Anime Club: Magi The Labyrinth of Magic

Hello everybody! Sorry for the long wait, as it has been one hell of a month. For this week’s anime club we have Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic.

MAGI: THE LABYRINTH OF MAGIC

CREATED BY: Koji Masunari

GENRE: Action, Adventure, Fantasy

NO. OF EPISODES: 25 Episodes 

YEAR: 2012-2013

COUNTRY: Japan

After being secluded for his entire life, a boy called Aladdin travels the world until he meets Alibaba Saluja, a young man aiming to one day explore the nearby dungeon Amon and claim its treasures. Aladdin and Alibaba eventually become friends, and conquer Amon together, despite facing the opposition of the ruthless Jamil and his slave warriors, with only Alibaba, Aladdin and Morgiana, the only survivor of Jamil’s party, escaping with their lives. For some reason, Aladdin ends up teleported to a distant land, far away from the others, where he learns that he is a Magi. Having no news of his friend, Alibaba uses the treasure he obtained in Amon to free all slaves in the city, including Morgiana and returns to Balbadd, his homeland.

Welcome to the realm of familiarity. This is the story of “Alladin with Alibaba and the Forty Thieves” like you have never seen it before. I absolutely love most of these characters, as Alibaba and Alladin are hilarious and interesting. This goes beyond just their basic character traits, as their interests are random yet awesome I.E. Alibaba keeps getting a rather manly prostitute at every brothel they visit, and Alladin has an obsession with boobs and motor boating. The creators behind the series were able to accurately portray the Middle East during the appropriate period, as I felt that I was actually there.

Regardless, the first season of Magi has plenty of faults. My biggest peeve is that many of the minor characters didn’t appear to have a purpose or motivation for their actions in the main story. I kept asking myself, why was this character even here? The answer? Just because. It really bothered me, since it wasn’t just one character, which I could easily gloss over. The writers also don’t explain the background and rules of magic in their world, at least not now. If you want a clear explanation, you will have to wait until season 2.

PROS:

• Interesting adaptation of common story.
• Main characters/tropes.
• Time period portrayal.
• Animation style.

CONS:

• Minor characters had no apparent motivation.
• No background and rules of magic.

SCORE: 8.5 / 10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDd658GYvng

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