Negima!? Neo 1: Magister Negi Magi Volume 1
Molly •
Summary
Negi Springfield is ten years old…and a powerful wizard! This boy wizard is the greatest prodigy ever to graduate from his magic school in England. After graduation, however, Negi’s given an unusual assignment: teach English at an all-girl school in Japan. Now Negi has to find a way to deal with his thirty-one totally gorgeous – and completely overaffectionate – students… without using magic! Based on the Negima! anime, this is a fresh take on the beloved Negima! story.
Review
A “fresh take on the beloved Negima! story”… really? How many versions of Negima are there now? Yes, there is another rebooted version of Negima, and I’m pretty sure it’s happened at least once already to both the anime and the manga. Sadly by now it’s a little hard to care when you open up Negima!? Neo#1 and find yourself right back at the very beginning again. Sure the character designs and the style has changed a little, but it’s still the same story.
Once again we meet Negi Springfield, a ten year old boy who comes to Japan to teach English at an all girls school and learn more about magic. He has to keep his magic secret, which is a little difficult when his cover is almost blown straight away on his first day. However the first chapter, Chapter 0, does have us meet Negi during his final exam at wizard school, and this allows us to be properly introduced to Nekane. This is a great addition as it opens up the storyline more and gives more back-story to Negi.
However it soon moves back to the usual story, and for anyone who is familiar with Negima it’s nothing new, and frankly a little boring. You feel like you’ve seen all this before, because you have. The locations change for some battles but other than that everything is pretty much the same, and although Negi does still have the power to tear off girls clothes with a single sneeze, there are far fewer panty shots than were present in the old Negima.
There is a lot of potential in Negima!? Neo#1, and hopefully that potential will be fulfilled in later manga if they stop following the old storyline to the letter. If you’ve read or seen Negima before, then you’re really not missing much at the moment.
