Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic

Only saw the first season of Magi, which is the labyrinth of magic. I had many thoughts while watching this.... and I wished to share them with y'all. Hopefully this will entice you to watch the show, as it had for me. I have no doubt that this will be a great watch for you if you can connect with it, and if not, then it is at least an enjoyable and solid watch. So, moving on, here are the thoughts I had while watching this show. All throughout the show I couldn't help but feel as though they actually had a plot.... Magi, using the power of the rukh which are the spirits of the people. When I had heard this, I couldn't but feel as though this had a meaning behind it. It had a solid explanation and one I could connect with. Usually I would like to explain how I could connect to this, but on a personal basis, and on a more subconscious basis, I cannot explain how. When you watch Magi you will know if you had connected to it or not. This show also had a very adventurous spirit to it, it wasn't episodic, it followed one story one path and had that adventurous feel to it. Some things are indeed explained but can be easily overlooked when you are caught up in the joy ride of Magi. It's a solid watch for anyone who has no interest in some of the things that Magi talks about. And about that... I had connected to those beliefs on a deep level, and I would like to share this with anybody. For those who are willing to watch this, this story will be an amazement to how deeply it talks about its subject (trying to keep as little spoilers as possible). The fighting had a solid feel to it, and you felt as though anybody wasn't obviously stronger than the other. To put into more precise terms, everyone has their own specialty. Of course there are those that are flat out stronger, however, it feels as though everyone has their own specialty, and no one's simply "Weak." I would like to bring up this point, I wish to get this across. This show brings up some very deep and serious topics. You relate this show to a slice-of-life romance drama anime and it feels as though their problems are almost petty compared to those in this show. You can tell that these are things anyone could easily fall into it if given the same circumstances... When you connect with this show, you'll start to feel yourself choke up at some points (at least for me I did). You can understand their pain and reasoning and it's not very hard to interpret. Fate, destiny, to curse it and say screw it all. Magi is a show not to be simply taken lightly, it talks about many serious topics that go on a spiritual level and on a subconscious level. And even if you don't connect with this show, if you enjoy anime, you will definitely enjoy Magi. PS: The music choice was very bad at some points.... This was a reaccuring thought all throughout my watch with Magi and I couldn't help but say it at these last few moments. However the music alone was very nice to listen to, like the openings and endings. There were some plot holes, the character development and plot development were great, the story had an adventurous feel. The story was not jacked up as "IM OVERPOWERED TIME TO WRECK YOU ALL!" But it actually felt as though there was development in it. You can connect to the characters and feel their pain and understand their circumstances. This was a very enjoyable watch... I hope you all enjoy.

Warning: long, affectionate rant ahead about my favourite series. And when I say rant, I really mean rant. This is the series that got me addicted to anime. Previously, my otaku friend had been persuading me to watch all the ones she liked, Bleach, Naruto, Fairy Tail and none of them really clicked for me. Within seconds of starting up Magi, however, I was absolutely in love with it. I'm someone who is a massive, uber fantasy nerd. Game of Thrones is only the beginning, I probably have 100s of fantasy books on my shelves. My favourite kind of fantasy books are the ones with masses of wizards and epic quests and heroes and epic sword fights. That sounds pretty shallow, but it's true. There are two types of fantasy books: High fantasy and low fantasy. Low fantasy is usually the kind that links back to the modern world. The kind of fantasy where the protagonist goes to school in the day and fights monsters at night. But high fantasy is set in a world with completely different kingdoms, entire civilizations invented by the author. The kind of setting that can have one wizard destroy an entire invading army, dragons guarding piles of treasure, and brutal wars between seven different kingdoms at once. Magi is a high fantasy, which is a rare trait in anime indeed. (This is basically the psychology behind why I started liking it so much relative to other anime and now I sort of realise that most likely no one cares but I'll get onto better content soon). Basically this show is some epic fantasy stuff. The protagonists don't go to school, they go to war. If you even remotely like Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones (or any other book in that genre ever), magi is the right show to watch. There are a few other high fantasy anime (berserk, claymore) but I think magi has the best setting and characters. *ahem* So now onto the actual reasons it's amazing as an anime. THE BATTLES. Usually in an anime when the main characters are totally OP (the main Magi, Aladdin is basically God when it comes to magic), things start to get boring fight after fight. But in Magi, everyone is completely OP. They've all got such badass djinn equips and flashy abilities. What happens when one Magi, with the ability to destroy the entire world, fights another Magi, with the same potential? Massive destruction and sandstorms the size of countries, that's what. I guarantee you'll be squealing in awe when you finally see Sinbad's full djin equip XD THE CHARACTERS. Usually when I'm watching a show, I end up resenting one or more of the main characters. This is often something to do with shipping and my OTPs. This is not the case with Magi. There's not a single annoying character. The bad guys all have purpose and are very slick and cool (looking at you Judal). Aladdin is just a total lad, Morgiana the toughest (and cutest) girl you'll ever see, and Alibaba is the happy-go-lucky adorable little pervert you've gotta love. Magi spends a lot of time on developing its characters, but it never distracts you from the action. THE WORLD. Who loves grey morality? I do! And there's a lot of it in Magi. You're left not knowing who or what to support. Magnostadt vs. Leam in season 2 just gets ridiculous! The world in Magi can be a very harsh place when it wants to be - it's not just a typical bright eyed save the world shonen. THE HUMOR. God, is Magi funny. I value humor very highly in my enjoyment of a series. You'll be cracking up in every spare moment. It can get more hilarious than some straight out comedies which makes watching it just that much more fun. Serious anime can be good, but comedies are great. All in all, Magi is one hell of an adventure. It's a shonen with a bloody training arc and many of the stereotypes. But out of the 40 or so anime I've watched, it's still my favourite. I hope it goes on for a mother-load of series and becomes a massive hit.

