First Impressions / Magi

「王子と皇子」 (Ouji to Ouji)
“The Two Princes”

Al-Thamen was bound to cause a ruckus eventually and as such, have made their move. Our current group of heroes now must fight against a time limit, where the consequence of failure is most likely death. The cheerfulness and lightheartedness of Sindria has begun to give way to what seems like the final adventure this season–the trials of Zagan. The dungeon will prove to be a challenge in itself, but the real trials will most likely come with the interference of those who praise the dark rukh.

As our adventurers set off, they are already at a disadvantage and on rocky footing. Aladdin has only recently grasped simple combinations of magical commands, with Alibaba on even shakier ground with his new djinn equip. On top of that, Alibaba has the added handicap of his magoi potential, where overloading his magoi could break the seal that stems his curse (though most likely we will see a scene where he sacrifices the seal for the greater good). There are other competent fighters on this team such as Hakuryuu and Morgiana who will most likely serve as the stars of the battles ahead, yet overall the group will definitely find challenges ahead, especially against the more organized group they will inevitably pit themselves against. Hints of the opponents that will stand in their way showed their faces shortly, but no details about them have revealed thus far.

It doesn’t help as well that Alibaba and Aladdin still have cautious feelings towards any people from the Kou Empire, much less members of the dynasty that rule it. It is understandable that Aladdin and Kougyoku have some cold ties to melt due to their previous violent encounters, but Alibaba’s dislike for Hakuryuu will be a much more complex relationship to grasp. Aside from the fact that Al-Thamen is amplifying his negative feelings by many folds, Alibaba himself most likely harbors some significant negativity towards the Kou Empire. With Balbadd about to become a republic and Alibaba in a place where he can be part of his homeland’s society openly, Alibaba had high hopes only to be tainted quickly by a conveniently placed navy and occupation. If Alibaba didn’t get pissed off at that…then I don’t know what to believe anymore. The upcoming episodes will prove to reveal how Alibaba gets over this new emotional challenge and how much his struggle will interfere with the group’s current goal. As contrasted in Balbadd where Alibaba’s hesitation cost significant delays to founding Balbadd’s republic, it is now the opposite in Zagan–Alibaba’s lack of hesitation may put his teammates in grave danger.

On top of Alibaba’s own suffering, I expect Hakuryuu to go through his own challenges which have not clearly revealed themselves yet. Without much actual background on Hakuryuu, it’s hard to foresee what inner demons he has to fight against, though the size of said demon is unquestionable. To have a burning desire to crush the Kou Empire as well as acquire that scar on his face, Hakuryuu must have gone through some terrible stuff in the Kou Empire to feel that way. Whatever that problem is, it’s currently unknown to many people, as it seems Kougyoku or any of the Kou forces have the slightest idea about Hakuryuu’s true intentions. I have a bad feeling though that those intentions will put him through a lot of suffering–for such a understanding and competent prince, I have a gut feeling that the show will taint that honesty with some terrible events in the episodes ahead. If we ignore that future for now, we do get to see that Hakuryuu is an admirable character with honor entwined in every action he takes. Like Pisti said (after being accidentally insulted by Aladdin), he’d make a great husband someday…and perhaps a great king too while we’re at it.

The Zagan arc should prove fruitful for action from how the show has set the stage, yet still I fear that A-1’s animation quality will get in the way. This episode saw a lot of corners cut in terms of animation, with the super deformed look being implemented more often possibly to cover these shortcomings. It wasn’t enough though, with continued decrease in quality apparent in almost every single scene. I hope they saved some money for the finale, because the trend the animation has been taking is a sad sight to see for what’s otherwise been a good story.

Full-length images: 4, 8, 12.

 

Preview

28 Comments

    1. Yes, there were some scenes cut out like Show Spoiler ▼

      but overall the episode was paced nicely, in my opinion, since they got to the new dungeon and they even reunited Ekaterina with Alibaba. (that was hysterical)

      Dualash
      Reply

  4. plenty of stuff is getting cut, and there the plot change that manga readers are sure to be aware of. Hopefully they made the change because the genuinely think that it’s a better direction for the story and not because they have a planned early ending… that might mess up the chance of a sequel like the Beelzebub ending

    Spades
    Reply

    1. There are just too many changes to the plot for there not to be an anime-original ending. It would be one thing to leave out details thought to be unimportant but entire plot threads are either being cut or redone.

