Mahou Sensei Negima/Tear Jerker

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


When you see this, you'll WEEP brix.


  • One very, very early in the manga: the flashback where Asuna explains about Ayaka's little brother, who died at birth. And you might think her image song is just okay, but try listening to it with the lyrics...
  • The episode focusing on ghost girl Sayo is tear-jerking, but the Gecko Ending is made of this. Asuna standing in front of her friends, unable to ask for their help to undo the Deal with the Devil that will kill her. Asuna's death. Negi absolutely falling apart when he finds the bell Asuna used to wear. After going back in time and changing history, Asuna once again standing in front of her friends, and this time breaking down and asking them to save her.
    • What happens during and directly after said death is saddening too. First, Asuna died just as she was gonna confess her love, then there is a funeral for her, and then she gets cremated.
    • Also, after Negi finds Asuna's remains, we get to see Yue's conflict with her growing feelings and her guilt, resulting in her absolutely blowing up at Nodoka, and Nodoka running away in tears. As if things couldn't get any worse.
  • Negi Springfield's last, and possibly only, meeting with his father Nagi as revealed to Asuna via a spell (and several others via Nodoka's artifact) in volume eight was heartbreaking. Not because of the destruction/petrification Negi's Doomed Hometown by an invading demonic horde or the impossibly powerful wizard doing a somewhat brutal Big Damn Heroes moment just in time to same the kid, but the fact that Negi only realized who the man was after he apologised for not being there and gave the kid his staff before starting to levitate off... whereupon we see the five year old (at most) kid running throught the snow before falling to his knees to scream "FATHER!!!" at the top of his lungs.
    • It should be noted that of all the eavesdroppers (Asuna being too busy berating Negi for feeling the whole thing was his fault), the only ones not openly weeping were the Robot Girl (who looked as if she were trying to figure out how to), the Axe Crazy puppet ("The part where he broke the neck, that was cool!"), and the ancient vampire Nagi imprisoned within the grounds of Mahora Acadamy fifteen years ago. The last one of course pointedly turned away as she gruffly agreed to help Negi locate the man.
    • The flashback in 265 adds a new layer of sadness to it, as noted below. Nagi is in front of little Negi and the injured Nekane, knowing it's the last time he'll see them. Then he pets chibi!Negi's head, gives him his staff, speaks to him gently... and he's crying as he does this. Poor, poor Nagi.
  • During the Festival arc in the manga, just before Negi goes to fight Chao, he asks Yue whether what he's doing is right, and says that if he joins Chao and helps reveal magic to the world thousands of people could be saved. Yue starts crying and tells him that he can't sacrifice his future for thousands of unknown people, saying "Then what about Nodoka? What will you do with your reply to Nodoka? Weren't you going to reply to her after she graduates? Are you going to join Chao-san and leave this school? What about Asuna-san or all our comrades or... me... Or what about everyone else from the class? Are you just going to leave us all behind?"
  • Another moment comes in one of the more recent manga chapters, when Chisame is watching over the unconscious Negi while he takes the test to gain Dark Magic. At first she puts off stopping the test, because she doesn't want to ruin his dream, but she realises that if he ends up dying because of her indecision, she'd never be able to forgive herself.
  • The entire final fight of the Mahora tournament: Negi's opponent turns out to be a friend of Negi's father, Nagi, and has a special ability that allows him to take on Nagi's appearance and personality, acting exactly the same as Nagi. Essentially, this allows Negi to have his second conversation ever with his father. The entire match is a father/son bonding experience. What makes it even sadder is that the ability only lasts for ten minutes, and can only be done once, meaning that when the match ends, Negi's father disappears again.
    • Evangeline's "Can you at least pet my head?" moment directly after that also qualifies.
      • What makes that scene even more powerful is that it is the only time in the entire series that Evangeline (openly) cries.
  • The end of the recent Rakan fight. After Negi has pulled out all the stops and finally managed to bring the invincible Rakan down, Rakan stands up again - but only to congratulate Negi on managing to damage him so much and inviting him to one last "Ala Rubra style" sparring match to end the fight. As they battle, Rakan muses that fighting Negi, since he's advanced so much, reminds him of fighting Nagi like he used to. For whatever reason, that section never fails to put a few Manly Tears in this troper's eyes.
