Again to the Vaults: “UQ Holder” Manga Evaluate – AstroNerdBoy’s Anime & Manga Weblog

Again to the Vaults: “UQ Holder” Manga Evaluate
UQ Holder! Magister Negi Magi!

With the abrupt finish of Negima! Magister Negi Magi, followers have been excited to be taught that Akamatsu-sensei was doing one other manga known as UQ Holder. Additional, it was to be a sequel to Negima. Contemplating how good Negima had been till its finish, there have been excessive expectations for UQ Holder. Nevertheless, issues by no means did fairly pan out for this in any other case okay manga collection.

Brace yourselves, girls and gents. This one is a LONG one. 😅

–> Purchase UQ Holder Quantity 1 Manga from Amazon.com!

* * * S P O I L E R S * * *

The Story, in Transient

In 2084, KONOE Touta is an orphan in who has no reminiscences of his previous from when his dad and mom died in an accident two years prior. He’s taken in and fostered by a girl named Yukihime. She’s a properly endowed trainer at a rustic, Japanese college. At some point, Touta and his buddies get conned by one other trainer into utilizing magic apps to take down Yukihime. Seems he’s a bounty hunter trying to kill the infamous vampire, Evangeline A.Ok. McDowell.

After Touta consumes among the injured Eva’s blood, he turns into an immortal vampire. They dispatch the trainer, however Eva, as Yukihime, takes him to hit the street. Their aim is to go to UQ Holder, a company of immortals. Whereas on the street, they encounter TOISAKA Kuroumaru, a demi-human immortal hunter. When Kuroumaru learns Touta and Yukihime are immortals, Kuroumaru makes an attempt to kill them. Yukihime defeats Kuroumaru, then reveals that Kuroumaru is actually additionally immortal.

The members of UQ Holder decide them up. After Kuroumaru and Touta go their trials, they be a part of YUUKI Karin for a mission they usually turn into a crew. Over time, the group turns into concerned in coping with Negi Springfield’s mission. Since Negi is Touta’s grandfather, it provides Touta extra motivation to know extra and to save lots of Yukihime.

The Good Begin

When UQ Holder began, the primary chapter was about 85 pages. It did an awesome job of organising the world. It made the hyperlink between UQ Holder and Negima, although the huge time skip didn’t sit properly with loads of people. Likewise, the unceremonious dumping of Chachazero irritated lots of people. However, when Yukihime-Eva and Touta set out on their journey, I actually appreciated what I learn.

For the primary few chapters, Yukihime-Eva and Touta are strolling by means of Japan, the place we see the how society of the long run has modified, no less than exterior of the Shin-Tokyo. I actually appreciated this facet of the manga’s begin. It helped develop the world they have been in.

The introduction of Kuroumaru added one other dynamic to the story. It revealed how Yukihime-Eva’s and Touta’s lives have been underneath fixed risk. On the similar time, Kuroumaru gave us one other line to the Shinmeiryuu college of preventing. Likewise, Yukihime took on Kuroumaru as a disciple, like Touta.

I actually hoped that the journey can be one the place Touta may find out about immortality in addition to coaching with Kuroumaru underneath Yukihime-Eva’s tutelage. Alas, this was to not be.

Altering Gears and Earlier Touta

By some means, the members of UQ Holder found Yukihime was on the street. As such, we get a bunch of 2016 stretch limos, that appear misplaced for a collection set in 2084. This leads to the journey getting lower off in favor of getting Touta and Kuroumaru on some journey in darkish caverns. As a narrative, I didn’t thoughts it a ton, however I didn’t like how the gears of UQ Holder shifted on a dime like that. The story was okay, however when this primary got here out, Touta aggravated me.

The second story the place Karin, Touta, and Kuroumaru head to slums to assist a church shield orphans was far more fascinating. The villains have been all fascinating, together with the sadistic one. Nevertheless, that is the place Touta as a Mary Sue went to the subsequent stage. His capacity to immediately turn into proficient was nonetheless there. Nevertheless, out of the blue, he had Magia Erebea talents. If you’re initially studying the manga, this can be a Mary Sue second for positive. Granted, there’s a proof given WAY later within the manga, so on the reread, it wasn’t as unhealthy. Nevertheless, I nonetheless seen.

The following story the place Kirie is launched comprises one other good story, culminating in a confrontation with Destiny, a robust, former antagonist from the Negima manga. Even the insane Tsukuyomi returns from Negima. Following that, we get a homicide thriller that turns right into a gory, vampire story. The revenant Santa is launched right here and it’s an unbelievable story! Sadly, Santa turns into a minor facet character after this.

The Manga’s Id Search

Whereas issues have been fairly fascinating in UQ Holder at this level, it’s clear that the collection had an id drawback. This stemmed from the truth that the collection was tied to Negima. But the unresolved story components of Negima have been uncared for. As such, Akamatsu-sensei (little doubt on the encouragement of his editors) began bringing again extra Negima components. That included reintroducing the last word antagonist of Negima, the Mage of the Starting (Ialda).

Akamatsu-sensei additionally brings again the battle event idea, which performed main roles in Negima. Personally, I loathed the thought and I believe Akamatsu-sensei did too, since he stored placing it on the shelf. A technique he did this was to introduce the “precise” shinso vampire Dana to the combination, also referred to as the Witch of the Rift. Right here, Touta will get coaching.

On the similar time, Akamatsu-sensei lastly provides us among the backstory for Eva (Yukihime), due to time slippage. Sadly, Sensei additionally launched a romantic ship between Eva and Touta. Since Eva had been a mom to Touta for 2 years, it had an “ick” issue to it. Plus, it killed Eva’s romantic ideas for Nagi that got here from Negima.

