Magi 18-21
I will never look at turtles the same way again
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YEAAHH YEAHHHH I CAUGHT UP WITH EVERYTHING HAAHHH WHOOO YEAHHHH HAKURYUU |
Sinbad for the Greater Good?
Sinbad has been truly an important character in this anime. He slowly takes the stage not by pushing the main characters aside but by providing the stage indirectly for them. Suddenly, Sindria is a place where “abandoned” princes carry out their studies to become better at doing their jobs. There are also a magician, a magi, also developing his skill to become a great mage. Episode 18 also showed the audience everything about Sindria and what makes the country so great. The people love Sinbad, and he treats his people preciously. A great king who is also a great mentor, isn’t Sinbad, a great character?
However, there is more to Sinbad that meets the eye. It can be proven by when he purposely let himself be poisoned just to give Alibaba and others the incentive to conquer Zagan. Sinbad is a calculating person, and there is no way he’ll risk his life if he doesn’t know the end result. He has seven djinns too, proving the great strength he has. Yet this strong calculating king is willing to “risk” his life just to give Alibaba and others a small incentive? Sinbad is really investing everything on Alibaba’s party, arousing suspicion from my side. There is no way Sinbad is willing to go this far out of good will. His manipulative side also supports my suspicion. Besides, taking in “abandoned” people means that the people are indirectly indebted to Sinbad. Meanwhile, he slowly gets to know those people and invade them later. Just what does he wants from Alibaba and the rest? Sure, he wants the power to destroy Al-Sarmen, but is that the only reason? I can’t help but think Sinbad, just like Al-Sarmen, has an agenda of his own.
So Cute!… NOT
The sub-title is basically the representation of my feeling when I saw Zagan’s dungeon. At first glance, the creatures inside are cute. Although the creatures have foul mouths, my sadistic personality was able to understand it. I mean, there’s always a dark side behind every appearance, right? Then I saw the truth about Zagan’s “orchids”. It’s just downright cruel. The anime really toned down this part a lot because the manga is much much more crueler about Zagan’s orchids. The people were howling, crying in pain, etc… Gosh, it was unbearable and depressing. It’s so ironic how the cruelest creatures represented in the dungeons are things a lot of people love: cute things and nature. People love kawaii things because they’re, well, kawaii, and nature is something that has been all protecting for years. Yet these two are the reason behind villagers’ doom in the dungeon. Of course, I am not making fun of cute things and nature. It’s just that everything about Zagan’s dungeon is so deceptive, it’s hard to trust who and what, when people are inside it.
You are Me, I am You
Meet Hakuryuu, one of the younger princes of the Kou Empire. What makes him and his sister different from the rest of the royalty is the fact that they are the only children of the previous empire. The previous empire died, and their mother right now is forcefully married to the current emperor… Kind of. At least, that’s how the story is going to be first. Witnessing his father and brother’s fall, he was entrusted with a task that has hardened his heart until now. Wanting to fulfill the task, Hakuryuu is kind of in a piiinncchhh. He wants to do it, but he doesn’t have the ability to. He can’t trust anybody too because of a certain, er, reason. Now what should the confused Hakuryuu do? Train, of course! Get stronger and push people away because WHO NEEDS TOMODACHI?! Hakuryuu is fine with his fictional friends and dakimakura…
Also, Morgiana is right, the current Hakuryuu (emphasizing on the “current”) is definitely a reflection of the old (emphasizing on the “old,” again) Alibaba. They are lonely kids with the same status and burden, and they have nobody to turn to because people left them or deceived them. The only differences between them are their countries and the fact that Alibaba has already went through the consequences of his alienating actions, while Hakuryuu hasn’t.
Accepting each others might be a trial for them. Alibaba sees the his old self in Hakuryuu, and that is something he hasn’t been able to cope with. After all, he lost a friend because of his actions. Meanwhile, Hakuryuu sees Alibaba as an irresponsible prince who ran away from his country. Even though Hakuryuu is not like that, he believes in one thing: both of them have no power. People in real life have hard times seeing the negative things people reflect about them, and I’m pretty sure it’s the same thing for the fictional Magi characters. These things humanize the characters as they fix their flaws and develop slowly, turning them into great characters. I’m sure Hakuryuu and Alibaba will be able to cope with each other (they already did), and turn into great leaders who can lead their countries properly. Though I’m not so sure whether the path they’re going to take will be the same or not…
Screenshots:
I loved Magi and I’m still loving it unti now. Staff is still faithful to the manga, though I noticed they skipped a lot of the manga arcs to match up with the number of episodes they’re going to have (I assume Magi is going to be 26 episodes or something?). I have no problem though since I already enjoyed those arcs in the manga. I’ll just point at the anime-only fans and smirk while saying, “You’s missing a lot!” because some of the manga-only stories are truly entertaining. Especially the Fat Arc. OH MAN THAT FAT ARC.
As for the animation, the episode I was most disappointed was definitely 18. It was just so bad SO BAD! Morgiana’s beauty was not at its full when she danced. I mean like DAMN, everybody was fugly, though it wasn’t as bad as Psycho-Pass‘s episode 18. But still, Sindria was a lot more than how the anime showed it, and I wish they could emphasize on that more. It seems that the animation slowly recovered through the Zagan Arc, so I’m expecting some awesome fights when the party meets the Princess. Y’know.. That… Princess… Prepare your tissue again guys.
Preview: Judal being obsessively gay to Sinbad as usual. And why is Ja’afar animated so badly in the preview?
POWUH: 900-999 with 915 comments
Omae chooo umai *-* So cute… Or not.
And… Man… Zagan surely might be the weirdest djinn out there in the world of Magi.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Episode 19 was nicely done for comic relief even though the confusion caused by Ka Koubun took most of the time. Seeing Kougyokou acting so frail was a big contrast to sadistic attitude she had when she first appeared. She said that she’ll accept a truce but if she has plans to fight, there needs to be something done about her clothes. Her current wardrobe seems to be too much of a hinderence.
Sinbad officially has commitment issues. The guy lets himself be surrounded by beautiful whenever there’s a celebration but he’s hesitating to go out and find a wife? Somebody is insecure. He has my respect for letting himself get caught by that black curse just to ease Alibaba’s conscience that he was the only one in trouble. Not a lot of people are willing to risk their well-being for others. He’s a great role model but his motives remain unclear.
I love how Morgiana is still a much needed presence in the group other than just being eye candy. She’s strong mentally as she is physically. Her bravery to turn her shackles that bring back terrible memories of her time as a slave into a current weapon is admirable. Morgiana is a lot sexier in her dancer’s outfit than the usual one. I hope she dances often later on.
Hakuryuu is pretty much like how Alibaba used to be. The only differences are that he’s much more serious and hardly whines about his short comings unless it becomes painfully apparent.
POWUH: 500-599 with 519 comments
Oh Hakuryuu. You’re so adorable in this arc. Which is my favorite arc overall. I found it interesting they combined the curse arc with the Zagan one but it’s working out just fine I think. 🙂 Although how could they skip the amazing fat arc?! XD
I’m really waiting for when Morgiana uses her household vessel scene(it should be in the next episode I think if I’m remembering correctly?). Hopefully that scene will be animated beautifully…please?