Ken Akamatsu is a genius. I know some people may not agree with me on that, but I fully believe that he is. When "Love Hina" came out, it was slammed by many people as being stupid, dull, repetitive, and in some cases people thought that it just wasn't very funny. I was one of those people too at first, but the more of it I read, the better it got, and what had started out as a painfully dull story become one of the most memorable stories I've read. That's when I realized just how brilliant he was! Since "Love Hina" ended, Ken decided that he needed a break, so he took a year off from drawing manga.

owever, now he's back with his new series, entitled "Negima," and this has the shapings to be another great series from Akamatsu (although chances are this series will fall under some of the same attacks "Love Hina" fell under). The story in "Negima" revolves around ten-year-old Negi Springfield, who is a magician who has just graduated from the Magic Academy (I know, it sounds like something from "Harry Potter", but it gets better... not that there's anything WRONG with "Harry Potter" in the first place).

Negi's dream is to become the greatest Magister who ever lived. What's a Magister, you ask? A Magister is a wandering wizard who helps out people on his journey. Negi wants to become the greatest Magister because another Magister helped him out one day, and believed in him so much that he even gave Negi his staff! However, Negi needs lots of practice using his magic in the real world, so he is sent to an all-girls' school to teach English and gain some experience in the real world. Thing is, he can't let anyone know that he can use magic, otherwise he's outta there, and his dream to become a Magister will then be over. People who are familiar with "Love Hina" (and other "guys surrounded by a bunch of girls" series for that matter) may be rolling their eyes right now thinking that this series will be nothing but a bunch of cliches and potty jokes, but the funny thing about this series is that it's not cliched at all. For starters, Negi is not a natural born loser like Keitaro was. He is smart, he's cute, and he's charming. The ladies all love him (which is a first for a series like this), and whenever Negi messes up he is very modest about it, and simply apologizes instead of going ballistic every time he makes a mistake.

Another thing that is original about this series is that there is no set love interest right from the get-go. Negi runs into a girl named Asuna that he has to bunk with; however, she is not established as a love interest, but instead is established as someone to get in Negi's way since she holds a grudge against him (you see, he replaced the English teacher Asuna has a crush on, and when she finds out about his magic it's payback time). Another thing I like about this series is that no one is really stupid in this series. Oh sure, there are a couple of boneheads, but with all the characters in this series, so far not one of them has turned out to be downright dumb (although, that may very well change in the future sometime). However, you can't look at the good without looking at the bad, and unfortunately "Negima" has some of the shortcomings that "Love Hina" also had. For starters, since this IS a Ken Akamatsu series, there is quite a bit of nudity sometimes. It's never overly graphic since the nudity IS used for comedic effects, but it's still there, and it still comes off as immature sometimes, like Negi's little problem of not being able to control his magic when he sneezes, so when he sneezes he ends up blowing the girls' clothes off! And of course, there are the occasional bath scenes that are always welcome to some people, and bothersome to others.

Another thing that may or may not be a problem is the large cast. In "Love Hina," there was a decent-sized cast that got developed as the series progressed, but in this series we are told that there will be no less than at least 37 characters in this series. 37 characters?! I'll hold off on judgment since I don't know if Ken will handle these characters well or not, but I personally see a potential train wreck coming with a cast THAT size! But aside from these minor quibbles, the series has started out promising so far. However, then we have a couple of minor problems with Del Rey's release. For starters, the book is $10.95. This was done because we were promised special features like color pages, translation notes, and other such things. And while the translation notes and art sketches are in fact here, the color pages are not (thanks to Sly05 for the pictures):

Del Rey's version of "Negima" looks a little paler without the color pages the Japanese release has

As you can see above, the color pages are MUCH nicer than the black & white reprints, and it would have been nice if Del Rey had preserved the color pages (and believe me, I don't care much for the sketch art, but if I'm paying an extra dollar for these books, I DO want the color pages left intact)! Another problem that SOME people might have a problem with is that there are a couple of Americanized references in the translation (example: "It's time to bend it like Beckham!"). I personally don't think any of the changes they made were a BIG deal, but I know some people may not agree with me, so I'm just warning you now! Another thing that some people may not like is the fact that they have to buy the book to find out what it's like, as Del Rey has shipped this book wrapped in plastic wrapping so you can't take a peek inside it while you're in the store.

They did this for a reason, of course. Originally, Del Rey was going to censor the nudity to appeal to a more "mainstream" audience, but the fan outcry was so great that Del Rey changed their minds, and instead opted to shrink-wrap the title with a (removable) warning sticker warning customers of the mature content in the book. I personally think that the idea of this title needing to be censored in the first place when series like Ken's very own "Love Hina" have become best sellers with the same amount, if not worse, content is confusing, but I'd rather read the title uncut. So if this is what it will take to avoid the series getting censored, then I'm all for it.

What it all boils down to, though, despite the minor complaints I have about the presentation and the cliches, is that "Negima" is promising to be one of the next big series to come out. Much like "Naruto" and "Boys Over Flowers" have become big hits, I predict that if the story continues the way it does (and gets better along the way), then "Negima" will become just as popular and loved as those two series, if not more! So what are you waiting for? Go pick up this book and enjoy what is sure to become a new favorite series in your collection!

- -Review By Kevin T. Rodriguez- -