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Negima is a series that is near and dear to my heart. I'd like to start this review by saying that this series is not without its flaws. As others have said, the final arc has its narrative issues, the fanservice is honestly quite unneeded and sometimes off putting, and the degree to which the harem angle is played up is excessive (they didn't have to make quite so many of the girls fall for Negi).

With what I've addressed above, the question would be why I still rated it a 10/10. The answer is simple: I cannot think of a single other series I ... enjoy returning to quite as much as this one. The scale that Ken Akamatsu gives to battles, arcs and locations cannot be overstated. Everything about Negima feels "grand", so to speak. The best example of this would be the school festival arc, in which Mahora Academy truly feels like the academic city that the story describes. Akamatsu has a real talent for set design, and every location in the series feels distinct, remarkable, and beautiful. The fights are nothing to scoff at either. His illustration style lends a level of "impact" to fights, in which punches, explosions and spells are all portrayed with the intensity they deserve. In regards to arcs, which the exception of a bit of weakness and confusion near the end of the final arc, each arc is distinct and memorable with a satisfying resolution. Years after my first read, I could still tell you the gist of each arc and the events that took place in each. I especially recommend that a new reader make it to the school festival arc, I consider it perhaps the most enjoyable arc in any manga I have ever read.

Visually, the series is stunning. Akamatsu does an excellent job of designing both characters and setpieces. Every time I see one of his overhead shots of Mahora Academy, its makes me wish it was a real place that I could visit. Especially during the school festival, in which we see far more of the academy, I wound up coming across many pages that I paused on and just enjoyed the vista that we are presented with. Somehow in the process of writing a manga, Akamatsu decided to fully flesh out the details of a working Academy City, at a level of detail that I see most series hand wave away. The character design of Negima is also a triumph. As I've said before, not all of the girls in Negima get full character development, however, every one of them is visually distinct to the point that not only could I identify them at a glance, but for many of them, you can glean character traits simply from your design. There is no background classmate #15 in this series, unless you count Natsumi, but in her case her unassumingness compared to her classmates is a central character trait, and I would still argue her design is interesting and compelling. I don't think this series would have quite the magnetic draw it has on me if it weren't so good to look at.

Perhaps the strongest point of Negima are the characters. I won't deny that there are issues here too; with 31 girls in the class, not everyone gets the attention they deserve. Additionally, some of the girls don't exactly have enough of a character to focus on (I still barely know anything about Zazie). However, nearly all of the characters the series decides to focus on are some of my favorite manga characters period. I won't go into details on individual characters because even though the series doesn't focus on all 31 girls, it still has a rather large central cast, and for the most part it does a great job juggling them. What I will say is that I believe Akamatsu writes very compelling relationships between his characters and also understands what makes each of his characters enjoyable in the first place and lets them shine in their role. If you need a tsukkomi, Chisame, Setsuna or Asuna are ready to smack some sense back into you, if you need someone to go with the flow while causing some trouble along the way, Kazumi or Haruna are perfect for the job. Each character is distinct in design and personality to the point that a reader very clearly understands these roles, and it allows Akamatsu to delve into different scenarios without undermining characters' personalities or motivation, since he has a deep toolbox of characters to play with.

I believe part of the reason that I love these characters so much is that the series is legitimately funny as well. Stuff like Chisame suffering through the absurdity of her normal life going up in flames, Haruna tormenting the other library girls, or the normally good natured Konaka pulling out a bit of deviousness, so many aspects of the series are played for laughs, and the surprising part is the jokes tend to land quite well. I've read a lot of manga that try to be funny, especially when they aren't mainly comedies, and a lot of the time many jokes fall a bit flat. Negima makes me laugh out loud pretty regularly, and the jokes are well placed around the action so that they don't take away the tension when you don't want them to. It's a balancing act for a shounen to handle comedy effectively, and Negima does an expert job of it.

In the end, I'll reiterate that I don't think Negima is a perfect series. However, so many aspects of it are perfect that I believe it deserves to stand among the best. I think your level of enjoyment of this series depends on your willingness to forgive its mistakes because of the things it does well, and in my case I hold the things it does well in such high regard I can completely look past its shortcomings. Negima is definitely a sleeper series that I think too many people pass over, so do yourself a favor and give it a read.