  • A combination Tear Jerker and Woobie moment comes in chapter 244, after Ako finds out that 'Nagi', the man she loved and Negi's older cousin, was in actuality Negi using magic pills to change his age. She breaks down in the bath, and though she's naked, it doesn't come off as fanservicey at all; rather, it's just heartrending, as she's even more vulnerable and unprotected than she already was.
    • We can't forget Akira walking on her, noticing she's shaken and trying to apologize for not telling Ako what she knew it all along. Then, Ako hugs her, and they both cry.
  • The episode with the ghost girl Sayo. It gives a much better impression of Sayo and Kazumi, especially when Kazumi decides not to take the picture after Sayo breaks down crying. Up until now she had been shown to be just as mercenary as her manga side.
  • Evangeline's Image Song "Re-Born" sounds somewhat like a rock ballad if you don't know Japanese. Then you read the English translation of the lyrics...
  • Chapter 245. " Nagi-san, I love you. Or rather, I loved you."
  • Chapter 263: Chachamaru's breakdown caused by her not being sure if she has a soul that would allow her to make a Pactio with Negi. Fortunately, followed by a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming when she and Negi try it anyway... and when it seems it won't work, they form a Pactio out of sheer willpower.
  • Chapter 265: Nagi's expression. That is all. You can just tell that he's starting to crack at the prospect of leaving his son again.
  • Chapter 267: Zect dissolves right before Nagi's eyes literally moments after Lifemaker is defeated. Nagi breaks into a hysterical scream. And that was supposed to be their moment of triumph.
  • In Chapter 268, the various images of Queen Arika suffering due to the machinations of the Evil Senate. Can also fill viewers with RAGE at said senate. Of course, things do get better.
  • Chapter 276 has Badass Bookworm Craig's death, while protecting poor Nodoka.
    • Chapter 277 has Tosaka, Aisha, Mama Bear, and Emily falling victim as well. Emily's is the worst because it looks like she just got grazed and is going to be okay, but then she gets hit again, and dies/fades away in Yue's arms.
      • Chapter 278 continues the streak: Negi arrives on the scene of the battle between Rakan and Fate, only to be told by Rakan that he's too injured and should stand back and watch the end of the fight. What follows is a complete Curb Stomp Battle as Rakan is repeatedly put down by Fate's Code of the Lifemaker. Rakan ultimately manages to reach Fate and hits him...to no avail, as Fate is almost unaffected. The battle end with Rakan admitting that the outcome was probably decided from the start before apologizing to Negi for leaving him to deal with the problems of Rakan's generation. Fate then disintegrates him in front of Negi's eyes.
      • Chapter 279 proves that everything is possible with Rakan, as he wills himself back into existence to smack Negi upside the head and deliver a slightly more detailed goodbye. He turns to Chisame and tells her to take care of Negi. Then he disintegrates a second time, drawing even more tears somehow.
  • Chapter 287: This troper the last few frames of the scene of Yuna getting told of and confirming her parents' magical abilities, as well as her Missing Mom Yuuko's death being related to the enormous deal that the group is in was a bit heartrending when, while she took the news well, she lamented the fact that her dad kept it from her. And judging from the looks on Takane's and Mei's faces, Yuna was probably tearing up at that point.

Yuna: Dad, you're such an idiot! You could have told me the truth, you know...

    • Seeing this page almost made me tear up, what with the image of Yuna using Takane's magic wand... with a small figure of a child!Yuna doing likewise. Poor, poor Yuna.
      • Um, I'm not sure what to make of that. To me it looks more like Yuna just remembering what she did in her childhood (i.e. Flashback scene overlaid on the present; that was Yuna's mom Yuuko there in the background of her childhood scene after all). More like reminiscing and not really a Tear Jerker.