Yup, I almost never write reviews but I hope this one will help. So before watching this anime series, I asked for some reviews and thoughts on this series. Many were like 'no, read the manga instead, you won't like this anime'. I tended to believe all those negative reviews, and this sentiment was further reinforced by the fact that this series seemed like another magic/fairy tale-like anime to me, which might turn out to be too childish. Guess what? I read the manga and watched the anime and it was pretty amazing. I know things like "household vessels" were thrown at us already in the very beginning, but a real otaku could overcome that very easily and just continue following with the series. Of course the manga readers had an advance, but that doesn't mean you won't like this series. This series is definitely WORTH A WATCH. Story 8/10 - The story was in my opinion pretty awesome. It takes some good imagination to create such a story and it wasn't that difficult to understand. Art 9/10 - I really don't have anything bad to say about the art, it was simply beautiful and (major) flaws were nowhere to be found. Sound 8/10 - I really liked the OSTs. I must say, I wanted more Japanese-like OSTs in the beginning, but it's just something you get used to in my opinion. Sometimes it just doesn't go along well with the theme, a story which was set in this Arab-like world. The voices were also fitting the characters. Character 7/10 - The character development could have been better. We didn't get to see some characters develop until the last couple of episodes for example. I still liked the main characters though... Enjoyment 8/10 - I can most certainly say this was one of my favorite, enjoyable anime series from last season and I am glad there will be a second season. I used to look forward to every new episode. Overall 8/10 - Magi was a good anime series and in some ways it might have been a let-down, but then again, the story was pretty amazing. For the ones out there that are still hesitating, just give it a try and see for yourself whether you like it or not, as I said before, it is definitely worth a watch!

Magi. This anime is a great representative of how fantasy should be, which is, a genre that envelopes the audience making them want to be apart of this world, however, it is also supported by other dark underlying themes, making it somewhat a reflection of reality, but a reality as such that if you have determination you can change it to a nice outcome. At first you'd think that it's a fluffy, light anime because of the comedy, but as the story progresses you realise that it isn't. The theme of magic and good is embodied by the character: Alaadin, a boy so adorable, you just cannot hate. He helps establish the theme of friendship, which in turn helps make the audience understand and appreciate the importance of it. Alibaba, the main protagonist is a nice representation of determination, at first, he might appear as a flat character, but later you'll learn what the struggles he underwent and soon you'll begin to appreciate him. Other characters like Morgiana also contribute to the main themes of the anime, while others (dark ones) try to undermine it, all of whom help make Magi the anime that it is. Overall, this anime can be described with one conclusive adjective: fun.

As I write this review I want to say that I have not read the manga and I'm currently ending the second season of this show. This anime was constantly suggested to me by one of my friends and I refused to watch it when she initially talked to me about the show because I am incredibly picky and conscious about the media I consume. That being said, I regret not getting into this anime sooner. Magi is incredible. Maybe I'm just saying that because I'm so jaded from all the mediocre animes being praised these days (not that anime has never been mediocre lmao), but I wholeheartedly believe this series is incredible and if the anime is really a bad adaption of the manga then I can't wait to start reading. Magi's world is based off of the real world and real geography (Alibaba, Aladdin, and Morgiana should all be shades of brown and not so pale it hurts my eyes). The main characters are based off of the Arabian Nights tales which include "Ali Baba and the forty thieves", "Aladdin's Wonderful Lamp", etc. However, the show isn't a combination of these stories. It simply borrows names and ideas from these old tales and creates an entirely new world of its own. Magi initially gives the impression that it will be a typical shounen anime powered by platonic friendships, but it's not. Magi is not a typical, boring shounen. The first couple episodes that scream shounen aren't even boring. As you delve deeper you learn more about Magi's world and politics which makes the show increasingly more interesting. It reminds me of a good video game. You start out meeting Alibaba and then Alibaba meets Aladdin. Alibaba explains to Aladdin that he wants to capture a dungeon. Capturing a dungeon is dangerous, but, if successful, one can become rich and be granted special powers. Though, most people capture dungeons for the powers granted to them by djinn in the dungeon rather than chase the wealth. Dungeons are erected by magi who usually lead people to these dungeons. People who successfully capture a dungeon and have a metal vessel are called King Candidates. In order to use this power, however, the King Candidates must use their magoi (essentially life energy). Some people have more than others and the magi of the world have unlimited access to magoi given to them by the rukh. Magi also makes commentary on racial prejudice aka racism (though I see this more in season 2), classism, etc. Now on to the art. It's good. It's not amazing or revolutionary, but it certainly doesn't hurt the eyes. Like I mentioned before, however, the main characters, despite being middle eastern are super pale and I could never find a legitimate reason for why that is. There's only one group of brown people in the show and they come from basically what is Egypt in the magi world, but everyone else is super pale (before anyone says anything, yes, I know that there are countries based off on Europe and East Asia). That's probably the biggest issue I have for the show. Sound is also good. The music is pleasant and usually fitting for the scene, but it's not deserving of any more than a 7. I've heard better music, but Magi's ost is still good. I gave character a 9 because of the amazing character development throughout the entire series. Things aren't as black and white as they seem and I found myself confused and unsure of what to think at times, because of conflicting opinions and views. Sure, you can simply agree with the protagonist all the time, but what happens when the protagonist is even unsure of what to think? Foes become friends. Friends become foes. Did I enjoy Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic? Yes. Absolutely. I've been recommending it so many of my friends. I'm recommending it to you right now. Overall, a 9/10.

