Magi’s third episode is straight intensity from start to finish – the childish visuals make it seem a bit difficult to take seriously, yet the story and general presentation are excellent to the extent it matters not.
Our leading characters arrived within a city embedded deep inside the dungeon, a “necropolis”, and the antagonists have also managed to follow through as well. The situation then quickly lets loose – it doesn’t necessarily evolve so much as it simply allows for the expected to ooze, albeit with a somewhat unanticipated ignition.
As the two of Aladdin and Ali Baba moved onward towards the center of the dungeon, it seems there’s a detour in plot focus at that point – particularly given that Aladdin is abruptly kicked to Hades. In a second at most, the shota kid protagonist of this series is obliterated into the recesses of off-screen – smashing through solid rock. The slave girl has assaulted him as it seems despite all, she’s still taking orders from her abuser – and she happens to have rather violent legs.
Ali Baba can’t dash over to Aladdin’s aide as the arrogant self-authority is keeping him from assisting his friend – and this commences the combat angle of Ali Baba versus pompous local ruler. The latter may think rather glorious of himself – however the former proves superior, regardless of what the Sharif attempts, Ali Baba’s swordsmanship seems no less than expert, which isn’t a shock given what we’ve seen of him prior.
It still remains uncertain as to what truth there is regarding Ali Baba’s background – yet he’s seemingly equipped with the knowledge and capabilities of a king.
Whatever the case, the episode’s spotlight is elsewhere – Ali Baba is, for a moment, at the upper hand, however the slave girl suddenly flies over to save her master, and with a thunderous kick unforeseen, Ali Baba is then left in an unfavorable position instead. As typical with these individuals, once Ali Baba is down from an attack of a third part, the Sharif comes over and begins to exert his pseudo-dominance as if he truly were victorious.
Yet the Sharif eventually decides to force the task of eradicating Ali Baba upon the cute slave girl – and at that point, Aladdin resurrects himself in order to smoothly save the day through a mystic he evidently has besides his djinn. Ali Baba’s life is no longer threatened – and then Aladdin proceeds towards his next course of action, demanding his flute back. Aladdin asks for it several times, and the Sharif repeatedly jumps around the matter by sending his slave girl out to attack – yet as was inevitable, Aladdin triumphs.
With Aladdin’s problem solved, a djinn manifests from the center of the dungeon, the guardian of the place it seems, and then we learn a bit of how Magi are wizards with the role of choosing a king – and from there, it’s not necessarily a matter in need of any critical thinking to become aware of the awaiting route.
Skipping the less interesting, exit from the dungeon appears to blast all our characters in quite a few different directions – they’re all bound to meet again however as the journey of Ali Baba has become one in which he’s accompanied by comrades. For the most part, this is a solid showing – although it’s of course dependent on what follows for one to truly be able to label it either brilliant or otherwise.
Oct 22, 2012 @ 2:47 CDT
well, this WAS better than sword art online, hopefully A-1 will learn from past mistakes.
Oct 22, 2012 @ 9:24 CDT
what do you mean WAS? this IS better than SAO, story makes much more sense and the characters are actually likeable, not to mention, this is in fact more original in terms of it’s plot
Oct 22, 2012 @ 12:27 CDT
this WAS = ep3 WAS
I didn’t mean that the new episodes won’t be better, I meant that hopefully A-1 learns from the really big SAO fail, and this anime will be better until the end
Oct 22, 2012 @ 2:48 CDT
The slave girl is super-strong :)
Had to lol at the dagger vs rapier (?) fight, though. Blondie kept dodging easily :)
I’m really liking this show. Anyone else curious as to whether the slave girl will get a djinn of her own, and if so what power? Blondie’s gotten a fire dagger – which relates to his knife skills – so I’d presume something related to the legs or arms for the girl?
Oct 22, 2012 @ 7:23 CDT
In the past underestimating daggers very often happened to be the very last mistake people had made.
Oct 22, 2012 @ 17:24 CDT
It’s not like anything’s changed.
Oct 22, 2012 @ 9:16 CDT
is it a problem if he kept dodging them easily? because rapiers, although having the advantage at range, is pretty disadvantageous in mobility, as opposed to a dagger
Oct 22, 2012 @ 4:55 CDT
>the slave girl will get a djinn of her own
She won’t. Never. The Djinns only choose one person has what it takes to become a king and tranfer themselves into the king’s weapon/accessory/anything… Also, the kings can lend the power of Vessels to their underlings.
It will later explained how the Metal Vessels and Household Vessels work.
Mor will get a Vessel of her own. And yeah, it’s related to her arms.
Oct 22, 2012 @ 6:24 CDT
One of the things i love about Magi is the fact that it can be comedic and serious at the same time. The art fits the anime quite well and it is a perfect blend of action,comedy,magic..perhaps even service. For the moe factor, you got Aladdin and Morgiana and add to that the comedic instances with Alibaba coupled with a good interesting plot and magic and you have a winner. At the end our protoganist are seperated…hmm…maybe the next 2-3 episodes focus on this misadventures before reuniting them for another plot arc.Another thing to ponder over is Alibaba’s vast knowledge and swordskill which would give the idea that he may very well be a prince. And also the dark magi who destroyed the dungeon…the primary antagonist perhaps. Eagerly waiting to see more of the cast..ahh the joyous Arabian Nights..
Oct 22, 2012 @ 9:30 CDT
I disagree with you heavily on the artwork. You could say it fits if the series is predominantly intended to be lighthearted and comedic, particularly considering it is also a shounen series – yet if that’s to be the case, this is definitely nowhere near being “Arabian Nights”. The atmosphere is totally bleak, synthetic, and undeveloped – thereby failing to capture the true Mediterranean.
Oct 22, 2012 @ 14:18 CDT
Well lets just see what they actually intend to do with it…the tone is lighthearted indeed. Lets not forget here that its an adaptation not the actual Arabian Nights and who knows might even be a clever move cause maybe they come up with a witty way to intermingle all the characters we love.As for the atmosphere,i’d rather not call it undeveloped.The genre is supposed to be fantasy adventure right. I don’t think this is a shounen…doesn’t seem like that…
Oct 22, 2012 @ 15:24 CDT
The manga is a shounen series and runs in a shounen magazine – it’s pretty much a self-admitted shounen series.
I’m not really concerned with the plot in reference to the atmosphere, the story is fine – but the aesthetics, dialogue, and music, all seriously fail to replicate the Mediterranean atmosphere. Now this isn’t to say they’re bad, they remain enjoyable, but they’re nowhere near establishing a proper Mediterranean.
Oct 22, 2012 @ 16:46 CDT
Have to agree with you on the music, dialogue and aesthetics part, they are not at all themed that way…and i don’t know about the manga so won’t comment on that. It would have been really nice if they had arabic music incorporated as bgm. Even the OP and ED could have had arabic themes.
Oct 22, 2012 @ 16:48 CDT
I agree, the music should have at least been semi-pseudo-Arabic. What I detest the most is the ED theme – it’s completely awful in consideration of the setting.
Oct 22, 2012 @ 17:36 CDT
I never actually paid attention to the ED and found the OP to be just ok..it wouldn’t have hurt them to have a arabic jist to it.