My exposure to Negima is through the Chuang Yi Publishing translations. Yes, name aside, they do English volumes. Their market is pretty much exclusively Southeast Asia, though. I don't know if you can get them Stateside. Presumably you could through the wonders of mail order, but whether it'd be economically viable is another thing entirely.
The per-volume cost for Chuang Yi books is very cheap by American standards, to match the price point for Southeast Asian markets. But that's in Asia. Once you add shipping, that incentive for purchase goes poof for someone outside the region.
Anyway, the thing about Chuang Yi English translations...they go for accuracy, not colloquial fluidity. Which means the actual text is perfect English, but comes off as ever so slightly stilted. Is that good or bad? Well, in many ways, it ain't good.
But I personally prefer this to something that's been run through a 'tone' filter though...especially since, as you point out, consistent tone is something the Del Ray version doesn't have. If it means dealing with dialogue that isn't 100% 'natural' sounding, I'll take that, rather than gambling on a given translator's definition of 'natural'. Which is always debatable.
With regards to keeping the cast straight...it's really not difficult. The fact the manga uses the reoccuring device of Negi's classroom seating chart, with pictures, makes it easy to remember who his students are, at least. It's a pretty cool device since, as the series progresses, the copy of the seating chart that's printed in the manga volumes gains handwritten annotations.
However, well...I gave up reading Negima precisely because it got too long, so I can't really help you there. I thought it was pretty cool, but it didn't grab and hold my interest enough for me to keep buying the volumes.
That said, I have the same issue with Bleach and Naruto. Apparently I don't have it in me to stick with the long stuff. So take that for what it's worth.
-- Acyl
The per-volume cost for Chuang Yi books is very cheap by American standards, to match the price point for Southeast Asian markets. But that's in Asia. Once you add shipping, that incentive for purchase goes poof for someone outside the region.
Anyway, the thing about Chuang Yi English translations...they go for accuracy, not colloquial fluidity. Which means the actual text is perfect English, but comes off as ever so slightly stilted. Is that good or bad? Well, in many ways, it ain't good.
But I personally prefer this to something that's been run through a 'tone' filter though...especially since, as you point out, consistent tone is something the Del Ray version doesn't have. If it means dealing with dialogue that isn't 100% 'natural' sounding, I'll take that, rather than gambling on a given translator's definition of 'natural'. Which is always debatable.
With regards to keeping the cast straight...it's really not difficult. The fact the manga uses the reoccuring device of Negi's classroom seating chart, with pictures, makes it easy to remember who his students are, at least. It's a pretty cool device since, as the series progresses, the copy of the seating chart that's printed in the manga volumes gains handwritten annotations.
However, well...I gave up reading Negima precisely because it got too long, so I can't really help you there. I thought it was pretty cool, but it didn't grab and hold my interest enough for me to keep buying the volumes.
That said, I have the same issue with Bleach and Naruto. Apparently I don't have it in me to stick with the long stuff. So take that for what it's worth.
-- Acyl