Negima 1
Asuna does a strange ritual in a fish suit in the hopes that Takahata-sensei will be her homeroom teacher. Her friend Konoka (Kansai accent) told it to her, but didn't expect her to actually do it :) Because of it, they're both late to school at Mahora Academy and rush off. On the way there, a boy runs up beside them, apparently noticing that Asuna was disappointed that that little trick was a trick itself. She promptly beats him up... and when he sneezes afterwards he gets a glimpse of the kuma-san pantsu that Asuna's wearing.
And unfortunately for her, besides the fact that her rival, Ayaka, is in her class, that kid from before, Negi Springfield, is her teacher. When he walks right into the usual eraser trap set, for a second the eraser stops over his head before hitting him. Asuna notices that and thinks there has to be something strange about him... But all the other girls in the class absolutely adore Negi. As you'd expect with such a group, Negi never even gets class started with all the fighting and such going on. And he sneezes again, ripping Asuna's skirt to shreds, and once again showing her kuma-san pantsu to everyone.
As he sits outside with a roster of his students (writing ijiwaru on Asuna's picture, along with some horns), Nodoka, the guy-shy gal from earlier comes back from the library with a huge stack of books and starts to walk down the stairs.. and falls, so Negi whips out his staff and sends a gust of wind to break her fall. Asuna saw all of it. Her hunch confirmed now, she asks Negi who the heck he is.
Some of y'all are probably familiar with Negima already, having read the manga. I've read a bit (and only a bit) of it, so I had an idea of what show it was. But for those who haven't. As Kabitzin said, it's pretty clear we've got a harem anime here right from the opening showing off all 31 girls (yes, stereotypical anime archetypes, at least for now) in swimsuits. There should be something for everyone with that many ;) I don't know if it's "FMA with harem" (i.e. Negi is similar to chibi-Ed, especially the hair, Kabitzin says, lol), but it was light stuff that was mostly enjoyable this time ;) With this kind of show, if there's a girl or two I like, that's good enough for me to keep on watching. Can't pick out any in particular just yet from this group since we're just one episode in, but we shall see ;)
Yeah, these harem shows can hook you just because you want to see if the one/two girls you like will win or get totallys screwed over by the end ^^. As for FMA with harem, I was just referring to how Negi looks... doesn't he kinda look just the slightest bit like chibi-Ed? He's even got a similar hairstyle, and they are both short tensai's.
It's definitely a harem anime, did you notice the OP shows him basically kissing all 31 girls? There's reasons for that, but I'm not going to drop spoilers (the reasons start being explained in vol. 3 of the manga so it'll probably be a while before the anime gets there.)
It seems to be much more than just a harem anime though, I haven't seen FMA so can't compare it to that but there's a series undertone to things, the story has gotten quite serious with some very interesting things going on. The humor is still there, but the story's much more engrossing than just random silliness. ^_^
I've decided that Ken Akamatsu really, really likes cute girls. A girl shows up later on that's a swordswoman and she look about 8, wearing an absolutely kawaii dress (ruffles, the works) and hat. There's no apparent reason for the outfit except that it was cute. ^_^
when the manga begin, more like Harry Potter becoming English teacher in a Japanese harem class ^^;
glad it didn't turn out as bad as the promo DVD
There's a lot of foreshadowing in this episode. You see things and characters that aren't supopsed to show up until way later.
I had to suppress the urge to sing "Under the Sea" from Disney's "The Little Mermaid" during that fish scene.
Now when did the storyline start? The final term of the 2nd year or the start of the final year?
Some additional observations while rewatching the sub (and it seems I understood more than I thought I did). It's very true to the manga story, a few things have changed or been added. There's some really neat added touches that foreshadow future plot developments that you'll completely miss unless you've read the manga. :)
One thing that's surprising, give the manga, is how much they've toned down the eechiness. It didn't even show a panty shot on Asuna either time, just showed the bear. I figured they'd at least do the panty shots. (All the nudity I did figure they'd skip. ^_-)
I still wonder why Asuna's eyes are two different colors, looking at the manga covers they're like that there too so it's intentional. I wonder if Akamatsu has something up his sleeve to explain it?
okay, just sat down and finished reading the first 4 vols of the manga I've been avoiding. Originally I was an Negima hater, but now I'm slowly warming up to it. There are still parts of the manga that bug me, but overall I can say is decently enjoyable. I know I will never love this as much as I did Love Hina but it should be a funny ride to watch either way.
at least a lot of the anime will make more sense in the coming near future. ;)
BTW, those tarot cards of the class have been released in some physical form right? Those look pretty cool to get.
I believe it's the final term of the 2nd year, that's where the manga starts and their English textbooks said E-2 on them.
Good to hear they toned down the fan service in the anime. I mean, yeah, it's Ken Akamatsu, so what d'ya expect, but I *do* watch these things for the story.
Also, was it ever explained why Negi's sneeze is so..ah..explosive? It wasn't explained in the manga AFAIK. Perhaps there is a Japanese stereotype that British people have loud sneezes?
did they release the whole (31) cards ? so far seen only the cards in the character albums, and there's only one for each set (some has three to four chara per album). And the twins got both in a card also.
I don't like it when fan service gets too carried away, but considering the events, a panty shot of the bear panties wouldn't have been uncalled for. :) I agree with you on watching for the story though, too much fanservice is just annoying.
The manga does explain it, assuming Del Ray's translation is mostly accurate (and this makes sense so I believe so). Negi's speciality is wind magic, that's why his sneeze is so powerful, he can't quite control his magic when he sneezes, I'm assuming because he's still inexperienced. Another reason it makes sense is shown in the first episode, that's why Negi was able to catch up to and keep up with Asuna, and you'll notice the wind blows Asuna's hair (and you hear it) as he comes up beside her.
Sorry to double post, wish I could edit my comments at times like this. :)
Just a thought, while the kuma-san panties appear in both the anime and manga, they don't suit Asuna's personality. I have trouble seeing her buying any like that. :)
hmm... so if I want the tarot cards, I have to buy like the 8 CD singles character albums? argh... -_-;;
read the manga till book 8 and i am a little disappointed with the art in the seires... storywise it is still all right... hope they improve the art in the further eps^^
I never noticed while watching it, but the screencap on the far right, 2nd to last row is really off model. Surprised noones commented here yet on the odd choice of dayglo hair colours compared to the manga. The fish thing was just plain odd though.
It looks like that screen cap's just from one of the in-between cel/drawings. They often come out a bit off.
I noticed the colors, even the uniforms changed. Why purple instead of red? And why'd they do away with the cute plaid skirts? (Ok, that was probably done to make it easier to animate, but I miss them. ^_^) Hair colors contradict colors on manga covers in some cases too. I guess they wanted to make them more disticnt from each other?
A small note, I noticed the twin's hair colors are slightly different. Their hair styles differentiate them, so I wonder why they did it that way.
I read plenty of comments on Japanese blogs about the "dayglo" hair colors being a bit too colorful, Shiroi Hane :)
cosplay of the class of 2-A!
http://img95.exs.cx/img95/8630/82444cos255tc.jpg