Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic

I have been reading this manga for 8 whole years and it is my favourite manga since then but still as a devoted fan I can't be more honest when I say it has let me down. First, the story is the base structure that makes Magi unique, seeing as it benefits from its inspiration, the Arabian Nights stories. The world Ohtaka created is marvelous, it is incredibly complex and you must pay great attention to fully understand it. The art helps on this aspect, there are panels in this manga with incredibly detailed artwork which gives the environment the arabesque feeling borrowed from original source.Even the magic in this world is something completely new, the Djinns might have been borrowed from its Arabic counterpart but in the Magnostadt Arc we get a new look into the Magi's magic. While the world is uniquely beautiful, the characters are the most complex part of the Magi series. Most people would concentrate on giving Alibaba, Aladdin and Morgiana (the main trio) as an example of complex characters, but I believe each and every character in this manga is complex. Ohtaka has this great ability of giving even the most minor character an ever expanding personality. Now as I praised this series thoroughly, you might be asking yourself "but you just said you have been let down". While I have enjoyed this manga greatly and yes, I hold it to heart even now, the third part of the story is a complete disappointment, because all the strong points I have just listed completely disappeared. For some unknown reason (at least to me) the creator rushed the story by the end of the series and it started to make no sense, the characters didn't get a proper resolution and some mysteries remained unresolved. But even so, I STRONGLY recommend the Magi series, don't let the ending (or the third part of the story) let you down, if you're here for a great journey you will get the best one you've ever seen, in a complex, beautiful world full of magic, accompanied by some of the best characters you'll ever get to know.

It honestly felt like the author was writing one manga, and then at some point midway through, had an idea for a completely different manga and just stuffed her ideas into the world she had already established (debatably even like four different series). (It's also possible she had some conflicting ideas with her editors so who knows). It ended up having a case of constant whiplash for me until the very end of the series. While I'd like to blame the lackluster finale on the lack of a defined endpoint, there's plenty of examples of manga with no defined endpoint that had good endings (usually more-soseinen or SoL) and manga with clear endpoints with pretty bad endings, it basically all comes down to the writer's skill. But outside of the finale and tonal whiplash, the focus on Djinn Equips led to a lot of power-up designs that left the characters looking nothing like themselves, and sometimes made fights really hard to follow as a result and everything just becoming a mess. Though for the positives, the main cast was likeable and their interactions really kept the manga going, especially early on. The final arc, while jarring at first, set the story into an interesting direction. And the initial final villain was way better than how it was described to me by someone else. Overall, I started this manga really impressed and surprised I hadn't considered reading it before, but by the end I was just hoping it would get better or at least all be worth it in the end, but I just never got that. 40/100

-=SPOILERS=- (I just couldn't write this without expressing what I Disliked & loved about it.) . . . The start of this manga, is the part I loved. The old times theme (What era would it be? ;o), the characters, adventures, and the comedy they chucked in with the rest. Below is spoilers from Final Arc (Suggest not to read unless you like spoilers... yeah) . . .. . . . . . I personally loved this manga, all the amazing fights and whatnot. The thing that I disliked though was the final arc. It turned into a world a lot like ours, and I though that was going to be how it end. But instead it went with the fact it was like ours, and in the end it completely changed again! This manga and series will always have a special place in my heart, I love this manga and would love to see season 3 of the anime :D

Magi. Oh boi were do I start. Its starts off pretty childish, builds strong characters and keeps going for around 250 amazing chapters and horribly crashes and burns to the End. Id honestly recomend against reading the manga. Spoil yourself in the character Bio's and be done with it. There are some interesting things that happen with the setting later but the story also becomes literaly one asspull per chapter, it turns into the most generic muh friendship garbage, and honstely, I woudnt have read the last 30 chapters if it not for completion. The Anime covered the best parts of magi, and juststick with that Story:____6 (per ~250 9 the closer it come to the end 1) Art:______7 (characters are suprisingly hard to keep apart in monochrom due to the high saturation) Character:_8 (would be 9, but the last third screws with it, like with everthing) Enjoyment:3(dont force yourself to finish it, just drop it once you dont like it anymore) Overall :__ 5 (had it at 6 OG, but it realy did leave a lingering bitter taste.) --IF you insist on reading as much of the manga as is enjoyable till right were it goes downhill HARD read till chapter 318