Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic - 05

[gallery link="file" columns="4" orderby="title"]

Well that was a nice conclusion to arc and now the adventure can really start.

There's not really much to say about the episode as a whole. As far as conclusions go, this was very Naruto-ish with the whole idea of the torch being passed from one generation to another but as a minor point of the episode, it didn't hurt.

The whole 2 episode arc was a learning experience for Aladdin, a protagonist with rather drastic identity issue. Quite a dark insecurity for a protagonist to possess given the current light atmosphere of the anime, however a great moment of character development. It's rare to see character development early on in the series and it could have potentially been a pointless part of the story, but it worked for Magi.

With the resolution of identity crisis, we get some pretty interesting developments in the plot as well as the start of the actual adventure. I've already mentioned that unlike any other adventure series, Magi's adventure started off with Aladdin finding himself. Thanks to a dual-protagonist setting there is also Ali Baba's adventure also, and that'll play into a combined adventure at one point in the series. It is a strength for the series to have a few main characters at different points in the world because it gives an interesting twist for the adventure.

What piques my interest even more is the small insight we get into the Kou empire, which also has a magi and a few characters that'll probably end up playing a bigger role in the future. Some basic information about kings being chosen has been laid down, and there are a few hints regarding how that will turn out in the future. As it stands now, the expectation of Ali Baba being Aladdin's chosen king has been established and I assume there will be more about this when the two actually meet. It's almost like an indirect rivalry has been established between the two opposing groups.

A good episode from Magi and the series is picking up steam much like manga did during its early stages, although the animated fight scenes didn't do much for me. I know it isn't easy to animate some things that appear in the manga, however I though A-1 Pictures would have the money for something more exciting.