This show has one very misleading ED. I really thought that it would be a happy cheerful adventure featuring the three lead characters having fun. This episode showed that the atmosphere in this series is in reality muh darker. With the slavery themes this already was to be expected, but this episode really took the cake.
Alibaba’s past was… gloomy. The creators really tried to show how poverty can drive people to do strange things, and the whole story about Alibaba’s friend growing up to be the leader of a bunch of thieves is definitely a great one. This episode lso loved to use its facial expressions for that with a much more exaggerated look than normal, which also did quite some wonders in bringing up emotions.
The tension is mostly between Alibaba and Morgiana, the latter of whom will probably have a lot of trouble accepting what’s going on. I really liked how she just dragged Alibaba over the rooftops to Aladdin for a talk. The big danger right now is for this show to devolve into too much angst: making it too one-sided in a way. I’m not sure what it exactly is, but it feels weird, like something is missing from it or the show is trying too hard to get to this angst.
Rating: 5/8 (Great)
oh no worries theirs a epic fight coming 😀
Whats missing is the understanding of the psyche of a male protagonist I think. Alibaba had been dangerously underdeveloped from the start. Morgiana is much more developed, and she’s cool. Aladdin is also well developed. So far though, Alibaba has been a little lack luster. Though I feel he may develop better as this story goes on.
Women seem to have a knack for writing darker things, and I enjoy it quite reverently. I expect this story to be interesting, and I’m rather looking forward to it.
I would have preferred a childish tale full of naive adventures.
The gloomy parts don’t seem to fit.
I think this show is getting really boring by doing these ‘darker’ episodes. It would be better if it was more episodic….
You may want to drop Magi while you’re still ahead then because there’s nothing episodic about it. The happy-go-lucky episodes at the start are more or less over with.
It had happy go lucky episodes? I guess I was too busy feeling queasy at the slavery and underplayed starving babies.
I can’t wait for the next few parts to be animated. Reading it in the manga is great. It’s staying very faithful to the manga which is great. The past with Kasim is depressing and likewise with Alibaba.
I also feel there’s something missing, maybe Reaper’s got it right.
One other thing, I can’t shake the feeling that Alibaba is a girl, might just be the chest-wrap that I usually only see on anime girls. But then again “he” kinda seems way more sensitive(emotionally) than your usual male MC.
or is it Aladdin….damn I can’t seem to remember the 2 names correctly
Aladdin’s a boy. The chest wrap was left over from his original concept, which was a woman.
Like I have said multiple times a few episodes ago, Magi is really dark for a shounen adventure series.
But don’t worry, make no mistake because it STILL is a shounen adventure. You will still see epic fights and power up arcs.
yes one of the epic fights will be in episode 10