I see that it’s a bit of a challenge for this series to balance out its morals and stories. What I mean by that is the following: the past episodes focused all on this community of ordinary people who are about to be annexed, and a lot of focus was put into not fighting, resulting even in the death of the village elder as she tried to promote her ideas. Those ideas got through, the villagers decided to abandon fighting… only for the main characters to pick up their arms instead and slaughter the enemy nevertheless. Screw negotiations.
It’s obvious why they did it of course: the villain in this episode could not be talked out of his plans, but still: this set-up does deminish the storlyline for the tribe a bit: these two stories next to each other don’t really strengthen each other. Yet, this is still much better than Sword Art Online, which doesn’t even seem to care about its unimportant characters. Magi definitely does care about them, and that care definitely made it through in this episode.
Also, this arc seemed to be for Aladdin to realize what his purpose is, and to meet other kinds of genies and magi that also were there to select kings. I’m definitely feeling the grandeur of this setting with this, and this episoe showed that there is so much more to this setting than what has been shown so far. And really: I like the village elder a lot more than I thought I would. Because of that, her realization of what Aladdin is at the end of this episode made all the more impact.
Rating: 5/8 (Great)
I don’t think set-up did diminish anything .. there are times for negotiations and times for fighting .. if Aladdin wasn’t there and did what he did to save Hakuei and the Kouga clan, Hakuei would have been brutally killed and the entire Kouga clan would have been wiped out by Ryosai … at least if that happened they would have had every right to fight that bastard Ryosai as there is no reason to hold back anymore if he is destroying their village and attacking with intention of mass murdering them with no one to hold him back .. the old woman Baba only established that it is worth it to negotiate and use diplomacy if the other side is willing to and if avoiding bloodshed is possible … she didn’t ask them to just sit here and die while the enemy attacks them.
Either way this episode did have so many tense and amazing moments this episode, so far IMO this is the best episode in the show, Baba’s death indeed left its mark on the characters and viewers alike .. i’m glad she didn’t just die unceremoniously at the beginning of the episode, but she fought her pain and severe injury in order to preserve the lives of her clan people .. fantastic character.
Hakuei also had her share of awesome moments, from Djinn aided magical-girl-esque kick-ass transformation with wind powers, to her impressive confidence in-front of the Kouga swordsman trying to attack her, to her genuine anger when she grabbed a sword and tried to challenge Ryosai to a duel despite her desperate situation and exhaustion .. all in all i certainly want to see this character more and more … her Djinn Paimon isn’t any less interesting than her .. surely live up to her name sake (a Djinn made of Love and Chaos) with her wind powers, looks and remarks (i will only help Hakuei whom i have fallen for XD) .. although i have to say i didn’t expect to see pierced exposed nipples in a show like Magi XD
Also good to see Aladdin doesn’t suffer from the “i don’t want to kill anyone even the bad-guys who are murderous maniacs” syndrome that many shonen heroes suffer from .. when he gets serious .. HE GETS SERIOUS .. he blew up a bunch of guys with his magical spell (called “Infigar” which means explosion .. and yeah it’s in arabic) then he proceeded without a hint of hesitation to smack-punch Ryosai to his sorry humiliating death .. now that’s how things are done … he surely has a very strong sense of justice and doesn’t hesitate to outright kill people if they can’t be talked out of their evil ways like Ryosai.
And better that he also came to terms with his identity and is moving on from that to discovering how this whole “selecting the next king” business actually works … in fact i think they intentionally made Aladdin unable to fully summon Ugo (i.e his missing head which looks weird no matter how many times i see it) just to overshadow some of the plot points that the Djinn talk about whenever Ugo encounters one.
And nice to see someone still remembers Goltaz and he actually turned out to be a member of the Kouga clan which is a nice way to tie loose ends together and make the world feel connected .. RIP Goltaz.
I agree with HunterWulf.
Though like I said in the shoutbox the other time, there are lots of differences from the manga. These differences however, do not change the course of the story at all. At least so far.
