OP Theme: Pink Generation by Class 3-A [Youtube] – This is a very good opening for the live action series. This is what I was expecting of a Negima opening as all of them so far have been upbeat and cheerful and this is no exception. What interests me more is that all 31 girls actually manage to stand so still during their little bit in the opening as I was expecting to see alot of movement in it, but I was really surprised. Seemed like Fate from the manga series has petrified them (Which I might as well add, I hope there is a Kyoto arc in this series).
ED Theme: Tsuyoku Naare by Wakatsuki Sara, Matsunaga Hiroko, & Ichikawa Haruki [Youtube] – I also really liked this ending theme, I found that it has followed the usual Negima music structure with a more upbeat song for and OP and a quieter song as the ED theme. It was a really different concept for an ending through with it scrolling through the class register. Very well done.
Summary: This episode starts with a young Asuna running through the school grounds crying, while it isn’t revealed what she is crying about, I assume it is during one of her first days of school when she went to school with Takamichi. She tries to escape through the doors however the doors slam shut leaving her on the ground crying.
Years into the future, Asuna is running to school once again thinking of nothing about Takamichi. (I am not actually sure if this is her first day or not to be honest). When she gets to the bus stop waiting for the bus to arrive, a small dog runs infront of the bus. Asuna runs to save the creature, Takamichi who is on the bus tells the driver to stop yet both do not save it as Negi who is on his staff flies in and grabs it without any else noticing but Asuna and maybe Takamichi.
Asuna follows him until he lands. He admits that he is a mage and that he will be forced to wipe out her memories. He casts the spell however it fails and unlike other times, she is sent flying backwards and lands in the arms of Takamichi who catches a look and her bear panties.
We have a flashback of when Negi graduated. He gets dressed in his school robes and has a small talk with Chamo who has now been reduced at this stage to a patch on the inside of his jacket (Very Harry Potter if I might add). He enters the temple and gets handed his diploma by his odd looking magus and it reveals that he is to be a teacher in Japan.
In his class, he has written a sentence on the board and is asking what student can fill in the blank. While some students seem to want to answer, Asuna, who is trying to avoid his glare, is called on and starts to attack Negi. Ayaka appears and tells her to back off which causes them to start fighting. Makie attacks them both with her ribbon in order to prevent their fight. Makie changes clothes right in front of her to her gymnasic clothes that were under them. (Dunno why… some attempt at fanservice?) In which Ayaka tells her off.
When Asuna leaves class, she notices Takamichi coming her direction and walks off, hiding behind a pole, she still seems to be upset of not getting him as a teacher. As Negi leaves class depressed, Chamo tries to make him feel positive however he is cut short when Nodoka, Haruna and Yue appear, any pretend to ask Negi a question like they did in the manga. Of course, Nodoka became embarrassed of this and ran off with the girls following her. That night, Konoka and Asuna are having dinner when Negi suddenly comes barging out of their wardrobe (I presume that is either his small room or.. he got stuck in there) and lands on Asuna in… a rather uncomfortable way.
The day after, Negi goes to see Shizuna who is the school nurse (Althrough her room kind of looks like a bar). Negi discusses some problems with her and she gives him a glass of milk which he accepts and drinks. While Negi and Shizuna talk about his problems, they are unaware that the school dean is spying on them from an adjacent window. He seems to be cheering Negi on which his daughter Konoka appears in his chair. She had brought him a Bento and put a flower in his hair.
They discuss Negi’s problems and he decides to use his potions kit to produce a love potion for Asuna. (So it seems like Shizuna is also a mage or is aware of it unlike in the manga) Negi runs to Asuna to give her the love potion. At first it seems she wants to take it but at the last moment, she forces Negi to drink it. Since Asuna has her magic canceling ability, the potion doesn’t work on her but Negi who believes the potion doesn’t work is soon hugged by every one of his students.
He manages to make his way to the library however Nodoka is there and starts to get attracted to him, so much that she makes a desperate attempt to kiss him however just before she can, he knocks her backwards and runs. Asuna meets Takamichi at the bus stop however she is not able to get many words out too him. Interestingly enough, he calls her hime-sama which could have some sort of significance later in the series. Negi is also caught peering behind a pole.
In the entrance hall, Negi offers to help Asuna with her confession. When Asuna starts to lean forward to kiss him, she grabs his cheeks and then puts him in a headlock althrough they both seem to laugh it off. Asuna walks off with Negi skipping behind her. Takamichi however was hiding somewhere nearby listening in on their whole conversation. The last scene of this episode is of Asuna once again having the dream of her as a child as seen in the introduction to this episode.
Review:I have noticed a fair amount of people have been saying negative things about this live action series and I admit myself, some things could be better, however, I found this a very good episode to watch and found it enjoyable. First of all, the people chosen to play the parts, played them quite well, especially Asuna who seems to retain most of what we loved about her in the manga. The locations are what I have heard some people complain about but as it is a whole new series, I wasn’t expecting it to be perfect and the locations do give it a somewhat “Harry Potter” feel to the school. So nothing to really complain about there although I sure hope we get to see more of Mahora soon.
The sound was really enjoyable to listen to, only remembering all the music of Negima!?, it is a little bit darker which suits the theme of the school and it is rather on time as well. The animations were also fairly well done, I was a bit worried to see how they would implement all the magic in the series and it exceeded my expectations of it with the special effects used.
I might as well mention a few minor problems that I noticed during the series that will hopefully be improved during the course of the series:
- Chamo is only a sewed on patch in Negi’s jacket. I am guessing that would be only a temporary solution until Chamo does actually arrive in Japan as he is the only one in any series who has been able to do Pactio circles for Negi so he should turn up later on.
- Camera Angles were a little bit of a problem for me,while it was quite good most of the time, I did notice some of the scenes were a little bit jumpy however that could be to suit the mood.
Those are the only two real problems that I had with this episode. It basically covered the main chapters in the first two volumes of the manga which is good just to get it out of the way so we can get to all the better volumes. I assume that the next episode will feature Evangeline’s vampire attacks which we will finally get to see how they will manage their pactio system. Hopefully after that they might actually follow the manga to an extent and give us a good Kyoto arc!
So overall, I have no doubt in my mind I will be blogging this and I look forward to bringing this series to you all each week!
Chance of Blogging: Definately
