The birth of a garden... Of lilies :p.

Hi everyone. Welcome to the Lily Garden, a blog dedicated to anime reviews (mostly those with "lilies" in it). I hope you will enjoy your visit here, and if possible, do leave a comment or two ^_^. As a debut for the site, I will review 2 anime: Negima!? and Strawberry Panic. These two titles have made their way into my heart like no other anime that I've watched before (although Furuba and Gundam Seed still own the top ranks :p).

Negima!?



Negi Springfield is a 10-year old mage graduated from a Magic Academy in the UK (wow...). For his graduating assignment (to become a full mage/Magister Magi like his father), he was sent to Mahora Academy in Japan to teach. There he had a run-in with one of his father's many enemies (who happens to be one of the students in his class). As a Mahou Sensei, not only he is responsible to keep the school ground safe, he also has to keep his identity as a mage a secret, or else... His effort was futile however, as one by one his students discovered his secret!

Characters:
Negi Springfield: He is the son of the Thousand Master, Nagi Springfield, who went missing. All that Nagi left for his son was his bracelet and staff. Negi wanted to become a Magister Magi because of his father.

Kagurazaka Asuna: Negi's roommate and first partner. Incredibly strong, hot-headed... and dumb. Treats Negi like a brat, but sometimes shows an affection of a sister.

Konoe Konoka: Asuna's roommate and best friend. Granddaughter of Mahora Gakuen's Principal, Konoe Konoemon (that's how Negi ends up in a room with 2 girls. Pervert Principal). Can be quite mischievous. Knows that her childhood friend and bodyguard, Sakurazaki Setsuna, has feelings for her and seems to enjoy teasing her.

Sakurazaki Setsuna: Konoka's childhood friend and bodyguard. Loves Konoka dearly, but tried to deny it (unconvincingly) by saying that she has to keep her mind on her duty. A very skillful Shinmei-Ryuu swordwoman.

Miyazaki Nodoka: A shy, cute girl who has a crush on Negi. She's a member of the Library Expedition group.

Evangeline A. K. McDowell: A vampire. She lost in a battle against the Thousand Master (Negi's father), and was subject to a spell that restricts her within the school ground. She's after Negi's blood. Always in company of Chachamaru.

New Characters

Shichimi (シチミ, Shichimi) and Motsu (モツ, Motsu). Two "agents" from the Magic Academy sent with a report about the Star Crystals' disappearance. Their true forms are unknown since they took the images drawn up by Haruna; Shichimi is a cat, and Motsu is a frog. They then stay at Mahora and keep a close eye on Negi to ensure his magic secrecy. Eventually, this may no longer be the case when all of class 3-A learn about magic and became Pactio partners. In more recent episodes, a few bizarre segments involve Motsu and Makie, where Makie refers to Motsu as "father". Meanwhile, Shichimi begins to hang around with Nodoka often, with some of the moments ranging from Shichimi taking a nap on Nodoka's lap to the cat sitting on Nodoka's head while she's in her Armor form. A few other strange cutscenes show them playing with tissue paper and bubblewrap. Occasionally, they are found with the Black Rose Baron.

Motsu appears to be based on Aboshi Frog, a character created by Mako Aboshi for the Pani Poni Dash! anime. (Both Negima!? and Pani Poni Dash! have Shaft as the animation studio.)

Motsu is voiced by Chiwa Saito while Shichimi is voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro.

The Black Rose Baron (黒薔薇男爵, kurobara danshaku) made his presence known to Negi when he and his students were looking for information about the Star Crystal. Dressed in white formal attire with a black cape, hat, and a gold mask covering the left side of his face, he confronts Negi and occasionally members of the 3-A class. Sometimes, he targets Chamo with a black rose. As he comes and goes, black rose petals fly around him. Neither a friend or foe, his true identity is unknown; sometimes, it was speculated the baron was actually Negi's father. It is later revealed in episode 17, that Black Rose Baron's true identity is actually Negi's sister (in reality, cousin), Nekane, when she removes her mask while in the bathroom. Also, Konoka deduces her identity after seeing pieces of foodstuff on the Baron's sword, whereas moments earlier Nekane helps herself to some food in the kitchen, skewering the pieces of food with a similar looking sword, while Konoka and Setsuna are spying on her. Perhaps for Nekane's sake, everyone decides to keep this knowledge a secret, even from Nekane herself.

