Yue Ayase

Infobox animanga character
color = #000080
color text = white
name = Yue Ayase
series = Negima! Magister Negi Magi


caption = Shocked Yue, as depicted in the manga
first =
last =
creator = Ken Akamatsu
voiced by = Natsuko Kuwatani (Japanese)
Brina Palencia (English)
oaux1 = Ami Ōse
oaux1 name = Portrayed by
alias = Baka Black, Yuecchi
Yue Falandoll
age = 14/15
species = Human
gender = Female
born = November 16 1988
paux1 = 138 cm (4' 6")
paux1 name = Height
paux3 = AB
paux3 name = Blood type
paux2 = 66cm - 49cm - 66cm
(26" - 19" - 26")
paux2 name = Measurements
paux4 = Blue
Purple ("Negima!?", "Ala Alba")
paux4 name = Hair color
paux5 = Black
Purple ("Negima!?", "Ala Alba")
paux5 name = Eye color
divider = Class information
aux1 = 2/3-A
aux1 name = Class section
aux2 = 4
aux2 name = Class student number
aux3 = Kazumi Asakura
aux3 name = Preceded by
aux4 = Ako Izumi
aux4 name = Followed by
aux5 = 2nd (Tied with Asuna) (Point Total: 56)
aux5 name = Negi Love Rankingnihongo|Yue Ayase|綾瀬 夕映|Ayase Yūe is a fictional character from the manga series "", created by Ken Akamatsu. The 4th student in Japanese alphabetical order of class 2/3-A, she is the hidden intelligence of the class, a member of the Library Exploration Club yet at the same time a part of the infamous Baka Rangers due to her hatred of studying and schoolwork. Although initially enthusiastic in helping fellow Library club member Nodoka Miyazaki gain Negi's heart, she soon develops feelings of her own and is constantly trying to come to terms with where she wants to stand between the two of them. However, her own interest in magic and the supernatural draws her into Negi's group, both in learning magic as well as becoming a Pactio partner.

Background and Personality

Yue is considered the cool slacker of the class, a highly intelligent girl yet, at the same time, a horrible student. Her intelligence is shown by her interest in philosophy and her membership of the Library Exploration Club alongside classmates Nodoka Miyazaki, Haruna Saotome and Konoka Konoe. Even though she has never been through the entire library due to its massive size, she does know enough to be a guide for those who choose to go in there, such as guiding Negi and other members of the class. It is through the club that Yue becomes friends with the club members, usually finding herself helping her shier friend Nodoka gain confidence to do what she wants while at the same time ignoring or putting up with the manipulations of the bespectacled Haruna. Although she is scared of Haruna's tendencies, she does somehow find a way to remain her friend.

However, despite being a talented bibliophile and a member of the Library Club, Yue hates studying and schoolwork. Due to this, she is one of the students in 2-A with the lowest grades in the class, and hence is a member of the "Baka Rangers" or "Dummy Force" study group (a play on the Power Rangers series and the Super Sentai genre they came from). In the Baka Rangers, Yue is "Baka Black", and considered the team's leader, most likely in being the "smartest" of the quintet both in general as well as in her average as a Baka Ranger. Although Yue doesn't like studying or schoolwork, she is capable of performing well academically, either when she needs to (to raise the class's average) or in a subject she finds herself interested in. It is revealed later that Yue's hatred for studying is due to the death of her beloved grandfather, making her lose interest in the world in general and considered everything, especially studying, as pointless. She was initially uninterested in making friends, though Nodoka was the first to make an impression on her, by saying that anyone who likes books cannot be a bad person.

Yue is often seen drinking unusual beverages from juice boxes, found in various and bizarre flavors. She was once seen drinking the "Last Elixir" in one chapter, a cameo appearance from Final Fantasy. Unfortunately her constant drinking of these juices often leads to her using the restroom quite frequently. Whenever Yue drinks from one of these boxes, she usually is seen either in a more contemplative or a commentary role compared to the craziness going on around her.

Character Design

With the many different character types and designs that went in to making the girls of Negima, Ken Akamatsu occasionally gets ideas from other sources, including other manga, for the creation of his girls. Upon creating Yue, Akamatsu already knew that she was going to be a huge bibliophile due to feeling that she had a "Read or Die" feel upon creation. Like heroine Yomiko Readman, Yue is obsessed with books (similar to her friend Nodoka) and uses them as a means to escape from the problems in her own life. Yue's design hasn't changed significantly from her initial one, complete with her small stature, braided front bangs and split hair behind. Some pics depicted her possibly with glasses, but other than that Yue was created ready to go into Akamatsu's story. Interestingly enough, Ran Ayanaga, the person behind the original character design for Yue, would eventually work on the "Read or Dream" manga, with one of the characters in the story, Hisami Hishishii, having a strong resemblance to Yue.

