Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic Chapter 234 Discussion

Hayatempest said:



She wanted to mislead us and I believe she intended for arba to be Gyokuen from the start. It's clear that Ohtaka has been planning for this arc ever since Ithnan made his appearance at least. We see a vision of Solomon and what looks like his queen, some chapters later we see a ghost of a woman who Aladdin identifies as his mother, and finally, when Gyokuen reveals herself as the magi who betrayed Solomon, she refers to Ithnan as boy/child. Also, Ohtaka has been dropping hints Arba could be Gyokuen ever since Love Sickness, and here are the ones I can remmeber:

-In Love Sickness, we learn Arba is stronger than Solomon and that she's hiding her real power. This didn't bode well and hinted it will play some role later on.

-In Close, we see the silhouette of Arba in black while as Sheba in white. Black=black rukhs, white=white rukhs. We also learn that she's the oldest, which is a reference to Gyokuen referring to Ithnan as boy/child. In addition, Arba says that humans of old had sexual intercourse all year long and were always making children. While reading this line, I couldn't help but remember Gyokuen who gave birth to four kids and stayed married for over two decades, and probably all tanks to Hakutoku being a wonderful man and lover.

-In the cathedral chapter Arba kills the one who was the closest thing to father to her while displaying that smile that was reminiscent of Gyokuen's.

-When she finally meets Illah (again?) she says the exact same line as Gyokuen's while tearing up.

-finally, Gyokuen always referred to Solomon as 'king Solomon', and this is what Arba always addressed him as, while as Sheba always addressed him as just 'Solomon'.

While I would severly criticize the pacing in the last 5-6 chapters, I think Ohtaka did put a lot of thought into Sheba and Arba's identities and meant to mislead her readers from the begining. From the start, we had two candidates for Gyokuen: a random baby who was left at the church's doorsteps and an over 100 year old powerful magician who was created by the one who could be the series' final boss. Obviously, Going with Arba as Gyokuen makes a lot more sense than her going with Sheba, since she has a stronger connection to David. Not to mention, if Sheba is Gyokuen, that will make Aladdin Hakuryuu and Hakuei's brother, and that will be too awkward, especially since there was no prior foreshadowing to that sort of connection between them.

My theory that Sheba is the medium went down the drain, but I guess it's better this way;: it would've only had so much impact if the real Solomon witnessed it. Aladdin said it was different from the Magnostadt medium, so I wonder how it will turn out.

Also, I don't know if anyone already noticed it, but Momo was accompanying Ugo when he found Sheba and was shown mourning her death:

Hayatempest said:


Note that the following part is subjective and I already mentioned it some months ago:

The Magi fandom in Japan has't been as active during this arc and some even voiced they're not enjoying this arc as much as the other ones. For example on pixiv, there aren't as many Alma Toran-centered fanart and fics as I expected there would be, and most of the new entries are based on the main cast. There's been a brief boost on Magi fanart during the weeks when ch 222.5 and the one about the board game were out, and that's a testament to how readers there want the main characters back. Ohtaka seems to be aware of the mixed reception of this arc in her blog entries with her saying : "please accompany me for a little longer"

Now the question is: was Ohtaka affected by the fans' reaction to this arc and decided to end it early? Whatever it was, in the end I'll blame Ohtaka's poor planning and compromising of the quality of her work, not the fans. If the arc should've taken only three months like her original plan, then she should've cut down on the slice-of-life moments and left enough chapters for the parts that the entire arc has been building up to: the confrontation between Solomon and David and the rebellion.

I can see that Ohtaka has gotten attached to the Alma Toran cast and wanted to depict Al-Thamen as normal people before they changed. I see no harm if this arc went on for another 6-7 chapters. In the end, the only ones who would've complained about it are those who follow the weekly release of the manga, not those who would read the manga later through the volumes and will be able to finish the arc in a few hours. I just hope that Ohtaka learns from this and that the manga will go back to its usual quality when we get back to the main cast.

Darklight0303 said:


Fans always ruin series when they get to call the shots. This is fact

x5thStProdigyx said:
Honestly I liked this arch more than what's been going on in the current timeline

vickypix said:

You don't really like the manga that much then

confused_Imakuni said:
So... I didn´t get into Magi for a long time. And even before that arc I thought the series was only kinda mediocre.
But this arc is just amazing. I don´t quite understand why people aren´t that interested in it.
The last few chapters were just amazingly dark and creepy (for a shonen).