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Whistle Stopper - Negima! Box Set
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List Price: $89.98
Our Price: $56.08
Your Save: $ 33.90 ( 38% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Funimation Prod
Starring: Negima
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
Brand: FUNIMATION PRODUCTIONS, LTD
EAN: 0704400077500
Format: Animated
Label: Funimation Prod
Manufacturer: Funimation Prod
Number Of Items: 6
Publisher: Funimation Prod
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2008-02-05
Running Time: 650
Studio: Funimation Prod
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: The Final Arc Saves It...
Comment: Negima is another harem comedy by the creator of Love Hina and this time dressed up in Harry Potter clothes. Negi is the star of the show, a ten year old boy who is a genius and magic user (though restricted to not use his magic, something that fizzles alot of the fun out of the first dozen or so episodes). He's also now a teacher at a school and his class is a 30 odd bunch of teenage girls, all who find him irresistable (stars in their eyes romantic notions all around, I'm afraid).
Watching Negima felt like a huge chore.
This is a cleaned up version, but the animation is still substandard, the music forgettable, and the whole bit of having a 10 year old boy for a teacher, trying to teach a class full of teenage girls (who dream of him as some kind of romantic paragon) is downright creepy. The many excuses to kiss him are ridiculous and get more grating as the show wears on and girls are chasing after him relentlessly. It's uncomfortable, not particularly comedic and completely forgettable. That is, until the studio decided to do *something* about trying to wrap up the plotline.
Negima was still being churned out in manga form and thus did not have a complete story when this series was being made (something that happens quite frequently). So instead of just leaving it hanging, they decided to put together a final arc that would bring some sort of closure to the series. This made the fanboys (and fangirls) FURIOUS but I applaud their decision. The last arc gives weight and substance to a series that was otherwise harem fluff in Harry Potter clothes. The final arc brings everyone together and fleshes out the relationships a little more solidly. It's good stuff, that keeps you on the edge of your seat with emotions at stake. Something the series kept free from, til that point.
What else does Negima do right? It has a HUGE cast of characters (there are over 30 students in Negi's class alone, not to mention other teachers and other characters as well). Through clever selection and varied plotlines we are introduced to the majority of these students and really get to know them. This is a feat that seems overwhelming impossible at the beginning but its done with amazing ease and no force feeding of characters and their quirks. By the end of the series, you feel as if they are real fleshed out characters, and not just cardboard cutouts. The personalities are so diverse too and you even get to meet a robot, a vampire and a ghost (among others, ninja twins perhaps?) The colors of many of the girls' hair was changed from a sea of plain browns to a crayon box of crazy dyes. This does help to identify them and was a nice idea (even if the fans, again, didn't like it...I can imagine the confusion that would have lead if they had stuck to the manga on this).
The English dub is also quite nice, with Greg Ayres even squeaking out a bit of an English accent for Negi himself. This boxset is rather unappealing to look at (the colours! agh! my eyes!) but you get all the discs and a little booklet so it's a good choice for the price.
There's even a cheaper version coming too, so you might want to hold out for that one.
Customer Rating:
Summary: It's only magic
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: very good!
Comment: it was a really good anime makes you wanting to see more the newest one comes out in oct cant wait
Customer Rating:
Summary: Bad.
Comment: Ok I'm sorry but the anime for Negima is really bad. Poor quality, doesn't stick to the story line, and the worst ending ever leave much to be desired. Now this is kinda upsetting coming from Xebec who also did the animation for Love Hina. Akamatsu was even disgusted with the anime and how it turned out. I would not reccomend buying this anime but instead buying and reading the manga which is a whole lot better.
Customer Rating:
Summary: I WANT MORE!
Comment: 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!
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Editorial Reviews:
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Vampires, robots, sorcery… And that’s all before Gym Class! Welcome to Mahora Academy, an all-girls school where the impossible and the enchanting are a part of the curriculum. It’s the start of the new school year and emotions run rampant as the girls of Class 2-A meet the newest staff addition – Negi Springfield. A ten-year-old Welsh born prodigy, Negi has more problems than he has students. As a wizard-in-training, this academic appointment is the final requirement in his quest to become a Magister Magorum. But if he messes things up and the girls find out, existence as an exotic ermine will be his fate! When you’re the only boy at an all girl’s school… magic’s the easy part. The Negima Box Set contains all 26 episodes on 6 discs.
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