Since Nekane takes this guise, he is therefore voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro, Nekane's voice actress.

Mr. Yamada (山田さん, yamada-san), first name never known, is an old watchman in Mahora's Library Island. He goes around the library's underground corridors with a lighted lamp on his left hand and an eyepatch on his right eye. He seems to live in Library Island's underground rooms and literally cooks at its indoor restaurant. And though he falls into traps clumsily, he seems to be knowledgeable of the types of books in Library Island (though not the location) and can recognize regulars to the place such as Nodoka.

He only appears in the episode wherein Negi and his students attempt to find the book about the Star Crystal and at the same time Kaede and Narutaki twins search for a book that will make the twins grow up faster. He is not seen since then, although Nodoka mentions him in a later episode.

He is played by a voice actor known only as Chou (チョー, chō).

I'd love to talk about the rest of the characters, but I think I'll leave that for later. Maybe some of you guys can write a bit about the other characters, and I'll post them here :p.

Negima!? vs Mahou Sensei Negima
A complete remake of the Xebec TV series. The storyline is different as they bypass the whole history of the academy and go right for the Evangeline punch. Other differences are shown such as Setsuna and Konoka are close friends and the fan service is turned down and Chamo-kun is brought in right away. The anime starts with the fight between Nagi (Negi`s father) and Evangeline.

From Anime Encyclopedia

(I think rather than being tuned down, this has more fan-service...)

Negima!? also has a different approach to the partner system, where each partners have 3 cards; Rare, Cosplay, and Suka cards, which Negi picks up randomly when he summons his partner's power. The Rare card is the one you'd love to get, and the Suka card transforms the partner into a cute animal 8D.

Characters

As a remake, characters appearing from the original Mahou Sensei Negima appear in this retelling. However, under Studio Shaft, the characters have taken a redesign. The redesigns are featured in the first episode, as all girls from Negi's class are introduced. The majority of the characters are drawn with a more youthful appearance than the first series, with finer details; yet they retain their basic character designs. This also includes some of their original characteristics, behaviors, and traits.

Characters reappearing are Negi Springfield, Chamo, Takahata, Nekane Springfield, Anya, Konoka's grandfather, and the class 3-A.

Characters Setup

• Asuna first meets Negi after witnessing his magic.
• When Negi attempts to erase Asuna's memories of seeing his magic, Asuna is not stripped of her clothes, but instead, Negi , Asuna & Chamo are hit by metal pans. The same thing happens when Negi tried to erase Nodoka's memories, though only Chamo is beaned by a pan. Apparently, this is one spell that Negi can't get right.
• Negi wears a wrist bracelet (which was supposed to be his father's)
• Chamo is with Negi from the start, and he is less perverted.
• Takahata used his magic to heal Makie, Konoka and Nodoka after they were attacked by Evangeline. In the Manga, Makie wasn't healed of her bite, and Evangeline used her to turn Yuna, Ako, and Akira into vampires as well. Negi healed them all after the battle.
• Kazumi, Natsumi, Chizuru, and Ayaka were all attacked by Evangeline.
• Chachamaru is nearly destroyed by Negi during a fight with Evangeline.
• After the first battle with Evangeline in episode 3, the anime skips ahead of time after the events of the OVA to when Class 2-A becomes Class 3-A
• Chisame's Net Idol Page is 2nd place after someone randomly puts up images of school girls, with Nodoka's image being #1. Although Chisame tries to keep her Net Idol identity a secret, she becomes peeved when other students (particularly Chizuru) begin calling her "Chiu-Chiu-chan" in public.
• Sayo is introduced much earlier in the series than in the manga or first anime.
• In the manga, Takahata can't use incantation magic. In this new series, he's a mage.
• Both Haruna and Yue discover Negi's secret at the same time when he uses his magic to save Nodoka from falling after she tripped on some books in her dorm room.
• Instead of Chamo, Chachamaru is the one to tell Negi that she is a robot. Satomi makes it clear that she built Chachamaru rather than Negi just finding out through a course of events.
• Asuna isn't nearly as astonished, or for that matter, annoyed by Negi upon learning of his status as a mage.
• Negi isn't scared of Eva at all like he was after he first fought her.
• Misora does not know about the existence of magic before Negi's arrival. She seems to be interested in yoga exercises, and unlike her manga counterpart, has a Pactio with Negi.

