Setsuna gets down in the dumps after failing to thread a needle for Konoka (it ends up being done by Motsu instead), and feels that she can’t be of any use to ojou-sama. So Negi, Chamo-kun and Asuna try to cheer her up by telling her that they can definitely find something that she’s good at so that she can ‘GETTO ojousama’.

Plan 1: Cooking
Negi and gang come up with the idea that Setsuna can capture Konoka’s heart through her stomach with the help of Satsuki. Of course, they made a major mistake in sending out Asuna to buy the ingredients to make foil-wrapped chicken; she did come back with the spring onions and carrots, but instead of buying dead, ready-to-cook chicken – she gets a live one called Henrietta from the pet shop ^^; Setsuna can’t bring herself to kill the cute, fluffy bird so Satsuki suggests that they do a vege nabe instead.

Things initially go well until Motsu interferes again; diving into the nabe pot. No-one fancies frog nabe, so Setsuna starts freaking out about what to do, threatening harakiri until Hakase and Rinshen turn up with a Nikuman Robot called Manzo-kun(?), which makes tasty nikuman (steamed buns) whilst chanting Nikuman Oishii. Then Asuna appears, and as usual everything turns to crap when she presses the bousou button on the robot which causes it to go wild and produces an endless stream of nikuman. Asuna attempts to stop it by using an Asuna Attack but it only ends up making the robot produce nikuman even faster. Setsuna then manages to put an end to it, slicing Manzo-kun with her sword. It’s back to the plan of killing Henrietta, when it suddenly lays an egg for some reason.
Result: 失敗 (Failure)

Plan 2: Walking
Apparently walking will help Setsuna be of use to Konoka :/ According to Kaede, diligently studying the art of walking will help one be able to instantly perceive other people’s needs and wishes. So along with the Narutaki twins, Setsuna, Asuna, Negi and Chamo set off on a walk. But they end up taking a rest halfway through and fall asleep in the sun. When they set off again they somehow end up lost and Setsuna ends up volunteering to get them out of the mess by using some sort of stupid intuition/spirit/concentration method to find the correct path. Kaede then promises her the Walking Club’s 免許皆伝 (menkyo kaiden) if she succeeds. But instead, Secchan ends up getting them even more lost and threatens harakiri again.
Result: 失敗 (Failure)

Plan 3: Cheerleading
Negi suggests that Setsuna can be of use to Konoka by showing her support (literally) by learning how to cheer from Misa, Madoka and Sakurako. Of course, Setsuna is hopelessly stiff and only manages to produce some half-hearted cheers L-O-V-E! Oh!!. The Cheerleading Club then draw up a ‘Cheer Up Depressed People’ plan, for which they use Asuna as a guinea pig by attempting to cheer her up after getting just 4 marks on the test the day before. Obaka banzai!!! Suteki yo, obaka!!! Ganbare obaka!!! They only end up depressing her more about being stupid. Their next target is Motsu for some reason, even though he/it isn’t depressed about anything. Their stupid cheers make Motsu want to return to England.

They then chance upon Makie who’s thinking of what to make for dinner – she thinks of rice with nori no tsukudani (seaweed preserve) which she feels is a little jimi (plain). The cheerleaders only pick up the word jimi and think that Makie’s referring to herself – and proceed to give her a stupid cheer about how there’s nothing wrong about being plain;
L-o-v-e, lovely Makie!
Mezasu bakari wa NO janai!
Chibi Chara banzai!!
Jimi nara Makie, OHH!!!
And causes poor Makie, from being extremely cheerful, to slumping into depression about being called jimi. Setsuna seems to be getting the hang of the cheerleading lark, so as a final test Misa tells her to do a routine by herself to cheer on Negi-sensei. Unfortunately she only ended up making Negi cry by calling him a nakimushi (crybaby) and okochama (little kid) ^^;
Result: 失敗 (Failure)

Plan 4: Drawing
Another round of poking fun at Kobayashi Yu’s drawing abilities ^^; Negi and co. suggest Setsuna draw something to give to Konoka. So initially they tell her to draw things she likes… Asuna also makes an attempt at drawing and comes up with a Chupacabra family portrait. Negi and Chamo gag upon seeing the picture, but Secchan says Ah, that’s pretty good isn’t it? I wish I could draw as good as that. And Chamo thinks Uh-oh. So when Setsuna shows them her drawing, Negi thinks it’s a chimpanzee, Chamo a bear and Asuna the Little Gray alien. Turns out it’s actually a portrait of Konoka.