I will start this review while saying that I haven't read the manga , and this is just my impression from the first season of magi which I have yet to watch its second season. Which I constantly heard that it was adapted badly with missing chapters but after all I am just giving my impression about the anime itself. Story 8/10 OK in short , the Dungeon stuff is really good , this series needs more dungeon exploring , I like how creative it could get , and the whole fight through the dungeon to get treasure and Djinn power , The conflict concerning Kou empire and other cities such as Balbadd and Sindria is totally good , however it failed twice to give me hype concerning the real main fights which I am really concerned of , the reason of that is how the character development goes, and a story which runs at a global scale is affected by someone's development which was pretty generic. The Mysterious organization failed to give me any hype because I am only seeing people overcome their odds with things I have heard time and time again , I may be a little harsh though. Art 8/10 OK during the first 10 episodes where the story was golden , it wasn't the same animation wise , a lot of lazy drawings were noticed during its first run , in the last 15 episodes the art became a lot better , and was an eye candy to me. Sound 7/10 The Openings are pretty good , and the Voice actors are good , the Soundtracks in this season are dull. Character 7/10 Morgiana is decent , Aladdin is great , Alibaba is too cliché that his development isn't investing me in it. But characters Like Sinbad are amazing enough to invest me into him, Judal's character too , It is more of a mixed bag to me. Enjoyment 8/10 OK in short I enjoyed episodes 1-10 at the fullest , 11-14 were slow but had a lot of hype which ended up being for nothing , the show picks up again when it goes for the second dungeon and invests me again into it. Overall (8 + 8 + 7 + 7 + 8)/5 = 7.6 Ceiling 7.6 is 8 so it is an 8/10 (Very Good)

my friend recommend this anime because iam arab and i will find interesting , so i said ok lets try it. Story: story about a boy who doesn't know who he is but he got great power and he met with his best friend Alibaba and the the journey begin. first i thought the story was simple that every magi must chose a king then all the fight begins in the dungeon and between nations, for me i found the names of the spells is funny ( halhal infgar) it means hot hot boom :) 10/10 Art: i liked the arab atmosphere and the art of the characters specially aladin his eyes is just too cute. 8/10 Sound: the first intro is EPIC i loved it and iam planing to put as ringtone to my mobile and for the characters voice acting it was great and even for the spells impact sound it was good. 8/10 Character: aladin , alibaba and my beautiful morgina all is pretty awesome and how the characters grow step by step , some characters is just too mean i dont know why they put them in anime like this that dont include this kind of shit. PS: i liked high king of the seven seas and his eight generals. 9/10 Enjoyment: i couldn't sleep i just want to see magi one after the other until i slept on the laptop :P even when iam going to bed i think that iam a magi too , i liked this anime so much i didnt liked any show like from maybe 2 years so iam glad that i watched this show and iam gonna continue the second season after. 9/10 Overall: 9/10

Magi: The Labyrinth of Magi was a very enjoyable show from beginning to end, and I highly recommend it. Story: 9 Magi will most likely differ from your expectations when you first go into watching it. The Thousand and One Nights influence is really just an influence. The show borrow elements from it but is ultimately an original piece. The setup had great potential to it and the ending leaves many questions unanswered. I didn't see any obvious flaws in the story, and I hope the next (mostly likely a few more) seasons will answer some of the questions presented. I really can't say anything about the plot that doesn't spoil the show. The pacing was slow at the start, but picks of the pace very quickly. Art: 9 Animation was nice, pretty good for a 25 episode season. Relatively fluid but sometimes i felt that the budget could be more prioritized. The dance scenes are usually well animated in other shows but in this, it felt choppier than usual. The quality of the animation in the opening is about what you get throughout. One part about the drawing style that took a bit of getting used to was the teeth: it always seems to me they were wearing mouth guards all the time. But overall, nothing huge to complain about, but doesn't really bring anything new to the table. Sound: 9 The soundtracks were pretty nice. The variety of arabian themed music to hot blooded techno during some fights were interesting to listen to. The openings and endings were great. This is one of the only shows where I actually listen to the whole of the ending every time. I have always been a fan of Supercell's, and this time, with The Bravery serving as the second ending theme. Aladdin's seiyu was a bit too girly for me, and it was really obvious most of the time that the seiyu was a girl. Yuki Kaji did a great job for Alibaba, no complaints there. Character: 9 They all got some character development most of the time, and were enjoyable to watch. Sometimes, though, one of the main trio wouldn't even appear in an episode because of the different allocations of development. However, it was still nice to see some of the minor characters get a chance in the lime light. Enjoyment: 10 Overall: 9 A very enjoyable show that doesn't require a whole lot of thinking. Strongly recommended.

