Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)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.
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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.
