References and Similarities:

With nearly 40 volumes under its belt, Negima has had many chances to sneak in references to other manga series, videos games, and other forms of media. Many times, you may not notice while others are pretty obvious. Here, we're listing what we find.

• Negi himself bears a similar appearance and heritage to the popular character, Harry Potter, fit with the round glasses, both being about 10 at the start of the series, and the English heritage. Negi's concept art looks even more like the popular star, even featuring an unused owl cage.
  

• The book Negi has during the title page of the first chapter, Neo Horizon, is a nod to a real English course book in Japan, New Horizon.

• Nodoka’s treasure hunting outfit is very similar to the White Mage’s outfit from the Final Fantasy series

• The reoccurring coffee shop locations, Starbooks, is a spoof of popular coffee-chain, Starbucks.

• Nitta-sensei is the same person as Koube's homeroom teacher in Ken Akamatsu's first work, A.I. Love You. Nitta makes an appearance in Love Hina, too. He’s based off Akamatsu’s high school homeroom teacher

• Ch. 4 - Negi offers to take Asuna up on his staff, making a comment about her not making Quidditch jokes. This was not in the original Japanese version, but added in the English release. Quidditch, of course, is a popular sports involving brooms in Harry Potter.

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• ​Kakizaki's Sax Pascals hat is a nod to the popular group, Sex Pistols, specifically their Anarchy in the U.K. album.

• Ch. 28 - When traveling on the train to Kyoto, Haruna attempts to give Yuuna chocolate, but is greeted with a frog instead. This is a clever nod to Harry Potter, where Harry opens a box of candy on the train to Hogwarts and finds it is an animated chocolate frog.

• Ch. 53 - When interrogating Chao, Chao and Satomi use an invention dubbed the Nikuman-kun Z. This robot may be a reference to Kinnikuman, a popular manga who's character shares the same name. Both have the the kanji for "meat" upon their foreheads.

• One of the shirts Asuna wears on the Kyoto trip reads "Run Lola Run". This is actually the name of a popular German film.

• Ch. 34 - Many of the paper golems Tsukoyomi summons are actually references to other popular items and media.
  A, Similar in appearance to Kine from the Kirby series.
  B. Near identical to Domo
  C. It's a Sega Dreamcast
  D.  The golem is the original Sony PlayStation
  E. The ghost looks very similar to an enemy in Pocky & Rocky 2
  F. Bear a striking resemblence to the sootballs in Miyazaki films like My Neighbor Totoro and Spirted Away

• Ch. 59 - When first exploring deep under Library Island, Yue triggers a trap that sends a round boulder chasing after them. This is a nod to the popular scene from Indiana Jones.

• Ch. 64 - The text on Natsumi's shirt reads "Mardock Scramble", which is actually the name of a manga that first released in 2003.

• Ch. 69 - When Negi and Kotarou fight the Slime Sisters, they made note about the girls looking nothing like the slime monsters they know, a reference to the popular Dragon Quest series.

• Ku Fei and Shampoo from Ranma 1/2 share many similarities in character design and personality. Both are Chinese, versed in martial arts, and will only marry men stronger than they are. Ku is even seen wielding Chuí in one chapter, Shampoo's most iconic weapon.

• Ch. 76 - Ako is wearing a shirt featuring the name of the 2004 film, "The Place Promised in Our Early Days".

• Ch. 76 - One of the masks that are featured as prizes is one of the popular mascot, Hello Kitty.

• Ch. 86 - When Chief Serisawa is about to confess to Mana during the school festival, he can be seen wearing shirt with the band name and album from the Japanese band, Moonriders.

• Ch. 88 - When the Martial Arts Tournament begins, three Dragon Ball Z cosplayers can be seen around one of the stages. They're dressed as Goku, Piccolo, and Buu.

• Kaede's outfit during the Mahora Martial Arts Tournament is the same as King's from King of Fighters. The cover of volume 12 and other sources also reveal the outfit is the same color as King's.

• At the end of the Ala Ruba movie Rakan shows, the end is a nod to the end of Star Wars Episode 4

• Ch. 79 - Konoemon explains the conditions of the World Tree and mentions that its power cannot be used to summon panties, with a silhouette of Oolong in the background, a nod to DBZ
  

• Ch. 71 - Negi uses a move against Hermann called Kakudachochu, a move used by Akira in Virtua Fighter 4

• The end page of Negima is a reference to the beginning of Final Fantasy X, with the character's weapons placed together

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• ​Ch. 229 - The logo to Jack Rakan's movies is a nod to the 20th Century Fox logo

• Ch. 23 - When preparing to fight Evangeline, Negi is seen with the Caster gun from Outlaw Star​. This gun can be seen several times throughout the series.

• Ch. 63 - A Black Mage doll with the Final Fantasy IX design can be seen in Eva’s cabin

• Ch. 125 - During the Ako and “Nagi” date of the festival arc, a Cactuar from the Final Fantasy series can be seen

• Ch. 275 - When Mana appears in disguise and aims her handgun, the panel is very close in appearance to a famous scene from The Matrix

• Ch. 226 - Rakan’s sword-surfing technique is identical to Tao Pai Pai’s from Dragon Ball. The panel of these scenes are also very similar.

• Though it's debatable whether it's intentional or not, Negima briefly features two mystical creatures, the three-headed dog and Hippogriff, that were both found in the Harry Potter books. 

• Ch. 143 - The little girl controlling the illusions of the fake Takahata, 3 headed dog, and hippogriff, is actually in nearly the same attire as a Black Mage from the Final Fantasy series

• Ch. 254 - Kurt Gödel's offer to Negi is a nod to that the Dragonlord offers the player in Dragon Quest. Both offer half of the world in exchange for an alliance and Negima completes the reference with written dialogue options and even a beeping sound effect.

• Yuuna shares not only the same name as the main female lead of Final Fantasy X & X-2, but her pactio artifact and attire is very similar, especially to Yuna's X-2 design.

• Two of the monsters the attacking the students in this page bear a similar appearance to the Final Fantasy XII versions of Occuria and ​Cuchulainn

• Ch. 351 - The CD Asuna returns to Kakizaki before leaving Mahora is called "You & Yu". This is a real CD by Setsuna's voice actress, Yu Kobayashi.

• Ch. 352 - When Asuna looks at Negi's tomb stone, the graves on the back feature name spoofs from famous Western celebrities. Steve Works is Steve Jobs, Amy Whiskeyhouse is Amy Whinehouse, and Michael Jackson Third an obvious nod to pop-legend, Michael Jackson. Steve's engraving is reference to Apple brand, what Jobs is famous for creating and Jackson's tombstone is tribute to his songs. These stones were in English in the Japanese release. All of the celebrities had already passed before the chapter's release.
  Steve's grave was actually used twice, in different shots. If you look closely, you can make out the same words, but on a different stone.