This is an otherwise amazing series, worthy of a "9" rating that suffers from regrettable instances where unwanted sexual advances are normalized, the objectification of women is present through out-of-place harem situations and unpleasant character reactions to female 'ugliness' (as per the show's standard's of beauty), and a massive amount of cultural appropriation, vis a vis the absence of any Middle-Eastern looking characters in a setting that is very obviously based on Arabia (and, therefore, the Asiatic Middle-East.) These problems have the potential to launch certain viewers out of the story, while normalizing for others harmful social views that they might already hold (without offering any voice of opposition.) I don't want to fixate /solely/ on these problems, as the series, insofar as characters, art and sound are truly great, particularly the characters from a developmental standpoint. And the overall emotional tone and pacing of the series is executed to near perfection. Overall, it is a series that I would have liked to have in the top bracket of series that I've watched, but it's perhaps because it is otherwise so good that these types of unfortunate representations of marginalized social groups leaves such a bad taste in my mouth. If the whole product were bad, I could just dismiss these as part of the unsatisfactory package, but in this case, I can't. That is why, although I adore many aspects of this series, I am forced to give it an "8" instead of a "9," and I feel that that's a very lenient deduction for how glaring these problems are.

Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic Review Story (8/10) Very Good From the first 3 episode honestly I thought it was ok I didn't see anything super special it wasn't until around episode 5 or 6 basically when Judar was introduced when I felt the story picked up some pace and took off like a rocket-ship. I enjoyed every bit of this season after that point. And I indeed heard that A-1 Picture adapted about 109 chapters of the manga into 25 episodes and I hear apparently there are people out there that didn't sit well with that. I do agree some events felt like that took place just a bit too fast, but as an anime only watcher (up to this point of writing this review that is..) I felt even though those events took place a lot faster than it did in the manga I didn't feel it was rushed. Because to me when you bring in the word "rushed" that's a negative and I felt the pacing decision that A-1 Pictures decided to go with can be forgiven, if I read the manga maybe I would feel differently but it is what it is I can look past this. I also heard when it came to episode 24 a lot of changes were made I'm going to spoil too much but I'm talking about the whole Sasuke like curse-mark and dark transformation moment Ali Baba had. Like said I do feel when it came to 25 episodes they wanted it to feel conclusive and climatic when it comes to ending a season off, maybe in the manga how that arc ended they felt wouldn't have left people feeling as hyped to watch anymore of Magi after that I have no clue I'm just assuming, but once again I can forgive that also. This is the mindset I'm coming from here so HEAR ME OUT. Which one would you have preferred? A) They stick too the manga, not have 25 episodes in one season and don't make any changes? Because if you choose this option you have to take into consideration that with 25 episodes they are able to make this look this good A-1 Pictures is known for having great art style and animation in their adaptations and if they didn't cut it off at 25 episodes and take a break, come back and to another (which is what they have been doing) then we would see the Toei effect which is basically taking no breaks and having good episodes every once and a while and many other episodes get butchered. or B) What they are doing now. (Exactly my point I can sacrifice a little bit of the story being changed and it being quicken just a tad bit versus getting a shitty adaptation all together this world isn't perfect and you have to pick your poison every studio isn't Madhouse who can make 148 flawless episodes of HxH) Art (10/10) Masterpiece A-1 Pictures did an outstanding job with the art in the anime, there's no issue what so ever I had with it. Characters as far as their manga counterparts that I've seen here and there for example Hakuryuu don't look exactly how they look in the manga but it isn't anything to complain about to take off points in my opinion. Sound (10/10) Masterpiece No issues here either the openings are outstanding the sound effects were great everything perfect in the section also. Now these days if you can't get this category right then just quit lol. Character (8/10) Very Good More Specifically (8.75/10) Damn near all of the characters are unique, interesting and most importantly bad ass. I think they are all good the only character that disappointed me was Hakuryuu not going to spoil anything about him but the if you've watched the anime I think you know what scene I'm talking about (cry baby..) anyway everyone else lived up to the expectation I had for the just off of first glance. Enjoyment (8/10) Very Good Like I said in the story section those first like 4 or 5 episodes my enjoyment was around a 7 at best which is why I can't give this a 10 personally. I understand majority of anime has a slow start but I can't forgive that beginning for me personally. I didn't think the hype behind the anime was real until episode 6. So it is was it is a 8 is still good everything else in the anime please me fairly. Overall (8/10) More Specifically (8.95/10) I felt Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic was very very good and it honestly. I can't wait to watch season 2 (which I heard is even better than this 1) and get caught up with the manga (which I heard is HYPE right now) before season 3 hopefully starts.

