UQ Holder! Vol. 1

Tôta Konoe has been living in an isolated country village for the last two years after a car accident killed his parents and gave him amnesia. Raised by the mysterious and strict teacher Yukihime, Tôta dreams of nothing more than to travel to the capital and clime the space elevator to seek his fortune with his friend. When a bounty hunter comes to town however, Tôta's life is turned upside down and he is forced to make a choice that will change his life forever.'UQ Holder!' is the latest (and possibly last) series by Ken Akamatsu and is set in the same world as his previous series 'Negima!', around seventy to eighty years later. Although you don't need to have read 'Negima!' to understand this series, it probably does help somewhat and there are a number of references to the previous series here and there. The main theme of this series is immortality and it is quite interesting how it explores the natures of its different forms.This fist volume is mostly just setting things up for the series, introducing three of the main characters (Tôta, Yukihime and Kurômaru) and giving some information on the current state of the world. Of the main characters Tôta is probably the weakest being the closest Akamatsu has ever got to a standard shônen main character (something that has annoyed some fans) but I still think he has some good points, even if he is an idiot most of the time. My favourite character from this volume though is probably Kurômaru who has a humorously serious personality and interesting character design.The artwork for the series is of typical Akamatsu style, although there is less in the way of fanservice than in some of his previous series. As with many of Akamatsu's previous works, he does reuse some character designs (Kurômaru is very similar to Setsuna Sakurazaki) but anyone who has read his work should be used to that by now. The fighting is nicely drawn, and is probably a little bloodier than in the majority of 'Negima!', with the battle at the end of the first chapter being particularly good.The translation of the chapter is relatively good (although I do have a few minor issues with some things) with the Japanese honorifics intact. There are some translation notes but rather than put them in the back of the book as some series do, they are done as bullet points on the relevant page.Many 'Negima!' fans were disappointed about how that series ended and this has led some to look unfavourably on this series as well and while I still greatly enjoy this series, even I would say it isn't quite as good as its predecessor. Despite this though, I do think this first volume shows a lot of promise and I feel it has a better pacing when read as collected volume than it does when read weekly. Overall I feel this first volume is worth a low five stars but five nonetheless.

If you liked Negima you’ll love this. Fantastic manga so far, I love the characters, the story and the refined Akamatsu art style. Just don’t read it on a crowded train, it still has occasional fan service...

negima and love hina are two of Ken akamatsu series but UQ holder is just as great none stop comedy an action well worth a read you will thoroughly enjoy

Interesting idea for a follow on. Some characters revised but with different mechanic. More gore than negima but still some light hearted banter. Some fan service but low key

At first I wasn't sure if this was a knock off or a scam but as I read I laughed, got excited and thought "wow" from start to finish then I knew it's a proper Ken Akamatsu book.I noticed some characters from previous titles (I won't say which) and I can't wait to see the next UQ Holder.

ITS OKAY

I am a huge fan of Ken Akamatsu, having grown up reading Love Hina and Negima, I have a good section of a bookcase dedicated to both these complete series. Negima in particularly was 'the' manga I enjoyed collecting and reading the most - the interesting characters, the action, the storyline (heck, even the fanservice in my youth), so it was crushing how the series ended. It was with a lot of hope that I approach UQ Holder, surely this could repair the damage?Well...no, not really. I say that based on the first 50 chapters of this series, not specifically on this book per say.Its a funny thing to review, this is not Negima book 39, its UQ Holder! A story about immortals battling other immortals set in the same(???) world of Negima several generations later. Howeverrrrrrrr, this is still Negima 2 - the very first page makes this (sorta) clear, and I reckon the vast majority reading this, went into this manga expecting Negima 2.Sorry, tying myself in knots here a bit. Part of the problem is the main character, Tota is (yawn) very (yawn), dull. He is the extremely standard shonen protagonist, ticks off all the boxes - no parents, chirpy optimistic guy, clueless, wants to protect people, has a mysterious power by the end of chapter 1, hangs around with a hot teacher...its really dull stuff, and 50 chapters has not changed this character.It is therefore helpful, that the series supporting characters are more interesting. Evangeline in particular is enjoyable, as is Kurōmaru (so so). Ken's art style is still crisp, clear and he has gotten even better at drawing action - and there is a lot of action!Too much in my opinion. I enjoyed the shonen aspect of Negima greatly, but I also enjoyed seeing Negi very slowly gather this powers, struggle, train and so forth - it was exhilirating to see him finally taken on Takamichi, Rakan and Fate. Meanwhile in UQ Holder, Tota (a doofus next to hard working Negi) has mastered shundo by chapter 2, and is battling top tier Negima enemies in the next book. It also doesn't help that as everyone is immortal (sorta), fights lack traction, peril or subsistence. If in a fight people can have heads lopped off and so forth and fight on sounds interesting...its really not.There is some promise in the premise of magical technology (apps) meets classic magic, but its never well developed, nor is Tota's aims (to go up some orbital elevator) because of a promise he made to his (yawn) friends in chapter one who aren't seen again for 40 odd chapters and even then its just in passing.Now, as a Negima 2 story, there is some promise. Things pick up somewhat with the arrival of a memorable white haired character (this is book 4 now), and I understand we could see more Negima characters further down the line maybe...? But is it worth slugging through the story to get there...I'm not sure...TLDR+ Interesting when picking up some of the Negima threads+ Ken's back baby! Likable art style is still present and correct+ Some good supporting characters and plenty of 'action fights'- Except the fights are dull when most of your characters are immortal- Tota is some a boring cliche character, when compared to Ken's previous characters (who set the cliches!)- Story seems to be languishing in boring arcs, underutilised world setting- UQ Holder as a standalone series is not that interesting, as a Negima 2, its not satisfying (yet??)