MAGI: THE LABYRINTH OF MAGIC

DESCRIPTION

CAST

ANIME ActionMagi: The kingdom of magic
MANGA ActionMagi
OVA ActionMagi: Sinbad no Bouken OVA
ANIME ActionMagi: Sinbad no Bouken

REVIEWS

• 

  Drakmalar

  95/100
  Magi is where you should look at if you want to see shonen done right

  This is a review of both seasons of magi and its meant to be read by those who want to get into it. But hopefully those who have watched both seasons will also find something of value to extract from it.

  Ive always been a fan of shonen, as a kid i would watch fma 2003, naruto, dragon ball, etc. But i actually never got to many shonens as i would have liked to during that period, so as a teenager i started seeking out these stories that i had missed out on. I watched Soul Eater, while being highly stylized and with a lot of charm, it lacked depth and a proper conclussion. Soul Eater to me has always felt like a pretty package that i want to open and find out whats inside, and every single time i try to open it i find nothing. The beauty of the package was all that there was to it.

  And im not bringing this up just because, as i feel like this is a problem that has been prominent in many other shonens, even to this day. Bleach was another case of a cool, highly stylized and well presented story which ended up lacking in a narrative sense after its 2 first arcs which were the highlight of the series by far. And the funny part about this is that this is pretty much the same situation that Boku no Hero is facing nowadays. This was a series that started out with a bang, an incredible first arc that setted up what could (Upon further development in the future) end up being an interesting and unique world, with charming character designs just as bleach and soul eater, incredible animations from the very same studio that brought us soul eater, and an ost that could motivate even an old man to run for more than 50km without stopping a single second. The character development took the main stage during the second season and this series was building up to be the next big shonen, and with the first part of the third season being an absolutely cathartic climax to what had been building up to that point i was sure that i was witnessing the birth of the next great shonen.

  Im sad to say that after the poorly paced and uninteresting second half of that season, and with the lackluster narrative quality of the 4th season ive lost all of my faith in this series. Boku no Hero is the same as Black Clover, mediocre shonens that are aimed for kids and people who are able to turn off their brains while watching anime. Im not saying that these series are exactly bad, im just saying that ive been dissapointed in this newer generation of shonen, and that im even more dissapointed in the fact that ive seen these series making the exact same mistakes that the previous ones before them did instead of trying to be better. I ultimately enjoy both of this series, hell i enjoy all of the previously mentioned series. But once i get to it from an analytical perspective theres no much to extract or take away from them. Which is a shame as series like Fullmetal Alchemist, Death Note and Hunter x Hunter have shown us just how powerful this genre can be if done by someone who is willing to make a narrative with more depth than just "i hit you, you hit me. i get a power up and friendship wins bitch"

  I can enjoy mediocrity, but that wont stop me from pointing it out in hopes that one day ill stop seeing authors fall under the same mistakes as their predecessors did. I want to see more shonen from the likes of FMA and less of say, fairy tail and black clover.

  This is obviously a much more complicated thing than just authors and works, theres a lot of factors involved in the making of a manga. So i also want to point out that despite me mentioning the authors, if we were to point fingers at someone i feel like the one we should point fingers at is Shonen Jump itself.

  And with all of this in mind we can finally get into Magi, what i believe to be one of the most solid and enjoyable shonens of recent times. For a variety of reasons, but ultimately i feel like the most important thing to take away from this review should be that i feel like this series is pretty close to what FMA did from a world building perspective and when it comes to tying its theme with its characters and world. And also, its a series that has managed to maintain its high narrative quality through both seasons, something that as previously stated i cant say of other works from this genre.

  This series is based on middle eastern folk tales, which ultimately make it a breath of fresh air from the very beginning. It has a unique setting, and it can be clearly seen from the start just how much thought went into creating a believable and engaging world with its own identity. I can remember many names from this fictional world, from names of people, to the names of kingdoms. I can recall their cultures, how each kingdom even has different pieces of clothing, different weapons, different ideologies and overall it feels exactly like any fictional world should. Vast, magical, diverse and alive.