tl;dr: I find this show to be generic, cliche and tropy. The characters behave more like generic anime characters than real people, which negatively impacts the political story line. The dialog is awkward and stilted, while consistently using the crutch of explaining everything as a form of constant exposition. The themes regarding destiny/fate are confused and many of the situations are hard to swallow as believable. I recognize that this show is very popular and well liked, which is why I was originally interested in watching this show. I love 1001 Nights and the aesthetic that goes with it, so it seemed like a good fit for me. I have actually watched this show before, when the season was first released and decided to read most of the manga (before ultimately dropping it), but my feelings on the show are... complex. I wish there were a rating for just "setting" as that is really the only thing I actually like about this anime. I find that the later storylines pick up some of the slack and the story DOES improve somewhat, but not within this season. As far as shounen anime go, this is a fine place for any shounen fans to go. I would say that it's in league with shows like Naruto or Dragon Ball. That is, however, as far as my recommendation goes. I imagine that if I had watched this as a kid, I would have loved the anime. It has a great inspiration, the setting is interesting, and it has all those shounen gimmicks for an action/adventure show that any kid would love. If you are looking for a shounen series, this show is passable. However, I wasn't looking for a shounen series, I think I was looking for something more a long the lines of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood in quality. I don't particularly like shounen as an adult and I don't think that this show does anything to escape the trappings of the genre. I also, fundamentally disagree with the idea that anime should continue to follow these tired and obnoxious tropes. I don't think that "shounen" is an excuse for cliche. The characters are pretty basic anime tropes that do nothing to escape that trapping. They are the same characters you have seen in a hundred anime. The show itself is cliche, predictable, tropy and it does nothing to separate itself from every other shounen. I am actually shocked that this series has such high ratings, because of just how unambitious it is. It is sterotypical anime down to its core. The dialog is awkward at best and absurd at worst. People don't talk or behave like people, they behave like parodies of anime characters. I find the dialog and writing to be embarrassing and cringy; I haven no other words to describe it. You have people CONSTANTLY explaining what they are doing, as if the audience is too stupid to figure it out. It runs into that issue where battles come to a complete stop so that the characters can narrate what they are doing, which is unnecessary and something I particularly hate. It violates the classic concept of "show, don't tell" every chance it gets. Possibly due to translation, but the dialog itself comes off as incredibly unnatural. Not just because they are constantly explaining what's happening, but because the show seems more interested in fulfilling shounen check boxes than it does illustrating a believable world, inspired by 1001 nights. The characters, their actions, and the way they talk are all ridiculous and in some instances, unbelievable. The villains are so petty and obvious that it's impossible to take them seriously. The heroes are just... anime heroes. The story itself is passable. It's nothing special and only works because of the interesting setting that the writer put together. I love the ideas of dungeons and Magi and the Arabic aesthetic. However, I think the presence of sterotypical anime characters and ridiculous plot tropes really only drags the compelling setting down. You have these political scenarios, which sound interesting on paper, but are executed to a degree of absurdity. These nations don't behave or interact like real world nations, they behave and act like, well, anime characters. In shows like Gurren Laggan, it works, because of how wonderfully absurd and stylized the story is. In this, they try to play it too straight for it to be believable. Compare it to the political events of central in Fullmetal Alchemist or the tense political scenario of 08th MS Team. In the latter, the political situation is believable, consistent, and has a thread of realism that makes the situations feel dire and tense. In Magi, it just feels... made up. There are multiple moments in the show that just seem overly simplistic and unlikely. Beyond the fact that I find this show to be intensely generic, unrealistic, and cliche, Magi is also built around some ridiculous themes regarding destiny. Without spoiling anything, the end of the first season builds up this theme that I just cannot get behind. The themes of Magi are only believable within the context of the show and are not translatable to reality. That is at least, if you take the story in the first season at face value. I think that the themes become more reasonable in the second series, as more information is provided, but at the very least I would say that themes are confused. Specifically, I am referring to the show's position on the concept of fate. The theme honestly feels inconsistent, which leads to this conflicting opinion on it. There are moments in the show that almost seem to imply that "going against fate is bad", which is ridiculous and one reason I detest the show. But... then the actual mechanics of the concepts of fate become fleshed out and the theme begins to take a turn. But I would almost argue that the inconsistent perspective of faith has more to do with providing the good guys opportunities to be in the right, rather than any solid stance on the concept. Either way I find the themes to range from dumb at worst to confused at best. At the end of the day, this show is just another shounen anime that doesn't do anything to evolve the genre. There are too many anime that use shounen tropes as skeleton to make something unambitious, cliche, and generic. I don't like these tropes and they hold the genre back. Just because an adventure series is aimed at young adults, doesn't mean that they have to tell the same stories and characters over and over again. There are better shows that do way more with the medium.

I have to say, I am impressed by this anime. I wasn't expecting much. But I came in with a clear mind, with much surprise this anime treats you quite nicely. I will do a short review for this anime. The world has kings. There are people that follow them at their side as companions who support their goals. There will be fighting. Death. Blood. It goes without saying peace is something you must put your life down on the line for. Two forces are facing one another. Darkness and Light. In this anime, the light is called, Rukh. And when someone curses their fate, their Rukh turns black. All people can use the Rukh but some are limited by their abilities and strength. But other certain individuals will practice and hone on their skills. The Magoi is the power that comes from the Rukh emitting from one's body, which in turn powers their magical weapons and abilities. One must be too careful, because if you use too much Magio, it can lead to your death. There exists Magi throughout all of history and time. They are the ones who determine who is king. It's known that there is only three Magi but something has changed. Who knows? You'll find out. Several Nations exist throughout the world, competing to conquer. But there can only be one. The Magi offer their guidance and protection, making them his king King Vessels and making them Dungeon Capturers. This method has been used to improve countless cities, these individuals will determine their fate.

