then, thanks to the Gravekeeper's Palace appearing in the skies above Mahora (and apparently within Mahora's barrier) combined with the fact that the amount of magic at Mahora has allowed Eva to go back to full power, Akamatsu-sensei makes me giddy by having Eva shadow-gate in and stop Secundum the same way she stopped Fate back in volume 6. 

Now, all that remains is for Eva to open up a serious can of whoop-arse on everyone, fighting alongside Chachazero.  Oh, how sweet that would be if Akamatsu-sensei allows her and Chachazero to really go off.  He could because all of the KE opponents are apparently constructs, thus as he's shown when Secundum brutally executed Shiori's sister, Akamatsu-sensei could allow Eva and Chachamaru to execute some KE fools.

Still, does Eva's appearance mean a deus ex machina ploy?  I really can't see it as such.  I have long thought that one day, Akamatsu-sensei would find a way to get Eva back into the thick of things and here it is.  I don't think that Eva would be able to defeat the entire KE force with Chachazero at her side, but say Negi gets back on his feet and joins the fight alongside his master, then yeah.  Plus, Akamatsu-sensei might take this opportunity to have the student surpass the master. ^_^

So, I eagerly await the arrival of chapter 331, though I understand it will be a shorter chapter.

X-Men Anime -- Final Thoughts

I'm a longtime fans of the X-Men, going back to 1983. I admit that I haven't read the comic book since the mid-90's but I did rather enjoy the first couple of X-Men movies (didn't like the third).  So, when I heard that the Japanese anime company Madhouse were going to do an X-Men anime as the third leg of their four-legged Marvel comics as anime exploration, I thought I'd give it a look-see.  After all, the X-Men had connections with Japan beyond the Wolverine character and I was interested in seeing how the Japanese, even if aided by Americans, would do.

The X-Men anime series doesn't bother with the niceties of introducing the audiences to the X-Men.  Instead, the OP sequence is used to show the different X-Men used in the anime (Cyclops, Wolverine, Beast, Storm, Xavier) and states their power.  Its clear the anime was written and produced for fans of X-Men rather than new fans. As such, the story starts with Mastermind's Inner Circle observing the X-Men battling their former teammate Jean Gray, aka Dark Phoenix. Now, as a fan of the comic book, I knew the story of how Mastermind triggered Jean Gray's ultimate fall but I couldn't imagine how Japanese viewers might see this.

The story picks up a year later with Scott, aka: Cyclops, moping over the loss of Jean.  With a mystery involving mutants going on in Japan, topped off with the kidnapping of a Japanese mutant girl named Hisako, the X-Men are called into action and thus the writers have Scott work through his issues over Jean Gray's death.  As such, Scott gets a fair amount of character work done.  Storm, Beast, and Wolverine just do their thing.  Joining X-Men are Hisako (when she's found) and Emma Frost, the woman who was to tutor her. The two of them get some character work done which does put the anime into an area above simple action titles.

As to the story itself, when Scott isn't overcoming his personal demons and we aren't learning tidbits about Hisako or Emma, the plot is slowly unwound with the mysteries of mutant events in the Tohaku region. To add spice to things, the X-Men first have to battle through the U-Men before moving on to Mastermind and his Inner Circle. The writers manage to get in all of the things one would expect from X-Men -- Beast's intellect, Cyclops leadership, Wolverine's berserker mode, Storm's wisdom as well as power, and Xavier's overall fatherly attitude to the X-Men.  Those who know Emma and Hisako are also likely to get things they expect as well.

As a fan of the X-Men franchise, I found the anime to be entertaining enough.  I had no major problems with the story. There was a right mixture of action, mystery, and some character development (as described above). I have a hard time separating myself from what I know about the X-Men and their history, but I don't think that new fans would have too hard of a problem following things or becoming interested in the story. All questions raised are answered and threads tied up. Heck, even a sequel with an all new story is suggested at the tail end of the final episode. My only problem was the anti-climactic and cliched ending.

