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「ホシの名はシンドバッド」 (Hoshi no na wa Shindobaddo)
“The Culprit’s Name is Sinbad”
The troubles of Balbadd seem so far away as we reach episode 19, as everyone busies themselves with training, preparing for the next set of events that may line their paths. Old characters sharpen their blades and hone their staffs as new and returning characters come to settle into the new arc, specifically those hailing from the Kou Empire. While the majority of the episode generated some pleasant chuckles, key points of development scattered themselves nicely throughout the episode, fleshing out the depth of the cast in an otherwise transitional arc.
Aladdin, as quite the enthusiastic learner, has shown himself fully ready to hone his magical abilities to their fullest potential. Apparently magic is not a skill easily acquired, requiring the synthesis of many “commands” directed at the rukh. Shooting a blast of heat is good, but reading minds and turning invisible is another thing entirely. Hopefully with the closure of this transition period we’ll get to see more action involving Aladdin, especially against Judal. Moving from a purely defensive character to a more balanced fighter should prove fruitful for more complex fight scenes in the future…assuming that A-1 can get their act together on the drawing and animation.
That same enthusiasm also applies for Alibaba and Morgiana as well, whose metal vessels should provide them with a new edge in their technique. The chemistry between these two will be interesting to see in possible team fights in the future, especially considering how Morgiana seems to have taken more than a liking towards Alibaba…heh heh heh. The two of them have striking similarities in how they treasure their past and, as a result, the items that carry that nostalgia. To take their past experiences literally into battle together…I can only imagine the possibilities of how beautiful that’ll end up looking like on screen.
But hey, let’s not forget about Sinbad! Woe is he to be so popular that it ends up being the downfall. While it doesn’t appear that Sinbad has done anything too explicit or steamy, he happens to get into some pretty risque misunderstandings more than the average joe. Such a track record sure doesn’t help him here, where even his own loyal generals have no faith in his testimony. Man, bringing together such a close group of comrades only to be abandoned in the face of possible stupidity…Sinbad has it rough. There is one person that has it rougher though–Jafa Kougyouku Ren. To suddenly go from an amicably professional relationship to well…being in bed with him naked is quite the jump, even though her feelings for him are already warm. Ka Koubun, you should feel bad for both executing the plan and well…executing it terribly. He must care for the princess so much as to not go “all the way”, but now that Jafar has set his eyes, Ka Koubun’s plans should no longer be a problem. His shenanigans do set the characters from the Kou Empire in a good position though. Although the empire itself bears a shady reputation for its expansionism, the majority of individuals hailing from the empire have a good heart. The men of the Kou Empire look out for one another, Kougyouku is your typically embarrassed teen, Ka Koubun ultimately looks out for his princess (most of the time), and Hakuryuu is looking to destroy the empire. Wait…huh?
Thanks to Hakuryuu, it looks like the action and/or drama of Magi will be returning quickly. The Kou Empire is definitely a large enough country to have its own factions with different agendas, but man does Hakuryuu look to be in a league of his own. Is the Kou Empire too corrupted by the influence of the “organization” to be saved? What does Hakuryuu know that could possibly make him have such thoughts, especially as a prince? Most likely such thoughts will probably be linked to the scar he has, as well as perhaps the quiet voice within Alibaba that seeks to antagonize the visiting prince. So much for “studying” in Sindria: Hakuryuu and Sinbad have a plan much greater, much bigger than any arc we’ve seen thus far, meaning more political intrigue, probable drama within the Kou Royal Family, and of course more fight scenes as the worshippers of dark rukh cast their eyes towards what the prince considers a beautiful island country.
I wonder how the series will pan out. It’s slightly different from the manga.
I’m kind of dubious to Ka Koubun’s motives because in the manga I thought he set up Sinbad and the Kou princess because he wanted her to be happy,and I kind of find it hard to believe his plan could work.(Though I would love to see him do something like that again, I even liked how Jafar just spit in Ka Koubun’s face, that was hilarious)
The manga explained that Ka Koubun wasn’t after Kougyoku’s interests, but his own.
dat spit.
It’s because he’s an assassin ◙-◙
Mark of a true assassin.Everything is done with high precision and adequate force.
I thought it was a bit inappropriate to be comedic, though.
Hakuryuu has arrived to bring all sorts of drama to the table. Very curious if they’ll keep his personality intact enough throughout the arc, ’cause his excellent voice actor would be a waste otherwise.
The Kougyouku incident was exactly as I anticipated. As I’ve said before, a yelling Hanazawa Kana is my favourite kind of Hanazawa Kana.
Funny at first, I feel as though they dragged out the whole Sinbad issue a bit too long. They had the means to determine what happened, but nothing really happened until the end. We know Sinbad is a player, but the whole issue felt forced.
I expected some comedic scenes in this episode but didn’t think most of the episode would be dedicated to it – no matter, the calm before the storm only makes the storm look worse(in a good way……it’s a subjective term).I’m guessing the voice Alibaba heard when meeting the Kou royalty has something to do with the snakebite earlier.And the new character Hakuryuu Ren is interesting, he doesn’t beat around the bush – straight to destroying Empires(organization? possibly referring to Al-Thamen?).
