Magi: The Kingdom of Magic 03-07
Hakuryuu and his tentacle vine fetish
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Thanks so much to anaaga for letting me tag this with her~. I just caught up with the manga and chapter 200 just about crushed my dreams (until I read to the very end …ahaha). But seriously, this story is amazing |
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No problem Kara, since I know you’re a big fan of Magi teheh. I was pretty excited for the Pirates Arc, since Hakuryuu is just… Broken here. Let’s see how broken he is now |
Magical Weapons
The four bumped into some problem during their journey to the port. The thing is, it’s not just some problem. It’s the beginning of a serious problem that will involve a big war later on (hint hint). Anyhow, the problem started with the distribution of Magic Tools from Magnostadt. The question is, why would Magnostadt distribute those Magic Tools? They are clearly dangerous weapons that should not be distributed like that. What if it falls into the wrong hands? Wait, it already did, and it’s giving the four of them many problems. Just what in the world is Magnostadt planning? Maybe they want people to be dependent of Magic? Maybe they want to create a worl where magic is the only thing that can be used? Whatever Magnostadt is planning, it is definitely not something goo for the four of them and other countries. I just hope that Aladdin can stop whatever Magnostadt is planning in time.
Things Change
The four of them are friends. They’re still friends until now. The question is, are they friends only, or are they more than that? Though they are friends, the audience can see that something is changing among the four of them. Heck, it’s not even the four of them; it’s the relationship among the characters. Hakuryuu developed romatic feelings for Morgiana, and he confessed to her. Whether it’s only mere admiration mistaken as love, we don’t know because Hakuryuu already confessed to Morgiana. Morgiana can only drop her jaw because this is her first romantic experience… Or is it? Morgiana has been blushing a lot whenever she’s with Alibaba, and she compared Alibaba to Hakuryuu after Hakuryuu confessed to her. There’s no such thing as romance for Alibaba though because he’s too busy thinking about his country and Cassim. However, his newly-formed friendship with Kougyoku might open the door of romance for Alibaba. So it can be seen that new feelings and bonds are formed. It doesn’t even have to be romance. Sinbad is trying to use Alibaba and Hakuryuu as his pets; Hakuryuu feels a speck of jealousy from the bright Alibaba; and so on. Friendship? It’s still there. Now that there are new kinds of feelings though, the beautiful friendship that was formed among the characters are slowly changing. Now let’s just see whether this friendship will crack or not.
Hakuryuu
Being Hakuryuu is suffering. His mother killed her husband and then married his brother, which is bad enough, but then she also went and murdered her two eldest sons during this. Why? All for power, apparently (since they weren’t children, I imagine she killed her sons so they wouldn’t get in her way). Of course, Gyokuen is part of Al-Thamin too, so that might explain a lot about her life’s goals. Hakuryuu has every right to dislike his mother, since she’s treated the entire family as stepping stones, and she’s only concerned with herself. However, if you couldn’t tell from the way Alibaba compared him to Cassim, Hakuryuu’s obsession is only going to drag him down. Plus Aladdin told him as much too, and if Aladdin says something in this series, you know he’s right. What Hakuryuu’s mother is doing is pretty bad (and she only gets worse from here), but Hakuryuu is definitely going about this the wrong way. As we’ve seen multiple times in this anime, revenge and murder does nothing but increase hatred, and that hatred spreads even further to affect other people. Of course, no one can blame Hakuryuu for his actions, and it can be hard to see what the “correct” path is, but in this storyline, there has to be some other option that doesn’t involve war. For the moment though, Hakuryuu seems like he’s just going to let darkness drag him and everyone around him down.
Kou Empire
Well, we’ve seen Kougyoku go on a rampage, we know about Gyokuen’s unhealthy power obsession, and also know about Hakuryuu’s revenge. Minus maybe Hakuei, the entire Kou Empire royal family looks rather blood thirsty and maybe a bit psychotic. Especially now that we’ve been introduced to Kouha (Kakihara was such a great seiyuu choice for him~). Obviously, Kouha rather enjoys cutting up his enemies, and has a bit of a childish side to him. I can’t remember if the anime mentioned it or not, but he’s also liked the sight of blood since childhood. AHAHAHA those Kou Empire people. Though that’s not to say that he’s entirely a bad person. Kouha has his loyal retainers who he definitely saved from a miserable life (and they now enjoy an er, interesting relationship), and you’ll see later that he has other followers who are without a doubt, loyal. Aside from the bandits, he didn’t even abuse anyone else who was there. …Or at least, he wasn’t overly hostile to Aladdin (aside from some hair braiding). I really look forward to seeing more of Kouha, though a lot of that won’t come for a rather long time, if this follows the manga. OTL
Why is the entire Kou Empire so amazing? Really, I can’t think of a single character from there that I dislike. …Though I don’t think there’s really any character from Magi I dislike. Er, anyways, the Magi anime continues onward, with some rather nice action scenes. I don’t really have much to say, since most of my excitement for this season is directed to the point when Aladdin actually gets to Magnostadt (and then other things that happen waaaay later). For now, it was nice to see someone other than the main trio getting a lot of focus. Hakuryuu certainly had a huge part in these last couple episodes and we learned a lot about him. But he’s left on his own now, the focus shifted back to Aladdin in episode 7 and will stay there for a while (not that this is a bad thing). Like I said, I’m really looking forward to the events coming up.
