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マギ
369
37
Finished
Jun 3, 2009 to Oct 11, 2017
7.8/10
Average Review Score
80%
Recommend It
20
Reviews Worldwide
Arguably no genre in manga or anime suffers more from an ill-fated combination of cliche reliance and a basic premise than action shounen. Whilst it is not inherently bad for a show to skilfully execute well-trodden territory (for which there are plenty of shounen that do), Ohtaka’s “Magi”, true to its adventurous spirit, treads beyond the boundaries of its genre without ever losing the heart-racing excitement that all shounen lovers yearn for. An allusion to the Middle Eastern folk tales of “One Thousand and One Nights”, the world of Magi is unlike most we’ve seen in that it neither draws its main inspiration from the ninjas,folklore and mythologies of Japan à la Naruto, Bleach etc., nor from the superheroes of the West (e.g. BokuAca). The premise is that of a world in which mysterious towers have spawned across the globe, that if overcome, supposedly grants the conquerors of these life-threatening dungeons the magical powers of a djinn. If this were a typical shounen, the story would not expand beyond this premise and we would be presented with a small cast of characters who will inevitably face fierce rivalries, powerful friendships, slapstick comedy and action. Magi guarantees you all of this, especially at the start, but the story truly shines once the initial worldbuilding is established as Magi uses its premise as a springboard for exploring socio-political, economic and ontological issues. The conflict in the plot arcs of Magi are grounded upon one of these issues which makes for a more powerful experience that relates to our real world but connecting each and every one of these arcs is a story about a boy whose search for his identity, beliefs and ideologies on the social and political issues in his world are constantly challenged. It frustrates me beyond belief when in shounen our protagonist has such inherently strong convictions and sense of justice that they are only “weak” in terms of their physical abilities and powers because that narrows the storyline and character development to merely the acquisition and development of their combat prowess. Shounen protagonists almost never truly engage with the complexities of the issues they face, if there are even any at all in the story. Alibaba and co. are not fight bots who merely beat people up into magically agreeing with their ideology nor is he a paragon of wisdom whose words convince anyone he manages to speak to – that is more along the lines of Sinbad but even he has plenty of depth. Magi’s world and characters may be wonderfully supernatural but they are also a reflection of our own world and people. My only issues with Magi are that its ambitious storytelling means that the balance between action and politics is at times compromised. Certain arcs can be very focused on the politics and others on the fighting. For many shounen readers, if the action is the only aspect you want to observe, there will be times when you may find yourself losing interest. Magi does not achieve the absolute pinnacle of storytelling that sees a perfect transition between the two but nonetheless it still achieves this better than the vast majority of shounen. Regarding the ending, although the series concludes excellently with regards to the main issues at hand, it felt slightly rushed and further attention to the vast cast we met along the way would've very much been appreciated. One of the main benefits of having a manga have its premise set in Middle Eastern folklore is being able to have art that shows the dazzling designs and drawings of fantastical beings and creatures that most people have probably never come across. The character expressions and designs are memorable and fun but Magi’s art shines the most in its action scenes. When our warriors fight and djinns are released, the manga sometimes requires you to spend a couple minutes per panel just to marvel in the designs and as the series progresses, the sheer scale of the battles and wars that we observe. Combined with Ohtaka’s panelling, which excels in constructing fluidity between scenes in a medium where images are still, Magi is rarely ever a visual bore to read. Magi, the manga, was not what I expected after having watch the anime. Whilst certainly, Balbadd and Magnostadt arcs certainly give you a glimpse of its potential, the anime did not adapt far enough to see what Magi is truly about. If the political aspects of Magi and its universe appeal to you, I recommend reading it entirely. Even if Magi is not as surgical in its exploration of these issues as manga who dedicate themselves towards "deeper" themes, the fact that it is also an equally amazing adrenaline-rushing and heart-pounding action, should convince you to read Magi and for those aforementioned reasons, I would wholeheartedly recommend this manga to both shounen lovers and shounen-sceptics alike.
Fourteen years ago, mysterious buildings called Dungeons started to rise in various places around the world. Within these dungeons, powerful beings called djinns rule over them. When a person successfully conquers the dungeon, the djinn offers their immense strength in the form of Metal Vessels, recognizing him or her as a worthy king candidate. Adventurers from many empires and kingdoms venture into the dungeons in search of their bountiful treasures and the power of djinns. However, to travel through them is not an easy task, and only Magi—legendary magicians who choose kings and develop countries—can guide people through. After being trapped in a room for most of his life, a young Magi named Aladdin finally sets out on a journey to explore the world along with his friend, a djinn named Ugo, who he can summon from his flute. Through a series of fateful encounters, Aladdin meets new various friends and allies, and together they begin an adventure that will change the fate of the world. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
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
