Mahou Sensei Negima/Shout-Out

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Guess That Shout-Out! [1]

The writer researches like mad, the characters are Genre Savvy and the series itself is positively Troperiffic and Trope Overdosed. Is it any wonder it has so many?


  • Dragonball Z:
    • The Mahora-Budokai Martial Arts Tournament is an Affectionate Parody of the Tenkaichi Budokai, right down to the shape and design of its arena.
    • When Negi pulls out the Duplex Complexio his hair inexplicably grows longer.

Negi:Let's just call this Super Saiyan 3 Raiten Taisou 2, shall we?

  • Dragon Quest:
    • Back in the early days of the manga, when Negi and Kotaro teamed up for the first time to fight Graf and the Slime Sisters, this exchange happens.
    • During the first summer break, when the twins are showing Negi around the school, they directly compare the World Tree to Yggdrasil (The one from Dragon Quest, not the one in Norse Mythology that it's named after).[2]
    • In chapter 254, Kurt Gödel makes a We Can Rule Together offer to Negi ("I offer you half of the world"), which is very similar to the Dragonlord's offer to the player character of Dragon Quest I. The manga lampshades this with a "yes / no" prompt and a "beep" Written Sound Effect in the middle of the panel.
  • Final Fantasy:
    • Nodoka's treasure-hunting outfit (and the outfit she imagines when proposing that she and Yue join the Battle Harem) both look suspiciously similar to classic White Mage garb.
    • Yue is seen drinking a Last Elixir in one chapter.
    • In volume 8, there's a minor reference to Final Fantasy IX, as seen here.
    • In the bottom right of the first panel on this page, a cactuar apparently runs by while Ako and Negi's "cousin" are on their date at the Mahora Festival.
    • There's a Tifa Cosplayer in the third panel., along with a Yuffie Cosplayer to her left.
    • The monsters on this page [dead link] have a slight similarity to an Occuria and Cuchulainn's Final Fantasy XII incarnation.
    • And of course, Yuuna's Pactio outfit and twin guns calls to mind another Yuna.
  • A "mission failed" screen like those seen in Excel Saga
  • In the early chapters, Chamo makes a Pokémon reference when Nodoka gets her pactio: "Allllright! We caught Nodoka Miyazaki!"
  • The "Baka Rangers" reference Super Sentai/Power Rangers
  • Kaede's outfit during her fights in the budokai rather closely resembles that of King.
  • Mei Sakura's artifact is a broom. When it flies it gains wings near the back like another Sakura's fly card.
  • After discovering that he's got a time machine in a watch, Negi thinks of the DeLorean, the Terminator, the 2002 adaptation of Wells' The Time Machine, and Doraemon.
  • Kotaro Inugami is a shout-out to Takahashi's Inuyasha.
  • A chapter titled "Rakan at 120%" is a shout-out to Younger Toguro from Yu Yu Hakusho, who infamously stated he would use a certain percentage of his power, but his true true power was 120%. Another possible allusion is with the match between Negi and Rakan which rather resembles Yusuke and Toguro's final engagement and more...
  • Chisame's personality, infatuation with computer stuff, and pactio all scream Corrector Yui.
  • When Nodoka uses her artifact on Mei in Chapter 141, the diary entry read "Eeeek! C-C-Could that be the Legendary Death No--!? I mean that artifact that reads"
  • The interior of Ala Alba's "goldfish ship" looks nearly identical to the Bebop.
  • Chapter 261: Negi and Ku-Fei's arm wrestling match shouts out to a Sylvester Stallone movie named Over the Top. Especially Negi shifting his grip.
    • Not to mention that during the whole thing, Ku Fei is dressed almost identically to Chun Li.
  • Chinese Girl Ku Fei's personal requirement that only a man who is stronger than she can kiss (or marry) her echoes the cultural imperatives of the Joketsuzoku from Ranma ½ (and Red Sonja, for that matter). Some fans are claiming that she is a Joketsuzoku, and that Negima and Ranma take place in the same universe.
  • The manner in which cards are drawn from the girls in Negima!? is similar to the way swords are drawn from people in Revolutionary Girl Utena.
  • Also during the tournament arc, there are several panels of online discussion concerning the techniques being used by the combatants. One of the comments is "We have a STAND USER!"
  • A minor character, the mage teacher Seruhiko, was created specifically as a Homage to Serpico, of all people. Kentaro Miura even approved the character.
  • "The sea monkeys have my money... Yes, I'm natural green..." (Motsu uses it in Negima!?)
  • Negima!? has a number of references to Pani Poni Dash!. Most noticable is that the Chupacabra Club resembles Becky's research room.
    • A number of the Pani Poni Dash! references have to do with Konoka having the same seiyuu as Ichijou, right down to Konoka wearing the same Indiana Jones outfit that Ichijou wore in a couple of episodes
  • Similarly, in the last normal episode of Negima!?, each of the girls are displayed in an Etrian Odyssey type status screen.
  • Kurt Gödel is named after an Austrian mathematician/philosopher most famous for his incompleteness theorems, which state that there is no consistent formal theory in which all arithmetic truths can be proven.
  • Negi's One-Winged Angel form looks like some of the higher-level noise from The World Ends With You.
  • The age-changing pills are the candies from Osamu Tezuka's Fushigi na Merumo with the effects reversed.