  There are many occurrences during this series that show how everything in this world works and how everything is tied together, during the beginning of the second season we start to see mercenaries and pirates using magical weapons, magical weapons that are revealed by a later arc to be mass produced and sold by a nation of mages that are testing out new war equipment in order to prepare for an assault. And this happens often in the series, something that was previously shown ends up being of importance later on and helping in setting up a new narrative arc. Which is clearly proof of just how well written and thought out this world really is, and even more if we compare it to modern shonens which are always introducing new characters and powers out of nowhere so that they can move the plot forward. Every nation is in motion, the world doesnt revolve around the protagonist or any singular character, this is a living and breathing world.

  And its also one of well established rules and with a pretty smart and functional power system that revolves around the usage of an energy called "magoi". This is basically the mana of this world and its extracted from rukh, which is the life force of everything, including humans themselves. Upon completing a dungeon on this world one receives a genie, which often has unique powers and abilities based on a particular element. So theres a kind of "pokémon type chart" battle system, in which water is effective against fire but weak against grass and so on with each element. Also, as the energy necessary for these genies and their powers to be summoned comes from rukh itself, theres a lot of exploration and strategy that can be done. For example, if one character has a water genie but its running low on magoi, he can simply run to a place filled with water or take advantange over rain to extract magoi from that water and recover its energy so that he can keep fighting or make crazy powerful attacks. So we got a power system that has to be used in smart ways and one in which both elements and enviroments need to be taken into account aside from the usual battle tactics. Sounds pretty solid, and fun doesnt it? And theres even more than that! as later its revealed that there exists white rukh and black rukh, but i wont get into details about that as this review is meant for people who are considering watching Magi and not for those who have watched it. But im mentioning it just to show how much depth this system has.

  Its also important to note the diversity of the characters that inhabit this world, theres multiple races, tribes, ideologies, etc. Theres all kinds of characters that reflect different kinds of struggles, from the usual rich kings that despise the poor and are even willing to sell the freedom of their citizens just so that they can maintain a position of power and welfare, to racists leaders who only seek to destroy the ones that they dont recognize as humans. Theres also contrasting ideologies that are completely opposite to these, kingdoms built around the idea of freedom and posibilities for everyone as equally as possible. Each of them with its own strengths and weaknesses.

  The best part of these characters for me is how human they feel, every character has a fair share of virtues and defects. Imperfect people who try their best, marked by their past, individuals who seek evolution and who eventually find it through multiple stages. Every major character goes through some kind of development, and even minor ones seem to get love too and stay relevant. Ali babá is one of the most human protagonists that i have ever seen, he feels so real, hes just like a teen his age, filled with insecurities and fears which he slowly starts to get over. But even in the face of said insecurities and fears he still feels charming and likeable.

  And the best part is that both seasons just feel like a gigantic build up that just keeps going and going, but theres also a lot of climaxing and cathartic moments that keeps one engaged and interested. So its not only a lot of build up, theres a lot of payoffs during and after each mini arc and even more during the big ones at the end of each season. And the best part is that often these cathartic moments share thematic similarities which ultimately just makes this series so much more fascinating and captivating. The author clearly had something that she wanted to get across with this work, and i feel like the message is constantly repeated in sometimes subtle and other times not so subtle ways. Which i love as i feel like having a prominent and central theme, and making a story that works to explore said theme is essential in order to have a coherent, fun, and satisfying narrative.

  Lastly, when it comes to the animations themselves these are just perfect. While watching the first episode of the first season i was so amazed by the animations that for a second i stopped to check if i wasnt watching a movie instead of a series, every single episode is filled with these breathtaking animation. Even the way in which the fucking mouths are animated has more effort in them than the entirety of those seasonal isekai shows that are constantly being aired. And when it comes to the soundtrack i would say that its memorable, solid and overall amazing. There are some real hype tracks in here.

  I had so much fun with this series and i believe it to be one of the best shonens of recent time, i would suggest it to anyone with any kind of interest on this genre or in well written stories in general, as I feel that it avoided a lot of mistakes that most shonens make.

  To close up this review i want to point out the only real bad thing that this series has that i feel like could be a huge problem for a lot of people. And thats the fact that its been a couple of years and there has been no announcement or confirmation for a third season.

  The ending to the second season for me was quite fulfilling and satisfying, closing up right after the most cathartic moment of the whole series. But this isnt a completely finished story and theres still a lot of manga chapters that need to be adapted. I will most likely check out the manga now, but this wont be the case for everyone and its perfectly understandable. Still, i feel like both seasons of this show deserve a shot due to how great Magi is at showing how this genre is much more than just 2 dudes hitting each other until one of them drops dead.

