Magi - The Labyrinth of Magic Forum

Welcome to the Magi: the Labyrinth of Magic anime discussion thread!

It revolves around Aladdin who finds a magic flute that houses a djinn (similar to a genie) named Ugo. However, Ugo cannot get free from the flute due to his muscular body. He appears as a headless monster. As the two travel the desert, they meet Alibaba, a greedy man who asks Aladdin and Ugo to hlep him retrieve treasure from a dungeon. As they encounter Morgianna, a female slave that they freed, and another djinn, they realized that they are destined to decide who can rule the world.

For any Shonen fan, this is must see anime series on your list!

You can watch this series legally on Crunchyroll.

PV

Check out this PV video!

Sorry y'all the PV video was removed. Here's the ending and a special NicoNico video.

Don't forget to check out Fall 2012 Anime Season Preview!

Fall 2012 Anime Discussion Threads

• To Love-Ru Darkness
• Robotic;Notes
• Btooom!
• Jojo's Bizarre Adventures
• Hayate the Combat Butler! Can't Take My Eyes Off You
• Little Busters
• Jormungand Perfect Order
• Shin Sekai Yori
• K
• The Pet Girl of Sakurasou
• Litchi Hikari Club

Past Summer 2012 Anime Discussion Threads

• Tari Tari
• Sword Art Online
• Binbogami ga!
• Hagure Yusha no Estetica
• NARUTO Spin-Off: Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals
• Natsuyuki Rendezvous
• Kokoro Connect
• So, I can't Play H!

Let's jump start this thread.

My first impressions of the characters

	Aladdin Aladdin is a cute, hero of the show. He pretty much gets away with his love for boobs since the girls at the pub were hugging him like a baby to their bosom. His art reminds me of Yoh Asakura of Shaman King because he has his docile, carefree look, but when he gets serious, his face changes dramatically.
	Alibaba Saluja He's a good guy who was a bit wishy washy at first. Took him a while to man up and beat the crap of his boss to do the right thing.
	Morgiana Like Aladdin, she was cute. For example, she puffed our her cheeks like a tsundere character even she isn't one. I like how the show reveals themes of slavery. I can see that they toned down the violence in the show.

Son, that's not boobs! It's "MOOBS!"

Morgiana being all cutesy

An example of slavery in this show

Lucky bastard

Why do we have tentacle rape?

A start of a beautiful friendship

Some snapshots for the hell of it.

Flaws of the Series

It's a shonen show with general sterotypes.

• Laidback, Big Eater for a hero - Aladdin
• Fan Service - Though, it was quite tame, and the boobs weren't ridiculously huge crazy like other shows, cough Highschool of the Dead and Ikki Tousen.
• Friendship - Aladdin and Alibaba,
• Big Dreams - Alibaba's dream of getting rich

The stuff that separates Magi from other shows is its exotic Arabic theme, its chibi, perverted hero, and its touch of RPG-esque elements with the dungeons.

For a second, I thought the blonde guy was giving Aladdin the middle finger.

@Acura_Max:

Me, too.

By the way, how are you liking this show? I haven't tried Robotic;Notes yet.

@AnnaBanana

I hope you come back to Anime Vice. I would love to work with you like old times. Your favorite manga series's anime adaptation is off to a good start.

@Marshal Victory:

Episode 2 was much better than episode 1. It didn't hold back on the violence even when Jamil was kicking Morgiana or stabbing Goltas. Today, I just found out how different the manga was from episode 1 and 2. Episode 1 started on chapter 2. It explains why episode 1 was so slow.

Glad to see you enjoying this series.

Been meaning to watch this. I saw like 5 minutes of the first episode and ended up turning it off to watch SAO. The blond guy did it for me. He wasn't annoying or anything, but as soon as he started talking I got the feeling that I knew exactly where this is heading and I lost interest. Maybe I'll check this out again, but there's a lot of good stuff airing this season and I might forget about it.

@takashichea: I actually haven't tried this show yet, but I will give it a go today. So far, my first impression from scrolling through the images of the show is that it looks like Ni No Kuni, but with more fan service.

Magi is a awesome series :D

Just saw episode one. So far, I have to agree with @sickVisionz's assessment, but to a lesser degree. Since episode two seems to be the better episode, I'll wait till then before I decide on what I feel about the series as a whole.

