This week’s old animu: Negima!?
Negima is one of those series that has some crazy continuity issues. It starts with a manga, Negima!: Magister Negi Magi, which apparently starts off as a harem/fanservicey sort of thing and turns into some sort of shounen battle manga later on. The manga received an anime adaptation some time ago produced by Xebec. Later on, there are some OVAs that came out, but these were produced by SHAFT and directed by that Akiyuki Shinbo guy.
What I watched, Negima!?, doesn’t fall into the original Negima! continuity. It was produced by SHAFT and directed by Shinbo and is apparently a spinoff set in an alternate universe. It turns out that there’s now a manga, Negima!? Neo, that is set in this new continuity.
Technically, I haven’t finished it since the group that’s subbing it still hasn’t finished the last episode, even though it’s been months since their last release and it’s been almost two year since the show finished airing. But, the main story line’s been resolved, so I guess I can talk about it.
To me, the difference between Xebec and SHAFT’s anime is that SHAFT’s looks much better. Just comparing screenshots, Xebec’s looks really bad. That and my fondness for SHAFT’s crazy style means that SHAFT’s version blows Xebec’s out of the water. I’m sure it was animated much prettier too.
I can’t really say much about the story. I liked plot in Negima!? but it never felt like it was very engrossing. Actually, it felt sort of contrived. But, the different characters and the humour was what kept me watching. I thought the characters were pretty funny, just because there were so many of them that they could throw every archetype and stereotype in that they could come up with. Some of the fighting was pretty cool too. It’s certainly got me interested in the original manga storyline.
well the original story wasn’t a lot. it was more character driven (because they were awesome).