At that point Haruna and Yue turn up to lend a hand. Haruna proceeds to teach Setsuna the basics of drawing – using Asuna as a model. Yue and Haruna then bark out instructions to Asuna to strike up some sort of pose – and then Haru tells her to 脱ぐ (nugu/undress) otherwise they can’t see her physique properly. Asuna protests fiercely over the whole thing, but for some reason Setsuna volunteers to do it instead. And once Secchan puts her mind to do something…..Asuna, Negi and Chamo try to stop Setsuna but everyone just ends up falling over.

Konoka then walks into the room and sees Asuna and Setsuna tangled up in an embrace on the floor, half-naked…. and the two start protesting their innocence when Konoka says Wow, the two of you sure get along together well eh?
Result: 大失敗 (Big Failure)

Epilogue: Setsuna reflects upon all her failures sadly when Konoka comes in having heard the whole story from Asuna. Konoka thanks Secchan for her efforts and says that her having those feelings alone make her happy. All’s well that ends well as the two set off for some shiruko (sweet red bean soup).

Impressions
The walking track sure was boring as hell – hence the really short summary. The rest weren’t too bad, I got a few laughs out of them. It was fun to hear Setsuna as the lead character; she had the opportunity to show off various sides of her you probably won’t see in the anime. In case you’re wondering – there’s zilch yuri content. Instead it’s mostly hilarity and zaniness. It’s a shame only around half the girls appear on the CD, and most of them are only cameos; no Iinchou, Eva or Chachamaru, Chiu-chiu, Kazumi & Sayo etc. But there’s still at least 2 more Drama CDs coming up (CD2: 25 April, CD3: 27 June) so we’ll hopefully hear them next time.

There’s also four Baka Rangers shorts on the CD, most of them making fun of Baka Pink (aka Makie). Poor Makie, nothing good ever happens to her. She has no special moves, doesn’t do baito, and to top it all off, is jimi. And in the anime, she’s nothing but a failure ( 佐々木まき絵、失格です！). They really should make her the star of the 2nd CD.

I ended up rewatching bits from the first half of the series just to remind myself how good it could’ve been.

Screenie from ep7, based on original artwork by Kobayashi Y.

Watched stuff from the DVDs as well, both SP1 and the OVA.

A deceptively tall Kobayashi (I’m about the same height – 168cm/slightly over 5′4″). It’s the other girls that are super short – Shiraishi (far right) is only 5 feet.

I’ll start off with the first OP/ED single.

1000% SPARKING/A-LY-YA! (Satou Rina, Kanda Akemi, Nonaka Ai, Kobayashi Yu)

The original and most familiar one; it’s no surprise they’ve retained the use of 1000% SPARKING for most of the anime’s run – it’s the most powerful one by far. Satou Rina’s singing has improved greatly over the last few years, Kanda Akemi is ok on record but a pain to listen to live, I’ve never liked Aipon’s singing and probably never will, and Yu-tan sounds OK on 1000% SPARKING but a little weak on A-LY-YA!. Their voices all go together very well though. The Parapara mix is predictably shite.
Rating:8

CD1 (Hazuki, Horie Yui, Minagawa Junko)

They had to put two of the best singers together… well, Iinchou and Makie are room-mates (in Negima!? anyway) so it makes sense. Minagawa and Horie pull off both 1000% SPARKING and A-LY-YA! effortlessly which makes Hazuki’s less than stellar vocals a little less noticeable. Again, A-LY-YA! is rather weak compared to the OP song. Orchestral mix is appalling.
Rating:8

CD2 (Kuwatani Natsuko, Ishige Sawa, Noto Mamiko)

A-LY-YA! is awful. I’m already used to Noto Mamiko’s lack of singing ability, but I’m surprised to hear Kuwatani’s rather lifeless vocal on A-LY-YA! and Ishige struggling on both tunes. Nacchan does do a pretty good job on 1000% SPARKING!, which would be much better if it didn’t have that I’m a dreaming girl, but I hope your happiness forever line. Disco mix is amusingly, very undisco. More r’n'b really, but it’s not that bad.
Rating:4

CD3 (Shiraishi Ryoko, Koyama Kimiko, Kanou Mari)