  • I find it strange that Chao's farewell scene has not been mentioned, such a kind-hearted yet strong willed woobie, admitting her feelings to all her dear friends, without even thinking twice about going back to the hell she calls future. The fact that she didn't even shed a tear or ever complain or tell anymore how much she suffered makes this tropper feel really sad that she didn't succeed. Misaimed Fandom maybe?
    • Don't sweat it. Everyone (reader and character alike) wasn't sure if Chao was right or not. Besides, Negima's villains are made up mostly Anti Villains. And yeah. That WAS a Tear Jerker for me, too.
    • And then Chapter 298 shows us what she was trying to stop: a hundred-year war between Earth and Mars. Think about it: she grew up in a world where fighting, bloodshed, and death is all that anyone has ever known. You HAVE to pity her, especially since she willingly returned to that Hell after Negi defeated her.
  • Chapter 296 Negi's dream finally comes true. His Mom and Dad are alive, well, and they are paying their son a visit to his school. However the real jerker about this moment is that it's Lotus Eater Machine and it's not real.
    • What also got me in that chapter was that in the Lotus Eater Machine Setsuna's relationship with Konoka was back to the way it was at the beginning of the story. After seeing them build up that relationship throughout the whole manga and hearing how they think that Setsuna is being cold to Konoka just breaks my heart.
    • Or the fact that you realize that apparently Negi's greatest wish is to just be loved and have a family...
  • This one text-less page is probably the most tearjerker part of Negi's last temptation. Will the poor boy ever gets his true wish?
    • What's even worse is what a couple pages after says
  • I remember somewhere a flashback where chibi Asuna is able to use the Kanka technique with ease. Takamichi is amazed, but she replies something like, "The object is to become nothing. I already am nothing." He's horrified.
    • From that same chapter; just seeing Asuna break down and be so close to giving up makes this troper have a small Tear Jerker moment.
  • There is a single panel (one of those in the top left) during Eva-chan's telling of her backstory that may provide Fridge Horror once the implications hit. Everything indicates this kid regained consciousness on her tenth birthday surrounded by the bodies of her parents... with their blood on her hands... and her lips. No wonder she is so convinced she is a monster.
    • The bottom panel is just as bad; it takes place shortly after she was turned, so it's essentially a young girl with no friends or family, convinced that she's an evil monster, dragging herself through a corpse-strewn battlefield.
      • It's made worse by her monologue. It's pretty clear that she never actually wanted to hurt anyone. Going so far as to isolate herself on an island for decades where the only people she saw were people who went there SPECIFICALLY to kill her.
  • Chapter 311. Just seeing the horrified look on the girls faces is enough to make you weep.
    • No love for Johnny?
  • Chapter 312, end text. "For the sake of her comrades, for the sake of the world, Kaede is broken--!!" The last expression she takes on in the chapter is a small smile.
  • And it continues... Koutarou, Makie and Yue (after making a promise to hang out more) all fall.
  • At this point, there's a tear jerker every few chapters, to the point you want to shake Akamatsu and tell him to stop killing all these minor characters in depressingly heroic ways.
    • Done. The latest chapter is mostly about how Yue, Kaede, Koutarou, Makie, and Asakura are now back in action due to the bad guys having orders not to kill any real humans.
  • Chapter 327, full stop. While the first part of the chapter is a huge Crowning Moment of Heartwarming with Luna and her sister treating Fate in their house and Fate being grateful for how delicious her coffee tastes, the last pages have him return to their village only to find it burning and see the two of them on the ground. Luna's sister recognizes him and tells him she's sorry she won't be able to make him coffee today, then Secundum rewrites her with the Code of the Lifemaker. Secundum gets what he deserves, but the chapter still ends on a sad note with Fate remarking he won't be able to taste that delicious coffee ever again.
  • Chapter 334 [[Up to Eleven tops it all], Negi and Co. finally defeated the seemingly invincible Lifemaker, only that said villain happened to be Nagi, AKA: the father that Negi was always striving to find, and the only words he tells his son in six years, right before disappearing again to who-knows-where? "Come and kill me, Negi. With that, everything will be over." Here's hoping Negi finds a way to free him from the Lifemaker's possession without killing him.
