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Negima! is an odd series; it begins as an obnoxious ecchi comedy, but by chapter 20 or so begins a transition into a bombastic shonen battle series, with writing that is alternately brilliant and frustrating. While I enjoy this series, I am fully aware of its largest faults, and I feel I have to elaborate on these a bit first since they could be a breaking point for potential readers.

The Negatives:

The biggest elephant in the room for Negima is that, at its core, it's a harem comedy starring a 10-year-old boy protagonist. He is constantly put into uncomfortably erotic situations that would absolutely NOT ... be considered ok if genders were reversed. This bothered me throughout the series, but was eventually able to acknowledge it and move on.

Related to this, Negi's harem consists of the girls middle school class he teaches, and the majority of them eventually develop crushes on the 10-year old boy. How icky this feels can vary; one girl only develops feelings for the adult body Negi uses to disguise himself, but one of the primary side characters has a "crush" on him FROM THE BEGINNING. This is not natural or normal.

Lastly, despite not being the full ecchi comedy suggested in the first 20 chapters, elements of it remain throughout the series. Middle school girl characters constantly have their clothes blown off by magical attacks, and Negi is frequently in suggestive or compromising situations with his students/potential love interests. To be honest, i still can't figure these scenes out, because they seem so dissonant from the majority of the content. Was there an editorial demand to fit in this content? Was the author trolling the readers? Or does the author simply really, really like underage ecchi content? Sadly, i suspect it's the latter.

The Positives:

One reason I was so baffled by the presence of the ecchi content later on is because the writing in the rest of the series is very clever, and sometimes even brilliant. As an example, there is a massive arc in the middle of the series surrounding a high school festival, that is the writing equivalent of juggling 10 chainsaws. It features at least 3 separate sub-arcs all linked through time travel, with later sub-arcs fore-shadowed in earlier ones, without any plot holes or contradictions (that I could find). It also features tear-jerking plot lines, an excellent tournament arc, and an outstanding climax with a great villain with complex motives. What's even more impressive is that, based on my multiple readings of the series, later plot twists and events were absolutely planned from the beginning. It's fun to read the innocent early chapters, and see the later events foreshadowed, or background characters that later become central to the plot.

Another strong point are the characters. Yes, some of the characters are off-putting for reasons i mentioned previously, but many more are complex and well written. The biggest example is Negi himself, who is quite different from the vast majority of shonen protagonists. Rather than triumphing through sheer willpower and convenient power-ups, Negi is an intellectual first, who wins through preparation and study. It's fascinating how Negi lives in the shadow of his absent but legendary father Nagi who, based on flashbacks, is much more typical of a late-series shonen protagonist. Negi earns every one of his successes through hard work and planning, and is a great character.

Several of the girls surrounding Negi are well written as well, and by the end of the series they will all get at least a small amount of development. The main girl, Asuka, is written more as a big sister figure for Negi, rather than a romantic interest, and i appreciated this distinction. Another character, Evangeline, is developed beyond her trope of "loli vampire" and becomes an indispensable mentor figure. There is also one of the best examples of a lesbian romance arc i have ever seen in a manga, and it is shocking how sensitively it is handled considering this series' comedic tone.

Another strength is the art work. The art in this series is a digital style, but it is very well implemented. In particular, l love the way fight scenes are drawn. The action feels so dynamic, and it is obvious that real martial arts were studied to give some amount of realism.

Some Nitpicks:

As great as the writing can be, there are a few details and character motivations that are never adequately made clear. In addition, the conclusion is frustrating in how many questions are left unanswered. I read the series multiple times just to see if i missed something or skipped a chapter on accident, but no, the ending just isn't that clear on many crucial points.

In conclusion, Negima! is a rousing adventure that subverts several tropes, but lives up to others. If the negatives i described earlier don't bother you, then i fully recommend you check out this satisfying, epic adventure.

If you are looking for a series that is 'good' in any way, i urge you to avoid Gantz like the plague.

I should clarify that i'm not necessarily offended by violence or sex; i'm a huge fan of other violent seinen such as Berserk and Vinland Saga. However, the author's main goal seems to have been to shock the audience as much as possible in order to give the illusion of quality.

In Gantz, people who die are faxed into a room by a black ball that hands out weapons, talks in 'leetspeak', and tells them to kill aliens. That is literally all the ... story you need to know or will be told.

The first 100 or so chapters of Gantz are nothing less than loathsome, and this begins with the characters. The main character Kurano is an unlikable douchenozzle, and that's his only character trait (besides his misogyny, which we'll get to); his friend Masaru is equally shallow but is instead a 'white knight' to contrast with Kurano. The worst example is Kei, whose appearance is as a naked suicide victim and is shamelessly exploited by both the author and by the other characters. Kei is seems more like the author's blow up-doll than an actual character; she is constantly being molested or threatened with rape, and each of the early chapters is preceded by an official drawing of her in an explicit pose.

Characters don't have to be deep for a series to be good, but Gantz goes out of its way to make each character as shallow and unlikable as possible. Most of the minor characters that come to the Gantz room are gang rapists, and the main characters aren't much better. Somewhere around chapter 120 the main cast becomes somewhat interesting and likable, but at that point the series is caught in a vicious cycle between being really dumb and really offensive. The only character with a real arc is Kurano, and it can be summarized by 'got a girlfriend and became slightly less despicable'.

By far the worst part of this series for me was the way the female characters are treated. Even after the 100 chapters of exploiting Kei have ended, each female character introduced after that is completely defined by their crushes or codependency on one of the male characters, who treat them like garbage. This trend only gets worse as the series goes on.

Almost as bad is the relentless, naive cynicism at play. Every person who isn't a main character is portrayed as mean, stupid, and pointlessly cruel, especially the teachers (gives some insight into the author's life, possibly). Horrible things happen in this series for no reason other than to shock the reader. When a mass shooting occurs, it's because the author wanted to draw a bunch of people being machine gunned to death, not for any narrative reason (it is barely mentioned later on). In short, the world of Gantz is one that is frankly not worth saving, and this becomes tiresome to read.

The sole high point of Gantz are some of the intriguingly weird alien designs, especially early on, and the level that the art gets to later on. I personally found the art to be uninteresting, but you can't complain about its overall quality.

Against all of these criticisms, the other nitpicks i have seem irrelevant. The lack of any narrative flow, the poor pacing of each chapter, and the out=of-place story elements (there are vampires and psychics introduced that have nothing to do with the aliens, without any explanation at all).

If you want to read violent schlock, go read Hellsing (which is REALLY GOOD violent schlock). If what i just described sounds like your cup of tea, then god help you. If you like story, character, or investment on the part of the author, then find something else to read.