So my fellow negima fans. Who else has gotten there gruby hands on volume 31?

The translation seemed pretty good to me. And it did my heart good to read chapter 284 again.

The only complaint I really have is that the limited edition version wasn't availble.

A few days ago with Bamboo-Blade 10, it'll be my last purchase before supanova in novemeber.

its nice to have these come out in rapid fire.

two things ive noted

a panel on page 5 of period 281 is errored, the wording has jumped off the panel and over collet, that or the wording is gone from there.

two pages later on the top, it goes 'Nodoka....56'

not quite sure what kinda typo that is

There are several errors in the volume. Yuuna's name is spelled Yona in one place. Someone shouting Yue's name, her name is almost completely out of the bubble. I'd have to go back and look for the other errors I noticed. Not good on Kodansha's part.

Translation-wise, I'm at a loss as to why "dragon's tree" was used rather than the fan adaptation, "ancient dragon." Also, there were a couple of times after Jack died where they had Chisame say "mister," which sounds odd and isn't like what the twins normally do.

Now that you meantion it. I did notice those, thought I put them down to editing screw ups more than anything.

Concerning the "acient dragon" verus "dragon's tree" thing. My knowledge of kanji and such is minamal at best. But could there be multiple translations/meanings for the words used to describe it?

I'll have to go home and check, but apparently, the use of "Dragon's tree" was explained in the lexicon of volume 24.

Is it just me or there are no author's notes for the front and back cover? That was always my favorite part? :sniffle:

Why are there pages from c286, (1/3 to 1/2 of a chappy,) when the contents lists the last chapter as c285?

Did Kodansha maybe include the 'fated discission,' and leave out some of the normal bonus pages deliberately?

I pulled out my Japanese volume 31; it was also this way for the Japanese release. Must have decided to add them into this chapter after the magazine release. No funny business here, but I didn't even notice that. :heh:

And, yes, we're missing the front and back cover notes. That was also one of my favorite parts (so I noticed it immediately), especially when Akamatsu-sensei gives a quick blurb regarding the seiyuu playing the character. This volume was Asuna's turn, too, damn it!

As tenton mentioned, this happened in the Japanese version of vol. 31 as well.

My take on this is that Ken Akamatsu had planned to end the volume with Nodoka confronting Yue, with Yue beginning to regain her memories of Nodoka, but not her memories of Negi. However, with the 18 page limit when it comes to chapters, Ken had to include the Yue/Nodoka scene at the start of c286 in the Shounen Magazine version.

EDIT: Volume 31 debuted at 3rd in the New York Times manga list this past week. Two things to consider:

1. The tops spots went to the two Sailor Moon titles (Sailor Moon and Sailor V) that just came out, which would explain why Negima didn't finish higher.

2. This volume came out the same week as the penultimate volume of Fullmetal Alchemist, which finished in 4th. Long story short: more people were interested in a young wizard/pimp than a pipsqueak alchemist (runs from the Edward Elric fangirls).

I noticed that there was another VERY glaring error in this volume.

The font in the speech bubbles during the escape plan part. It's COMIC SANS.

The volume was lettered by "North Market Street Graphics" it seems, which is probably some sweatshop business or something. Unacceptable. I hope they can reprint this, because 32 looks way better. Unfortunately, Kodansha also seems to have no one manning their Facebook or Twitter, which is driving me up the wall. How can a company that's a US offshoot of a popular Japanese publisher be understaffed?