Part in the Story

Yue's initial interaction with Negi Springfield is two-fold: both as "Nodoka's best friend" as well as a member of the Baka Rangers. In regards to the former, she assists her shy friend to at least approach Negi and help her express her feelings towards her. On the latter, she is forced into the study group due to being the fifth-worst student in the class, even though she quickly proved that she wasn't as dumb as the tests made her out to be. Although a guide through the library during the Baka Ranger's journey to improve their grades, she didn't significantly interact with Negi.

However, this changed during the field trip to Kyoto. Yue initially remained in the background at the stant of the story. However, when Kazumi organizes a special game to kiss Negi, she decides to join Nodoka to help her win the game. However, when she was approached by one of the Negi clones attempting to kiss her, unexpected feelings begin to emerge, making her feel guilty in possibly cheating out Nodoka. Eventually, she choose to fight back against the clones and she made Nodoka take the kiss to win the game and her Pactio card. Later, she followed Negi's team to the Konoe shrine. Thanks to Asakura, she is one of the few people to escape being turned to stone and she calls for assistance from Kaede, Mana, and Ku Fei.

After the Kyoto trip, having witnessed the attack on the Kansai Magic Association headquarters, talked to Nodoka (who became aware of magic following her Pactio) about the subject, and helped Negi figure out the clues left by his father, Yue deduced that Negi was a mage and Mahora Academy's magical nature. Another trip into the depths of the Mahora Library was thwarted by the dragon that lives there, though Yue swears revenge on the beast for drooling on her. She and Nodoka later ask Negi to teach them how to use magic, and Yue even suggested forming a pactio with him (though she immediately changed her mind once she learned about what was required to make a contract from Chamo and Kazumi).

During the Wilhelm incident, Yue was one of many girls who were initially kidnapped by Wilhelm and the Slime sisters, only for them to escape and assist Negi in the battle. For Yue, she and Nodoka used the sealing jar that Kotarou gave to Negi to seal away Wilhelm's henchmen, the Slime Sisters.

Nevertheless, Yue learned some magic by the time of the Mahora Festival, practicing within Evageline's resort where she learned some of the basics with Negi's assistace. She also became friends with Kotarō in Kyoto after his fight with Kaede. Unlike her regular schoolwork, Yue is dedicated to learning magic and spends over 3 hours a day practicing. She expresses some of these thoughts alone to Negi during the first day of the festival, trying to grip with whether her feelings are genuine for Negi or if she should continue to help Nodoka win his heart. (a fact she manages to keep a secret from Nodoka until the school festival)

On the second day of the festival, Yue's feelings come to a head: during a tour of Library Island, Yue finally loses her sanity regarding her feelings due to Nodoka and the potential contract she could make and chooses to make, to the point of bungee jumping from a high section of the main library to make her decision. Nodoka forgave her, and with her approval (although not with Yue's or Negi's consent), Yue became the fifth person to form a probationary contract with the child teacher. Using the power of the Pactio, Yue both assisted Negi during the crisis for the remainder of the festival (including their unexpected future trip and during the final battle with Chao as well as speed up her own magical training. This enables her to defend her White Wing badge from her classmates.

Yue and Nodoka apparently become fast friends with Negi's old friend Anya as she approves of the two Library Girls, (most likely due to their similar chest sizes). Like the other White Wing members, she accompanies Negi to the magical world, only to be separated from everyone when one of Fate's minions used a spell to scatter the group around the magical world.

Yue finds herself at a Magical Academy suffering from a head wound and amnesia, both caused by female student Collete Fallendoll, who accidentally hit her as she materialized. She has no memory of her friends, her past, nor her membership in the White Wing. Without her memories, Yue enrolls in the magical school with Collete, where she steadily improves her magical abilities. She is soon one of the school's top students. After seeing Negi, in his 'older form' competing in a tournament, Yue begins to feel a sense of familiarity and believes that meeting him will help in regaining her memories. She and Collete took part in a competition for the chance to be a part of the special security squad that will be at the finals of the tournament.

During the competition, Yue and Collete manage to claim the lead, which led to the class representative Emily Sevensheep and her partner deciding to take a shortcut through a dangerous area. They were attacked by one of the monsters there, but were saved by Yue as she activated her Pactio Card. Using the information she looked up in her Artifact and the cooperation between herself, Collete, Emily and her partner, they were able to defeat the monster, but ended up being last in the competition. However, their battle skills were recognized by the headmistress of the academy and all four had the opportunity to travel to the fighting tournament at Ostia. At this point, Yue still does not remember who she is, nor her connection to Negi.Currently, Yue along with Collete, Emily and her secretary Beatrix Monroe, and two others, Von Katze and Du Chat, are in Ostia, flying off to meet up with "some ruffians" who are actually Negi's group respective Fate's group. In the most recent chapter, Negi accidentally goes past Yue while he and the rest of the crew split to avoid being caught after some bystanders recognized him from the "Wanted" poster.

