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「第三夜創世の魔法使い」 (Dai san-yo: Sousei no Mahoutsukai)
“Third Night: Wizard of Creation”
The first adventure of Magi has closed its doors, but now we find ourselves in a much wider room, full of possibilities. Aladdin, Ali Baba, and Morgiana, now free from their chains, slowly have revealed their pasts to us, some more so than others, some darker and heartwrenching. At times in this episode, I found myself cringing in my seat, mentally yelling at the characters to get a grip and finish off this fiasco–perhaps the exact reaction the anime wanted. Magi gets deeper every day, as the worldbuilding and character development finally dig their roots deep and keep us locked in our seats.
First, let’s take a look at Aladdin and his apparent role in deciding the king of the land. Though my mind immediately jumps to the Three Magi, if anyone is more literate in Middle Eastern folklore, please correct me. Aladdin apparently helps dictate the kings who will lead a land to glory, a decision that appears widespread. However, it seems that he is not the only one who gets to make these decisions, nor is he the only one who holds the prestigious title of Magi. We can predict future scenes will come to conflict Aladdin’s obvious choice in Ali Baba for his honesty and defense of the weak, over say another Magi’s decision in a more brutal character for their ability to lead and exert power. I hesitate to label any of the other Magi in the future as ‘bad’ Magi, as the show has begun to indicate that not everything is black and white with our antagonists.
A great example of this has shown with Morgiana’s brutality during this episode. Although it’s physically visible to us that she despises the orders Jamil makes her do, and that it’s quite obvious that she could beat Jamil to a pulp if she so desired, the ghosts of her past make herself (and ourselves) cringe and lose our self-will. I imagine that when Morgiana reunites into our trio, we will get to hear exactly what Morgiana’s ghosts are and the extent of their terror. Even from a few screens could I see the terrible conditions she had to go through, and I congratulate the anime for being strong in its message and shock value without overdoing it. Jamil thankfully is a goner (though all the feels for Goltas), so having to deal with his cowardice and abuse of two likable characters is finally over. How Morgiana will develop from here undoubtedly will bring her closer to the trio, but I wish to see how strong Golatas’ last request has on her. Will his physical and symbolic break of chains be enough to unlock her character, or will we need another act of bravery to open her heart? While Aladdin can certainly open her heart with kindness, there is one other half that will probably lead to this opening…
…which lies with Ali Baba. It’s now obvious that Ali Baba has had an excellent upbringing in terms of skill development and that his abilities are on par with Morgiana’s…but now the question is, “What kind of upbringing did he have?” While his upbringing may contrast Morgiana, considering how little we know about his past and the numerous “settlements” he needs to follow up on, Ali Baba’s past must’ve been just as full of troubles as Morgiana. To have fallen from a lifestyle that taught a royal fighting style and the (back then) treasured art of reading, something significant must have happened. While Ali Baba probably is the most shrouded of all the main characters at this point, we can expect to see revelations as soon as the next episode, now that the tides have turned back in his favor. However, in order to spice things up, it looks like Ali Baba’s sword got an upgrade while he wasn’t paying attention–perhaps that will save him from any volley of arrows that seek him as a target.
All in all, I’m excited after three episodes to see how these three characters will now face the mysteries that surround them. Although the fight scenes and the resolution of the Sharif (convenient mental breakdown) were a bit disappointing, I was pleased at the continued construction of the sandy world of Magi. The Djinns have conveniently illuminated the ultimate goal of the anime, but how the road to get there is paved…we have yet to see for many episodes. If you’re looking for a good Shounen with a light emphasis on combat and a heavy emphasis on medieval morality and politics, now is the time to hop on! Although it took a bit of setup to get running, Magi looks to be a series that’ll hold its ground for undoubtedly numerous episodes it will receive. The comedic antics with Aladdin have been great, but the tense and morally conflicted moments have also worked favorably. Overall, Magi is a good rounded anime that does fall short on some typical Shounen stumbles, but overall has served to create a setting that is definitely unique.
Full-length images: 8, 11, 26, 27.
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Another quality episode…
Although, they failed to fully portray how far Morgiana’s “psychological enslavement” went.
Next arc is a bit more “heavy”… I hope they succeed in adapting the events that follows 😉
the “psychological enslavement” may be censored for an anime shown on 17:00
I’m kinda curious what is this “psychological enslavement” ? Kininarimasu ^^
hopefully they won’t skip too many details.
Things are staying pretty interesting. Definitely not getting that generic shonen type of feel at all here.