• Aladdin was probably the biggest reason I was not thrilled by this episode. I found it hard to like him. He makes Alibaba's job more difficult, eats all his food and there is not one word of apology. As for his perversity, I thought it was too over the top and slightly disturbing for someone his age. At the same time, it's nice to have a break from the sexually oblivious shonen sterotype character. In alot of ways, Aladdin reminds me of the character from Hop.

• I'm not sure I interpreted this correctly, but it sounded like Aladdin wished for a friend at the end. That sounds pretty corny.
• I did like the animation of the show. It was colorful, and lively, especially the opening shots inside the temple/tower.
• There was also some effective camera work too. Check this image. Notice that your eyes go straight to Morgiana because her hair is the only red object in that entire screenshot.

• Surprisingly, I barely noticed the tentacle rape scene. I was mostly concerned with that fact that the two were drowning. It was definitely not as noticeable as episode 4 of Sword Art Online. Although I did notice that the blond guy did not have to go through the same thing and was simple restrained.
• At the end, for some reason, Aladdin waited until Alibaba had decided to help the two girls before he summoned his genie. Perhaps he forgot he had the genie or was shell shocked.
• It looks like our protagonists are the only ones who don't have black or brown hair color.

@Acura_Max:

I better watch the movie because it has the actress who played Penny from Big Bang. Yeah, it's pretty disturbing that Aladdin can get away with his perverted mind. Later on, he will grope girls, but there is one instance that he won't get away with it.

I was playing with the captions for that Hyacinth scene. Tentacle rape wasn't the right choice. I hated the part where Alibaba was wishy washy. It was shorter in the manga. Plus, I believe Aladdin was testing Alibaba. You will understand the role of the Magi in the series later on.

@sickVisionz:

This show is a late bloomer. I read some of the manga. It's innocent and funny at first, but there are dark moments and frequent themes of slavery and poverty later on. It's pretty cliche at first and the first episode was sleepy which can cause people to drop it.

@takashichea said:

This show is a late bloomer. I read some of the manga. It's innocent and funny at first, but there are dark moments and frequent themes of slavery and poverty later on. It's pretty cliche at first and the first episode was sleepy which can cause people to drop it.

It turns out your assessment was right. Crunchyroll did a poll of what fall anime people dropped after one episode and Magi made the list as one of the top 5. Source

@Acura_Max:

Sorry about the late reply. It seems K and To Love Ru Darkness made it at the top. I haven't tried K, but I was interested in it due to the trailers. To Love Ru Darkness had issues with censorship. Looking back at the summer titles, the shows I watch would have been dropped from the first episode. Magi needs to make up for its slow start.

1. La storia della Arcana Famiglia
2. Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero
3. Campione!

@Marshal Victory:

I looked at comments from other anime blogs and see complaints about its Disney comparisons. I'm not sure if it's a coincidence if both Ugo and Amon are blue just like Disney's Genie. I think all Genies in this is blue, and I haven't see the genies in color for the manga part.

@ShrimpDino:

Glad to see you enjoying the show. If there's an anime show in the fall that doesn't have a discussion thread, please tell me.

Edit:

Episode 3

Episode 3 really show the slavery theme. I feel bad for Morgiana because the episode didn't show much about her since Alibaba and Aladdin didn't talk to her near the end of the episode. It focuses more on Aladdin and Alibaba. Instead, we get glimpses of her past.

The sword fight was short but sweet. Makes me wonder how Alibaba knows his moves.

@Marshal Victory:

Yeah, Magi does have potential. It just got off to a bad, sleepy start. Manga fans are not too happy about this, and some newcomers who haven't read the manga already dropped it on the ball.

It needs to distinguish itself from other Shonen anime. Both Campione! and Hagure Yusha no Estetica have enough material for Light Novels. I remember both of them have around 10, but its anime fell short due to ratings (possibly) and plot. I haven't read their light novels. I don't see how Arcana Famiglia can have a long run like Bleach because of its goal. You can't keep stalling it from the tournament. I can't imagine what they will do. The anime and the video game revolves around Felicita, her interactions with potential love interests, and all of that gets solved by the tournament. Most of reverse harem shows are short.

Regardless, I'm enjoying the series.

Aladdin's family

The episode was rushed, but it was good. Though, it didn't build up emotions for Baba's death or it did not build rapport for Hakuei Ren since the episode skips a lot scenes from the manga.

I like the family theme in this episode, and how the anime reflects upon China's Dynasty recurring themes in history. The dynasties and empires all try to unify or conquer other tribes to add to their country.

The weirdest scene - I wonder what the horses were thinking

Got to love how Ugo pops and commands attention