      Some plot changes that would have repercussions if the anime were to continue:
      Show Spoiler ▼

      I didn’t mind some of the streamlining in the very beginning where Aladdin’s intro with Leila and Sahsa was cut out because it was a relatively minor affair to help jumpstart the anime into introducing the main three characters. After that, the anime has stayed true to the manga pretty much through the Balbadd arc. These cuts and edits now are getting very numerous and more so as the story continues because these new changes will force even more changes in the future. The cuts in particular are removing a lot of detail in the world which I’m finding hard to agree with.

      @Zanibas, as for the simplistic SD style, that actually appears very often in the manga too.

      MacrossFan
      Reply

      1. I hate how anything that isn’t part of the big Shonen Jump series gets half assed ;/

        Original anime endings and cut content.Hitman Reborn didn’t even get an original ending, it just died and it wasn’t like there was 10 more arcs in the story till the manga ends >.>

        Magoiichi
        Reply

  7. anybody else think that the scene with Pisti and the sea creature was weird?
    First she speaks with Alibaba, sea creature appears….suddenly she’s flying a big bird?
    When and for what reason did she get on that bird then all she appearently does is land on the deck with it?

    bodyvamp
    Reply

    1. The manga just has Pisti appearing after the sea monster, likely doing a patrol in the sky, and doesn’t have the awkwardness of the anime where she is explaining a bit about Yamuraiha’s seal and then needing to quickly get on her bird which we don’t see. I don’t even see why she had to explain anything because we get a flashback anyways.

      Yamuraiha’s seal is also another anime addition that does not sit well with me because the manga has a perfectly good explanation for Alibaba not being able to do a full djinn equip. Using this new contrivance would hint that the anime doesn’t have time to go the manga route to power up Alibaba and a swifter end may be coming for this show.

      Show Spoiler ▼

      MacrossFan
      Reply

      1. lol

        Show Spoiler ▼

        Vermillion
        Reply

  8. Holding grudges isn’t a good thing, but I would have expected a little more anger from Aladdin towards Kougyoku, considering if it wasn’t for Judal and her, Ugo would still be with him.

    shadowalker
    Reply

  9. So the Kou prince really want to destroy the Kou Empire or is it just a ruse?
    And Alibaba is a prick, at least the Kou prince think about others. I expected you to have done better, Alibaba.

    Tingster013
    Reply

    1. You do realize that it is the “curse” on Alibaba’s arm that is telling him to hate Hakuryuu, right? While Sinbad is most likely right that it was Ithnan whispering those thoughts, Alibaba isn’t ready to dismiss the possibility that those thoughts are his own (though the voice sounds a lot like Kassim’s, I wonder why…). I am not thrilled with this character change in Alibaba as I stated in a previous comment.

      As for Hakuryuu wanting to destroy the Kou Empire, Show Spoiler ▼

      MacrossFan
      Reply

    2. Alibaba is actually moved on by this point of the manga, god know what’s A-1 thinking keeping him down and ruined his character development.

      Spoiler of how this actually goes in the manga
      Show Spoiler ▼

      Vermillion
      Reply

  11. I liked this episode and I ignore all comments with relation to the manga, or opinions of ‘cuts’, there’s no anime that stayed true to a manga, well… I wouldn’t generalize, but the percentage of anime close to manga animes is a bit lower than the ones with few cuts here and there, just enjoy the anime!

    Anyway, I’ve been so busy it sucks but I really loved this episode! And now I know why ‘Sinbad’ stopped at ‘seven’ because sometimes I wondered why did he stop? I can’t wait for next episode, I like this anime, and very few animes deliver concepets that are far better than the cheesy things common nowadays. Thanks for your review. While Alibaba may hold negative feelings for Kou, I doubt it is as bad as the amplification takes it, and I guess our main charecters will learn alot about Hkryryayrru (sorry his name is hard!).

    Cheers,
    M.

    Mi-Chan
    Reply

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