It is with great fondness and sadness that I say farewell to one of my favourite mangas of all time, Negima. The guys over at Red Hawk have found the perfect words to describe this brilliant series:

Negima Final 335 37

It was nine years ago when Ken Akamatsu, following the success of his previous series, Love Hina, decided to try his hand at something other than your usual harem manga. The author didn’t think that he’d be able to keep up a story with a character such as Negi instead of the everyday everyman we usually get to see, yet here we are now. From the introduction to Class 1-A to the Mahora Festival to the journey to the Magic World, the result was a stroke of brilliance that few series can claim to have today. We were introduced to a vast array of characters, all sorts of magical sceneries and to one of the most touching and exhilarating plots one can find in modern manga.Starting from the original cast of 40 characters, the series would eventually go on to consistently feature more than a hundred characters on a weekly basis. Yet I believe we can all agree that all of these characters were unique, each with his own wacky personality yet deep and enthralling backstory. From the events that would become the drive for Negi’s pursuit of his father to Eva’s lonely past, all characters were relatable and kept contributing to the plot either from the sidelines or directly, no matter whether they were “major” or “minor” ones. Akamatsu asked us to see over Negi as he grew up, but we got to see much more: The titular character learning to trust and depend his students, every girl getting to stand for herself and overcoming all odds no matter what adversities lied on their way, and a group of companions taking matters into their hands when they have to, be it in the name of ethics, destiny, or love.

We traveled from an extremely festive all-girls high school to gargantuan library islands to the magic world, all for the sake of realizing that one dream Negi has been striving to turn into reality – finding his father. This journey intertwined with the development of the relationship of a teacher with his students, relentless training in places where time has little effect, tournaments in both the magic and the normal world and a quest to save the world, all just for the sake of one more clue which would help in finding the Thousand Master.
From Japan to flying islands and palaces in the sky, there was little that we didn’t get to see, our fantasy buds having tasted all sorts of mythical sights and awe-inspiring adventures. From start to finish, the group would keep on going to all sorts of places we only visit in our imagination, carrying us with it.

Yet this adventure hasn’t been just a spectacle for the eyes, but one for the mind as well. It has to be said that everything that transpired during the events of this manga has also taught us quite a few things. Be it the gravity of courage and determination or the importance of friendship, we learned a handful of morals as we saw our favorite characters change from aloof or goofy characters to ones that can get really serious and carry the fate of the world in their arms. We are all capable of great things, no matter whether we’re just netizens or athletes or bookworms. We are all hiding incredible potential inside us, and it is enough to change the world if we have the determination to do so.

As a group we had the chance to bring to you the series’ swan song. It is with mixed emotions that we say goodbye to this great series that has kept all of us entertained for the last nine years. We of Red Hawk had the chance to work on Negima on multiple occasions – one of the releases being our group’s very first – and it was with great pleasure that we provided scanlations that everyone could enjoy. For some of us, that was the reason we even joined the business in the first place, so it is an incredibly sad yet joyful feeling, being able to see the series to its end.

We thank everyone who was involved with the task of bringing these chapters to you, like all of the scan groups that previously provided you your weekly dose of Negima, as well as our own staff members that made these scans a reality. But most of all we want to thank and praise Akamatsu-sensei for creating these series. We pray that his next manga is as good as this one. We only hope that you enjoyed this series as much as we did, and that you hold it dear for many years to come. It’s been one heck of a ride.

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First Posted On 22nd July 2008

I’ve always been a fan of all things Sci-Fi, but when it comes to Doctor Who I never could take to watching the old shows (I guess that’s what growing up with special effects and CG does), I just couldn’t get used to the old effects. A few years ago I was a friends’ house and came Doctor Who, the first new series with Christopher Eccleston, and after the first few minutes I was addicted to it and I’ll always remember which episode it was that started me off, it was ‘The Empty Child’, an episode that saw the Doctor and his companion Rose in London during the World War II blitz. Although this was not the best episode of Doctor Who (especially considering the latest season finale), it was still a great episode that was made even better with John Barrowmans’ character Captain Jack Harkness

Yes that also means I’m addicted to Torchwood as well, but when you watch one you can’t stop. Having seen the trailer for the next Doctor Who Christmas special I can’t wait, the return of the Cybermen will probably mean some great heart stopping moments, and I’m sure all the fans will be wondering how they’ve returned. The episode will most likely be shown on Christmas day, as this has been the airing date for all previous Christmas specials, so I’m among a large number of fans who’s looking forward to the festive season even more than normal.

Birmingham or London: As my best friend is moving back to good old England in a few weeks (you know him as Akamaru, the other writer of this blog), it’s time to begin thinking bout where to hold our annual shopping trip. Originally it was always in the neighbouring town of Stafford, but recently has been to Birmingham as there is a much larger anime/manga store there were we spend most of his money lol. This year though London would definitely be interesting as the anime/manga stores there are even bigger, but of course money is, as always, an issue. But hopefully with some luck, and divine intervention lol, we should be going there, otherwise its just good old Birmingham, which is fine by me.

I recently purchased a book designed after the journal kept by the fictional character Indiana Jones, yet another one of my addictions. It’s a great read as it all feels as though it was written by him during his travels and adventures; it even has torn out pages to mimic that of the pages that were torn out during the films. Unfortunately the number of books I own and have yet to read is increasing drastically, I really do need to free up some time to read these books, although I am part way through reading Sun Tzu Art of War, I have a very strange range of interests lol.

Well that’s enough from me for now, ill be trying to write something new here every week depending on what exciting things happen in the mean time.

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Well it’s been a quite year so far, but none the less time has flow by again and four years ago this day, believe it or not, Blankmind was founded. In commemoration I’ve reposted the first two post written by my co-owner MajorSheppard and myself back in 2008. For posterity sake, you can in fact now visit the old site at http://blankmnd.blogspot.co.uk/ which no longer redirects you to our current address for that old retro feel.

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Uncharted 3 Game of the Year

Naughty Dogs Uncharted 3 Drakes Deception has now been named Gametrailers Game of the Year, a very well deserved win I think and a hard choice considering all of the amazing games that have come out recently. You can watch the official Gametrailers video below.

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New Underworld Awakening Movie Poster

The next in the Underworld series titled ‘Awakening’ has received an extended version of its original trailer and a new movie poster that you can see right here both above and below. Enjoy!

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