  • Considering things from a normal person's point of view: after all this crap... when you consider that she's been away from home for a long time, that she had at one point been a slave meant to work for several years, that she had seen friends die and come back to life, and that the stress she felt during the climax of the Magic World incident was such that she thought SHE was going to die, Natsumi is quite justified in crying at every normal, PRECIOUS meal she has had on Earth since returning to school. Only a few of us may know the overwhelming levels of relief she must feel about being home after experiencing these things firsthand.
  • Because of Magia Erebea, Negi is Immortal, much like Eva. While this wouldn't normally bother most people at first, Setsuna pointed out He wouldn't age and therefore could not live a normal life or father any children, meaning that the bloodline stays with him. This also meant that being in a relationship with any of the girls next to him was near impossible as well, since they would age and die, leaving him alone and miserable no matter what. There's a very good chance he will live a life much like Eva and suffer for it.
    • So does that mean what Chao said, being Negi's descendant, is a lie? Or won't come true in the end?
    • Well, it's still up in the air whether Negi's immortality is complete like Eva's, so we don't know yet.
  • Chapter 343. While Negi is turned immortal, Asuna's fate is to sleep for a hundred years in the Gravekeeper's Palace, as a literal "cornerstone" for the plan to save the magical world. And they don't think her Kagurazaka personality will be able to hold up to it, and will fade away in the process.
    • Setsuna make it sadder as even though that Konoka and her was still alive they would be very old. This troper thought that if the rest of the class knew the truth, they might not able to bear this.
  • Continuing from the above, Asuna's early graduation and goodbyes with Takahata and Ayaka.
    • Ayaka gives Asuna the time capsule they had buried earlier as a memento, considering by the time that Asuna awakens, Ayaka and the rest (except possibly Sayo, Eva, Chachamaru, Zazie and Negi) would probably no longer live in this world.
    • Chapter 351. Asuna's Goodbye. The tears on Konoka's and Negi's faces say it all.
  • Chapter 352 has an extremely heartbreaking scene. Asuna returns to see Negi's grave. She doesn't take it well.
    • Relatedly, She overslept her hundred-year sleep by thirty years. Ayaka, who lived until 115 to see her again, died the year she was supposed to wake up.
      • Just to put this into a bit more perspective, Asuna goes to sleep for a hundred and thirty years, and doesn't look any older for it. She wakes up in an unfamiliar place, unsure of when or where she is, and begins to desperately search Mahora for anything familiar. This is when this troper began to realize something was wrong; Nobody was there to greet her, and Evangeline's cottage was in ruin. Then it begins to rain. Surrounded by people who don't know who she is, and taking refuge in a telephone booth, Asuna tries to look up anyone who might know her. Finding the name Yukihiro in the telephone book, she rushes to the address, only to find that the person in the book is in fact Ayaka's Great-great-great-granddaughter, and that Negi has been dead for years. She then digs up the Time capsule she and Ayaka buried, only to find that the entire class has added to it over the years. Her reactions are MADE of this trope, and this troper had to repress Manly Tears every second of the way.
      • Also of note is the way it just can't sink in. As Ayaka's great-great granddaughter explains the relevant old family story, Asuna repeatedly refers to said granddaughter as "Class Rep", which is to say, refers to her as Ayaka. Its literally too much for her to acknowledge verbally.
    • On a more meta note on this chapter, it's a major Tear Jerker to find out the series will reach it's conclusion in only three chapters. Fans are not happy to see so many developments go unchecked.
  • This is only slightly off-topic, but in the doujinshi Negimaru, Chisame stabs Negi, who is trying to save Asuna, thereby killing him. She becomes mentally traumatized and only returns to school when she receives an e-mail from Negi. Turns out it was from Asuna, who was trying to get her to come back to them. She makes a deal with Negi's father to bring Negi back to life at the cost of she will never have fallen in love with him. Seeing that just made me cry like a baby. It also doesn't help that, at least in the manga fan-lation, Chisame says, You're gonna get stabbed and die.
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