Akamatsu-sensei then determined to up the ecchi issue by bringing again chapter 2 story character Shinobu (nothing to do with Love Hina 😜). He additionally introduces loli character YUKIHIRO Mizore. Her function is to stir the pot, add ecchi loli content material, and supply extra romcom components to the story that had not been current so far. Thus UQ Holder is now not what it was.

The Touta Harem

There’s little doubt in my thoughts that the harem components Akamatsu-sensei launched in UQ Holder was a desperation transfer. The manga wasn’t almost as common as Negima. Additional, dripping in Negima components, together with a backstory for Eva’s early years didn’t assist. (I believe that including the romance between her and Touta didn’t assist issues.) As such, since Akamatsu-sensei’s earlier works (A.I. Love You, Love Hina, Negima!) have been all profitable harem titles, why not make UQ Holder the identical?

Nonetheless, I’ve a weak spot for harem titles. So whereas I didn’t want the ecchi content material, particularly for the lolis, the harem shift didn’t hassle me. The truth is, I needed a harem ending. Why? Properly, since this can be a group of immortals, a battle harem made sense to me from a narrative perspective. Touta, Kuroumaru, Karin, and Kirie have been the immortals that would final till the top of time, together with Eva.

Oddly sufficient, the harem components do actually assist add to the character arcs for Kirie, Kuroumaru, and Karin. I felt that Akamatsu-sensei did a great job working the romance facet of issues so that each one three ladies got here to a logical conclusion relating to their feeling and the harem scenario.

The Eventual Character Tales

Because the manga went on, one among my largest frustrations in UQ Holder was that we didn’t get loads of backstory for Kuroumaru, Karin, or Kirie. Akamatsu-sensei briefly touched on their histories, however that was it. The truth is, whereas I didn’t point out this in my Negima evaluation, the truth that Akamatsu-sensei didn’t go into Eva’s backstory annoyed me to no finish. The identical might be stated for Setsuna.

Whereas I could not have been eager on Touta getting inserted into Eva’s backstory, no less than we bought numerous it. Kirie bought solely a small quantity proven earlier than her time at UQ Holder, which is a disgrace. Then again, Kuroumaru not solely obtained a revealing backstory flashback, however her Yata no Karasu (Yatagarasu) tribe bought an exploration as properly. I felt many components of Kuroumaru’s story would have been Setsuna’s story in Negima.

Karin additionally bought an in depth backstory reveal. Due to her time alone with Touta, on account of the harem stuff, she opened as much as him. I completely despised that Akamatsu-sensei determined that Karin was truly Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Jesus Christ. And but by some means, Judas was truly a girl even again then. If Karin had been some girl who adopted the Lord after which supported Judas, I’d have been okay with that. Nonetheless, the backstory of when Karin first met Eva as Yukihime was fairly good, which additionally added Jinbee.

It wasn’t simply the harem members that bought backstories explored. I’ve already talked about Jinbee. Exterior the flashback with Karin and Eva, Jinbee additionally bought his personal flashback story, which I appreciated. And simply previous to the top of the manga, Gengorou’s backstory bought a reveal. As such, I extremely appreciated chapters devoted to this!

The Negima Connection

I’ve already talked about that UQ Holder had an enormous reference to Negima. Along with being an alternate timeline sequel to Negima, UQ Holder noticed tons of Negima crossover. On one hand, this can be a boon to followers of Negima, who needed extra of that content material. Then again, it was considerably of a damaging to UQ Holder, because it helped contribute to the manga not have an id of its personal.

Nonetheless, as a fan of Negima, I couldn’t assist however love these moments. I particularly liked the flashback chapters set when Negi was nonetheless a trainer at Mahora and Asuna had not but left for Inverse Mars (the Magic World). I liked it when the aged Chamo returned with the damaged Chachazero, who was introduced again to life simply to do one other flashback story.

Towards the sooner elements of UQ Holder, one bought the sensation that Touta was purported to be Negi. By the top, he’s the alternative for Negi, proper all the way down to preventing the Mage of the Starting. I’ll be sincere, the ultimate struggle is just not one I like, particularly as a result of it’s a deus ex machina second, of which there are numerous in UQ Holder. And the ultimate chapter seems to retcon the top of Negima by revealing that Eva there’s Shiori as a substitute. 😑

Last Ideas and Conclusion

I’ve written a ton, and it has taken me ten days to do it (due to work). However let me wrap up my UQ Holder look-back with some ultimate ideas.

• Though Touta is a vampire, as a plot system, it’s largely forgotten. That’s an actual disgrace. Even Eva’s vampirism is usually forgotten aside from the flashback. Even then, it’s barely a factor.
• I discussed the manga’s over reliance on deus ex machina moments. Usually, I felt that Akamatsu-sensei wrote himself right into a nook, thus the massive crimson button push. Additional, it allowed Sensei to change gears when he needed.
• One factor missed within the manga is the burden of immortality. That is kinda touched on with Kirie and perhaps Jinbee. However a deeper exploration would have been beautiful.
• I actually assume Akamatsu-sensei checked out Mashima-sensei’s (Fairy Tail amongst others) success and tried to emulate it with UQ Holder. In any case, in Fairy Tail, Mashima-sensei simply advised particular person tales with solely a minor thread for an general arc. If there have been continuity breaks, nobody cared. Alas for Akamatsu-sensei, his viewers didn’t need him to do these sorts of segregated tales.

In the long run, I do have a tender spot for UQ Holder. There are banger tales inside the pages of the manga. There are some tales I’m not as eager on. As a result of I used to be a Negima fan, I didn’t object to the elevated inclusion of Negima story components and characters. Regardless of the issues with UQ Holder, I nonetheless actually take pleasure in rereading the manga.