Sinbad you shouldn’t stereotype, everyone has their own preferences in jewelry(?) although in this case it apparently depends on what Alibaba thinks.
@Zanibas
Shooting a blast of heat is good, but reading minds and turning invisible is another thing entirely.
If reading minds here refers to her using a water based spell to prove Sinbad’s innocence – I think it’s more like asking their respective Rukh to show what happened earlier rather than reading minds(note: Aladdin mentioned that Rukh can’t lie, in a previous ep).
On a side note, if it means anything, I thought this review was well-written compared to the past few reviews.
Thank you, it actually means a lot. I’ve noticed myself that I’ve been getting shitty on my writing recently…so I took the criticism into account, such as spoilers and uh…better writing.
Keep throwing the critiques btw, I actually listen :O.
In this episode changed the spell of the manga. In the manga, Yamuraiha takes a drop of blood of Sinbad and Princess, separate mixes with water to form the dolls for each of the two. This spell will be done again, and always in need of blood and water magic to do with ruch what happened in the past of the person.
Hakuryuu reminds me of Zuko from Avatar. A scarred prince that wants to fight his imperialist nation.
Well, while they do are similar in terms of being a prince of a militaristic nation and having a scarred eye from a dark event in their past, they still differ in a lot of ways.
Enter the polar opposite of a another character and enter the strikingly parallel of another.
I think after this series ends, if one of the Randomc writers has time, should do a Magi manga weekly write-up.
Magi does not have a huge fan base compared to the big 3, but it certainly deserves praise.
Interested in how they’ll handle Hakuryuu. He’s certainly one interesting character, that simply knows too much for his own good.
The music seems really out of place for this series…
Ah, I forgot to mention that! Yeah, the music definitely took a weird turn this episode, as well as the continuing lack of proper mouth animation, but hey, imo, it grows on you a bit when you watch it again :P.
I was also wondering about that because I like Jazz when it is incorporated with battles, but during their conversation, it made me fidgety, but the episode was still pretty funny.
https://randomc.net/image/Magi/Magi%20-%2019%20-%20Large%2008.jpg my gad this face! Hhhnnnggg! xD
That was definitely one of my favorite scenes. I love the chemistry between Alibaba and Morgiana.
Alibaba having crazy to Morgiana. I kind of like that in the manga and their relationship began to change.
WTF was up with the music in the beginning?? Almost made the episode unbearable to watch.
They should have included Masrur covering Morgiana’s eyes while looking on in this pic: https://randomc.net/image/Magi/Magi%20-%2019%20-%20Large%2030.jpg
Morgiana’s act won’t work on me. She tried to kill Alibaba.
new to anime? always remember you can’t be real friends with anyone unless you try to kill them at least once.
Mara Jade tried to kill Luke Skywalker but they still had a kid in the end.
That music was terrible, rather out of place? I remember hearing something similar in Kingdom Hearts in Mickey’s Palace. That made sense, but this was nasty.
And why did they get Alibaba bitten by that snake!?!?!? You just know that this will probably be the final arc, or simply this anime won’t be a Fairy Tail, One Piece, Bleach, or Naruto length type anime.
What with the subs?! they were so slow… i had to watch this in spanish subs …
I try to avoid reading comments to avoid reading unncessary references to the manga, the reptitive notion of references makes me slightly not like some things in the anime.
But this episode, and episode 18, were rather calm episodes, more like buttering up for the drama to come. I liked this episode, poor Sinbad xD damm Ka-ko-bun, I thought he was cool and now I take it back! Weirdo, Jafar’s spit was so funny xD I kind of love him now!
The new prince shocked me, and I loved it, the thing in Alibaba is something to look forward to when someone is anticipating some action coming soon.
Regardless, the music was so out of place! But on a second time, it kind of made me think: is that supposed to be the theme music for Sindria? maybe it fits its jungly theme.
Cheers, thanks for your review, M.
tthis actually perfect timing for add filler arc
that if Magi become long running series
I would love to see a Yandere Mor >:)
With all due fairness I actually think the show is great, and as I’ve read the manga I believe it has a lot of potentials to be among our populars (ie Naruto, Fairy Tail, Detective Conan, One Piece and Bleach) just give it a break and a little more time. The show is still at it’s beginnings let it progress towards the middle before we can decide if it’s one of the best or oneof the worst.
They took out the little scene with Judal sitting in the tree. The episode didn’t need it, but I’m still disappointed.
This scene:
http://imageshack.us/scaled/landing/849/treeb.jpg
I find it funny that those who blog in to write how much this show is boring, instead of not watcing only continue to watch this show and then complain that it is boring. They did it last week and will do it next week.
Well, sometimes it’s because blogging is a commitment. Like, I’m blogging Maoyuu Maou Yuusha for another site. I don’t like it, but at episode 1 I had taken the commitment to do so until the end and so I’m enduring it. After all, not only positive criticism is needed – negative one also has a purpose, that of discouraging other people from watching a bad show!
(Though that’s not the case with Magi, I like Magi :D)