Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic

A Magi is a magician whose inclination toward magic is so immense that they can be said to shape the world. With their significant influence, each Magi chooses a worthy candidate to become a king, then helps them conquer strange labyrinths called "Dungeons" and acquire the power of mythical djinns within. Above all else, the Magi supervises their elected representative as they build a country that might one day bring the world to its knees.

Aladdin is a young Magi wandering the world in search of his true self. However, his journey is not a lonely one, as he is accompanied by his friend and mentor Ugo—a djinn he summons using his flute. In his travels, Aladdin also befriends Alibaba Saluja and guides him to a nearby Dungeon. With this newfound friendship, they begin an epic adventure across the world, witnessing various irregularities that seem more frequent than ever.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Morgiana Main

Tomatsu, Haruka Japanese

Saluja, Alibaba Main

Kaji, Yuuki Japanese

Aladdin Main

Ishihara, Kaori Japanese

Sinbad Supporting

Ono, Daisuke Japanese

Judar Supporting

Kimura, Ryouhei Japanese

Ren, Hakuryuu Supporting

Ono, Kensho Japanese

Ja'far Supporting

Sakurai, Takahiro Japanese

Ren, Kougyoku Supporting

Hanazawa, Kana Japanese

Ren, Kouha Supporting

Kakihara, Tetsuya Japanese

Yunan Supporting

Ishida, Akira Japanese

Saitou, Shunsuke Producer

Ochikoshi, Tomonori Producer

Maruyama, Hiroo Producer

Shimizu, Akira Producer

Reviews

May 21, 2023

Marco_Yooo

Recommended

THIS IS A SPOILER-FREE REVIEW

The shounen genre has always been a pleasure to get into again and again. Although there are clear differences in quality, i think if you look at the big shounen shows, you can see the consistent formula being used to top the popularity polls of every single season. Magi is another shounen that has been on my radar for a long time. So, what does this shounen do different than all of the others? What is it that makes Magi unique and interesting? Let´s get into it.

Story – 9/10

This is by far the best aspect of this series, and the reason ... i think more people should get into this show. First of, the worldbuilding. The setting is really interesting and diverse. The whole mythology is clearly inspired by the persian 1001 nights, centred around jinns, emirs, thief's and swordplay. Also, most of the first two arcs is also set in a middle-eastern type world, which is very rare for anime. But this is actually just one little country inside this vast world. The author clearly took inspiration from history because most of the different kingdoms and countries shown here are similar to actual empires in the history of earth. You have Sindria (Phoenicians), Kóu (Ming-Dynasty), Bal-Badd (Bagdad) and much more. This series spends a lot of time on politics and diplomacy, something rare for a shounen. The different storylines are cleverly set up and paid off throughout the show, there are multiple ongoing mysteries, rivalries and flashbacks. The pacing is great, it never feels like something is left out, which is a problem that a lot of modern shounen have. This has the vibe of an older shounen, something like Naruto or One Piece but it feels fast and fresh. The only few drawbacks are the fights themselves ,which is the reason why i can´t go higher with the score. The fights are cool to look at, but they lack the strategy and thought of something like „Hunter x Hunter“. Also, I think this season slows down a bit during the last arc. Everything before that is done wonderfully. The Bal-Badd arc has to be my favorite. It covers 2/3 of the season and sets up many characters, plotpoints and more. It also has the best fight in the entire series so far.

Art – 8/10

The middle-eastern aesthetic present for most of this season is certainly a unique one in anime. It feels so fresh and new. The costumes are stylish, the earrings are shiny and the hairstyles are as colourful as ever. The character designs are memorable and vibrant, both for the female, but especially for the male characters. Every kingdom has a different vibe to it, different clothes and different jewellery. The background arc is also great. I love the design of the different cities, Sindria being my absolute favourite. The fights themselves aren´t mindblowing, but at least they are consistent. This is A-1 Pictures we are talking about, so you can expect a certain standard of quality here.

Sound – 8/10

The openings are really well done. They weren´t exactly fitting for the series itself, but they are both great shounen OPs in my opinion. The BGM however knocks it out of the park with fantastic background songs that pull you into the world even more. The use of middle-eastern instruments gives the soundtrack it´s own identity similar to the use of classic Japanese music in something like „Naruto“.

Characters – 8/10

This show features A LOT of characters. What i found interesting is that this show does not really have a standout main character. We have Aladdin, who is of course the posterboy, but also Alibaba. He is my favourite character in the show. The Bal-Badd arc made him shine so much. His backstory was engaging and well structured, especially his relationship with Cassim. Morgiana is a cool female deuteragonist, but i think most of her story is held back until season two. Sindbad is of course a big factor in my enjoyment of the show. He is very similar to someone like Gojo Satoru from „Jujutsu Kaisen“ with his charming attitude and seemingly unlimited power. The only downside are the villains. Judar needs more build-up to be truly frightening and the organisation he belongs to hasn´t made an impact, at least not yet.

Enjoyment - 8/10

This was a very enjoyable show for most of it´s run. I´ll definitely watch season two when i find the time. If you are looking for a great shounen with fantastic pacing and worldbuilding, Magi is for you. This is a must-watch for every shounen fan.

- Marco_Yooo

FINAL SCORE - 8/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jun 24, 2024

LazarusU

Mixed Feelings

This show has a really sentimental place in my heart because it was one of the first animes that I’ve ever watched and was one of the first ones I was really obsessed with. Revisiting it over 10 years later I’ve realized how shocking and strange a lot of the sexual content was that completely either flew over my head or I just thought was strange but permissible when I was a preteen. I don’t even believe that a lot of it was fanservice, but I really don’t understand why the very young characters were walking into brothels (then getting assaulted! wtf?) Or a 10 ... year old having a significant character trait of groping women? If someone is able to overlook a lot of the poorly aged and uncomfortable and inappropriate sexual occurrences, this is a very lovely series to watch. Most of the characters are very charming and easy to like, including most of the antagonists!
I can’t in good faith recommend this show to any of my friends for the aforementioned reasons, which is a huge bummer.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Sep 30, 2020

superking_armaan

Not Recommended

I have seen plenty of anime due to this my level of expectation has gone up. I can no longer enjoy something which doesn't make sense. After trying this over praised anime Magi, I am seriously left disappointed, it started good but soon converted into another generic show.

My problem with Magi is that it doesn't know what it is doing, let me give you little summary.

Just like every other anime, main protagonist has some sad back story. in this case the protagonist's father is king, but he suddenly dies, due to this the entire kingdom has fallen into the hands of his evil big brother, ... now everything rest on this kid's shoulders. He is willing to do everything to save his country, but he lacks faith which will be fixed with some lectures and betrayal.

After some serious struggle and a small scale battle, Our protagonist gained the chance to talk with his unreasonable brother who consider him less than an insect. The conversation Our protagonist wanted to have is, Plz as a king promise me that you will do everything to protect the life of our people and his brother replies is this is all you have to say to me.

(I mean seriously after all the things he went through, this is all he wanted to say? Did he really expect him to understand. Let's just say, your country gets taken over by Kim Jong, will you just march to his face and say please save us, please don't treat us like a garbage. Do you really think he will say you have opened my eyes, how can I have been so wrong.)

After some time passed, he gains some Shonen powers. Soon he does the same thing again. He marches into the palace and say this is a coup d'etat, just like that he has dethroned the king.

(Seriously, is this all? Is dethroning a king supposed to be this easy? Let just say if you lived under the British Empire rule, could you have just walked into their palace and say, I dethrone you queen.)

Seriously, this anime follows the horrible sense of logic, it is so annoying that it gets me irritated.

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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