During the whole predicament of taking sides, I was initially peeved with Morgiana for being so irrational, but gradually lightened up to her perspective of things, so well played on that execution. Subsequently, the part where Aladdin bossed his way into the fight, I was downright ecstatic. Aladdin’s one-to-one with her in the previous episode made me think, “Wow, this is cool, Aladdin isn’t that kind of shonen protagonist who would make it an obligation to save Morgiana from her situation, but rather, treat her mildly neutrally and let her play out her own fate, ultimately hoping that it turns out well yet taking no initiative to meddle where he doesn’t belong.” And now to this episode where she is literally on the edge of killing Alibaba, I was fascinated with the prospect of how Aladdin would react. I mean he’s fond of Morgiana, but is more so affiliated to Alibaba in terms of friendship. A part of me even wanted Aladdin to deliver a fatal blow to her (https://randomc.net/image/Magi/Magi%20-%2003%20-%20Large%2009.jpg)just to match the kind of unfaltering actions she had already demonstrated towards them instead of just magically de-materializing her weapon.
Additionally, the psychotic Jamil struck me as repetitive at first, but it too shifted into an “all too real to write off as melodramatic” portrayal. It’s a shame that the first time Golatas expressed some personality was when he had to die off. I didn’t like that from a personal and story-writing standpoint too much.
I was surprised when Alibaba and Aladdin started talking about the end of their adventure suddenly. (From a logistics standpoint, it’s pretty clear that after completing one dungeon, you don’t just go to the next and so on until you have this nearly infinite amount of gold. You would use the earnings of the first to set up a financial backing and means of preparing for the harder dungeons.) But Alibaba did in fact tell Aladdin his ambition is to be the first to clear all dungeons, so it’s strange that the two being a dynamic duo until the very end of that wasn’t implied. I guess that bit was added just to set up them being sent to different destinations, implying a connection still. I am wondering why they were all transported to different locations though.
All in all, series is still going strong. Just a bit concerned on the animation quality consistency (and the way everyone’s teeth look still).
very huge thighs from that angle.
She’s like Chun-Li.
Lol… did you see how much loot he got!? From a logistics stand point Alibaba is set for LIFE!
..you forgotten, they are masters in avoiding “Pantsu” shoots, too.. 🙂
okay this make me scared of how fast the development has reached Kouga arc now
don’t tell me this sign the anime will run for short
Yeah, it looks like they are revolting and going to go past the obvious stopping point to end up in the plants area.
Please, please I want someone to make a meme or image that uses image 23 You don’t seem that great to me, and then throw it in with whatever they want.
In all seriousness, I love Magi, with a passion, and I still enjoy it greatly. Especially with the the coming arcs, I’m waiting for one arc, which made me love Magi completely. It’s not like Jojo (while I do like the character, it doesn’t stick to me, even if it does things I like…) or going to be dark like Psycho Pass, but it has something that makes it special, Like any long series, it will have it series of ups and downs, but I’m sure that these 3 episodes, aka the 20 chapters they cover, even if they leave out some things, which are kind of not as important (such as pointing out that Jamil Magoi is black, and basically evil, Morgianna magoi is really small, but shows will to live) got me mostly hooked. I also disagree that it has small Shounen stumbles, but this may be cause I’ve read the manga, and ignore the whole small drama development, though not as important where Alladdin was geniune mad at Alibada for reasons that involve that he didn’t feel recognize as a friend, and how the two of them together as well as some other small things that made it stand much much more for me, though I do pay a lot of attention to detail which may be another reason why 😛 and sometimes look to deep into the details which may make me slightly biased.
Aladdin and Ali Bada, the two I consider the main male protagonist of the show are different, while they care, they have their own source of troubles, and how they handle the things that come to him. I honestly hope they take the pace down a bit, as while honestly, they got most of the characters and their attributes in these first three episodes, I would strongly like them to slow down once it hits the character development stage for each one. Especially for the arc that comes right after the new one.
Am i the only one that sees nothing but Gilgamesh in Ali Baba right here?
https://randomc.net/image/Magi/Magi%20-%2003%20-%20Large%2011.jpg
If only this was during the times of the Sumerian kings.
I was expecting the Gates of Babylon to open up behind him.
Gilgamesh as in Fate Zero??
may be at the first glance but other than the fact both hav blond hair and wear gold colored earrings there really aren’t many similarities.
Whew, Magi blasted through 295 pages (16 chapters) of the manga in such a short time and that’s not even including the first chapter (49 pages) that they somewhat skipped/fused into the first episode… I think they are over doing it… And no, most of that is not safe to read, just wait for the anime to end before picking up the manga.
For a 24ish episode series they should be ending it around the you know what arc (the part before heading off to fatness). But it looks like they will be going further… Which makes me kinda worried because those parts have no real definite ending so to speak though there is one part but that would require some huffing it which wouldn’t be good for any of the world building/humor parts. Sighhh oh well, still entertaining.
