A very successful manga series is soon to reach its official end, nine years and 355 chapters after it began, and I have come across some spoiler images including the final page. It is Ken Akamatsu's Negima! which started out almost the same time as Shinobu Inokuma's Toritsu Mizushō. Mizushō ended earlier, mainly because the magazine it was serialized in was cancelled. I think Inokuma-san would have liked to have a longer run to finish his story properly. Akamatsu-san might have too, or he simply might have gotten tired of cranking out this popular series and wanted to move on. I thought it might be appropriate to show you the final pages of each.
Both of these series were centered around very peculiar schools. Each chapter of Negima was called a "Period,"; each chapter of Mizushō was a "Lesson." Negima's finale was the 355th Period. Mizushō adjourned after Lesson 232 (but there were also four Special Lessons, for extra credit.) Here here is the last page of the last lesson, together with the penultimate two-page spread.
No text. The family is Tanabe-sensei, his wife Akane, who met when they were teachers at Mizushō, and an unnamed short person in short pants. The woman running toward them is the former Oda Mari, first student council president of the school and now a teacher there.
The text on the final page repeats what the principal said on the first day, which means something like: "We are the pioneers moving into the barbaric wilderness called the 'night life,' sowing the seeds from which pride and morality will grow."
Like the final page of Negima, it has no flesh-and-blood people. It only has two artifacts compared to Negima's three dozen or so. The smaller of the artifacts is a badge with the school crest, worn pinned to the uniform jumper or blazer. The other one has more varied uses.
For those who aren't familiar with Negima!, aka Mahō Sensei Negi, also unofficially known as "Harem Potter," it was supposed to be about a 10-year-old Welch genius who has to successfully teach at a girl's middle school in Japan in order to get his wizard's license. There wasn't a lot of classroom time shown, though. There were 31 girls in his homeroom, or at least what he assumed were girls (One is a robot, one is a vampire, one is a ghost, and three are demons.)
I'm not going to put up the last page of Negima here because it's already up on another Blogger blog here. Open it in a new window if you want to follow my description of the stuff pictured on that page, and reflect that Ken Akamatsu always seems to want to cram more things into a picture than you can possibly take in during your first viewing--and maybe in your tenth.
The girls all have seating numbers, and I'm going to list them accordingly, along with which artifact in the collection shown on the last page I can associate with that girl.
- Sayo - the doll on the left is Sayo; it's enchanted so she can move from her original haunts. Died sometime in WWII.
- Yuuna - the two funny looking guns on the right.
- Kazumi - Flying snooper. She has several, but this one has handlebars for Sayo.
- Yue - Maybe the closed book next to the open one is hers. It can find any fact related to magic.
- Ako - the giant hypodermic, appropriate for the class health rep.
- Akira - a champion swimmer, she can actually turn into a mermaid. But I don't see her artifact here, yet.
- Misa - pompoms. Member of the cheerleading trio.
- Asuna - the big-ass sword. The poor orphan girl turns out to be a genuine princess.
- Misora - magic shoes, allowing fast movement not only on floors but walls and ceilings.
- Chachamaru - the robot likes cats. That kitty is actually the target designator for an orbital weapon platform.
- Madoka - pompoms. Another cheerleader.
- Ku Fei - the staff. Sort of dumb, but a great martial artist.
- Konoka - nothing I can identify. Her talent is healing magic. She's also the granddaughter of the head of the Mahora Academy (actually a whole complex of schools) and her father is the head of the Kansai Magic Association. Rooms with Negi and Asuna.
- Haruna - the quill pen. Anything she draws with it becomes real!
- Setsuna - actually a crow demon, expelled from her own kind because her wings are white instead of the proper black. Corresponds to Motoko in Love Hina, using the same school of swordsmanship. The throwing knife could be hers; she can project a lot of them at once.
- Makie - maybe the Indian clubs; gymnastics are here thing. Also can snatch small things with a ribbon from ridiculous distances.
- Sakurako - pompoms and the megaphone; she's the head cheerleader. Also incredibly lucky with bets.
- Mana - The shrine maiden is also a half-demon, and a born sniper. The big rifle is hers.
- Chao - The pocket watch hanging from Asuna's sword. It's either a time machine or a device to jump between alternate universes. She's the only one in class we know won't ever marry Negi because Negi is one of her ancestors--she's actually from the future, born on Mars.
- Kaede - second tallest girl in the class. She looks laid back, but she's a ninja. That cloak tied to Ku Fei's staff is her artifact; it's actually a portal to a pocket universe, and opens into a large house.
- Chizuru - That gigantic leek, aka green onion--it's "Y"-shaped. You don't want to know where she sticks it. BTW, the Japanese word for "leek" is "negi."
- Fuuka - twin of Fumika. The twins room with Kaede and know some ninjutsu from her.
- Fumika - twin of Fuuka.
- Satomi - the other mad scientist of the class. I think the wrenches would belong to her. She built Chachamaru.
- Chisame - computer whiz and secret web idol. Maybe her magic computer is the small rectangular object near the books.
- Evangaline - looks like a child of nine or ten; actually a vampire who was around during the Hundred Years War. The other doll is one of her hundreds of puppet minions.
- Nodoka - Also known as "Honya" which means "Bookstore." That open book spells out the thoughts of whoever Nodoka names, with illustrations. She's the first girl Negi uses his magic to rescue. Her character design is close to Shinobu's in Love Hina.
- Natsumi - shy, freckled girl, and member of the drama club. Her artifact is a magical eyeglass that makes her and anyone touching her invisible to anyone else, but I don't see it, yet.
- Ayaka - Class Rep, fabulously rich, biggest crush on Negi. Her artifact is all those flowers.
- Satsuki - the only plus-size girl in the class, she's a phenomenal cook. Her artifact can only be the wok Chachamaru's kitty-gun is sitting in.
- Zazie - The mask has to be hers' it has the same face markings. She's a demon like Setsuna, and even has her own set of wings. Only talks in two chapters, I think.
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