I won’t lie – it’s hard being a Negima fan sometimes.  It’s often hard being a manga fan period where anime adaptations are concerned, but it’s especially true with this mythology.  I don’t like being the reader who complains nonstop when an anime makes changes to the source material, but on some level I do feel like this is a case where we – and Akamatsu-sensei – deserve a break.  We suffered through repeated indignities with the adaptations of the original Negima manga (Xebec’s were the worst) and dared to hope things might be different this time with a new series and a new studio who had no baggage from the first one.

That’s clearly not going to happen – not in the sense of getting a faithful adaptation, anyway.  There’s less and less reason to believe UQ Holder is going to be longer than one cour, and based on the credit sequences it’s obvious that the anime is going to go deep into the existing manga material, and maybe beyond.  We’ve already blown through 11 chapters of manga in three episodes, and that’s with a healthy passel of original material added.  It’s hard to let go, it truly is – but one has to if they’re going to try and judge this show on its own merits.

So far, on balance, those merits have been pretty good.  It’s clear this is not the series J.C. Staff is pouring resources into this season (those CGI giant lizards were comically awful) but the melding of new and canon material has been pretty seamless, and I like the casting (Takakura Yuka’s genki bonhomie as Touta especially has grown on me over three episodes).  One could argue that nothing the anime has skipped was essential in getting the story to the this point, and maybe they’e be right – but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss it.

The arrival at UQ Holder headquarters – which doubles as a hot springs resort – means a slew of new immortal (and one mortal) characters.  There’s Makabe Gengorou (an unusually subdued Kaji Yuki), and seemingly “normal” human maid Yuuki Shinobu (Harada Sayaka).  Yukihime has established a test for joining UQ Holder that Touta and Kuromaru must pass – they have to land a single blow in 7 days against a tenured immortal.  Makabe is assigned to take on Kuromaru, and while it’s Ikkuu who was supposed to fight Touta, Karin claims that honor for herself – clearly wishing to inflict some damage on the “imbecile” who’s become so close to Evangeline.

After Kuromaru and Touta stumble into a vast cavern underneath the inn looking for the storeroom, we’re introduced to Shishido Jinbei (Sakuya Shunsuke), who tells them he’s UQ Holder’s #2.  Jinbei appears to have been waiting for these two to show up, and he immediately invites Touta-kun to try and remove a sword stuck into a rock – which he promptly does with a little help from the sword itself (which can speak telepahtically, and lured him into the cavern in the first place).  This is the legendary Gravity Blade, created by the wizard Alberio Imma (a name familiar to Negima fans), and Jinbei immediately turns his sardonic personality towards teaching the youngsters a thing or two about swordfighting.

While there’s never really a doubt that both Touta and Kuromaru will eventually land a blow and pass their test (the series is called UQ Holder after all), this ep has a lot of weight to carry in terms of setting up the story to come.  It also draws some parallels between the present and Negi’s time which are not part of the manga, which is kind of interesting and suggests more such linkage to follow.  That’s well and good, and as long as the atmosphere is right and the essence of the story survives, I can work with it.  But I’m definitely feeling the by-now instinctive Negima anxiety growing stronger every week…