Negima, as an anime series and series in general, is the secret hot mess you might not know about. The anime suffers from a common problem as in it isn’t exactly faithful to adapting its source material, like at all for the most part. It’s manga had a bit of a problem at the end that forced the author to give it a quick forced ending then wrap it up later in UQ Holder when things settled.
Anyway, the Negima series is about a ten-year-old wizard that becomes a teacher of magic only to slowly grow a harem of doe-eyed girls that love him. While much of the series focuses on that harem element, it has some decent shounen elements as well, particularly in UQ Holder.
Unfortunately, when you ask fans how to watch the Negima anime series in order, their typical response is to “read the manga.” That is kind of a big yikers, but the reason is that the anime doesn’t cover a fraction of the original manga. It also comes to a different ending because of the usual anime studio problems, such as thinking they would have multiple seasons, being shut down, and having to rush an ending.
Negima Watch Order
How to Watch Negima in Order
I’ll be real, because it leaves so much out there is really no good reason to watch this chronologically. Really, you will never get even close to the complete experience of the series with just the Negima anime, you need to read the manga to do so. We will explain why with this “watch order”.
- Negima! – Covers the first six volumes of the manga rather faithfully before rushing to an anime only conclusion because the studio had to.
- Negima!? – Covers none of the manga and focuses on absurdist humor with less focus on action, fan service, or even plot.
- Mahou Sensei Negima!: White Wing/Ala Alba – a three episode OVA that covers a brief arc between the Mahora Festival and the Magic World arc
- Mahou Sensei Negima!: Another World – A four episode OVA the covers the beginning of the Magic World arc in the manga
- Mahou Sensei Negima! Anime Final – a movie that continues the above Another World OVA, but has a different ending than the manga
- UQ Holder – While better than the above, it does skip around the source material and leaves some things out. Yet, as the protagonist is not Negi, but related to him, it allows for a new, but still connected story.
Do You Need to Watch Negima to Watch UQ Holder?
UQ Holder is the newest adapted series and a sort of stealth ending to the Negima series by the author. As it is a Negima anime series that people are actually loving, you may wonder if you can just skip right to it.
The answer is yes.
If you were reading the UQ Holder manga, you most definitely want to read the Negima manga first. Unfortunately, the Negima anime is a hot mess and and wouldn’t even help you resolve the plot threads that UQ Holder resolves because only roughly six volumes of the manga were actually adapted.
However, if you have no experience with Negima at all, UQ Holder has a new protagonist and story in the world, and while you can benefit from Negima’s background information, it is not technically necessary in order to enjoy it.
