Setting:
The first great thing about Magi is the uniqueness of its setting and its masterful worldbuilding. There is simply nothing else I've read so far that has a fantasy world like Magi. It simply is one-of-a-kind. It's comparable to something like Dorohedoro or Soul Eater - even after all my years of watching and reading Japanese media, there is simply nothing else like it. The power system and the way magic is cast in general are also very well though-out. This is a common theme. Everything about Magi's world, from the worldbuilding, geopolitics, culture of each country, character backstories, down to the power system and everything in between are all very well thought-out, drawing parallels from real life cultures, religions, and conflicts to craft a very believable fantasy world.
Story:
The story is exceptional. It has a textbook start to a shonen adventure, then kept escalating and expanding its universe and cast with each arc. It starts out with the personal journey of the three main characters: Aladin, Alibaba, and Morgiana, as they try to take their first steps on this grand adventure. Over time, more and more and more characters get added until this is no longer a story about a group of three, but rather, an entire world of people. Arcs started off small-scale, then escalated to involve entire cities, countries, continents, and parallel realities, each with with twists and turns all around. It felt like Shinobu Ohtaka read One Piece, The Arabian Nights, and Romance of The Three Kingdoms/ watched some Chinese historical dramas, then decided incorporate the sense of adventure, mysticism, and political intrugue/war drama of these things into her own manga.
As for the tone and themes that the story explores, it really surprised me for a shounen. It started out fairly light-hearted, with slavery being the only "dark" plot element present. However, it kept one-upping itself with every arc, introducing racism, torture, genocide, wartime atrocities, ethnic cleansing, etc... By the end, the story was grappling with some very lofty concepts about the human condition and the nature of all conflict as arising from the fact that we are human. Mind you, this manga was published in the same shounen magazine as lighthearted series like Hayate no Gotoku, Komi-san, Ranma, etc... so I did not expect it to go so hard into seinen territory, but boy was I pleasantly surprised. The Alma Torran Arc in particular was my favorite, as it was when the story really went from just good to great in my eyes. However, at the same time, I feel that this battle to constantly one-up itself is a double-edged sword. After the insane Alma Torran Arc and Kou Arc, the series couldn't really go any further from there. Its final arc felt like an epilogue more than anything, and I really liked it until it overstayed its welcome. The series should have ended at maybe volume 32. It would have ended complete and satisfying. However, feeling the need to write in a climactic "grand finale" for the series, Shinobu Ohtaka penned some very contrived plot developments and made the series keep going for a few volumes too many. It's not whether you could, but whether you should. By the end, Magi was just rambling. Characters keep talking back and forth about the same things that sound complicated, but really aren't. They scream at each other, fight it out, the world is saved, whoop- dee-doo. After finishing Magi, I am still satisfied with how the story ended overall, but it could have been a lot more succint and less messy. This last leg of the story was the one blemish on an otherwise stellar adventure for me.
Characters:
Magi's characters are the backbone of the manga. For the most part, it felt like a character-driven story. Major plot developments are the direct result of what the characters do. This was kinda true in the first half, and was wholly true in the second half. Alibaba and his friends are likeable enough, and they each have surprising depth, despite appearing generically happy-go-lucky at first glance. As the cast expands, you get more and more interesting characters with depth and personality, and Magi gradually feels like it's telling these side characters' stories just as much as it is telling the protagonists' stories. Shinobu Ohtaka simply writes very expressive, larger-than-life, and entertaining characters to follow.
However, if I had to criticize something, Magi struggles a bit with its villains. In the first half, most of the villains were moustache-twirling shitheads with little redeeming quality. You're given sufficient explanation for why they're the way they are (i.e nobleman is an asshole to slaves because that's simply how he was taught to treat others growing up), but that doesn't make them any more likable. The second half is much better in this aspect, and most antagonists are given more nuanced backstories and redeeming traits to them. They're also a lot more cunning and intimidating than the first half. Their appearance on the page commands fear and respect. However, I think some of their motivations are still unclear and hard to understand, and the confrontation with the final antagonist was just weird. Ohtaka Shinobu kinda lost me at the end, but hey, I already said that earlier in this review.
Art:
Magi's artwork for the most part is drawn in Shinobu Ohtaka's signature style. This style has both its strengths and weaknesses. Its strength is that it is very expressive. Characters' facial expression convey a lot of nuanced emotions through their eyes and mouth. A twitch of the eyebrow; a wrinkle in their smile; or a crease in their forehead; these all come across clearly in Ohtaka's artstyle. In addition, the characters' clothing, the architecture, the Djinn Equips, are all drawn very creatively. They clearly convey their Arabic/Persian/Chinese influences, but also have a unique Magi flair to them. It makes the world of Magi very cohesive and immersive to read.
However, some weaknesses of Ohtaka's artstyle are as follows: the characters tend to get same-face syndrome. As the story goes on and the cast becomes quite massive, it can be hard to tell characters apart from one another by face alone. Many of Ohtaka's characters' faces tend to blur together, with big eyes and a mouth with only the top row of teeth. However, Ohtaka does make sure to give them each other distinguishing features like hair, clothing, accessories, skin color, etc... to help tell them apart, so this is not too big of an issue. Another weakness is that fight scenes are a bit messy. Since there's a lot of spell-slinging and transformations and effects flying all around the page, it can be hard to tell what exactly you're looking at in a fight sequence. But, although the fighting part of each fight is not that good, the flow and outcome of each fight always felt significant and fun to follow. You're usually on the edge of your seat wanting to know what happens next or how the chracters will overcome their enemies.
Conclusion:
One of the reasons I started watching anime/reading manga in the first place was how free-form and creative they felt as mediums. There is an anime or manga for just about any topic or theme that you can imagine, of which the Arabian Nights is no exception. Magi is like a marriage of two things I love from two different eras of my life, and the result is something that is truly unique and surprisingly nuanced for a shounen manga. If you find your curiosity piqued by its Arabic/Persian-inspired aesthetic, definitely consider giving it a try. You'll find something very unique and fun and will be staying for its characters and story instead.