Right off the bat this anime gets points in originality for embracing an Arabian theme while still intertwining many other themes like Japanese and Roman. Although it still grounds itself in fantasy standards like magic and the fire/water/earth/wind circle it creates many new ideas that are only found in Magi, blending it all together seamlessly. The atmosphere of the series is probably one of the best things about it, being very light-hearted and comical before quickly drawing back to reality often in a deadly serious manner. One minute the focus will be a few friends enjoying themselves and the next will be the necessary evils and inevitable poverty that plagues the world. This is all aided by Magi's fluid animation and incredible splash of colors that just makes it a beautiful sight to see. You can notice how colorful and diverse the different characters are in the series, while also see the darker parts of the show shown in a much darker tone -- often in pure black itself. Overall Magi is just an enjoyable series, giving you a pleasant experience while also asking some serious questions about things like poverty and how wealth is divided in society.

So, when I first heard about this anime, I was kind of intrigued, one of my friends told me to watch it and said: "Hey this anime is kind of cool whit a character based on Aladdin who is kind of a little pervert who loves boobs", and so I was like well this anime seems like the typical shounen whit huge amounts of fan service and mind-blowing action scenes........ Oh how wrong I was.... Magi the Labyrinth of Magic is much more than your average shounen anime, it has a perfect mixture between action, drama and comedy which combine whit its original and very interesting plot based on the One Thousand and One Nights and lovable characters such as: cute Aladdin, badass Morgiana , happy Ali Baba, cool Sinbad, as well as having one the most original arts design whit smooth battle scenes that combines perfectly whit it's awesome Arabian style OST, you have what I would labeled as a masterpiece. Magi the Labyrinth of Magic is overall an outstanding anime that submerges you into its world of fantasy from places far away in between of hidden doors and uncharted dungeons in 1001 nights of pure happiness and enjoyment so, from my point of view, this is a rare breed of action and fantasy anime that only comes once in 1001 years on the anime fan dome , I really enjoyed and recommend it to any shounen lover or fantasy action seeker Thank you for your atention! , i hope you enjoy my review an have a nice day :) Lucky out ;)

having read a decent amount of the manga since watching the first few episodes, i think the place where the show cuts off is pretty good. the flow of the story told by the anime is solid and well-explored, and i would say that the overall experience was sufficiently enjoyable. since there are plenty of reviews that give a far better synopsis, i will skip that part and present you with a short list of things that i liked and disliked about magi: plus: + the gags are great in the beginning but as the series goes on they wear a bit thin; there are only so many times the sexual humor works. luckily, we have some chibi comic relief to counteract that, and it works for the most part. + aesthetics-wise, the colors are vibrant and the animation is very clean and smooth. it's very standard for an anime of its genre, so there's not much of a bone to pick with this one. + the characters seem rather two-dimensional at first, which is why i initially did not want to give this show a high rating, but you can see a lot more development during and after the balbadd arc, which makes the series a lot more worth watching. however, we still have your standard woobie prince and justice complex / human drama tropes, so maybe it's not so different after all. that being said, anime prince zuko is an excellent addition to the cast because he was the only person whose characterization took me completely off-guard. + the voice-acting is solid. maybe it is simply because of my bias for one of the seiyuu. nothing unique here. minus: - using Bakuman-speak, it's very much a proper battle series in a non-mainstream setting. aside from the setting and the original concept of the story, there's nothing truly spectacular behind the characters and nothing that honestly sets it apart from another battle manga. there's nothing about the anime that hasn't been done before. - the tearjerker scenes are effective, but some of the impact is lost with the friendship speeches. - the flow of the story in the beginning still threw me off a bit, but once things settle down in balbadd, you can pretty much see where it's headed. nothing was truly unpredictable, and the foreshadowing of character development is as straight-forward as they come. welp: = i look forward to the next installment of the story and i will watch the anime, but my honest opinion here is that you would probably be better off just reading the manga.

MAGI THE LABYRINTH OF MAGIC first of all,before you watched it,you might think this anime is good but isn't interesting(you know wht i mean right?)... but i am here to change that mindset of yours bcoz you are going to go inside THE WORLD OF MAGIC when watching this anime MAGI LABRYRINTH OF MAGIC, after watching these till the end you will know that this anime is a RARE DROP!! U won't find exactly the same anime as these ones coz they are SUPER RARE!! BY SUPER RARE I MEAN LIKE :- *NARUTO *ONE PIECE *DBZ *FMA Coz it is extremely hard to find an anime that really have everything in it... the storyline was extremely great...the art is good...the characters are all loveable...this anime is an absolute MASTERPIECE!! Even in the manga the quality doesnt change a bit... YOU MUST WATCH THIS!! THIS ANIME IS 1 IN A MILLION... PLS APPRECIATE THIS ANIME... ULTIMATELY RECOMMENDED TO WATCH!! IT HAS ACTION,FANTASY, AND EVEN A LIL BIT OF ROMANCE~

