This episode closes off the introduction arc of Magi, and it was actually surprisingly good here. Nothing deep or anything, but in terms of adventure it was rock-solid with many references to the Arabic legends, a lot of creativity and surprisingly solid characters. The adventure part is what I like most about Magi, though: this episode again showed the characters travel from one scene to the other, every single one of them having a ton of creativity.
Most of all this episode also added background of royalty: Magi being the one to select a king is a great back-story and makes this more than a random dungeon crawler, with that bad guy living his entire life for meeting him. In one episode this episode hinted at the pasts for all of its major characters.
I also like that this show is in no hurry to get its main cast together. I mean, it’s obvious that the purple haired girl will end up joining the lead cast, and this episode provided even more hints for this, but we’re three episodes in and they’re still not a team. That’s quite rare for an adventure series (I mean I like the genre and all, but I’m also very annoyed by some of the overused clichés that bog them down).
Rating: 5/8 (Great)
Not sure it’s really purple at all (more red/pink) but her names Morgiana.
The Mystery around Ali Baba has deepened as well, he can read Tran and knows the “True King’s Stance” sword style, which implies quite a lot…
And damn, Aladdin was cold when he rejected the Sharif.
Great show though, hope it gets more than 1 cour.
The level of references really did surprise me. I really like this show, it’s very enjoyable but the pacing is killing me. I don’t care that it takes time for the characters to come together but they are developing and coming to conclusions at such a snail pace it hurts. You’re a magi! That guy is king! It didn’t even seem like our king acknowledged or noticed those words. Other than that, it seems like its going to be a fun ride. And the slaves pissed me off, not so much in anger but in sympathy. With all of that strength and power they could have easily tanked the guy, but I guess psychological damage can be that bad. Personally, I would have shanked the royal douche in the heart the moment I saw him cut the big guy who was protecting him from monsters.
Nice episode, even though the entirety of the episode was spent inside the main dungeon room it was still able to hint and foreshadow some of the adventures that Ali-Baba and Aladdin are going to have (and now we know there are multiple Magi not just Aladdin, and the one in black clothes seems to be tagging along with the Sharif’s master of all people).
Also we get a glimpse at Ali-Baba’s past (small one that is), he surely seemed to have a lot of unfinished business which we got glimpses of in the flashbacks from ep1 .. and this whole king business too .. my only question is .. How old exactly is he supposed to be ? .. he seems too young to have had a long past filled with unfinished business before he settled in this town .. which is the vibe i got from him this ep.
Finally, the one thing that pissed me off a lot is that Morgana was acting normal in ep1 and even when she met Aladdin in the dungeon for the first time she was talking about her homeland and stuff like that (and he even made her laugh), so aside from being a bitter slave she seemed perfectly fine, now she is suddenly acting like a traumatized, brainwashed silent slave she almost felt like a completely different character .. i felt that was really forced .. if she was acting like that from the very start i would understand .. but ever since she appeared she seemed like a sad, bitter slave girl yearning for freedom and returning to her country … not a brainwashed killing machine like how she acted this episode.
Goltaz on the other hand earned my respect for acting like a slave would act if he got the chance to get back at his cruel insane master .. glad he smacked some sense into Morgana before he perished XD
Alibaba is 17 (btw Morgiana is 14 or 15 I’m not sure right now, Aladdin is about 10)
You will get to know his “unfinished business” soon enough.
I think the manga probably made things a little clearer with Morgiana. The anime left out a scene she was in before the dungeon which you’d probably have found relevant, and added her into the scene with the giant plant.
But aside from that, why couldn’t Morgiana be both a bitter slave who wants to go home, and a traumatised, brainwashed slave with what some say is something like Stockholm syndrome? The two things are not mutually exclusive, and it’s rare to be able to see all of a person’s issues the first time you see them. Take the scene with Aladdin in the dungeon where you’re saying that Morgiana seemed totally okay except for being unhappy about being a slave. She actually wasn’t okay. There are a couple of small hints, but there are some big ones too. She talks about how Jamil is terrifying, she could never escape from him just by breaking her chains, and leaving would be impossible – and that’s because she’s been raised to be absolutely terrified of him, and totally obedient. Those are the invisible chains that Aladdin was talking about. As soon as Jamil ordered her after them in that scene, she obeyed without question.
Good points, i suppose since Jamil and Morgana didn’t show up in the same place until the end of ep2 and start of ep3 her actions in ep1 were unaffected by him .. i guess the manga explained this better than the anime.
Still, even if Jamil scarred her psyche badly, Ali-Baba’s logic was very sound when he talked to her, she really had no reason whatsoever to take Jamil’s abuse anymore inside the dungeon’s final chamber .. considering how strong she is she could have sent him flying straight into the ceiling of the room XD
At least Glotaz (who has been extremely abused by Jamil in the span of the last two episodes) followed Ali-Baba’s logic and rebelled against Jamil.
>In one episode this episode hinted at the pasts for all of its major characters
Unfortunately, this is all there is to Mor’s back story, which they condensed too much to my liking. :c
the rest of morigina past will be revealed in her arc which will come after the next one
Are you talking about the manga? If so, it’s not a past she remembers… This was the back story that explain why she is how she is.
Otherwise, is there’s something else that I don’t remember…?
Magi is one of the best currently running shonen manga imho. I hope the anime adaptation will remain this decent and adapt all of the available source material. Just a fun show.
Wow, I liked the improvement from ep 1, and the adventure vibe from this episode, this show has great potential as well.^^
Really well done shonen of this season with JOJO.
Code breaker and zetsuen are meh. (13 episodes both lame)