Negima!, Volume 12: Magister Negi Magi

Not much to say but more exciting fighting. The fights in this volume are overall good with one that isnt too amazing. Worth checking out!

It's now Day Two, and we're in the middle of the Mahora Martial Arts Tournament. Most of this volume is pretty much taken up with fighting; those of you who are in it for the "cute" bits may be disappointed. The first round of the tournament concludes, and the second round is also completed. The fights are pretty exciting, and background information is provided for some of the characters. Will Negi win the tournament? Read Volume 13 to find out (unless they REALLY stretch things out).

Well worth it's price, but it gives the feeling of being mostly filler material, just building up to volume 13. It's still a very good read, just not quite up to usual Negima standards.

The secret pasts of three characters finally come to light in the twelfth volume of "Negima," as the Budokai Competition continues. Ken Akamatsu does a top-notch job mingling character development with multiple slam-bang battle scenes -- with more to come. After Negi's victory, Asuna and Setsuna prepare to do battle against each other, and the heated fight brings out some shocking memories of Asuna's past, as well as a devastating new level of magic power. But when Kotaro fights his own match with the mysterious Ku:nel -- who claims to be a friend of Nagi's -- he suffers a terrible defeat. Meanwhile, Negi has learned that someone is sprinkling the Web with rumors of magic at Mahorafest, including footage of the magical battles. And when Evangeline and Setsuna finally do battle, the vampire unleashes a new attack on the winged girl -- saying that her newfound friends have made her "soft." But what is in Evangeline's past that makes her understand Setsuna? Ken Akamatsu is as his best when he mixes comedy, action, drama and fantasy in equal measure. Revelations from both Lingshen Chao and the mysterious Ku:nel (about evil plans and Nagi respectively) only help. Meaning he's in good form in this volume, and it only promises to get even better. There's lots of acrobatic kung-fu in this volume, full of magical blasts, shadow puppets and ninja moves. But Akamatsu peppers it with moments of character development, often during or after the fight scenes -- including some fragmented moments of Asuna's past. And he doesn't skimp on the comedy either("What's with this sleazy lingerie?") Obviously Evangeline and Setsuna both get lots of development, with readers seeing how Evangeline became so nasty, and Setsuna's conflict between "her sword and her happiness." But Kotaro Inugami also gets some development -- after his defeat, he's devastated by fear that Negi will disdain him because he's too weak. The twelfth volume of "Negima" is still building up to something gigantic, and the next volume promises to be even better than this one. Definitely worth getting... so long as you've read the previous ones.

The Mahora Martial Arts extraveganza continues, this time with fights between Asuna and Setsuna (glee!), Kotaro and Ku:Nel Sanders (Col.Sanders, get it?), Eva-chan and Spurious Fighter #4, and so on... Much action in this volume, with bits of fan service sprinkled in between. Probably the most significant addition to the arc is that several more of Negi's class are becoming suspicious as to the nature of their teacher and magic in general (helped in a large part by Chao Lingshen's attempts to spread the word to the world). That and Ku:nel has a bombshell of his/her own to drop. Akamatsu-sensei is doing his best to insert subtle flashbacks here and there to flesh out certain characters (works great for Asuna, not so much for Eva) and to build bridges between his characters. Art is gorgeous, as always, with intricate backgrounds and impressive lingerie details (hah!)... and the pacing is fine... just sit back and enjoy. I recommend a buy, but don't expect any closure in this arc for quite some time (as the MahoraFest arc is STILL going in Japan).