One of the most obvious ones is the part where Hakuei transforms. Djinn Equips aren’t introduced until much later in the story, so in the manga, Hakuei just used Paimon’s powers. She didn’t transform.
One more thing is the fact that Aladdin casted Halharl Infigar when technically he isn’t supposed to know anything about magic just yet.
Now I am really curious about where they’re trying to go with this. They’re not that major and didn’t really hurt the story, so it isn’t exactly a bad nor good thing at the moment. But if done right, I think they might be able to create something even more amazing than the manga.
I suppose by introducing those elements early on they seem to aim to get to the good parts quickly and compact the length of the story without sacrificing too much … as someone who didn’t read the manga i didn’t feel any dissonance from these elements .. Aladdin could have studied magic in the huge library he was living in (or whatever that place was) since from the flashbacks he seems to be reading a ton of books all the time .. also Hakuei seemed like she cleared a dungeon some time ago and was well acquainted with her Djinn Pion and knows how to use the full extent of her powers (limited as they might be without a Magi like Aladdin) … at least that’s how an anime viewer would view those elements in context of the anime.
And is it me or did the kid with Hakuei have a Djinn imbued weapon too (Twin swords) .. he seemed to have abnormal powers when he blew the soldiers weapons out of their hands (if that’s the case wonder why that Djinn didn’t appear) !!?
“And is it me or did the kid with Hakuei have a Djinn imbued weapon too (Twin swords) .. he seemed to have abnormal powers when he blew the soldiers weapons out of their hands (if that’s the case wonder why that Djinn didn’t appear) !!?”
The one he uses doesn’t have a djinn inside it. He doesn’t use a Metal Vessel, like Hakuei. His weapon is a Household Vessel which borrows the power of Hakuei’s Paimon. Meaning he can’t use that power without Hakuei around.
..This doesn’t count as spoiler does it?
No, not really a spoiler at all .. thanks for the clarification .. i had doubts his weapon was wind-powered because of Hakuei ‘s Djinn wind-imbued item but i wasn’t sure that’s the case XD
Genie breasts.
I still can’t get over that. The Japs are so anal about that sort of thing, ah, I just couldn’t help but crack up and revel over it.
Magi definitely has my interested. On one hand the characters seem so soft and “good guy” type, yet this show isn’t afraid to show blood or slaughter a bunch of soldiers. This sense of justice and realism is rare, and I like it.
It gets even darker very quickly, as far as adventure shounens go.
Oh one more thing, in case you didn’t know, the author was a girl. She thought up that Genie breasts idea of course.
Kind of surprising with all the boob jokes and all, huh.
@Trass, that doesn’t surprise me. Strange enough some of the most sexist fiction in the world is created by woman. Weird huh?
Perhaps not all females are so bent up over feminism as men are. In my opinion, there are feminists both male/female and then there are normal human beings who really don’t care about cliche, stereotype or gender.
In my opinion it’s usually the women who have the balls and write some of the most interesting stuff out there. I really like the design for the genies actually, and to be honest, the female Djinn had some killer character design. Very tasteful. I’m looking forward to Magi.
Yeah, part of it probably is that female writers/artists aren’t afraid of being called sexist when they pull off boob-jokes or show female nudity .. etc etc.. they don’t have to worry about that or other similar accusations used against male writers/artists on regular basis XD
Can tell you right now. No Djinn where’s a shirt whether it’s male or female.
You’re actually right. Even in the manga, I don’t think there’s been one Djinn with a shirt on.
Actually it doesn’t dimish the story with the Kouga. Thing is that the princess and someone who is clearly an outsider is fighting against them. In this case if anyone brings up the situation with the someone higher in the Kou, it will be only the individuals and not the entire group that get focused on. Even if the villain gets to speak on the matter he can’t say that the kou were the ones to stop him.
Whats is not better than SAO?!
This episode was very good. A-1 is doing a great job adapting the manga. I would certainly consider this to be one of the best shonen series in recent years.
Awesome conclusion just like the manga. Tons of potential.