Negima (series 1) irritations

I bought the original Negima anime collection despite strong recommendations against it. It's pretty dumb in places. The dub voice for for Negi is horribly inappropriate, a cross between mumble, whisper and squeeking. The art is pretty flat, with not much detail. It looks like most of the budget was spent on the rights to use the name, and took away about half the usual animation budget.

The dodgeball episode was very dumb, all the girls clumped into the very center of the court and complained they didn't have room, the next shot showed a vast gulf around them to the edges of the court. While they were being hit, they weren't even trying to dodge the ball, they just stood there. Some were shown holding hands. What a great way to get me to root for Negi's class, just show them as a gaggle of sappy incompetents. Then they rallied using moves that I doubt are legal for dodge ball.