Now the story begins right after the Labryinth of Magic, which directly involves the 4 people we follow in the beginning segments of the show. Now my problem right off the bat was how much screen time there was between the side characters. It seemed to have a lot of unnecessary interactions and most of the time didn't yield anything directly related to the story. There is way too many side characters for there to be any time to devote to all of them while still keeping up with the main core which is Alibaba, Aladdin, and Morgiana. The story maintains its comedic nature, relying heavily on chibi mode and funny reactions amongst the cast of characters. It feels at some points that the show didn't take itself seriously with many tropes that feel out of place, such as blushing for no reason. I can't comprehend what the writers were thinking when they decided to take the route of splitting the main cast. Of course, due to the nature of the story, it made sense that they wanted to split but it was a tall order to get enough screen time to each of them. What we have left is a convoluted plot that has many plotholes as well as one minute wonder insignificant characters.
But it wasn't all bad, there is a certain disney charm that Magi has with good characters that mesh with the setting. Midway, the tone of the story changed from stopping a bad guy to a more inquisitive theme. It came out of nowhere, but it was handled well with a combination of humor and lightheartedness while also having an undertone theme of mythical beings coexisting with humans. It explores prejudice within civilization and questions which side is truly evil or good. I feel like it came out of nowhere though, because there was nothing like this in Labyrinth. Is self desire the true evil within every living being? While it's not directly answered, it does give viewers something to challenge analytical thought processes.
The characters severely suffer from superfluous interactions and lack of screen time. It's hard to say something like Magi wasn't long enough, because it was 25 episodes, the equivalent of 2 seasons. I believed that some characters got too much screen time, such as one in the beginning arc, and Aladdin's arc. It seemed like they just so happened to be there when the main core gets caught up in trouble. Although, they do provide internal conflict amongst each other due to difference of opinions and statures. However, my biggest problem was the splitting of the main core. The incredibly reduced screen time amongst them is the biggest change from Labyrinth and much of the charm of the show came from their interactions and resolutions. It seemed like a way to eliminate characters with a lot of screen time so it can focus on the main one. I really disliked that because the ending rolls around and we're left to assume that the separation of these characters built them up individually enough for the conclusion. It was a cheap tactic and I didn't like it one bit. However, the show still had it's comedic touch among the main core, which is great because it shows a dynamic relationship between each other.
I loved the soundtrack of Magi. It has a middle eastern like OST and what better way to implement that than a show that relies on its setting to continue it's story. There were many tracks that I feel is good enough to listen to as a standalone track and it overall enhanced action scenes, more intimate scenes, and brought life to the huge world. The sound effects are good and the voice acting is good, so no complaints at all from the sound department. Animation is good too, albeit a bit confusing due to it's grand scale of what's happening. There is just so many power moves that it can look like it's lagging a bit.
Maybe with the exception of Psycho-Pass and Darker than Black, Kingdom of Magic is one of the worst sequels to a good series I've seen. It's poor execution of it's story direction leads me to believe that the writers are catering a target audience that I'm unaware of. It's separation of characters is the most catastrophic decision that could've happened in a show like this, where the main core was vital to the success of conflicts. Labyrinth had a existential undertone theme that was only explored minimally in Kingdom, which I see as a missed opportunity. Kingdom is a disappointment from a character standpoint, and a hit or miss from a story telling standpoint. The pacing was incredibly lackluster and slow and it sporadically shifted to incredibly fast, which makes the ending more laughable. Magi: The Kingdom of Magic, failed to utilize what it had to make it a powerhouse anime.
