JJOR64 (Level 16)

Next up is Negima!?  Let’s clear some things up first.  Negima!? is an adaptation of the manga of the same name, which is an alternate retelling of the original manga Negima! created by Ken Akamatsu of Love Hina fame.  Negima!? is a harem romantic-comedy show with magic elements.  The show does have some action thrown in as well.

Here is the show in a nutshell:  Negi Springfield (the main character) is a ten year old wizard from Wales.  His dream is to become a Magister Magi.  Negi just graduated from Merdiana Magic Acadamy and is given a strange assignment, he must become an English teacher at a all girls junior high school for a class of 31 girls.  (This is just like the original manga.  The rest is new to the spin-off.)  One year has past and two representatives from the Magic Academy arrive at Mahora with some bad news.  The say that the mysterious artifact known as the Star Crystal has disappeared. The Star Crystal is a very powerful crystal that no one can control, not even Thousand Master (Negi's father, a powerful wizard) could control. Even the disappearance of the Star Crystal is still a mystery, the effects of the artifact begin to envelop Negi and his students.  Negi and his students must do what they can to stop the darkness's attacks cause by the Star Crystal.
 
That's the plot of the show in a brief nutshell.  It's simple and straight to the point.  Now it's my thoughts on Negima!?.
 
It was a solid show.  For me it had a slow start.  Didn't really tack on to me till around episode 4ish.  It started out pretty good, then around the middle is just kinda went a little down hill, the around the last 4 episodes and started getting better again.  Now if only the pacing of the show was like the beginning and the ending, mashed up and had that pacing through the whole show, it would have been better.  They say that this spin-off is supposed to be more comedy and action orientated, but I thought the comedy was kinda lacking.  There were a lot a times through out the show that were like "hey, you are supposed to laugh", but I didn't.  There were some funny parts, don't get me wrong, but just not as many as I would have liked.  The action was good so they got that part right.  Now some things I liked.  I loved the characters.  I thought Negi was a great character and the many, many supporting characters were great as well.  It seems like Ken Akamatsu always makes lovable characters.  I loved all the characters in Love Hina.  The art style was nice and colorful as well.  The show was animated by Shaft, who worked on Ef and Bakemonogatari so they have worked on some good shows.  The music was solid was well.  Sure there was better stuff out there, but it wasn't to bad for the show, I thought it fit it with the show just right.
 
Review summary:  I thought the characters were awesome, but the comedy and the story was kinda lacking for me.  This show isn't terrible, it's solid.  It has it's up and downs, but I still got some enjoyment out of it.  If you are looking for a new harem anime to watch, you could try this one.  I would easily recommend Love Hina over this one though.
 
My Score - 3.5/5
 
WHAT'S NEXT:  I haven't given up on Negima yet.  I was kinda thinking of checking out the manga for Negima!? to see if it was any better, but I decided I'm going to check out the anime for the original series and see how that goes.  If I enjoy it then I'm thinking about checking out the original manga as well.  I loved Love Hina so I'm hoping I will love the original Negima! series as well.