Mahou Sensei Negima! Chapter 355 Discussion

I suppose there are much worse final chapters you can have than this. At least we got confirmation on a few pairs (Hakase/Godel, WTF?). I was still hoping for Negi/Chisame, or at least Negi/Anyone.

Man, the ending is just so incredibly lackluster and unfulfilling compared to the rest of the manga.  I don't think it negates the other chapters though, so 8/10 from me.  



Still, what a huge slap in the face.  I read this so called ending then just sat stupefied for a while, amazed at how much of a NON ending this was to such a long running project.  



Meh.  Nothing more to say really, the last few chapters were one big "meh"

from a 9 to 7. I'm disappointed that we didn't get to see Negi find his dad journey. Oh well

I'm pretty bummed out as well, but I recall a majority of manga out there having pretty unsatisfactory ends.



I think the problem might be a lot of these manga authors go in without the vision as to where they intend the series to go which is why a lot of manga ends are so unsatisfactory and crappy. At the same time they kind of can't because the editors and publishers have the final say and keeping a steady income means writing grand plots with a ton of elements that may or may not go anywhere.



An example of an author having such vision (in recent memory) is Kozue Amano. She said herself that by the time she had the second chapter of Aqua finished she already had an ending in mind. She sat on this for 8 years. Aria, despite the speedup in later volumes, had a pretty satisfying end.



Now I might be oversimplifying since writing skill plays into it a lot but from my experience what gets a project/organization off the ground and used to gauge its success is vision. I get the feeling Akamatsu chose to end it because of the lack of/poorly defined vision for the series. Probably why the anime adaptations for Negima are all over the place as well.

I give this manga a 9/10 since it's my favorite. But that last chapter somehow  reminded me of School Rumble ending chapter years back. I hope there is some extra chapter or some spin-off to give details about some unanswered questions.

I hate this kind of endings, and I suppose Negi ended up with Makie, and fuck you how is that Chisame ended up being a Hikkikomori.

The ending didn't disappoint at disappointing. Still that "did they or did they not" trolling with Konoka and Setsuna was funny. They did, I don't care what anyone can say against it, they did

If Akamatsu didn't plan to reveal who Negi ended up with, why did he build up the last chapters like there would be some grand confession or revelation and then ignored the issue altogether in the final chapter? Not cool.



I guess its okay to end the series without revealing Negi's partner in itself and make it an open ending, but obviously this is NOT how to go about it.



3) About who Negi married I think it was Asuna after all, based on the scene at the end of the last chapter where we see Asuna and Ayaka with Fate and Negi in the background . That is clearly a wedding scene, based on the background and the dresses worn. Now consider that and these following excepts from Ayaka's the  wedding scene with Asuna/Ayaka and the english translation:



After the establishment of the Issda, she continued to stay by the side of Negi and Asuna and became a major source of support. To me, the wording "Stay by the side of Negi and Asuna" emphasizes a relationship NegiXAsuna. Also, a supporting role seems an appropriate expression, when talking about a couple.



Followed by this excerpt, also about Ayaka:



She is happy simply standing to one side behind Negi Okay, so I don't know japanese, but if the english translations above are correct and unambiguous, it doesnt seem Ayaka is it together with Negi - because then you would say something simpler like "She is happy standing beside Negi". To say "To one side behind Negi" implies an supporting role.



So we have a wedding scene, two couples (or maybe Fate is just a best man?) and Ayaka is said to be supporting Negi and Asuna.



I had dismissed Asuna as Negi's partner based on her reaction earlier (when Negi whispered to her who he likes). Now that this final chapter is out, I suspect that was all just a ploy from Akamatsu, without any real meaning (or rather held no meaning in the story, but to entice the readers). So my vote is for Asuna!



EDIT: As someone pointed out, if you compare page 16 and 17, you see Asuna and Ayaka are attending Natsumi's wedding! Maybe NegiXMakie then.