Mahou Sensei Negima 152: I’ll snipe only you.

Leaving the building, Negi and the gang use a Chao Bao Zi trolley as cover. But when Negi is about to hop to another cover, he notices that someone is on the other side. Jumping out with intention to attack, Negi discovers that the person is Sister Chakti and receives tidings that almost all of the magic teachers have been wiped out, and Chao is using some kind of special bullet that creates a barrier that make everything contained within disappear. However, before they can properly end their conversation, Chakti is hit by the bullet she is still talking about and disappears. (By the way, I think this is the first time we learn that Chakti is a teacher.) This prompts Kaede to alert everyone that it’s a handy work of a sniper. The gang follows suit by taking cover in the trolley.

An unexpected meeting…

that ends in a tragedy. (Not really!)

Meanwhile, the robot army has captured the world tree plaza. While the participants are complaining about how hard the game has become, they are greeted by the unexpected voice of the ebil mastermind.

“You magic users are having a hard battle, I presume.”

Chao proclaims that she’s the leader of the Martian robot army, or, as she puts it, “the ebil last boss.” She then says that the ability to rejoin the game after being hit is too lenient on the participants, whom she thinks have admirable combat skills. Continuing. the ebil last boss introduces the new bullet employing the novel secret technology of the engineering department, which, upon hitting, means game over for the target as he/she would be transport to a “loser” room and would be forced to stay there until the game ends, missing the climax of Mahora Festival. Moreover, she claims to have had her underlings put the hero unit to inaction. Of course, while the opportunity lasts, she ends her announcement with a Chao Bao Zi advertisement.

Chao: “Feeding the whole world with meat buns: Chao Bao Zi”
Random Participant: “Don’t ruin the atmosphere! Damn it!”

To prevent Chao’s speech from intimidating the participants, Asakura makes a counter announcement that Chao is lurking somewhere in the area, and is willing to award the participant who finds her with a handsome $10,000. The ebil mastermind concurs and soon ends her hologram broadcast.

While other participants become uncertain of whether to proceed with the game which has become so demanding, Yuuna is the first to accept Chao’s challenge. Her enthusiasm inspires others to continue fighting, and everyone in the area joins force to attack the robots at once.

Yuuna: “I will not let Ako’s and Fumika’s death be in vain!!”
Madoka: “Death, you say…”

Hmm… Loli gunslinger. Have I seen that somewhere before?

Before we get to see the fierce battle that ensues, the camera cuts to the library where Chisame is left alone with iincho and Makie. Chisame tells the two Negi groupies that Negi is going to leave Mahora Academy if the magic user side loses the game. When pressed for the reason, the secret net idol just lies bluntly that, if the magic user loses, Negi is going to become Chao’s fiance, and they would move abroad together. However, to her surprise, they believe it and ask Chisame whether they can help with anything.

Iincho: “OMGWTFBBQ! I will not allow that, desuwa!”
Chisame: *What a bunch of idiots!*

But the secret net idol thinks of them as mere nuisance, so she sends them to mind the door and make sure that no one enters. Once left alone, Chisame picks up the magic stick artifact she just received and starts her incantation:

“The vast void that is zero.
The great spirit that is one.
O electronic spirits, float to the surface of water.
I be the King of the Digital.”

As you see from the bottom panel above,the groupies suddenly approach the magical-girl-soon-to-be,
taking her by surprise. As a result, they are also dragged into Chisame’s magic, and finds themselves breathing in some kind of coean.

Quite an unexected setting for electronic warfare, isn’t it?

However, when things are about to get interesting, the damn camera just have to switch back to Negi, who is now hiding with Yue, Paru-sama, Kaede, Kuu Fei, and Nodoka in the Chao Bao Zi trolley. The sniper who shot Chakti is no one other than the formidable Mana, who terrorizes her preys from the rooftop of a high tower.

Tatsumiya Mana, teh awesome.

Leaving a two-way radio transmitter in the trolley before hand, Mana hears all conversation among Negi party’s memebers. While Kaede advices everyone to hold position because of the possibility that the enemy is Mana, the sniper interrupts the conversation, saying hello to Negi. Learning that Mana is on the other side of the line, Negi asks the reason why she helps Chao, to which Mana answers that she sympathizes with Chao’s objective and is cooperating voluntarily. She then says that she has another job to do and therefore would like to have Negi and others disappear. Alerted, Negi grabs Cassiopeia and uses it to time travels right before the trolley is hit by Mana’s bullet, escaping in a very close call.

Akamatsu’s Law #1: time travel = panty shot.

Impression

I lol’ed reading the fiance gag. Typical, but very effective indeed. Comedy is all about leading you to expect something sensible, but showing the dumb or non-sequitur reality, right?

The story is progressing very slowly here. Each chapter has so little progress that it feels like I’m reading DBZ or One Piece. Well, at least Akamatsu-sensei is leading us somewhere, but having to wait 4-5 weeks for Chiu’s first magic battle is too long! (Well, at the moment I’m writing this entry, it finally comes at last in Chapter 154. Way too long a wait, if you ask me!)

Vocabs

Word	Reading	Meaning
狙い撃ち	ねらいうち	sniping
以下	いか	the rest
警戒	けいかい	warning, vigilance, admonition
位置	いち	place, position
雲?sき	くもゆき	weather, situation
埒	らち	bounds, limits
首領	しゅりょう	head, chief, boss, leader
有能	ゆうのう	able, capable
即	そく	instant
失	しつ	lose, loss, error
格	かく	status, character, case
快	かい	pleasant, agreeable
就寝	しゅうしん	going to bed, retiring
棄権	きけん	abstain from voting, renunciation of a right
綱	つな	rope
部下	ぶか	subordinate
始末	しまつ	management, dealing
健闘	けんとう	good luck!, good fight
提供	ていきょう	program sponsoring
共同	きょうどう	cooperation, association, collaboration
潜む	ひそむ	to lurk, to be hidden
報?ｧ金	ほうしょうきん	cash bonus, award
挑戦	ちょうせん	challenge, defiance
賭け	かけ	gambling
去る	さる	to leave, to go away
一肌脱ぐ	ひとはだぬぐ	to pitch in and help
紛れ	まぎれ	confusion
断固	だんこ	firm, determined, resolute
罪悪感	ざいあくかん	feeling of guilt
解決	かいけつ	settlement, solution
見張る	みはる	to stand guard
仕組み	しくみ	structure, arrangement; plan, plot
稼ぐ	かせぐ	to earn income, to labor
厄介	やっかい	burden, trouble
痛恨	つうこん	regretful
生半可	なまはんか	superficial, half-hearted
通用	つうよう	popular use, circulation
広漠	こうばく	vast
壱	いち	one (used in legal documents)
零	れい	zero
漂う	ただよう	to float, to drift about, to hang in air
根比べ	こんくらべ	endurance contest
志	こころざし	will, intention, motive
共感	きょうかん	sympathy, response
賛同	さんどう	approval, endorsement
信念	しんねん	faith, conviction, belief
従う	したがう	to follow, to abide by, to obey
対する	たいする	to face, to oppose
報酬	ほうしゅう	reward, toil, remuneration, recompense