UQ Holder! Vol. 1

I have been excited to see how this series was going to turn out for awhile, and when I got this in the mail yesterday and blew through it I found out that this series is off to a magnificant start. I started reading Negima after I read Love Hina when I was like...14 or 15 and followed it all the way up to the magic festival arc but i put it down because, well, I just forgot about it (releases were taking too long) and other series like Naruto and One Piece had captured my eye. I STILL havent finished Negima because im following the Omnibus editions as they are released, so right now im at the really good part of the series, but I picked this up anyways because I have always believed in Ken Akamatsus ability to make me like his storys ever since Love Hina, and because I have grown to love the world that he has built in Negima. Reading the first chapter was really quite amazing, ive never been pulled into a story so quickly. I dont want to spil anything about this story because its really unique, but basically you have this boy named Tota (who is Negi's grandson, all you need to know right now) who grew up in the countryside away from the fast-paced world of the big city who has a longing to climb to his highest (in a literal sense as well) and achieve great things and, well, basically make a name for himself. Thing is hes really vague about his dream but its still cool because the overall concept of chasing your dream is definatly well covered here. Anyways, this story is set in the same world as Negima, just in the future, and its a really cool concept too. Its kinda like Megaman, most people just live in this giant city structure that sits outside of the planets atmosphere so you can see it from just about anywhere, while very few live in the countryside in villages and towns and amidst the ruins of the old world. In a nutshell Tota finds out just how cruel and malicious the world can be and eventually sets out on what looks like a long journey full of awesome characters and epic battles. I dont want to spoil the story, but the overall theme seems to be the true cost of "immortality." I know, its kindof vague, but I dont want to muddle your concept of this great story before you read it. The fighting is REALLY good, it has all the good qualities that Negima had, and the fanservice, while still there, is thankfully toned down a little bit (but this is just the first volume after all) and it really makes the story more interesting to me. It seems like Ken Akamatsu has been trying the get away from the world of Fan-service/Harem to the shonen genre for some time now, and I do believe hes finally done it! Give this a shot if you like shonen style manga!

The <i>Negima!</i> manga franchise had a really badly-written end due to some wrangling in the Japanese parliament. Basically, media industries over there want to have their companies gain greater control over the characters in their products as the comics' companies in the US have. Many authors, fearing loss of the creative control over their stories ended them prematurely. Ken Akamatsu, creator of <i>Negima!</i> was one such author. Therefore, he rushed an end to the series, which really upset fans as it just wasn't very good. After the bill mentioned above failed in the Japanese parliament, Akamatsu decided to revisit the Negi universe, this time through the eyes of immortal vampire Evangeline from the original series, and her ward, Negi's grandson Touta. <i>UQ Holder!</i> begins two years after Evangeline, now going by the name Yukihime, became Touta's guardian. Following some tragedy which everyone thinks was a car accident, Evangeline took Touta in and he lost his memories of before that point. This doubtless will become a major plot point later on. Touta has some big, but largely indeterminate dreams. They are really quite vague. He just knows he wants to go places, do things, sing, other stuff. Really, my description is not that far off how vaguely he himself describes his dreams. At first, Evangeline doesn't want him to leave the small rural town where they live, but events change that. Those events are Evangeline having no choice but to sire Touta as a vampire to save both their lives when he is nearly killed by an evil bounty hunter. The newly-vampirized Touta saves the day, but now is an immortal vampire. They decide to leave town and start anew somewhere else where folks won't know their secrets. Somewhere they can have peace from those who would want to harm vampires and other immortal people. Thus the adventure begins. This is kinda fun to see the two characters play off of each other. They are such opposites. She's a really old female vampire, and he's a young, brand-new male vampire. She is jaded and tired of immortality, while he thinks immortality is great. She is gruff and stern, with a hidden heart of gold, and he is kind and very trusting, but can be <i>very</i> tough when the need arises. Each one really is what the other needs. This dynamic between the two, and allies they meet along the way, is at the heart of the story. It is what makes it worth reading. Oh, it has lots of action, and, in the beginning, probably too much gore (though that stops quickly enough to a typical shonen level). But that's not what makes the story so riveting. Their familial bond of love does. It is quite funny and heart-warming all at the same time. Highly Recommended. ----- A quick note about the title. The letters “UQ” are translated from the Japanese kanji for the word meaning “eternity”. The title <i>UQ Holder!</i> literally means <i>Eternity Holder</i>, which refers to the main characters' immortality.

Veio manchado

Tôta Konoe has been living in an isolated country village for the last two years after a car accident killed his parents and gave him amnesia. Raised by the mysterious and strict teacher Yukihime, Tôta dreams of nothing more than to travel to the capital and clime the space elevator to seek his fortune with his friend. When a bounty hunter comes to town however, Tôta's life is turned upside down and he is forced to make a choice that will change his life forever. 'UQ Holder!' is the latest (and possibly last) series by Ken Akamatsu and is set in the same world as his previous series 'Negima!', around seventy to eighty years later. Although you don't need to have read 'Negima!' to understand this series, it probably does help somewhat and there are a number of references to the previous series here and there. The main theme of this series is immortality and it is quite interesting how it explores the natures of its different forms. This fist volume is mostly just setting things up for the series, introducing three of the main characters (Tôta, Yukihime and Kurômaru) and giving some information on the current state of the world. Of the main characters Tôta is probably the weakest being the closest Akamatsu has ever got to a standard shônen main character (something that has annoyed some fans) but I still think he has some good points, even if he is an idiot most of the time. My favourite character from this volume though is probably Kurômaru who has a humorously serious personality and interesting character design. The artwork for the series is of typical Akamatsu style, although there is less in the way of fanservice than in some of his previous series. As with many of Akamatsu's previous works, he does reuse some character designs (Kurômaru is very similar to Setsuna Sakurazaki) but anyone who has read his work should be used to that by now. The fighting is nicely drawn, and is probably a little bloodier than in the majority of 'Negima!', with the battle at the end of the first chapter being particularly good. The translation of the chapter is relatively good (although I do have a few minor issues with some things) with the Japanese honorifics intact. There are some translation notes but rather than put them in the back of the book as some series do, they are done as bullet points on the relevant page. Many 'Negima!' fans were disappointed about how that series ended and this has led some to look unfavourably on this series as well and while I still greatly enjoy this series, even I would say it isn't quite as good as its predecessor. Despite this though, I do think this first volume shows a lot of promise and I feel it has a better pacing when read as collected volume than it does when read weekly. Overall I feel this first volume is worth a low five stars but five nonetheless.

A diferencia de Negima, aqui se centran más en la historia del personaje y menos en el "harem manga" Continuación de Negima en el futuro, después de que se construyese el ascensor hasta marte sigue la vida de Evangeline Mcdowell y su discipulo.

Il s'agirai de la "suite" de Negima. Alors pourquoi je met des " " parce que pour l'instant je ne suis pas totalement convaincu car rien nous indique à quel trame de l'histoire sa se passe (4 différents possible). J'espère que la suite nous dévoilera ce Negima ne nous à pas dévoilé.

At first I wasn't sure if this was a knock off or a scam but as I read I laughed, got excited and thought "wow" from start to finish then I knew it's a proper Ken Akamatsu book. I noticed some characters from previous titles (I won't say which) and I can't wait to see the next UQ Holder.