Despite this, as I sit here and write, I find I am struggling and not just because I wish I were in bed.  As I said, the anime was entertaining enough but it wasn't all that.  If one were to say, "Wanna watch that X-Men anime again?", I'd say, "Uh, no, that's OK.  Thanks anyway."  On the other hand, were one to say, "There's going to be a sequel to the X-Men anime. Wanna watch it?", I'd say, "Yeah, I think I will and even blog it."  So for me, the anime was decent enough and I was thoroughly entertained, but it just never grabbed me enough to set me on fire with a desire to see it again.  Maybe I'm just getting older. ^_~

Genshiken Nidaime Manga Chapter 63 Review

げんしけん: 二代目Chapter 063

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Yabusaki and Naoko are setting the booth up at ComiFest while waiting for Ogiue to show up. To Yabusaki's horror, Sue shows up instead since Ogiue worked all night on a copy-bon and was getting some sleep.

Outside Tokyo Big Sight sitting in line in the heat are Ohno, Angela, Tanaka, Kuchiki, Hato, Yoshitake, and Yajima. Ohno asks Hato if he's sure he wants to cosplay as a woman and Yajima again asks that he dress as a normal guy, especially now that they've all seen him as such. Hato wants them to forget that and that he's going to visit the female-oriented circles as a girl. Angela decides to give Hato a check to see if he really is a man or not, leading to punishment from Ohno for that. With Angela cosplaying with Ohno, as usual, she's expecting Sue to buy her stuff since she has the same tastes as Sue. Ohno asks Yoshitake and Yajima to cosplay on the 3rd day of ComiFest so she can see it as well.

Kuchiki talks with Tanaka about the freshmen, the event, and learns that Madarame and Kugayama are coming for Day 3.  Kuchiki says that the last time he'd talked with Madarame, Madarame didn't say for sure that he was coming, leading Tanaka to wonder if he'd misheard Madarame.

As the doors open and the announcements are made, Sue points to a chair, expecting Yabusaki to sit, something Yabusaki has no intention of doing. Naoko decides to take the chair as their first customer arrives, hoping to meet "Ogino-sensei," Ogiue's pen name, since the customer liked the first part of her official manga in Afternoon (magazine).  Ogiue's new doujinshi sells out in short order, leaving only Yabusaki's stuff and possibly some older stuff of Ogiue's (it isn't clear what's left). Naoko takes off, leaving a horrified Yabusaki and a smirking Sue to man the booth.

While Ohno and Angela cosplay outside and have their photos taken, Hato, Yajima, and Yoshitake split up to try to hit as many of the big circles as they can, buying five copies of the new stuff to split later. Hato is cosplaying as a female anime character and discovers how the line process works as the person at the end of the line holds a placard that says what line this is up high.  However, when Hato needs to go to the toilet, he discovers that because he doesn't feel comfortable using a urinal while in female cosplay, he holds the sign for the line to take a crap.

Back at the booth, Ogiue's junior high friend Nakajima pays the booth a visit, looking for Ogiue.

Thoughts/Review:

Before I read this chapter, I felt the need to re-read the entire nine volumes of Genshiken.  Mainly, I wanted to get back to when Ohno, Kuchiki, and Ogiue joined as well as Sue's introduction to the series. I guess I wanted to follow their progress through the manga, even though the original series tried to be centered on Sasahara and Saki for the most part, though Madarame took up more of the center than Kio-sensei may have planned.  I mention this because now I have a fresh read of the first nine volumes and thus the stuff between Sue and Yabusaki become funnier.  In addition, the ending having Nakajima showing up has me rather excited and chomping at the bit to read the next chapter (which likely won't happen until July). Man, I sure hope Kodansha Comics announces a license soon 'cause I do wants to buy this in English, I does. ^_^

I dub this chapter, "Sue win" because Sue is so awesome.  Indeed, this image sums up that win quite nicely.

Heh!heh!heh!  I know I've said this before, but Sue has become my favorite character in the new Genshiken.When she was introduced in the first series, I didn't care for her that much but now, I just find her awesome beyond belief, so much so that when I reread the original manga, she was a lot better in hindsight than she had been. *lol*  The way she handles Yabusaki makes me laugh because clearly Sue is having a lot of fun at her expense. Well, that's what Yabusaki gets for freaking out over the "gaijin" when they first met and pretty much still not knowing how to handle Sue in subsequent meetings.

