STORY - 9/10:
While the characters were really what helped push a first season that was a bit weaker on story, those elements are reversed here. The second season spends most of its time following Aladdin. We get brief glimpses of Alibaba and Morg, and they each make a triumphant return towards the end of the season, but we're really focused on Aladdin here.
Aladdin is at the magic school in the magical country (I'm not even going to try to spell the name out). He's there for a few reasons: he wants to improve his magical skills; he wants to investigate potential links to Al-Thamen; and he wants to find out more about the way the magical vs non-magical citizens live. The story starts out a little weak, with a weird pirate arc taking up the first few episodes. I guess they wanted to give us a little adventure with the team before everyone split up. But once we get into Aladdin's story, the pacing picks up nicely.
As with the first season, Magi really dives into some dark themes. I wouldn't consider death to necessarily be a mature theme, as its present in a lot of material aimed at children (Bambi, Old Yeller, etc.). But Magi goes into some really sinister areas: the idea that there are different classes of citizens (they touched on slavery in season one, but this stuff goes way beyond that); the idea that people are essentially being farmed for their souls; the idea that these people willingly chose that in exchange for an easy life and the mage's protections - is it okay to treat someone like dirt if they've given their consent? These are some really deep ideas to be presented in a shounen series. It adds a lot of emotional heft and complexity to a plot that would otherwise be pretty straightforward.
War breaks out towards the end of the season, and it's actually quite interesting to try and determine which side is in the right. The Ko Empire's militaristic ideals aside, you could really make an argument for either side between the Rem Empire and the magical academy. Which is how wars usually work. We really get to see Aladdin shine towards the end, once he takes the crystal off and unleashes his full power. And by the final battle with the dark void, where just about every djinn-equipper in the world shows up to fight, we get to see some pretty cool action.
Art - 8/10:
The art and animation are solid, if not spectacular. There's a bit more fanservice this season, with Aladdin's instructor's boobs playing a major role in his motivation. But the fight scenes and the magical spells all look great.
Sound - 8/10:
I watched the English dub again. I liked most of the voices. The OST was good. Not much to say here.
Character - 7/10:
Like I said earlier, I think this section is the biggest detraction to the second season. Character was the strength of the first season, but because we're now spending 90% of the time with just Aladdin, we have to meet a whole new host of characters. And, unfortunately, they don't seem as interesting or nuanced as the first season's characters.
Titus is probably the guy that we spend the most time with, and its clear that the show wants us to consider him the emotional anchor. But given his backstory, he's really just a child, exploring the world for the first time. He's a likeable, endearing character, but he's a simple character.
The director the academy (again, not even going to try to spell his name) is probably the most interesting character we meet, but he's kind of despicable in a lot of ways. In terms of themes, it's quite intriguing (and repugnant) to see how he views humans with no magical ability. He treats them with absolute indifference, like they're animals or objects. Aladdin is confused by the fact that the director seems like a genuinely warm and caring person until he realizes that the director holds these views. We get some nice backstory through the use of flashback scenes that show the director as a caring individual who wants to use his magical powers to help all humans, but loses that love and positivity along the way.
Aladdin himself continues to grow, both as a character and a mage. Nothing earth-shattering, but it's nice to see the incremental development of Aladdin. You can clearly see how he will one day be a true Magi, a leader of humans.
Alibaba gets a couple episodes and Morg gets one, which is enough to give us a taste of what they've been up to, but their development occurs mostly off-screen.
ENJOYMENT - 9/10:
I ripped through the second season pretty fast. Part of that was because I wanted to watch Iron Fist on Netflix, and I liked to finish the show I'm watching first. But I genuinely enjoyed the second season of Magi. It's a fun show with a lot to enjoy. And I liked the pacing this season. By focusing squarely on Aladdin (who probably had the most interesting story out of the three anyway), it lends an air of mystery as to when Alibaba and Morg would re-appear. The story handles that aspect quite nicely, and it leads to great moments when they do eventually re-appear. Not having Sinbad around for most of the season was a bit of a downer, as he was probably my favourite character from the first season. But he gets some pretty epic moments in the final battle, so that was nice.
OVERALL - 8.5/10
This season was an 8.5 for me. But since MAL doesn't allow half-points, I'll give it an 8 here and a 9 on my list to split the difference. Magi is a definitely a typical shounen in a lot of distinct ways, but it has a mature air about a lot of the themes that it delves into. It hits satisfying emotional beats, has mostly likeable characters, and offers up an interesting setting based on the Arabian Nights. All in all, I would recommend this show to most people.
