Search - Negima!: The Complete Series Box Set (Viridian Collection) on DVD

Welcome to the Mahora Girls Academy!

Zack Davisson | Seattle, WA, USA | 04/22/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It is easy to call "Negima!" the anime equivalent of Harry Potter, but it just isn't so. You have two young boys who can do magic, and there the similarities end. Harry Potter was never chased around romantically by thirty-one junior high school girls each trying to steal a kiss. With Love Hina creator Ken Akamatsu at the helm you know you are in for a good time.

You have to accept this basic premise of "Negima!" before you can enjoy the series. Negi Springfield is a ten-year-old wizard-in-training from Wales, with dreams of becoming the Magister Magi (Master Mage). In the meantime, he has been hired as an English teacher for the Mahora Girls Academy in Japan, as well as being the homeroom teacher for class 2-A. The Mahora Girls Academy is not all it seems at first, as its students include vampires, ghosts and robots, although all the normal students never seem to notice this. Of course, all the girls develop crushes on the cute 10-year old, and hijinks ensue.

The "Negima!" animated series follows the first volumes of the comic for the most part, and then suddenly veers away. The reason for this is that the anime eventually out-paced the comic, and so a new storyline was invented. This storyline, showing up around episode 19 or so, is quite different from the comic and might come as a shock to some. However, it is very well-handled, and I appreciate having two versions of the story.

This "Negima!:Complete Collection (Viridian Collection)" is the second 26-episode complete boxset release from Funimation. The set was previously released as Negima! Box Set The "Viridian Collection" is a stripped down and less expensive version of the series, presented in slim cases and without extra features. I personally really appreciate the thin cases, as it takes up less space in my ever-increasing DVD collection.

Both box sets have revised and re-drawn animation, as the animation from the original TV release in Japan was notoriously terrible. The animated series is also much more "family-friendly" than the comic. Most of the fan-service is implied rather than directly shown, so if you only read "Negima!" for the panties you might be a little disappointed. The English-language script takes the "family friendly" approach even further, and is slightly different from the Japanese. Many of the "double entendres" and sexual humor has been removed.

And while I am not usually a fan of dubbing, a special shout out needs to be done here for Funimation's English-language cast. They have done a great job, even going so far as to give Negi a Welsh accent. This is one case where they might be better than the Japanese original cast. Listening to the "Native Speaking" Negi doing English dictation during his English classes is pretty funny."

A funny, heartwarming show

Aaron Gleason | Dallas, TX | 02/01/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The premise of the story is this: A 10-year-old boy, who happens to be a prodigy and a wizard, goes to teach at a girls-only junior high school. As you might imagine, having a teacher that is younger than the students makes for some strange situations. The fact that the students are all girls makes it even more strange. This story line holds out through the first 18 episodes and is funny without being tiring and makes you know the girls and Negi - the teacher.

Episode 19 starts a different story line. This story is touching... very much a U-turn from the previous episodes.

However, another story line, which appears starting in episode 20, is much more serious, and is likely to turn you into a crying, blubbering mess. I literally couldn't stop watching from episode 20 through 26.

HUH!? An anime that is both funny and serious? It will truly make you laugh out loud and cry. Really. It's a great story, if a bit unbelievable near the end, but excellent entertainment.

I highly recommend it if you enjoy anime with frequent misunderstandings, funny and awkward situations, touching moments, and learning to "connect" with the characters in a show. Oh, and just enough magic thrown in to make things really interesting."

I WANT MORE!

fantisybooklover | NC USA | 03/01/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I love the series. A ten year old boy, Negi teaches a class of highschool girls but he is no ordinary boy and his students are no ordinary girls. Its filled with adventure, excitement, and magic. All I can say is I want a sequal with more magic! More transformations! and more about Negi and Haruna!! So check it out and watch out for the biggest ending twist ever! it will have you crying and jumping out of your seat!"

It's only magic!

E. A Solinas | MD USA | 07/11/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Negi Springfield is often touted as Japan's answer to Harry Potter, although in personality he's a bit more like Hermione.

And while the wizard prodigy isn't quite shown to his full potential in the anime adaptation "Negima," where stretches of fluffy harem comedy are speckled with serious magic and action. While it starts slowly and relies too heavily on semi-nudity and slapsticky antics, the more wizardly adventures end up keeping it worth watching.

Middle-school student Asuna is desperately hoping that her crush, Professor Takahata, will be teaching homeroom at Mahora Academy this year... and her mood is further soured by a preteen boy who tells her, "Not everyone can be lucky in love."

Turns out the boy, a Welsh prodigy named Negi Springfield, IS the new teacher. Most of the girls immediately love him, but Asuna is enraged by Negi's "weirdness" -- when she glimpses him magically saving a student, his secret comes out: Negi is a wizard, and if Asuna reveals his secret he'll be turned into an ermine. Fortunately, Asuna agrees to keep his secret... if he makes a love potion for her, with predictably chaotic results.

And soon Negi is faced by a creature from his family past -- a vampiric student who is determined to drain his blood. And he has to deal with myriad other troubles -- web idols, vicious volleyball teams, kiss contests, spying cheerleaders, a timid ghost, and a scheming ermine. And when Negi's job hangs on his class's bottom-of-the-barrel test scores, Asuna organizes a trip to the mysterious Library Island to get a magical book that can make even the Dummy Force smart!

But things take a dark turn near the end of the series -- a trip to Kyoto goes awry when Konoka is threatened, and the mysterious sword-wielding Setsuna reveals her true identity. And upon returning, Asuna becomes increasingly ill -- leading Negi to discover a horrifying secret in her past, which links the doomed girl to his vanished father.

Ken Akamatsu's original manga is pretty much balanced out -- part of it is slam-bang magic'n'action, while the other part is kooky romantic comedy and crazy slapstick. And for the anime, "Negima" serves up an incredibly heavy dose of the kooky comedy/crazy slapstick, with an emphasis on busts, robots, superpowered kicks, ninjas and the occasional skyscraper-sized demon.

In fact many episodes are nothing but poor Negi getting swamped by his high-spirited students and the devious ermine Chamo's manipulations (which involve awkward kissing). Lots of skimpy clothes, confessions of love, bear panties and kooky dialogue ("Side effects may include dry mouth, nausea and loss of about a million brain cells..."). It's like an amped-up romantic sitcom with some magical trappings.

While the comedic stories are fun in a disposable way, what makes the series truly watchable is the magic-oriented episodes -- aerial battles with tiny blonde vampires and playing chase with a giant stone golem amongst them. The end of the series is when the magical adventures really take front-and-center: though the whole trip to Kyoto rushes by way too fast, the final bittersweet arc is nothing short of brilliant.

It's icky to see teenage girls pursuing a ten-year-old, but Negi is a likable little hero -- he's earnest, unselfish, and completely devoted to his students even if they're insane. Asuna is his opposite -- brash, temperamental, unexpectedly warmhearted -- and serves as a mildly violent big-sister type, although their roles unexpectedly switch near the finale.

Surprisingly the rest of the cast plenty of fleshing-out as well -- sweet Konoka, mysterious Setsuna, the antisocial web idol Chisame ("This is CHIU's world and all you bimbos are mere tenants!"), serene ninja Kaede, and the loopy princess Ayaka (who has a surprisingly tragic past). Most memorable is the prepubescent vampire-mage Evangeline ("It's enough to make ANYONE CRAZY!"), and her cat-loving robot Chachamaru.

The complete "Negima" season is a bit too heavy on the fluffy comedy, and too light on the magical adventures. But it's still worth watching for those who need a bit more Magorum magic."