UQ Holder is a Porno Now - No, that's not a Good Thing

Written by Shiggins

Fuck it!

It's not often I write an article that makes me feel like a total killjoy, although I'm sure there's a few who'd look at my reviews and say I'm quite the murderer of happy opinions, but this is one of those times where I need to get something off my chest. Oh and big spoilers for UQ Holder ahead, of course.

Mahou Sensei Negima and it's sequel UQ Holder are both manga that I wholeheartedly recommend if you've got a larger-than-normal tolerance for fanservice. While I think fanservice can be fun, it can often be detrimental to the plot and prevent people from experiencing the story. Kill la Kill, Fire Force, even the original Dragon Ball series, all great and worth a watch/read! But the fanservice they love to utilise has no doubt lost plenty of audience members and makes it difficult to recommend. And Negima and UQ Holder have always been a loyal member of this club since the very first chapter. So much so in fact that both series have ended up in the first and second Top 20 Fanservice Scenes lists!

However, as is always the way, eventually you have to either stop or go higher. And while Negima had it's risque moments, UQ Holder has gone beyond it's predecessor's limits and broke out to contain actual sex! Yes, sex. On the page, positions shown, stuff like that. Protagonist Tota Konoe has taken the leap and been intimate with three of the lead characters: Kuroumaru Tokisaka, Karin Yuuki and Kirie Sakurame.

This is hilarious, awesome, ridiculous, frustrating and bad writing all at the same time.

Let's not bother going into the fact of how old their bodies are, how old they technically are because of their immortality or anything else like that. Instead, I want to talk about how the story has basically crapped itself in favour of these choices, and why it has me uncomfortable every time I read these final chapters. 

Oh and don't misunderstand me. This has nothing to do with prudishness. I took so long to write this article because I need both hands to masturbate, so trust me, I've got no problem with the act of "love-making" or whatever you want to call it. This is about the narrative and the character development of UQ Holder, and how it has broken down during this final arc.

Okay, the author isn't even trying to write Karin here. I refuse to believe that.

You see, this final arc began with Tota disappearing from the battle for decades, leaving his friends and allies to battle without him. Of course, this resulted in a lot of changes and when he finally returned, the entire situation had changed. Some of his past friends had died, some had been turned evil, and some had been imprisoned away to prevent them fighting once again. It's a terrible crisis to return to, and it's why they need a protagonist to save them.

The most immediate problem with this is that we missed all these emotional beats. A cyborg friend gets hacked and becomes a full villain trying to destroy the world, but we only get told about that instead of shown it for ourselves. Karin gets launched into space, but we only see her drifting in space instead of the tragedy of her getting blasted out. To put it in perspective, imagine the One Piece scene on the Sabaody Archipelago where everyone gets teleported away was described to us years after that happened, instead of us watching the devastating defeat happen one-by-one. That's what this feels like.

So we're off to a bad start, but this is still salvageable. What are we going to focus on now that Tota is back? Getting his allies back together, great. That should be fun... except it isn't. The rescues are immediate and easy, to the point you almost wonder why Tota was needed to do them. His protagonist status is so great he's able to do in a few pages what nobody could do in years. And yeah, then he has sex with them. Which is not something this series, or Negima, has ever done once before. This is a brand new level of fanservice.

Well, he has sex with the girls. Obviously, can't have him get intimate with the guys. That'd be craaaazy for someone who says "I love you" to literally every friend of his, including the three girls in the exact same way. You want to really impress me, UQ Holder? Make Tota fuck the guys too.

I mean, look at him! He has shark teeth! How could you not want that!?

Anyway, that's not what really bothers me about all this. It's that these great characters all become wrecks who want him greatly and immediately. When this series began, Kuroumaru was genderless (their clan decided their own bodies when they're older) and might have been my favourite character. They were strong, independent, but a good friend who wanted to help out and stand next to Tota as a partner. Well, here's how Kuroumaru is now that they're a girl and want to have sex with Tota.

It's quite the pathetic change, isn't it? Kirie and Karin aren't too much better either, basically ignoring their established personalities and motivations because Tota is here to make everything better by fucking them. Karin just went through a traumatising experience in the depths of space for decades, left alone and abandoned. Nobody's first thought would be "let's shag right now"! At least I hope not!

The way the characters act, the way they're perfectly fine practically sharing the main protagonist, and how the major changes in the actual story were glanced over with little ease, all tell me that the sex has become the priority and everything else has been sacrificed for it. Pacing, development, Santa Sasaki's  weirdly fabulous hair, it's all been ignored for this. And it completely sucks me out of the story, and instead just makes me hate Tota. Tota is just a blessed Gary Stu now, who is laughably able to make all women have perfect orgasms at his first try with them, and it's frustrating because of how easy it was to avoid this fate for the character and the series.

The series is at the final stretch, so I am going to finish it, but the fact I went from adoring this series to being cautious every time I see a new chapter uploaded should tell you how much of a downfall UQ Holder has experienced in this final arc. And yes, I blame the sex.

So on a final note... Tota. Evangeline/Yukihime raised you. I understand there was a time travel element involved so it's a bit of a grey area but please. 

Please. 

Do not sleep with your mother.