By Ken Akamatsu
208 pages, black and white
Published by Del Rey
Now I’ll admit it—I’ve never read Love Hina. Both Negima! and Love Hina are by Ken Akamatsu, and perhaps if I’ve read Love Hina I might’ve had a better idea of just what was in store for me with his brand-new series Negima! (or Magister Negi Magi as it’s known in Japan). Since I hadn’t, though… let’s just say I was really surprised.
Negi Springfield is a 10-year old wizard who’s graduating from school in London. Everyone who graduates gets a diploma that tells them where their magical skills will be needed as part of a career path. Options like “fortune teller” are pretty common, but ones like “teach English in a Japanese all-girls high school”, not so much. And naturally, that’s just what Negi got. Surviving the trip to Japan won’t be a problem. Surviving his class of girls? Now that’s a problem.
The basic setup for Negima! is a little odd, to be certain. A book about a 10-year old English teacher in a Japanese high school would be strange enough in its own right, and if that’s all Negima! was I might not’ve been so surprised. But for a book starring a 10-year old, it was very odd to see a “For Mature Audiences Ages 16+” sticker slapped on the cover… or the fact that every time Negi sneezes, women’s clothing flies off. (Something which happens approximately every 30 pages.) Or the times Negi accidentally crawls into bed with his female dorm mates, or has to go take a bath with them, or… well, you get the idea. There’s a surprisingly high level of titillation going on here, and it really made my eyebrows go up. What could’ve been a sweet, fun book just seems to be an excuse to show high school girls in their underwear (or less). It’s frustrating, because little vignettes like the class learning how to win against tougher girls in a dodge ball tournament are well constructed… but then right as the girls win, everyone’s clothes fly off, just in case you’d forgotten what the real aim of Negima! is. Never mind that with 31 girls to keep track of, most of the characters are little more than a blur… all that really seems to matter is nubile female flesh.
Akamatsu’s art is really lovely, though. It’s a very stripped down style, and I love some of the character designs, like Negi’s little classes that perch on his nose, or the magical staff wrapped in cloth that he occasionally rides on. Characters themselves are drawn in a really slick, clean style, with innocent faces and expressions. (Although when part of a larger group it’s very hard to tell them all apart—I think Akamatsu only has a couple of female faces that he can draw.) Of course, all of this ultimately seems aimed at just being able to draw panty shots and expanding breasts, which seems like a bit of a waste to me. Then again, I’m not a hormone-addled sixteen year old boy looking for a comic teasingly promising (if never actually delivering) soft porn.
If this is what Love Hina was like, I can’t help but feel thankful that I’ve never read it. Negima! has a tremendous amount of potential and then proceeds to flush it down the toilet on a regular basis. This should have been better. It could have been better. And ultimately, it doesn’t even come close. A real pity. …and yet, I suspect that target audience of sex-starved teen age boys are probably reading this review and running out to buy a copy. To them, I say good luck and enjoy. To everyone else, though, you’ll probably want to steer clear.
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