Characters Appearance

Studio Shaft gave the characters different appearances from the original.

• Asuna's hair, although the same style from the manga and 1st anime series, tends to take on a life of its own in some situations usually reflecting her current mood or actions. She also has two blue eyes instead of having heterochromia (one blue eye and one green eye).
• Ako Izumi's hair is grey rather than blue, and her eyes are gold rather than red.
• Sakurako Shiina's hair is blonde rather than red.
• Yue Ayase's hair is purple rather than blue.
• Natsumi Murakami's hair is green rather than red. She also has a bit of a girl-crush on her roommate, Chizuru. Her outgoing personality comes in stark contrast to that of the first anime.
• Akira Okochi's hair is brown rather than black.
• Yuuna Akashi's hair is brown rather than black.
• Misora Kasuga's hair is brown instead of red. Her skin is a bit darker. And her flexibility (rivalling Makie's) is emphasized instead of her being a nun from the last series.
• Kaede Nagase's hair is now brown (her original color) instead of yellow.
• Chisame Hasegawa's hair is now brown (the original color) instead of green. The hair color of her net idol alter ego, Chiu, is now pink instead of brown.
• Satsuki Yotsuba appears slightly slimmer.
• Chachamaru wears purple stockings on her legs that cover up her leg joints.
• Takahata's glasses are slightly different, the frame surrounds both lenses rather than just the bottom and the sides
• Despite being so-called identical twins, Fumika has blue-green eyes while her sister Fuka has brown.
• Nodoka's hair color is blue rather than her original purple and is bouncier/fluffier. Also her hair doesn't cover her eyes completely unless she lowers her head or in her Suka form.

Character Room Assignments

The rooming assignments are very much different when compared to the manga. For instance, instead of with Yue and Nodoka, Haruna is now rooming with Kū Fei. The girls' room assignments in Mahora's dorms are revealed in Episode 7:

• Chizuru Naba and Natsumi Murakami (without Ayaka Yukihiro in the manga)
• Asuna Kagurazaka and Konoka Konoe (with Negi as their roommate)
• Ayaka Yukihiro and Makie Sasaki
• Nodoka Miyazaki and Yue Ayase*
• Haruna Saotome and Kū Fei*
• Chao Lingshen and Satsuki Yotsuba
• Misora Kasuga and Akira Okochi
• Kaede Nagase and Setsuna Sakurazaki
• The Narutaki Twins are staying with each other
• Chisame Hasegawa, Satomi Hakase and Kazumi Asakura each staying alone
• The cheerleaders (Misa Kakizaki, Madoka Kugimiya and Sakurako Shiina)
• Mana Tatsumiya and Zazie Rainyday
• Ako Izumi and Yuna Akashi
• Chachamaru Karakuri and Evangeline McDowell (in a separate cabin at the outskirts of Mahora)
• Sayo does not have a room and wanders around by herself

Furthermore, characters are usually grouped together accordingly throughout the series. For example, Chizuru and Natsumi together maintain the Astronomy Clock room.

* The rooms of Nodoka Miyazaki-Yue Ayase and Haruna Saotome-Kū Fei have an access hole through the wall between them.

Parodies

Various parodies and references to other media works have been found throughout the series.

