A new manga started recently from Ken Akamatsu, the person behind Negima (which ended last year on...a rather sour note to say the least). The new series is called UQ Holder! and it takes place several years after Negima, but unlike Negima it's not so much fanservice oriented as it is action. So far the plot involves a guy named Touta Konoe and his mentor Yukihime (who is actually Evangeline from Negima using magic to disguise her age) and Touta ends up becoming an immortal being and learning that there are other types of immortals out there.
The manga is available through...ahem...certain means, but the first volume will be coming out in the US next year in March, close to when the Japanese volume comes out, which is REALLY nice of Kodansha to do for us. It's worth a read, definitely worth it if you liked the later parts of Negima seeing how well done the action scenes were. I'm still apprehensive about it because Akamatsu left a LOT unsaid in Negima about several things and hasn't answered much of them in this as of yet, but it does seem to be going in a good direction.
UQ Holder!
Re: UQ Holder!
As one of the guys who was honestly fine with the ending of Negima (I actually like things being left ambiguous), and who has been a fan of all of Akamatsu's works (including the incredibly obscure A.I. Love You and the guilty pleasure one-shot Itsudatte My Santa), I found it a bit bittersweet to learn that the new work was a sequel to Negima instead of something entirely new. His three major works were a sci-fi, a romantic comedy adventure series, and a fantasy; I was hoping to see him tackle a completely new genre.
Well, I would suppose that this is in many respects an entirely new genre for Akamatsu, as from the first nine chapters it seems to be a completely run-of-the-mill shonen series with a run-of-the-mill shonen protagonist as well. That said, I'm still enjoying reading it even if I've seen much better from Akamatsu. I will reserve my full judgement until a few volumes down the line (I personally think Negima didn't start getting good until around volume 7). So far at least Kuroumaru is entertaining; and Touta might be a generic shonen hero, but he certainly does stand out among others for his upbeat (and not annoying) attitude and wacky motivations.
All in all, I am an Akamatsu fanboy and of course will be following this series religiously. I honestly hope that for once, there might be an anime adaptation of an Akamatsu work that doesn't suck (admittedly the Negima OADs were great, but those weren't a full series). Considering UQ Holder has blasted right out of the starting gate with "shonen action series" as opposed to Negima's taking around 12 volumes to fully get there, anime studios are more likely to focus on that and hopefully throw it a bone.
Well, I certainly went off on a tangent there.
Well, I would suppose that this is in many respects an entirely new genre for Akamatsu, as from the first nine chapters it seems to be a completely run-of-the-mill shonen series with a run-of-the-mill shonen protagonist as well. That said, I'm still enjoying reading it even if I've seen much better from Akamatsu. I will reserve my full judgement until a few volumes down the line (I personally think Negima didn't start getting good until around volume 7). So far at least Kuroumaru is entertaining; and Touta might be a generic shonen hero, but he certainly does stand out among others for his upbeat (and not annoying) attitude and wacky motivations.
All in all, I am an Akamatsu fanboy and of course will be following this series religiously. I honestly hope that for once, there might be an anime adaptation of an Akamatsu work that doesn't suck (admittedly the Negima OADs were great, but those weren't a full series). Considering UQ Holder has blasted right out of the starting gate with "shonen action series" as opposed to Negima's taking around 12 volumes to fully get there, anime studios are more likely to focus on that and hopefully throw it a bone.
Well, I certainly went off on a tangent there.
THE WORLD IS NOT SQUARE
Re: UQ Holder!
Judging by some of the stuff that got revealed early on I think this could go really wild at some point, especially with I'd love to see an anime done too but...I don't know if Akamatsu would want to go through with one after getting the shaft (no pun intended) in regards to Love Hina and Negima (I know My Santa and Mao-Chan got series too but I'm not sure how well received those were) unless a studio that works well in terms of adapting long series went for it. Bit too early to tell but we shall see.
Spoiler
the stuff about the Solar Olympics...that space race looked like some crazy zero gravity version of Wipeout or F-Zero