Good to see Tanaka here in an extended cameo talking with Kuchiki.  Kuchiki actually comes off as a human being while he talked with Tanaka, which I liked. I also liked that Madarame and Kugayama are coming to Day 3, though no mention of Sasahara, which is kind of a bummer. Well, Sasakara and Tousaka probably couldn't get away from work and so wouldn't be able to attend. There are hints that maybe Madarame won't come. I can't see Madarame not coming though.  Kugayama skipping wouldn't be a surprise because of work.

Hato's toilet problems were amusing though I didn't laugh.  One would think that he'd stop always dressing as a girl to avoid these kinds of problems, but I guess he's decided it is a worse problem to be seen as a heterosexual male buying yaoi and shounen ai porn.

Anyway, with Ogiue shown to have gotten up and the manga ending with Nakajima's scornful smirk, I'm going to guess they may have an encounter.  Actually, before that, I can see Yabusaki finally finding common ground with Sue in defending Ogiue should Nakajima decide to say something ugly about Ogiue. Both have a great deal of admiration and respect for Ogiue and though Yabusaki doesn't like Sue and Sue loves tormenting Yabusaki, the two would seem to make a perfect pair to show support for Ogiue to Nakajima. We'll see what happens (hopefully, sooner rather than later).

So, a good and fun ComiFest chapter with at least one more on the way.  Looking forward to it.

X-Men - 12 (Finale)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

With Takeo out of control and the world now a strange red color, sky and all, Xavier sends out a telepathic message to the mutants of the world, including other known X-Men as well as Captain Britain. They, along with Iron Man help humans as best they can through this crisis.  Xavier attempts to enter Takeo's mind, but his first attempt it repulsed. His second attempt succeeds and Cyclops wants to go on the offensive even though it would mean killing Xavier as non-action could mean the end of the world. Hisako begs him not to, leading Wolverine to side with Cyclops.  However, Takeo has other plans and the X-Men are all felled without much of an effort by Takeo. However, it is the ghost of Jean that causes them all to revive as she reminds them of their duty.

Xavier fails to reach Takeo and is about to take the boy down mentally at the cost of his own life. Realizing this, Sasaki-sensei tries to reach her son but fails. Hisako doesn't want things to end like this and activates her armor power, which now has a new form that glows gold. She approaches her childhood friend and manages to reach him. After taking her hand mentally, Takeo is mentally embraced by Xavier and the boy begins vanishing in light. Sasaki is about to commit suicide, but Takeo makes his final wish known, revealing a happy boy with both her and Xavier. Xavier comforts Sasaki and with the crisis over, Cyclops and the other X-Men elevate Hisako in their ranks before wondering how they are going to get home.

In prison, Magneto escapes, meaning the X-Men's fight isn't over.

Thoughts/Review: 

Not much to say here. Hisako, who was the most annoying of the characters though I didn't hate her, saves the day with a cliched "love will find a way" means of reaching Hisako. Yeah, whatever. Takeo sacrifices himself as Jean did a year earlier. Isn't life swell when these massively powered and out of control mutants do that?  Brings a tear to the old eyeballs.  OK, maybe not.

Still, I was hoping for something different.  Well, Sasaki-sensei didn't die so that was different.  A lot of others did die, including the entire U-Men and Inner Circle operation.

While I liked the cameos by Angel, Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Rogue as X-Men, I had to ask, "So where the heck were these guys before?"  Seriously, the episode implies that these guys are X-Men by their costumes but if they were X-Men, why weren't they in Japan with the rest of the team? Why weren't they part of the original fight with Dark Phoenix (Jean Gray)?  That made no sense to me.  One could argue that maybe they weren't in the X-Men, but if that's so, why have Colossus wearing the "X" belt?  Why have Nightcrawler wearing the "X" for X-Men costume?  Or Deadpool in his X-Men costume for that matter?