At first I was skeptical when I began watching Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic. I was like "Oh look, another magical shonen anime. Never seen one of those before." I was honestly expecting a crappier version of Fairy Tail, but honestly, I was very pleasantly surprised how wrong I was! STORY 10/10 I'll start off by saying that one of my favorite things about this series is the first episode. It was brilliantly done. It immediately is interesting. It has scenes that give off a mysterious, badass type of feel that make you wanna stick around so you can understand what's going on. This anime takes place in what appears to be some sort of alternate, ancient middle east. It follows the story of a boy named Alladin (I know what you're thinking, but this isn't the Disney movie) who uses a wish from a genie to become friends with it and they become traveling companions (Worst wish ever right?). If that alone doesn't make for an interesting story, Alladin is also what is called a "Magi", a legendarily talented spellcaster. ART 8/10 It's pretty good. Iv'e seen better though. SOUND 8/10 I usually give an 8 as default when the soundtrack doesn't stick out much. If it sticks out because its bad, then I go lower and visa versa. The opening theme is pretty cool though. CHARACTER 8.5/10 This series has extremely well done character development and you can totally see the characters mature as the series progresses. Also, the "super powers/magic" in this anime are fairly original! I've never seen anything quite like the abilites that characters possess in this anime. I didn't give a perfect score because I felt that sometimes the characters needed a little more "life" in them. ENJOYMENT 9/10 On a scale of 1-10, my enjoyment was a 9. Simple as that. OVERALL 9/10 Overall i thoroughly enjoyed this anime and I highly recommend it. It's very different that any anime you've ever seen. That, I can guarantee!

Overall, I would say that this is a show worth watching. I feel like it presents a kind of unique cast of characters, and it introduces them relatively gradually, so it's pretty easy to keep track of everyone. It really gives you time to connect with the characters, so the things that happen to them mean more to the viewer. I think the anime was pretty well drawn. It transitioned well from manga to anime without losing a lot of details, and the music was engaging if not a little over dramatic at parts. I was also a fan of a lot of the voice actors, so that was a huge plus as well. I read the manga before I watched the anime, and for the most part, the anime follows the manga pretty closely, which I appreciate. The only real issue I had is that the last three or four episodes progressively work in more and more filler, and while I understand that this was probably done because the manga is still in publication, I feel that the direction that they went with it all was kind of silly. Overall, though, it's not the worst filler I've ever seen, and it didn't take away too much from the story.

THIS IS A SPOILER-FREE REVIEW The shounen genre has always been a pleasure to get into again and again. Although there are clear differences in quality, i think if you look at the big shounen shows, you can see the consistent formula being used to top the popularity polls of every single season. Magi is another shounen that has been on my radar for a long time. So, what does this shounen do different than all of the others? What is it that makes Magi unique and interesting? Let´s get into it. Story – 9/10 This is by far the best aspect of this series, and the reason i think more people should get into this show. First of, the worldbuilding. The setting is really interesting and diverse. The whole mythology is clearly inspired by the persian 1001 nights, centred around jinns, emirs, thief's and swordplay. Also, most of the first two arcs is also set in a middle-eastern type world, which is very rare for anime. But this is actually just one little country inside this vast world. The author clearly took inspiration from history because most of the different kingdoms and countries shown here are similar to actual empires in the history of earth. You have Sindria (Phoenicians), Kóu (Ming-Dynasty), Bal-Badd (Bagdad) and much more. This series spends a lot of time on politics and diplomacy, something rare for a shounen. The different storylines are cleverly set up and paid off throughout the show, there are multiple ongoing mysteries, rivalries and flashbacks. The pacing is great, it never feels like something is left out, which is a problem that a lot of modern shounen have. This has the vibe of an older shounen, something like Naruto or One Piece but it feels fast and fresh. The only few drawbacks are the fights themselves ,which is the reason why i can´t go higher with the score. The fights are cool to look at, but they lack the strategy and thought of something like „Hunter x Hunter“. Also, I think this season slows down a bit during the last arc. Everything before that is done wonderfully. The Bal-Badd arc has to be my favorite. It covers 2/3 of the season and sets up many characters, plotpoints and more. It also has the best fight in the entire series so far. Art – 8/10 The middle-eastern aesthetic present for most of this season is certainly a unique one in anime. It feels so fresh and new. The costumes are stylish, the earrings are shiny and the hairstyles are as colourful as ever. The character designs are memorable and vibrant, both for the female, but especially for the male characters. Every kingdom has a different vibe to it, different clothes and different jewellery. The background arc is also great. I love the design of the different cities, Sindria being my absolute favourite. The fights themselves aren´t mindblowing, but at least they are consistent. This is A-1 Pictures we are talking about, so you can expect a certain standard of quality here. Sound – 8/10 The openings are really well done. They weren´t exactly fitting for the series itself, but they are both great shounen OPs in my opinion. The BGM however knocks it out of the park with fantastic background songs that pull you into the world even more. The use of middle-eastern instruments gives the soundtrack it´s own identity similar to the use of classic Japanese music in something like „Naruto“. Characters – 8/10 This show features A LOT of characters. What i found interesting is that this show does not really have a standout main character. We have Aladdin, who is of course the posterboy, but also Alibaba. He is my favourite character in the show. The Bal-Badd arc made him shine so much. His backstory was engaging and well structured, especially his relationship with Cassim. Morgiana is a cool female deuteragonist, but i think most of her story is held back until season two. Sindbad is of course a big factor in my enjoyment of the show. He is very similar to someone like Gojo Satoru from „Jujutsu Kaisen“ with his charming attitude and seemingly unlimited power. The only downside are the villains. Judar needs more build-up to be truly frightening and the organisation he belongs to hasn´t made an impact, at least not yet. Enjoyment - 8/10 This was a very enjoyable show for most of it´s run. I´ll definitely watch season two when i find the time. If you are looking for a great shounen with fantastic pacing and worldbuilding, Magi is for you. This is a must-watch for every shounen fan. - Marco_Yooo FINAL SCORE - 8/10