For those who haven’t read the manga, this arc might be a mind-blown arc for them. Like whoa, who would’ve expected that the one pulling the strings behind Kou Empire is the Queen, not the King? The biggest twist is definitely Hakuryuu though, since his character switched from a nice guy into a whole new person in a snap, and his change is actually reasonable. Just like Kara, this arc is entertaining, but my focus is also on the later half of Magnostadt’s arc. That’s where things get awesome. That doesn’t mean that this arc is not good though. In fact, I think it’s well done. The audience can see that this arc is the turning point of the characters’ personalities. With all these conflicts and gray area, the characters are starting to grow up in their own ways, some for the better (Alibaba), and some for the worse (Hakuryuu). Some might be stuck also, experiencing new things they haven’t exxperienced before (Morgiana). This arc is the beginning of a new Magi that is still entertaining but deeper, darker, and more twisted.
Preview: Daily Lives of Highschool Magical Boys
About Tag Team
We live, laugh, enjoy and strictly believe on "more the merrier". When together, we usually come up with very chatty, conversation-based episodics and interesting posts.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
I’ve started watching this series and I have questions:
1)If the Empress killed her 1st husband and her 1st 2 sons, what does that make other royal family members like Kouha? Hakuryuu’s stepbrothers?
2)What exactly does the Al-Thamen cult want? I watched some of Season 1 but was a bit confused on their goal. And apart from the Empress and Judal, is anyone else within the Empire aware of her plans?
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
1.) Yep, they’re stepbrothers/cousins.
2.) The cult wants something larger in general (which should be explained in the end of the Magnostadt arc), but my understanding of the explanation in Cassim’s arc was basically that they want to make black Rukh (through despair and making others turn away from their fate/ “falling into depravity”), which will overturn the natural state of things and ultimately change the world’s fate as a whole.
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
It is best explained in the manga. BECAUSE, their motives are spoilers. Big spoilers.
In other news… yes Hakuryuu… give in to your hate… Your journey to the Dark Side(tm) is(possibly) just beginning.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Well, Magnostadt is the supposed base of Al Tharmen and they want to control the world and plunge it in darkness. Creating fear, misery and chaos to bring out black rukh by arming every possible kind of criminal with Magic Tools who will cause uproars would definitely help them achieve just what they want if no one stands in their way.
I like that Kougyoku’s background was explained, that she and Alibaba have similar upbringings and why she’s so insecure. At least it makes them good choices for ruling their kingdoms because of their experience in both royalty and poverty which gives them better understanding of their people. It still doesn’t change the contrast between the two. While Alibaba obnoxiously holds on to his morals to direct his actions, Kougyoku is a bit more flexible, meaning she’s not afraid of to shed some blood if necessary.
It’s undeniable the Ren royal family is severely messed up but some go about in different ways. Hakuryuu is becoming unhinged by his desire for revenge against his twisted mother but those like Kougyoku and Kouha are different cases since they seem to be motivated basely by blood lust and the simple pleasure of tearing whoever is in front of them apart. Hakuryuu is focused with a goal; the others are ticking time bombs that would lash out at the slightest thing.
POWUH: and Yaoi Fangirl~ with 2320 comments
That’s the most logical explanation or the distribution of magic tools. It’s not cool though, since distributing them would make people to be dependent of magic and magical tools. What about those who can’t use magic? They’ll become discriminated if the world is dependent on magic.
Am I the only one thinking that Kougyoku an Alibaba make the perfect match? I ship them so much, they complete each other. Morgiana can do whatever she wants with Hakuryuu.
Though Kougyoku and Kouha look mentally disturbed, I find them to be more focused in their lives since their visions are not fogged with revenge. Somehow, I find Hakuryuu to be broken more than Kougyoku and Kouha since he’s so focused on his revenge he’s blind with the other path he can take. Kougyoku and Kouha might be a bit to the yandere side, but their clear visions allow them to see the other ways that are available for them. Kougyoku is already making progress by going back to Kou. As for Kouha, we’ll see later
POWUH: 600-699 and LN Enthusiast with 623 comments
And thus, Uchiha Zuko is born. The shipping wars have started with that kiss and that necklace present. Latest chapters of the manga are also in full ship mode. Being Alibaba is much more suffering there 😉
Glad this Pirate arc didn’t drag on. They did skip one battle scene underwater against those pirates but I can live without it. On to
HogwartsMagnostadt now with Kouha meeting up withDumbledoreMogamett and Aladdin learningWingardium Leviosamagic.There’s still Show ▼
who’s still normal in the Kou royal family. And I’m pretty sure Gyokuen counts for one character to dislike in this show. The plot pretty much screams that you dislike/hate her.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
…He has a scar and (almost) the hair. It’s perfect. …The last couple of chapters were hard to read due to Alibaba being himself, but I do like how they worked out~
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See, I find Gyokuen really interesting. Even more so now with her backstory out there.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Awesome! And it’s true. I can see both a vengeful Sasuke and angst consumed Zuko in Hakuryuu.
POWUH: and Yaoi Fangirl~ with 2320 comments
Wait wait wait there are hints of romance in the latest chapters?! Ahhh Alibaba with who? I haven’t read them yet 🙁
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ with 323 comments
Love when Hakuryuu chop the bad guys heads …that’s all ..
after committed a murderer then he propose Morg bitchh XD
random comment based on all episode review FTW
POWUH: and Yaoi Fangirl~ with 2320 comments
This made me feel guilty and amused at the same time
From what I see, I can only conclude that Hakuryuu is extremely confused about his life. Is it possible that Hakuryuu is a bipolar? He switches his personality easily like that