  • Paru makes a reference to Cthulhu when some giant tentacles were destroying the Royal Guard airships pursuing the Paru-sama.
  • Chapter 275, page 15. That panel is almost certainly a Shout-Out to the famous Dodge This scene from The Matrix.
  • And in the same fight, one chapter later, Misora refers to Mana as a Human Typhoon.
  • How about this? It's the piston-powered attack of The Big O!
    • Speaking of Rakan and mechas, when he unleashes his skyscraper-sized sword, he references it as the Ship Cutting Sword. That's right, the guy has his own Zankantou.
  • The "Code of the Lifemaker" and the names of Nodoka's adventurer friends are all references to the works of James P. Hogan.
  • The series quite possibly makes Shout Outs to its own doujinshi. In Chapter 264, Negi comments about wanting to keep Chisame by his side, with her curt response being "...don't say stuff like that with a straight face. You'll get yourself stabbed by a girl one of these days." In Negimaru, a very.... ecchi doujin series by Studio Kimigabuchi (the same studio behind the acclaimed Neon Genesis Evangelion doujin RE-TAKE) that predates the chapter by several years, Negi ends up getting stabbed... by a crushing-on-Negi (amongst other things) Chisame.
    • It's apparently referenced again in chapter 338, making Chisame look like she's going to be a bit of a stab-happy Yandere. She even threatens to stab herself and Chachamaru afterwards!
  • When Negi first fights Evageline, he is seen carrying around a Caster.
  • Mokujin of Tekken.
    • Actually, that was first from a Martial Arts Movie movie called "Shaolin Wooden Fighting Men" (or something like that) featuring Jackie Chan. Tekken referenced that for Mokujin, and it's repeated here.
  • There are numerous references to Akamatsu's previous manga, Love Hina, not the least of which is Setsuna's school of swordsmanship, the Shinmeiryuu, which is the same as that practiced by Motoko Aoyama. In fact, Akamatsu has confirmed that Motoko and her elder sister Tsuroko are indeed—as many fans had suspected—making a cameo appearance in the flashback scene in Vol. 4.
    • Add to that, that Eishun is confirmed in a Audio Drama to be born Eishun Aoyama (taking his wife's last name when they got merried).
    • The Cursed Urashima Blade appears in a flashback between a young Setsuna and a woman closely resembling Tsuruko. In both Love Hina and here the sword is said to have almost wiped out the Shinmeiryuu in the past. What's more, the same chapter hints that Tsukuyomi apparently stole the sword and is currently wielding it, and if that sword is indeed the cursed blade, it could be what's driving her insane, given the effects of that sword as shown in Love Hina.
    • Not to mention the fact that Tama appears twice. Once on a random beach and once drawn by Haruna.
    • Also, Naru and Seta can be seen in the background during the Mahora-Budokai at one point.
  • This, and this, Gate of Babylon anyone?
  • Much of the aesthetic designs in Negima (especially weapons, clothing, and magic emanations) greatly resemble motifs used in the Guilty Gear and Blazblue series. Heck! Rakan himself appears to be Sol Badguy with blonde hair and a dirty/funny personality.
    • And in chapter 348, Zazie channels Arakune, while she herself is dressed up as a spider.
  • On this page, the 4th panel cameos Itoshiki-sensei, of Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei. And bring on the Rule34 on the next panel.
  • Apparently, our magically empowered messianic hero decided that he wants to befriend the Artificial Human dragon named Fate. One can only guess how long it was before Akamatsu yielded to this very obvious temptation...
  • Rakan has a move called the Rakan Impact. Somewhat ironic, in more ways than one, given what happened when he used it...
  • In Chapter 258, when Nodoka is describing magically created alternate planes, her explination goes something like this: "Alternate planes...traditionally, places "not of this world" where spirits and the souls of the dead can be found. Famous Japanese examples include the Dragon Palace, Ryuugujou and Takamagahara, the land of the gods...and more recently, mysterious towns with public baths found at the end of a tunnel."
  • Devil May Cry. Here and here. Badass Longcoat with folded sleeves just like Dante's coat in 4 and a pair of guns that resemble Ebony and Ivory (although the white one doesn't look like Ebony, the black one shares the same model with Ebony and Ivory, a modified M1911).
    • Another Devil May Cry reference (possibly): here Setsuna cuts the guy's armor, which falls off only after she click-sheathes her katana. Jut like Vergil likes to do.
  • Negi's students have compared Ostia to Laputa numerous times.
  • Jack Rakan's Rakan Film logo looks suspiciously similar to another one.
  • The following is from an interview with Ken Akamatsu regarding the inner workings of Negima

Did Misora kiss Cocone for their Pactio?
It’s unclear, but... I was hoping for something more like a receiving of the rosary.


  1. Back to The Future, Doraemon, The Time Machine and The Terminator all in one Imagine Spot!
  2. Also it makes sense that they would need to explain that to him, as at the time that chapter came out, none of the Dragon Quest games had been released in Europe
  3. unclear in the scan, but visible in the printed version
  4. iiiin a good way