Despite my dislike for the Narutaki twins, I quite like this CD. Definitely a case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. Neither twin is a particularly good singer (Koyama Kimiko, the Kugimiya Rie-soundalike is slightly better), but Shiraishi Ryoko manages to hold things together. Their version of 1000% SPARKING! is one of my favourites, the quotes bits are very nicely done. A-LY-YA shows up the twins’ bad vocals though. Latin mix? No, it doesn’t sound much like that, but it’s not bad (if you compare it to the others ).
Rating:7

CD4 (Kimura Madoka, Yamakawa Kotomi, Asakura Azumi, Bandou Ai)

Like the characters they play in the show, their version of the songs are a little bland and don’t particularly stand out. So much so in fact, I can’t even tell which voice belongs to whom. The vocals are alright, nothing special but not terrible either.
Rating:6

CD5 (Ito Shizuka, Deguchi Mami, Omae Akane)

I’d like to give this a 10 because Shizuka-sama is on it, but there’s a little problem – she can’t really sing that well. Neither can her cheerleading sidekicks, and their little cheers on A-LY-YA! grate on my nerves. The reggae version is hilariously bad.
Rating:5

CD6 (Watanabe Akeno, Kadowaki Mai, Matsuoka Yuki)

Oh Lord. You get the feeling that these three, all relatively experienced seiyuu should actually improve in their singing after years of practice. Unfortunately this isn’t the case and I find this rather painful to listen to. Kadowaki hasn’t ever pretended to be able to sing properly, so not much change here… same for Matsuoka Yuki, I’ve never been able to stomach her squeaky voice very well. Akenon actually sounds good at times but her vocals are very shaky. The quote bits in the OP are actually quite good, shame about the singing. What’s with all these shit remixes? Big band remix – crap.
Rating:4

CD7 (Sakuma Miho, Kobayashi Misa, Shimura Yumi, Aizawa Mai & Inokuchi Yuka)

There’s so many people on this single I can hardly make out who’s who (except for Sakuma Miho who sings exactly the same way Mana talks). It’s a decent CD but I get a little feeling of too many cooks spoil the broth here. I do like the bit where Chizu-nee explains to Natsumi what ‘A-LY-YA!’ means though. The Piano mix is not too bad.
Rating:6

CD8 (Shiratori Yuri, Sasagawa Ayana, Takamoto Megumi & Inoue Naomi)

I’m quite surprised by this. Both the OP and ED are quite fun, the vocals aren’t too bad and even the Eurobeat mix is tolerable if a little cheesy. Of the four seiyuu, Shiratori Yuri was the only one I’d heard of prior to Negima but the other three do a pretty good job on this.
Rating:7

CD9 (Mahora Gakuen Chuutobu 3-A + Negi Springfield)
Well, at least having everyone singing at the same time covers up those with the inability to sing. Having the chorus repeat everytime with each set of quotes was extremely tiresome. 15 minutes!!! I don’t know which was worse, this or the Shusseki Bangou song. I think I’m done with 1000% SPARKING, I can’t bear listening to it ever again.
Rating:5

CD10 (OVA songs)
I never liked the songs when I heard them in the OVA, so hearing the full versions on record is distinctly underwhelming. Doesn’t help that some of the seiyuu can barely hold a tune – in order of singing ability (highest to lowest) 1.Satou Rina 2.Kanda Akemi 3.Nonaka Ai 4.Noto Mamiko
Rating:5

I’d been looking for the stuff that came with the special Negima iPod – NegiPon!? which was released on Christmas Day; and some of it’s up on Youtube now.

小林ゆう画伯塾入門 (Kobayashi Yu Gahakujuku Nyumon – Yu Kobayashi’s ‘Gahaku’ Cram School Primer)
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3JZLelVVFw
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3bAqLfVKSY
She must have very thick skin.

Oh, and the rest of the Christmas talks with Aipon, Kanda-san, Rina and Yu (parts 2/3 feature more Gahaku goodness):
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ2cc-Tb5Kw
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KGXGsrYCLQ
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyP817rfq2c

Part 2 – Konoka Love, my God. And Aipon’s Setsuna cake made me laugh.

I love a lot of the characters Yu plays; the weird (Lala Gonzalez), the wacky (Ayame Sarutobi), and the cool (Setsuna Sakurazaki) but hearing/seeing her in person is a little….. strange at times. She just seems awfully apologetic and overly polite all the time, as if her presence is causing trouble to others ;/