Episode	Parody Description
1	A picture of Chiyo Mihama from Azumanga Daioh with her pig-tails removed drawn on the chalk board during Negi's introduction to the class.
2	A fighting scene in a flashback between Evangeline and Nagi is very similar to the opening of the first episode of Noein.
2	As the camera zooms in to Negi and Takahata as they discuss Evangeline, the distant view shows that the running track is enormous and in the shape of the stylised hummingbird from the Nazca Lines in Peru
4	Nodoka spoofs various outfits and poses from Cardcaptor Sakura.
4	Negi, Asuna, and Nodoka wander in a maze with an RPG theme. The satiation meter used onigiri (rice balls).
5	"Effort, future, a beautiful star" (努力　未来　A BEAUTIFUL STAR, Doryoku Mirai A BEAUTIFUL STAR) is subtly repeated. This is in fact part of the lyrics from J-pop group Morning Musume's "Souda! We're ALIVE".
5	When Negi realizes that Nodoka has been using her thought-reading diary on him in hopes of finding out his feelings for her, he reacts with a face that resembles Rerere from Tensai Bakabon.
5	Part of Chiu's introduction is a scene-for-scene spoof of the opening to Rec.
6	There's a parody of character select screen from Street Fighter II.
7	At the beginning of the episode, the title card used to tell the viewers about the dormitory is similar in design to the Japanese logo of the anime Love Hina (another popular work by Ken Akamatsu).
7	While Asuna is talking to Yuuna while Ako is preparing oolong tea using various laboratory apparatuses, the quote "Mayday, mayday! Black Hawk down, Black Hawk down!" is seen nearby. This may be reference to the said movie.
7	Sayo was exploring the dormitories viewed with the Legend of Zelda dungeon motif (complete with the Triforce in Haruna and Ku Fei's dorm room). The same motif is seen when Setsuna, together with Kaede, talk to Konoka about the string telephone they made.
7	When Sayo appears in a computer screen while in Satomi's room, Satomi and Chisame scream, "Wintermute!" Wintermute is the rouge AI in the novel Neuromancer.
8	Kaede and the twins watch a horror movie that has references to Ju-on and Ring.
8	While exploring Library Island, Konoka is dressed like Indiana Jones, which is also a reference to Pani Poni Dash!, as Ichijou (who, like Konoka, is voiced by Ai Nonaka) wore exactly the same outfit in episodes 9 and 12.
8	When Asuna gives the twins their chupacabra shirts, the Chupacabras that appear on the shirts are seen performing the "fusion" technique from Dragon Ball Z.
9	While Setsuna is describing her loyalty to Konoka, the animation momentarily changes to reference Katsushika Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa.
10	After Motsu's cup of instant noodles are ready, Shichimi says, "Ippen, shin de miru", which is the same thing that Ai Enma says before she sends someone to Hell in Jigoku Shōjo.
10	Kaede makes a pose similar to the one that Ultraman makes whenever he grows in size, during her cosplay card henshin sequence.
13	During the time when the 3-A students were separated, one group was inside a room with an alternate dimension which the girls acted as fighter pilots in space. It was parodying the 1980s classic arcade game Galaga. Also, one the view monitors on Ku Fei's ship features a screen from another classic arcade game, Space Invaders.
15	An eyecatch using the Cheerleaders has them twirling leeks over a spiraly background. This is a reference to the Loituma Girl, aka. Orihime Inoue from Bleach. (Coincidentally, Bleach airs two hours later on TV Tokyo on the same night, while the voice actress for Orihime is also the same voice actress as Evangeline in the Negima series)
15	Akira holds a mushroom closely resembling a 1-up Mushroom from the Mario Bros. series.
16	One of the items on the kitchen counter where the cheerleaders are cutting food is the "cabbage" from Yoake Mae yori Ruri Iro na.
16	An eyecatch features Negi holding puppet versions of Asuna and Ayaka that resemble Pucchan from Gokujou Seitokai.
17	An angry Evangeline punishes Motsu with an infamous death scene from Neon Genesis Evangelion. As part of this scene, we hear a brief second of Beethoven's 9th Symphony before the screen goes black with a "squish sound".
18	The mechanical chupacabra suit is the monster Gigan from Godzilla.
19	After Negi gets hurt by the antics of the suka girls, he ends up with a scar on his cheek similar to Himura Kenshin of Ruroni Kenshin.
19	During Satsuki's preview for the next episode, Asuna comes in and eats the food prepared by Satsuki. Before she eats, she is surrounded by a power aura similar to most Anime/Manga fighters, mainly Dragon Ball Z.
21	The opening of a sequence where Ako and Akira are forced to look over Makie and Motsu in an infirmary uses a similar logo and style to ER.
23	During the battle between Asuna and Chachamaru, Chachamaru upgrades her wings similar to the XXXG-00W0 of "Wing Gundam version Ka".
25	Asuna, Konoka and Setsuna take the forms from Cosplay Pactio Cards. The costumes they wear are based from those worn by the Japanese during the Tokugawa era.
26	There are references to the anime Higurashi no Naku Koro ni: Konoka saying "Ni-pah!" a quote uttered by Rika Furude and the painting on the wall resembles that of Rena Ryugu.
26	Pactio forms were scrolled through RPG style stat pages.
26	When Motsu discovers the truth of Makie calling him "Father", his face becomes similar to the green visage of The Mask.
26	After the battle between Mana, Zazie and the cheerleaders. Ayaka shouts at the 5 girls and Zazie and the cheerleaders saying: "Oh!, it so wind!" Such quote was said in the anime Gate Keepers.

