Negima Volume 15

Rating All Ages Genre manga Publisher Del Rey External Links Negima Volume 15

I have not followed Negima at all. I may have seen it on a store shelf. That was the extent of my knowledge. I've since learned it is the work of the creator of Love Hina, which I was more familiar with (but still had never read). It is the story of Negi, a ten-year-old English teacher at an all-girls school in Japan. His job is difficult enough as it is (being ten, and somehow teaching). But on top of that, there is another world, one that seems a little like the world of Harry Potter, a world where magicians live, unbeknowest to us normal folk.

This volume mainly follows the story of Negi and his students' attempts to stop Chao, a former classmate who has journeyed from her home on Mars (!) and travelled back in time to change history (!). Her goal is to reveal the existence of magic to the world. Negi, being not just an English teacher, but also a user of magic, is tasked to prevent her from achieving her goals.

The story, though I'm coming in straight in the middle of things, is fairly interesting. We're led along in the beginning as a teen-aged girl anticipates confessing her love to her teacher and (basically) adoptive father, the man who has raised her since she was a little girl. Disturbing, but not uncommon in the medium. Then it quickly switches gears to the main plot--Chao and her plan for changing history. But what makes the story stand out is the ambiguity of the antagonist's actions. Chao believes she is doing the world a favor. In fact, being from the future, she has seen things firsthand that the main characters have no idea about. It's almost easy to take her word for it, that maybe revealing magic to the world really is the best thing to do. It's this sort of ambiguity that I love, and it pulls Negi back and forth. He has difficulty deciding which side he falls on.

The art style is reminiscent of some covers of Love Hina I've seen. Makes sense, of course, but I'm not super impressed. There's nothing exactly wrong with the style. But there's nothing unusual about it, nothing to make it stand out. It's there. You can tell one character from another, generally. That's all.

Overall, I was surprised. I had no expectations going in. I left fairly impressed at the depth of characterization. It's no work of art, certainly, but it's better than a lot of manga I've read recently. If you're interested, you might be best off starting at the beginning, but give it a shot.