Abilities

*Pactio: Orbis Sensualium Pictus: Her artifact is a set consisting of a cloak, book, witch's hat, and a broom. Chamo mentions that she has the same Beginner Mage Set that Negi also had. This implies that her equipment is essentially the same as those given to mages in training. At first, her artifact doesn't offer any noticeable firepower, but its merit is progressively proven useful as the story moves on. For one, the book initially appearing to be a beginner's manual for casting spells, but actually has a wide array of general information on various magical topics, like an encyclopedia. It is able to display this information in the form of illusionary pages, like holograms. Even more impressive, the book is also linked with Mahou.net and updates continuously. It can thus answer almost any question Yue asks that pertain to magic. Yue has the equivalent of a magical library branch in one book. She was able to discover that Asuna's magic cancellation ability was exceptionally powerful, simply by looking it up and, furthermore, she was able to learn the spell needed to amplify it. Yue also keeps a practice wand and was soon able to cast a few simple spells with it. As for the broom, its purpose has not been shown as of yet, though readers have speculated that it is used like Negi uses his staff, (ie: spell-casting and transport). Yue has mastered riding brooms at the magic school.
*Logical Intelligence: Though she hates to study, Yue's ability to research and piece together facts is considerable. She was able to deduce Negi's identity as a mage and gather information concerning on the Magic World and Negi's father. As long as the subject maintains her interest (such as magic), Yue becomes dedicated to learning all there is to know. While studying at the magical academy, she becomes one of the highest test scorers in the class.
*Magical Ability: After discovering Negi's mage status, Yue coaxed him to make her into his student on magical arts, both for her own defense and to "get revenge on the guardian dragon of Library Island" (who later turned out to be a friendly guard of Albireo). Combining Negi's guidance and the power of Evangeline's resort alongside Yue's own studious nature and her Pactio, she soon masters the basics. Studying at the academy in the magical world significantly improves her spellcasting and she learns to ride on a broomstick. Also during the competition it is revealed that Yue now has a magical activation key which is "foa Zoa Cratia Socratia" (perhaps referring to the philosipher Socrates) and she is believed to be a quite powerful mage as Emily said "no spells could break a dragon's horn!" but Yue managed to break it with the Fulguratio Albicans spell.

Yue in Other Media

Mahō Sensei Negima! (1st Anime)

Due to the rearrangement of events, Yue's feelings for Negi emerged much earlier, yet remain as contentious as the manga situation in her own feelings and how Nodoka would handle it. Later, Nodoka accepted Yue's feelings and said she was glad to have her as a romantic rival. Yue only gained Pactio during the final mass contract, upon which she merely gained a broom that casted thunder spells. ["Negima!" anime, episode 26]

Negima!?

Mostly keeping her Baka Ranger/Library Club dichotomy from the manga, Yue's situation remains unchanged either in her mental abilities or in her love triangle between herself, Negi and Nodoka. Yue's romantic feelings towards Negi are more developed in this series with two episodes focusing on her dilemma both personally and with her relationship to Nodoka. The first episode, similar to the manga, focuses on her feelings in having to kiss Negi for a Pactio contract, as she speaks about her worries and concerns to various members of the class. However, while she does finally succumb to these feelings and kisses Negi for a contract, her kiss leads to the remainder of 3-A to learn of magic and many of the events for the remainder of the series. ["Negima!?" anime, episode 12]

In a later episode, after Motsu blackmails her by telling that drinking from the same straw Negi (and Chamo) used is like an indirect kiss, Yue's feelings continue to be explored in her feelings towards Negi and how Nodoka would take them. Troubling herself in trying to talk to her friend and figure her out, Nodoka and she finally come to a conclusion that they both like him, but Yue decided to keep her love for Negi to herself. ["Negima!?" anime, episode 21]

Although she does gain Pactio on her own like in the manga, it is noted that Haruna obtains a Pactio prior to her, the exact reverse of the manga. Likewise, the only two times Yue releases her is during the two mass Pactio activations. During the "Suka Incident", Yue transforms into an owl and uses Negi to help her buy one of her weird drinks from a vending machine. ["Negima!?" anime, episode 19] In the final episode, Yue transforms into a maid with an arsenal of weird drinks with strange effects, many of which she tests on her friend Nodoka (who had been turned into her Suka seal form). ["Negima!?" anime, episode 26]

As an added note, Yue's hair color is switched with Nodoka's: the shy Library club member has blue hair and Yue having purple hair.

Footnotes