Captain Britain had a cameo, which surprised me. I suppose that was to try to show, in VERY limited form, the global nature of Xavier's telepathic communication.

Iron Man scored a cameo even though he's not a mutant. That didn't surprise me considering the Iron Man anime.

Blade supposedly had a cameo in the episode, but I didn't notice it. Then again, I'm not a Blade fan so maybe I missed it.


After the end credits, there's a scene to set up a potential sequel with Magneto being the villain. That's not surprising considering how Magneto was featured, along with others from the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants like Juggernaut and Mystique, in the end credits. Indeed, Magneto gets a double-whammy because his character is shown twice in the end credits, though at the same time. If there is a sequel, I guess I'll watch.

I'll write a final review later but in the end, this episode closes the X-Men anime in a cliched fashion but does give a happy ending.

2011 Denver Cherry Blossom Festival

I wasn't sure I'd get to do it this year, but I did manage to slip away for a few hours and attend the 2011 Denver Cherry Blossom Festival.  The beef bowls were better this year (yay), there were sake samples (yay!), the cosplayers were out, the stage events were up, and the venders appeared to be doing a brisk business. (A special shout out to Brant Fuse and Sumo Fish -- as usual, I scored a new t-shirt from him because I think they rock. If you go by his website and order a shirt, tell him AstroNerdBoy sent ya.) ^_^  All in all, it was a good time.  So, here are some photos I snapped with me new camera.  I have some video too, but I have to buy a new PC first just to be able to retrieve the files, to say nothing of playing them and uploading them, which I'll probably do on YouTube in the future.

The Booths

Here were some of the vendor booths I encountered.

Vintage Kimono

Bushido Designs

Denver Bonsai Club

Denver Taiko
(They just released a new CD, which I bought.)

Fat Rabbit Farm

Gimme Anime
(They are in the process of establishing a reliable means of getting manga tankoubon for US fans to buy.)

A couple of baby shirts from Gimme Anime.

Japanese dolls for sale (vendor unknown).

Mochi ice cream -- unusual.

Oyako

Pacific Mercantile Exchange Booth

Temple Raffle Tickets

Sumo Fish
(Excellent Japanese-themed t-shirts!)

The Crowds

With the weather being quite good (mid-80's for highs, no rain), the crowds that came to the festival were pretty good-sized.

 

Cosplay

As you might expect, an event such as this brings out a few people in cosplay.  With the new camera in hand, I was a bit more aggressive in seeking these folks out. ^_^

Wearing a hat isn't much cosplay, but people were often stopping this couple to ask where they bought them.

Neko-mimi Komono

I've seen these two here before. ^_^

Well, a happi isn't much cosplay, but what the heck. ^_~

Kagome and friend. ^_^

Dancing in the street!

I should have asked if he were cosplaying a specific character considering the wig, sword, and fan.

The lolitas this year weren't scary. ^_^;;;

A couple of candidates for "Goth 2 Boss."  ^_^
(Google it. ^_~)

On Stage

There were a number of performers on stage from a taiko group, a group playing the koto, martial arts, Japanese traditional dance as well as Japanese folk dance, and more. 

Akido - one of the martial arts demonstrations.

Japanese folk dancing. Who will do this when these ladies pass on?

Japanese traditional dance with children.

Musical poetry recital - very Japanese. ^_^

Miwa-sensei playing the koto as part of Rocky Mountain Sankyoku.

Taiko with Toni and Lance -- they've grown in size. ^_^

The yo-yo champ and long-time member of Taiko with Toni and Lance.

Lance on the far right and his wife Toni next to him.

Toni, Lance, and the rest of the taiko players come into the crowd.

I never get to stay as long as I'd like at this event.  Well, that's the joys of the schedule I work and the need for sleep, which had caught up to me for sure. One year, I'll have to stay and attend the Bon Odori part of Saturday's events. I'm sure that would be interesting since the Denver Cherry Blossom Festival covers both the Sakura Matsuri and the Bon Odori festivals from Japan (the former done in spring and the latter in summer).