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• 

  moistmossyroc

  53/100
  I know I said that thing but remember this *looks* better, just ignore the fact we said THAT, see now its better...

  Overview:

  Tried to like this anime but just couldn’t. Starts out interesting with how the world is set up. There are several towers and labyrinths around the world erected for people to voyage to and conquer if they are able. Several try and fail, towns and cities are commonplace around these labyrinths due to the latent ability they have of attracting various people to them.

  Our main boi Alibaba of course starts out and appears to be a nothing… well debatable if that changes much but he does change throughout, albeit with severe ptsd as the means for why it’s debatable. The ptsd he has though, there is no sense of sympathy or sorrow, the show tries to force emotions on this character but really, they give him no real depth or connection to care for him. He is poorly designed imo and used as more of an excuse for the plot than anything. Could have been swapped for an animal such as a doggo and feelings and emotional connection would’ve been probably stronger.

  Throughout there are heavy vibes of Fairy Tail Second season onward… meaning there is no sense of tension and lot of setups and environments that are put forth to make the viewer at first be intrigued but severely fall short and shy as the arc progresses.

  A slight spoiler is in the final fight one of the characters is severely injured to the point of near death and is clearly stated that without proper treatment ASAP she will die. Oh, wait did we say that? Ya lets backtrack and now she is just perfectly dandy able to fight and stand on her own while comboing off another character… even though she was completely knocked like tf is this? Same arc the main protag is clearly told if he uses any sort of magic he gon be fucked but nah the moment he leaves all the way up until his transformation plot twist bs he was heavily using magic with no consequence and they failed to explain how that was possible as well. Several of these instances where they contradict what was clearly stated a few minutes before are done all for the sake of Ayyy that would be cool to see instead of wanting to show and craft an interesting fight sequence or scene with any sort of true depth but lets give the illusion there is.

  Near all fights boil down to no strategy or interesting fight sequence, it’s a hey I don’t like you or you don’t like me haha lets fight but not really since plot. Started out decent but got worse as it progressed. Even Blue Exorcist S1 with its flaws was able to pull off better fights. Honestly though I should have known not to expect much from an A-1 production, they never fail to disappoint. yes they have done some phenomenal work but majority are just sad to say the least

  Visuals/Music:

  Visuals are decent. Considering it was released back in 2012, the color pallet used and style was good enough but doesn’t hold up the best, its on par with a lot of budget hentai. Its nice though, probably being a lot more critical of it since I was not enjoying the show much. Attacks background and weapons are more than good enough and hold their own, overall is average.

  sigh is all I can really say about the music as it was done by one of my favorite composers, Shiro Sagisu. He does some of the best OST’s out there, both him and Hiroyuki Sawano make some of the best tracks around. Sadly, the OST’s that were provided and used were not used to a varied extent. The way they placed them, it felt like there was only about 5 instead of a varied amount. Fell short of how it could’ve been. There should have been more than just a handful at disposal. Poor execution on the studios part as far as I can tell. Still the OST’s that are used, can’t argue they are damn good. Toss them on in the background and it’ll be a blissful moment for the most part lol. Due to the way they were used though, its nowhere near excellent or perfect. Black Bullet, Bleach, eva and berserk to name some are done by Shiro and with those series the way the OST’s are used and placed is leagues above. Not as much criticism against the tracks since they do the job as intended but the studio falls short in execution… again, like the rest of the show, but it is A-1.

  Final Thoughts:

  Overview section sort of intertwined more with final thoughts than usual but meh, can’t bring myself to care enough about this show. I do not recommend this show to anybody except those that are new to anime or are severely bored. Those who do watch, turn any sense of thought off as if you don’t the disappointment as they say will be immeasurable and the day will be ruined. Can only really hope that the rest will turn it around like Blue Exorcist did but keeping expectations low to better cope with what’s to come lol.

  Characters (main) – 2/5

  Characters (sub) – 2/5

  Enjoyment – 2/5

  Visuals – 3/5

  Music – 4/5

  Story – 3/5

  Overall Ratings - Rec: 2/5 Raw: 53%

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