Relationships in Negima!?

The relationship between Chachamaru and Evangeline in the original manga and anime was defined as purely a master-servant relationship (IMHO). In "Negima" (episode 2, when Takamichi explains about Evangeline and Chachamaru to Negi), their relationship proves to be even deeper than that. Not as deep as KonoSet's relationship (not even near, I think), but deep enough for Eva to confide in Chachamaru. My apologies to the fans of EvaChacha if I didn't cover enough abot the two of them. Kanarazu ano futari no koto motto benkyou shimasu! Hai!

It is obvious in the manga and anime of "Mahou Sensei Negima" that Setsuna harbours more than just affection of a friend towards Konoka, and the latter did not just knew about it; she even reciprocated the feelings (although not in an obvious manner). In "Negima!", however, their relationship is being stressed even more, especially in episodes 5 (towards the end, after Konoka forms a provisional contract with Negi regardless of Setsuna's objection), 6, and 12 (the opening part, where Setsuna tells a bit about her childhood with Konoka). Not to mention the scenes in the OVAs, where Konoka was flirting (although I doubt that she even intended it :p) with Setsuna, as well as the part where she wanted to have the red string attached to Nodoka and Negi to be attached on her and Setsuna as well (Japanese people would definitely be familiar with the meaning of the red string). I will go into details about the scenes if there are any requests (which I doubt will ever be, considering the number of visits I get ^_^;;). In MSN anime (episode 21), Konoka does seem to have feelings towards Setsuna (and it's mutual). The kiss she gave to revive Setsuna after the latter practically exhausted her energy trying to release Konoka from the barrier that imprisoned her reflected affection as well (or was it just me :p).

Next we'll talk about the pairing that breaks the boundaries of the living and the dead: Aisaka Sayo and Asakura Kazumi. Ok, they sit side-by-side in the class, with Kazumi wondering wth with the empty seat besides her (of course none of the students in the class can see Sayo at first). In the manga, Sayo's existence is brought to light before the school's festival (one heck of a crazy event, I tell you). As per Mahou Sensei Negima anime, Sayo was introduced in episode 19, before the school trip to Kyoto. In Negima!, she was introduced in episode 7. In Mahou Sensei Negima manga and Negima! anime, the episodes revolves basically around the existence of Sayo, rather than what happened to her. In MSN anime, a little bit of her past was exposed; that she had a younger sister, and she played a big role towards the existence of the tsuwabuki garden near the old clock tower. The episodes also mentioned that Sayo is a Jibakurei, spirit of the dead that lingers because of accidental death or spirits that have vengeful issues or spirits that still have lingering emotions. It was assumed that she died when she went out in a stormy night to protect her sister's tsuwabuki garden. However, there was no concrete evidence that that was the cause of her death. There is a fanfiction hosted in Shoujo-ai.com that suggested the cause of her death. Please check it out. Some similarities between the three series do persist; after the discovery of her existence, Sayo seems to stick with Kazumi most of the time; Asakura Kazumi being able to take her pictures (in the MSN anime, even before Eva casted the spell to make Sayo visible to therest of the class, upon Sayo's discovery that her sister's garden had flourished. In Negima!, Eva casted a spell that makes Sayo visible through Kazumi's camera lense); and Kazumi is VERY interested in Sayo. Well, maybe not in a romantic way.

There's still a long way until the whole story unfolds, so let's see where this one will take us to ^_-.

Sources are taken from Wikipedia as well as other review sites and author's own review.