So Aladdin loses his memory everytime he comes out of a dungeon? That’s cool, Ali Baba will have to always prove himself worthy to be recognised by Aladdin, or will it be a few more episode before they meet again?
Nope, Aladdin does not lose hs memory. I shall not spoil, but you’ll see what happens next ep.
Considering that this anime only have 12 episodes, I wonder how many manga chapters they are going to cover. My guess is until the end of Balbadd crisis, and second season will be covering the next story.
Also, Magi isn’t based only in Arabian Nights, we can say that all myths are true in this universe, even biblical tales. There will be more info dump from that granny on the next episode.
By the way, I closed my eyes during exiting-the-dungeon scene and I could clearly hear a girl confessing to Alibaba XP
I thought it was already confirmed to be 2 cour
Eh? Really? My bad, my bad. But… it brings new trouble. How much will they cover, then? Current manga progress is rather hard to be made into 2 cour, in my opinion. Wonder at what point they’re gonna cut it…
While there definitely more to it then the 1001 nights, some of the characters are tied closely together. Specifically in this case, Alibada and Morgiana, in one of the 1001 night stories, is that Morgiana is the smart slave girl and at the end of the story marries Alibada’s son. Of course it won’t happen here, it’s just interesting that they’re kind of tied together already, whether as friends or lovers, who knows.
You too? These Bandages on His Cheat is really Suspicions 🙂
Morgiana so hnnnngngngng.
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I’m a bit bummed that the djinns have the same colour. I was hoping that each of them would be different in colour. Kouga arc coming up. Which will be good.
Blame it on Disneys Aladdin 🙂
Magi is great, I will not put it in the same line as Naruto, Fairy Tail, One Piece or Bleach at least not yet(that’s always the case with new anime series)but I can say that it has a lot of potentials of being an amazing series just like the four mentioned earlier. Let’s just see if it reaches 100 episodes before we can tell.
it will be a 2-cour and A-1 annouced they would make the pacing faster in these introdoction arcs, hence the dungeon arc, becaus ethey plan on covering all balbad arc
This series really the sleep hits for me at this point.
I didn’t expect something like many potential for good backstory and great character development for main three characters,But 3 ep so far,this surpass my expectation completely.
Well,the story too.Few magi select different king that maybe lead to some political plot!? Wow..this remind me of FMA,One of my favorite shounen ever.One of the reason that make it really unique is political stuffs.I hope that this will bring some nice story as well.
Anyway,What I like the most so far is the atmosphere,It feel fresh when you compared to other series and I liked it a lot.Keep it up,Magi!
That was fast for clearing a dungeon ????
I agree, the manga seemed longer to me, yet the anime cut it off I think.
Either way, Jamil is still a jerk in both, I still get that urge to punch him if I was there.
didn’t read the manga but really hope they make it longer than a 25ep show and don’t skip too many details from manga.
any chance this could be long term show like Naruto,Bleach or Fairytail?
Viewers = Cash = Studio Boss smile = somehow extended the Lifespan of Anime
You dont saw it on Naruto? Well, why they put so early “Duel” Fight? To work on the “red line” 🙂
Perhaps Naruto was only planed to end after their “first” Mission. But….. see above 🙂
This makes me wonder if it would receive an Arabic dub.
I really want to drop this show on accounts that the manga is very far already. The current gig of the story is already liquid awesome with Aladin’s team growing with each passing day.
I’d say this series has replaced Negima’s place in my “Must Read” list. It’s just that good.
In other news I expected that they’d do the dungeon for at least three episodes. The pacing’s quick, as expected. I guess they’ll try to cover at least until the latest dungeon in the manga.
lol Negima’s a Must Read. I agree with everything except for that… and the fact that the manga had more comedy that I wish they’d put in.
or Perhaps they want an Anime Original Story told?. How knows
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’s 17 around this time (turning 18 soon).
As for the “sudden” personality change, I think it’s executed fine, but yeah, Morgiana’s part of the story at this point is done much more subtly in the manga. She’s able to keep a calm demeanor before because Jamil and his presence isn’t around, but Jamil’s kicking and harassing her on the spot really served as that “trigger” to make her follow orders because if she doesn’t, the actions in the flashback would probably keep repeating itself.
Just keep watching and you’ll see justifications. She’s actually a wonderful character overall.
it already confirmed they will do a fast pace at the introductions episodes to get the importend arc and also they plan to cover this season until the end of ballbad arc
Oh, an “serious” tip for the Producers…
Be careful not to use “Koran” Verse on some Backgrounds or so… Just be careful okay? Less stress
(remind you of some “Online map taken offline just to remove some “Koran” Verse Texture in a Ego Shooter)