090 – In Which All (?) is Set A’Right: Entering Events
lol... (honestly, Negi looks like girl here)
Another time travel back and Negi experiences the first day
for the fourth time. Hmmm, anymore and
it’ll get a bit troublesome. However,
still interesting to see, and he does a lot today, and there’s a sense of
realism here when Negi faints due to exhaustion, since he technically hadn’t
sleep for over 24 hours. How Ayaka gets
all happy was hilarious, and I do like how Negi has no clue on why the students
are happy (since he visited them) and when he meets Asuna and Yue before they
knew about the time machine. Negi
dressed as a girl went a bit too far, and truth be told, I thought it was Asuna
at first glance.
091 – Wise in the Ways of Cosplay
another random moment
Not as enjoyable as the previous chapters, but this one
focuses on Chisame with her cosplay tournament.
It was okay, with some good points here and there but it wasn't that
great. At least, this marks the end of
the ‘first day’ of the MahoraFest, wow, 11 chapters for one day.
092 – Promise to a Rival
nah... I think they're friends
In preparation for the fight, Negi escaped to the awesome
one day = one hour resort of Evangeline’s.
Fairly boring chapter, filled with explanations on the difference
between ‘magic’ and ‘ki’. Kotarou and
Negi unknowingly become friends and it shows here.
093 – Enter Kotaro!
The Budokai Begins
why is it that the most impressive entrances indicate the weakest characters?
The second rounds start, first half is everyone talking and
we see the contestants, while the second half is Kotarou’s fight. It was funny how easily Kotarou defeated his
opponent (who was one of the undercover sensei mages from the other chapter).
094 – Extreme Combat!
Tatsumiya vs. Ku Fei
don't worry, she's not getting shot by bullets, they're actually 500 yen coins
Whoa, as you can guess, this chapter is on the match with
Tatsumiya against Ku Fei, and I was surprised how unforgiving Tatsumiya is in a
friendly battle such as this. Flicking
coins as the mode of attack just isn’t that flashy or awesome. The chapter in the volume that probably has
the most action yet.
095 – The Latest Weapon… and a Tradition of Fighting
Spirit
yup, wtf
Ku Fei… wins?! Don't
now if Tatsumiya went easy or not, it seemed that she might since Chao is
giving her money, but she refuses and said she was serious, so I think it might
be the latter, but she must be stronger than that… The match afterwards is with two random
people, it does get weirder and weirder (and Chisame is the only one that notices…),
but is a bit funny at a certain place (where the other mage thought her partner
was going to die).
096 – Courage – the Key to Victory!
Negi gets serious
Yes, the highly anticipated fight of Negi against Takamichi
has begun in this chapter. I thought it
wasn't going to start from the way the chapter started, and all these students
giving him hints and encouragement. Negi
was afraid at first, but thankfully, he pulled out some courage and just went
on the attack. However, the fights
always seem like so similar, as in the style of drawing, flashing auras
surrounding the person with a lot of streak lines.
097 – Takamichi Gets Really Real
gotta love explanations in the middle of an intense fight
I like this chapter, and how Takamichi fights, like the
explanation (and comparison) used to describe it. This isn’t even counting the fact that he can
use the two main techniques (ki and magic) that have been shown at once. Not too sure if Negi would be able to win (kinda
doubt it now, since Takamichi is so much more experience, and the only way I
think Negi would win is if Takamichi lets him), but he must… or you would
expect him to.
098 – Negi! Get
Up!!
I dunno, for some reason this seems overused
Nice, the ending was good.
Negi almost lost to Takamichi after he got a direct hit, and I thought
people were going to start cheering for Negi to get up or something. A few of the major characters did, but
thankfully the author didn't waste any more time by having the audience do so,
otherwise I would have cringed from it. Anyway,
I like Negi’s final attack and it caught Takamichi by surprise, although, I
tend to think that it might be just that he underestimated Negi, since he’s way
more experienced and powerful.
099 – The Hidden Technique Bursts Through
and now it ends
Ahh, the fight finishes, spectacularly I might say, it was
one of the better chapters for a while, and a better fight than the stuff we
have gotten before. Although it was
confirmed that Takamichi, in a roundabout way, let Negi win, and it was
plausible, as he said so himself, that he is way more experienced and older
than Negi so it’s unfair. The ending is
a bit suspenseful, Chao is up to something, and she’s even a threat to
Takamichi?! The chibi Setsuna is cute
and funny, and this was a great chapter.
Overall
is Negi stupid? Probably
The beginning of the volume was boring, but it picked up
once the fights started, and of course, it peaked in Negi’s fight, which is
what you would expect anyway. Cool to
see Takamichi in battle, and what his fighting style was, since we had seen him
a lot, but never really seen him in action.
The best volume in terms of fighting and action, but doesn't have much
in terms of story. There’s also that
mysterious hooded figure, that looked like Negi’s father’s hooded look, but it
can't be him otherwise people would recognize him…
Credits: due to it being faster and more efficient I just took these pictures from scans online instead of scanning the tankobons themselves. These were scanned by the groups "Red Hawk Scanalations" and "AquaStar Fansubs"