Negima! 8 (Negima!: Magister Negi Magi) [ペーパーバック]

Old villains return and new ones make their debut in the eight volume of"Negima," where even more problems await the young wizard teacher. Ken Akamatsu is in top form as he reveals some of the secrets of Negi Springfield's past, and provides a sinister new villain for future battles.

After every training session with Evangeline, Negi comes back exhausted. Asuna and other students follow him one day -- and get sucked into Evangeline's "resort," outside of normal time. During their visit, Negi tells Asuna his tragic life story, and why he is so determined to be strong. Meanwhile, students Natsumi and Chizure stumble across a stray puppy -- who turns into a fevered, naked Kotaro Inugami.

The girls take care of Kotaro, but the amnesiac dog-boy can't help them for long. The sinister Graf arrives, and his jelly-like demons start kidnapping girls important to Negi... including Asuna. Negi and Kotaro put their feud aside to challenge the Graf and get the girls back. But will Negi be able to prevail against the Graf, when the learns the old man's place in his darkest memories?

The eight "Negima" volume has plenty of the slapstick, innuendo and goofiness that you'd expect from Ken Akamatsu's storytelling. However, this volume ventures into darker territory, and illuminates characters whose backgrounds were only hinted at before this.

He also explores Negi's past heartbreaks and losses, and his fruitless quest to find his father. It goes a long way toward explaining how a ten-year-old could be so mature. The scene where four-year-old Negi sees his uncle die, and cries "Father" at the sky, is heartbreaking. Akamatsu makes these scenes sorrowful but not maudlin; his talents are obviously not limited to comedy.

It also features the return of Kotaro Inugami, a feisty dog-eared kid who seems like Inuyasha's baby brother. He's also got a rough past, and finds a weird kind of haven among the girls of Negi's class... even if he and Ayaka get along like fire and dynamite. Not to mention that Akamatsu reveals a massive secret about Asuna, and a possible use for Konoka's healing skills.

But the advances of the plot are the best of all -- the Graf and his jellylike minions have a very sinister connection to Negi, and a lot of power at their disposal. Especially when you consider what the Graf is -- a horrific demon whose real appearance is onlyseen for a few minutes. If Akamatsu brings him back to clash with Negi, the story may grow even more amazing.

The only flaw is the translation. I understand the translators' desire to keep it genuine by keeping honorifics in the dialogue. But when a Welsh child addresses an old Welsh man and a young Welsh woman -- while in Wales -- it sounds very strange to hear him using Japanese honorifics. "Grandpa Stan" would have worked a lot better than "Stan ojii-chan."

The eighth volume of "Negima" takes our hero into new and terrifying adventures, and the series into better territory. Excellent work.

Just like in the previous volumes (after the change in translators) some of the characters have drastically changed. Although the translators at Del Rey attempt to portray the characters "how they seem to be," I believe that they take too many liberties when translating. They overexaggerate certain characteristics of characters as well as incorporate outdated, non-relevant slang.

One of the most blatant examples would be from a previous volume, Volume 6 where one of the main characters (Asuna) SAYS "... OMG WTF." Now, had this been written out, it may have been more realistic, but to have it written in the manner it was, not only was it a childish attempt to incorporate slang, it is demeaning to the characters themselves.

If you are able to read past the ridiculous attempts by the translators to incorporate slang where it is obviously not needed and the broad liberties that Del Rey takes in translating the speech of the characters (Ku Fei- making her speech the equivalent of a stereotypical uneducated person of far east descent ex. i speak good english; give that me now, etc.), I believe that this product tells a superb story. Volume 8 of Negima is no exception to the excellence of story telling that Ken Akamatsu continues to present. This is clearly a case in which a exquisitely radiant story is only fettered by the cliches and fallacies of the translators.

This is the eighth volume in the manga series about a 10 year old Welsh wizard who teaches at a girl's school in Japan. This volume features Negi's training with Evangeline, a story about Negi's past, the return of Kotaro the dog boy and a showdown with an old enemy. This volume also is the first time we get to know Chizuru and Natsumi (two of the students). One of the problems with the series is with so many characters, some of them don't get much "screen time". If you enjoyed the previous volumes of this series, you should enjoy this one.