Manga Adaptation by A-1 Pictures
Simulcast on Crunchyroll

Premise: Aladdin and Alibaba meetup and become bros in an Arabian Nights tale.

The atmosphere established by this shot is chilling.

Lifesong’s Verdict: Gives Disney’s Aladdin A Run For It’s Money

Disney’s Aladdin was one of if not my favorite movie as a kid, and Prince of Persia is one of my favorite video game series; It is fair to say that I’ve been in love with this theme for a long time. Magi managed to capture that same theme with an attention to detail that is fairly remarkable for a TV anime. Sure it’s still a shonen series at heart, but the masterful direction fills me with hope for the rest of the series.

This first episode of Magi was nothing short of gorgeous; every other frame makes for a beautiful screen capture. Aladdin and Alibaba are both characters that managed to really create a warm atmosphere right off the bat with some great chemistry, and an a good deal of humor as the powerless Alibaba deals with the not quite human Aladdin and his Djinn. I can see how Aladdin’s childlike demeanor may put some people off; he is very goofy, but I sense a bit more depth behind his playful nature than meets the eye.

Robin Williams’ djinn was never this imposing.

Manga adaptations are not know for good pacing, and I can usually smell one from a mile away; however, if I didn’t know any better I wouldn’t be able to tell that Magi was based off a manga; the pacing in this first episode was fantastic. Magi also deserves some praise for their subtlety of expression; in one example a slave girl is shown to be quite embarrassed by the shackles on her feet as she tugs at her ragged dress trying to cover them up.

Really I have nothing but words of praise for this first episode. My one concern is that Magi is in fact a shonen manga adaptation, and that it might get sucked into a typical adaptation decay shonen manga adaptations commonly face at some point during it’s run. Magi was one of my most anticipated shows of the season, and now it is easily my favorite thing for being so much fun to watch. I can only hope A-1 will handle the rest of this story with the same level of finesse they have shown here.

Is it wrong that I find this adorable?

Iro’s Verdict: Diamond in the Rough

In all seriousness though, this wasn’t bad. It’s all very Arabian Nights, up to and including giant blue geniess, Aladdin (complete with magic carpet), and riff-raff-street-rat-I-don’t-buy-that Prince Ali ABabua. It looked nice though (which explains why Sword Art looked like shit this week) and the plot itself is somewhat interesting, even though it progressed in a fairly cliche manner.

Ali Baba is slowly working up cash to make an expedition into the local cave of wonders, keeping one jump ahead of the bread line and one swing ahead of the sword, until he meets Aladdin. Aladdin has djinn Robin Williams at his side, so Ali Baba is brought into a whole new world of Arabian Nights since he’s never had a friend like him, and they quest to get their eternal reward. I assume that wacky-but-also-generic shonen adventures will continue from here out, but I’ll definitely watch at least a few more episodes.

So pretty..

Gee’s Verdict: Typical Shonen with Potential

No way around it, Magi is a pretty fun anime to watch. It looks great, the setting is interesting, and the characters stand out, even if I’m not a huge fan of them all yet. As a well-read fan of myths and legends, I still have a hard time seeing Ali Baba and Aladdin as a blonde guy and a tiny blue haired child. (I do like the pink haired girl who’s apparently capable of fighting tigers in the opening though) Still, the character designs are nice and do a good job of distinguishing themselves from everything else.

Many shonen have interesting settings and premises, only to fall flat later down the road. It doesn’t help that the premise of the show is essentially already setting itself up as a generic shonen adventure. I certainly hope that doesn’t happen though. It looks like it’ll be an entertaining romp with some genuinely funny scenes and good moments. I’ll certainly be keeping my eye on it for a few more episodes to see where it goes.

Aladdin has had enough of your silly slave laws!

Jel’s Thoughts: Precocious

The first thing that stands out about Magi is the setting. The Arabian Nights backdrop and premise is a welcome change from the endless school stories we’re accustomed to. The next thing that caught my attention was the fact that Aladdin is a pretty young kid. His little boy antics were kind of silly and amusing, but my cranky old man instincts were keeping me from getting too excited about seeing a series starring a child. It’s a reminder of the show’s demographic, and to be honest any shonen production has a long uphill battle to grab my attention these days.

For what it is though, Magi was quite entertaining. The premise of a couple of kids going out to find treasure and adventure is so simple that it really boils down to execution and this episode delivered. Everything looks, moves and sounds great, and the fated meeting between Aladdin and Alibaba did a nice job of setting the tone for their relationship. As long as they keep the giant fighting Djinn action and body slamming tigers coming at us, I’m sure it will be a fun watch. I don’t expect much more than that, but sometimes that’s all you need.

They are holding this woman down as her child is sacrificed to stave off a monster; the life of an Arabian slave is not a pleasant one.

Dragonzigg’s Verdict: Lost Treasure

For about three quarters of this first episode, I was pretty convinced I wasn’t going to like this. I found main character Alibaba a walking comedy void similar to most shonen heroes, brattish halfpint Aladdin too annoying by half, and the much talked about animation quality wildly variable. There were too many stupid jokes, too many dumb super-deformed animations and not enough done with the admittedly unique Arabian Nights setting.

But those last five or ten minutes revealed that my scepticism had been premature, and that the show actually may have a lot more substance than I initially gave it credit for. Both Aladdin and Alibaba show off a surprising depth to their character under the pressure of the monster attack, with Alibaba realizing he’s been living a lie and leaping to the rescue a cool and unexpected way to establish him as our hero. Meanwhile, there’s something beautifully naive about Aladdin’s wish for friendship, and his last minute save was very endearing. I’m also drawn by the surprisingly dark heart here – the slavery angle looks to be a dramatic one if they keep exploring it and the shot of Alibaba frantically reaching for the girls while the merchant dived for his barrel of wine was a deliciously dark juxtaposition.

This djinn looks pretty funny without a head.

I’ll say this as well – while I was unimpressed with the overall inconsistency of the animation, when the show brings it, it brings it pretty damn well. The lingering shots of the desert were wonderful and I love the character design, especially Aladdin’s. There’s also a refreshingly imaginative heart underneath all of this – the idea of giant, wine drinking killer plants, and mysterious dungeons appearing from the ground suggests a world operating outside the standard fantasy rules, be they anime or Arabic fiction. Here’s hoping now it’s found it’s footing Magi only soars upwards from here.