Negima!: The Complete Series

From Akamatsu Ken, creator of the popular Love Hina series of manga and anime, Negima! is another harem anime story of one boy and many girls. The boy is 10-year-old Negi Springfield—a mage-in-training from Wales—who has only one task remaining before he can become a Magister Magorum: teaching a junior high English course at an all-girls school in Japan (cue teacher crushes, underage romance, and panty shots). Negi has more to worry about than his students, however, since he's supposed to keep his magical abilities secret—an increasingly difficult task since Negi must face an old enemy of his absent father and a rival group of magicians. Not surprisingly, Negi's secret doesn't stay hidden long, and his amazingly unflappable (and magical) students are able to help him through a series of crises. Fortunately, other characters prove more interesting than Negi himself, who can't quite carry a series of this length (26 episodes) on his own. While largely fluffy, and perhaps overly familiar to Love Hina fans, Negima! does strive for a little more gravitas as the series progresses and even offers a curveball in the final few episodes. Rated TV-PG, the bountiful extras on this dual-language disc include schoolgirl commentaries, character profiles, Japanese cultural notes, bloopers, and textless songs. Recommended, overall. Aud: P. (L. Martincik)