Magi is, according to numerous lists, one of the very best adventure anime of all time. If that is the perception of the majority of the community I'd definitely argue this show is considerably overrated. That being said, while it certainly is not without flaws, which I'll be addressing shortly, it's an overall GOOD show, though in my opinion not a GREAT one, and it's probably worth a look for fans of the genre. Art- This anime is fine visually, but, considering it's a modern anime (2012) it really isn't anything special compared to other products of its time. What you get here is pretty run of the mill for a non low budget anime from this time period. I cannot think of any scenes that blew me away visually but the anime isn't ever ugly either. Some of the characters have ridiculous designs, but this is a deliberate decision. Sound- In my opinion the single strongest element of the show is it's phenomenal background music, which I'd rate a slam dunk 10/10. It was varied, it was scene appropriate and it was very high quality. Environmental scenes had beautiful Arabian sounding music that perfectly fit the locale. Battle scenes had uptempo, evocative music that always felt like it was integrated masterfully into the scene. Sad moments had dramatic, sullen music to really fit the mood. A side note that really impresses me about the music is the fact that it felt like the music was actually designed to be background music, which feels uncommon in anime these days. Often times a song is designed to be, well, a song, and they simply cut it and play part of it in the background of whatever scene. In this case it felt like the music was designed specifically to fit the scenes as opposed to being intended to be listened to after the fact as a standalone product and they really nailed it. After all those compliments, here's some negativity to counteract it- As lovely as the background music was, the voice acting was very average. None of the important characters have accompanying standout voice performances and some of the less important characters, villains in particular, have super cringe inducing, blatantly over the top, ridiculous voices. A somewhat disturbing pattern I noticed is that several of the villains have voices, and sometimes appearances, that came damn near the line of outright mockery of a stereotypical homosexual person. It felt like the director or the person in charge of casting the voice actors was making a point to get a dig in at that community, which is something I don't support or appreciate at all. One male villain who was blatantly afeminine and wore lipstick and such had a voice that bordered on degrading and likewise a different male villain- a character clearly designed to come off as a jerk and be disliked- had a massive lisp and talked in an odd and potentially suggestive way. If these implications were intentional, shame on them. Character/Story- The characters are likely the weakest part of Magi as they are, in one word, flat. Character development is lacking in this anime in a big way, which is exasperated by the fairly large size of the cast, and damn near every single character doesn't really have anything more to them than basic emotions and however they appear on the surface. I found it very difficult to connect with or care about any of the characters and none of the moments that were intended to be emotional effected me at all, as I simply didn't care. This anime also suffers from pacing issues and perhaps a bit of misleading advertising. For such a highly regarded ADVENTURE anime there really isn't all that much adventure to be had. Many stretches are slow, boring and very dialogue heavy and the middle section of the show is significantly overly drawn out. I thought, based on the synopsis of the anime, I'd be watching a group of characters go from location to location attempting to capture dungeons and obtain the power within, which is a premise I was definitely into, but in reality once the characters leave the initial dungeon in the third or fourth episode they do not return to one again until episode 19, which is a very long stretch of much less exciting things. The fact that the characters only go inside TWO dungeons over a 25 episode stretch was definitely a letdown. Also, this anime has a bit of an identity crisis and perhaps isn't self-aware of the way it comes off. There are many childish moments and immature boob references, but then all of a sudden it tries to get really dark. It was very difficult to take the dark moments seriously when the character development was sorely lacking and when the large majority of the show was, clearly, aimed at a young teenage audience. Another thing that worked against the dark moments is that this show is way too afraid to kill off any remotely important characters. Even in its final battle in which in two separate locations a major conflict is occurring- one with 8 good guy generals (many of whom are undeveloped and unimportant) facing off against the army of the bad guys and the other where the main characters fight against a super villain- every single person on the side of the good guys survives and the good guys claim a decisive victory without any consequences or meaningful casualties. The sense of inevitability that the good guys will always win and the main cast of three will, no matter what, absolutely survive through the show and be fine really detracted from any sense of danger or consequence. Enjoyment- I didn't specifically dislike watching Magi, and it finished really strong with its final 5 ish episodes being quite good and getting me back into it, but overall I was fairly disappointed given how hyped this show is. If not for the strong final few episodes I'd have given the show a 6. The premise of capturing dungeons in a magic-heavy land is super underutilized and as I mentioned previously the middle section in particular really dragged and got into a very dialogue heavy political type situation, which is not what I want from an adventure anime. I'm glad I watched the show and I will watch season 2 in the coming months but there is just no way this show is one of the best adventure anime of all time as I've read so many times. Overall- First of all, overrated. More specifically, an interesting but definitely underutilized premise, average voice acting, flat/underdeveloped characters, pacing issues in the middle, ineffective tone shifts and a major case of "the good guys will always win no matter what" syndrome backed up by lovely environmental music, a few cool but over the top battle scenes and too many immature scenes that were probably trying, and failing, to be humorous. Worth a watch but NOT an all time great. +Some of the best background/environmental music I've ever heard +Great concept/premise +Solid battle scenes -Flat/underdeveloped characters -Pacing issues -Tone issues -No sense of danger or consequence because, no matter what, the good guys will be okay OBJECTIVE RATING- Weak 7 PERSONAL ENJOYMENT RATING- Strong 6/Weak 7