What do you get if you mix a harem show with Pani Poni Dash? Negima!
Posted on | October 11, 2006 | 7 Comments |
| Pani poni humour + Negima = ???
Well, someone finally got round to subbing the first episode of the new season of Negima that I was obsessing about for quite a while. For those of you who have missed my rantings or have missed the news for the last few months, the original anime by Xebec is being superceded by a new anime by SHAFT covering the same timeline, but with a different take on the whole shebang.
As people should know I am a huge fan of the manga series, so I was extremely disappointed with the Xebec effort, which was lacklustre to say the least. But a second season, covering the same part by Shaft, the team behind Pani Poni Dash??? What’s not to get excited about?
| Pani poni Dash does Magical harem comedies O_o. They even hijacked the random background music…
So, quickly on to the impressions of the first episode…
The OP: Sounds like an orchestral prelude to a horror drama ^_^;; I’m not sure if this will keep up or if they’ll fall into a normal J-pop OP after the first episode, but it fitted the mood surprisingly well.
Negi’s voice: One of my main quibbles about the first season was that Negi’s voice was borderline annoying and I’m glad to see that they have found a better seiyuu for him in this season. Definitely a great improvement. Chamo is even not annoying ^_^
Tsundere Anya: Awesome
Konoka’s voice: Took a little getting used to, to tell you the truth – she sounded rather empty headed which was not really suitable for her manga character, but after a while, the notion subsided and her voice is actually rather nice and a great contrast to both Setsuna and Asuna
Setsuna: Awesome
Asuna: WTF with the samurai outfit and absence of heterochromia, but otherwise hilariously reminiscent of PPD with the GACK!! facial expressions and exploding hair ornaments
Chachamaru: Awesome – all one line of hers.
Eva: Awesome – more badass = more awesome.
Classroom scenes: the new class layout is rather questionable, I mean, who uses a lecture theatre style in a Japanese middle school ^_^;; obviously its so that they can make PPD style jokes with all the girls doing random things in the background like Zazie juggling random things and Mana polishing her sniper rifle.
Ku Fei: Nowhere near Chinese enough. They need her to say random chinese phrases like “Ni Hao!” As does Chao Lingshen ^_^
Yue: Voice is SPOT ON. Cynical yet light hearted, so I am well impressed. As with the choice of Mamiko Noto For Nodoka (the obvious choice, come on…)
Asakura: Nowhere near confident enough, she seems almost shy O_o. In fact, she kind of reminds me of a young male protagonist.
Ayaka: Awesome – More table banging and obvious shotacon please *_*
| She’s a bit young to be a shotacon O_o
In general, the things that really strike me about this anime is the lack of background music and the weird mix between a PPD style weirdness (somewhere inbetween a drama and a comedy) and a harem anime (which Negima invariably is…). Unfortunately, I’m not sure that it works that well. At the moment, Negima?! comes off as a little mixed up in what it wants to be. The OP and ED suggests that it wants to be at least vaguely serious as does the lack of background music. However, the situation comedy and the random Azumanga/PPD expressions and overexaggerations suggest that its really just a part of the comedy.
Perhaps this is an example that randomness in large quantities can almost unhinge an anime.
However, I continue to have high hopes for the anime as the characters and voiceings are great and they have a great storyline to work with (praise be to Akamatsu!) Perhaps when they’ve decided which route to take the anime down and the rhythm settles a little then Negima will develop into a great manga adaptation that me and the rest of the Akamatsu fans can really be happy with.
Until then, keep watching!
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7 Responses to “What do you get if you mix a harem show with Pani Poni Dash? Negima!”
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October 11th, 2006 @ 6:56 pm
I think you dichotomy is a bit off. I haven’t seen the first Negima series or read the manga so I can’t comment on how the new series compares to the source material, but it would seem to me that Negima and PPD are similar in many respects. Negima is obviously a harem series but PPD is like a harem series without a male lead. It features a dozen and a half or so cute girls who each have a specific character type or gimmick and only a few minor male characters, all held together with random comedy. Negmia has 30 or so females each with a specific character type or gimmick (and probably) held together with harem romance and and an ongoing story that I know nothing about because Ive only seen the first ep of the new series. The question I see is how the comedy and drama will be balanced. I have no idea what that would entail because I am not to familiar with the source material. I hope it works out though, the first ep was great.
October 11th, 2006 @ 7:31 pm
Negima has the same director who did Pani Poni Dash, Tsukuyomi and Soul Taker.
October 12th, 2006 @ 3:24 am
Negi’s seiyuu is the same than in the Xebec’s anime you know? (In fact, most, if not all the seiyuus stayed the same)
This new Negima anime, for now, is just great \(^0^)/
October 12th, 2006 @ 12:30 pm
Really? Wow, the new production team must have given her a different motivation cause she is infinitely less annoying.
October 18th, 2006 @ 10:06 pm
[...] While the consensus about Negima!? has been mostly positive, I kept thinking it was just me, so I’m glad I’m not the only person on the fence about this. For the record, I liked Pani Poni Dash, but does that necessarily work here? Outside of the nitty-gritty (i.e., the different classroom design, Chamo-kun with Negi from the get-go), this series doesn’t feel like Negima. Yes, the animation quality far exceeds the predecessor, but the Akamatsu feel isn’t fully there. In terms of ASX’s main points: [...]
October 19th, 2006 @ 12:02 am
[...] While the consensus about Negima!? has been mostly positive, I kept thinking it was just me, so I’m glad I’m not the only person on the fence about this. For the record, I liked Pani Poni Dash, but does that necessarily work here? Outside of the nitty-gritty (i.e., the different classroom design, Chamo-kun with Negi from the get-go), this series doesn’t feel like Negima. Yes, the animation quality far exceeds the predecessor, but the Akamatsu feel isn’t fully there. In terms of ASX’s main points: [...]
October 19th, 2006 @ 12:02 am
[...] While the consensus about Negima!? has been mostly positive, I kept thinking it was just me, so I’m glad I’m not the only person on the fence about this. For the record, I liked Pani Poni Dash, but does that necessarily work here? Outside of the nitty-gritty (i.e., the different classroom design, Chamo-kun with Negi from the get-go), this series doesn’t feel like Negima. Yes, the animation quality far exceeds the predecessor, but the Akamatsu feel isn’t fully there. In terms of ASX’s main points: [...]