Recap: Aladdin and Alibaba enter the cave of er “dungeon”, and face deadly traps as they search for treasure.

Lifesong’s Thoughts: Episode two wastes no time throwing us into the dungeon and establishing that Aladdin’s incredible power is in fact finite which may seem like an obvious thing, but it wasn’t apparent in the first episode so confirmation was appreciated. Aladdin and Alibaba continue to be my favorite pair of bros this season, giving off a sense of chemistry I haven’t seen in a shonen since Full Metal Alchemist. Are the fan girls going nuts for these characters yet or is it just me that finds Aladdin adorable? If so someone help me quickly because I totally do.

This episode managed to be clever with the puzzles without slowing down to focus on them for too long, instead focusing on the slave theme, and adding some more depth to Aladdin and Morgiana. Also, poor Goltas! that bit where he takes the stabbing was.. disturbing. Aladdin I know Morgiana is a lot cuter, but think of the poor mute! He needs his invisible chains cut as well. Speaking of chains I continue to love the sometimes subtle, and sometimes not so subtle use of chains as in this series as a piece of symbolism that fits in so well with the atmosphere; they add an intelligent layer of darkness, I like it.

Soon

Part of why I am enjoying this so much is probably because of the sense of adventure that is built into this world. Alibaba’s motivations remain largely a mystery with little more than a few teasers to keep us guessing at this point. Is that woman in the flashback friend or foe? Is she even alive? I don’t know nearly enough to make a good guess at this point. It was interesting to hear the quite Morgiana talk about her homeland, and defend it as more than just some underdeveloped place where barbarians live. It may be too much to ask for, but I hope we will get to see her homeland at some point. Hurry up and break those invisible chains! There is an adventure just waiting to be had here!

There was a bit of animation derp this week in a few of the in-between frames, but Magi continues to be fairly pretty regardless. I am liking this anime quite a bit. I am tempted to go and read the manga to find out what inspired this adaptation, but I’m worried I’ll join the ‘why isn’t this is in the anime’ crowd if I do. I’m very happy with the pacing so far, and I imagine we will get to see the broader extent of Magi’s setup next episode. I don’t want to ruin the anime for myself, but maybe I will pick up the manga once the all the basics are established, should be safe at that point right?

DERP face, come on A-1 you can do better than this.

Gee’s Thoughts: Magi is definitely doing a good job of keeping its charm. The setting continues to keep my interest considering how rare it is for Japanese fiction to take place someplace other than Japan or “Place that’s Japan in every way but name.” The darker moments were a surprise but definitely went a long way to mix things up. I hope Magi keeps up the trend of subverting my expectations of a shonen adaptation. That said, I still find the lack of development for both Alibaba and Aladdin to be a sticking point, and while I realize that Magi is a shonen at heart, I’d like to see some more depth. Still, when it comes down to inevitable shonen plots, I’ll gladly take adventure story over battle manga so I’ll keep sticking with it.

Dragonzigg’s Thoughts: After the first episode I was cautiously optimistic on Magi, but by the end of this episode all of those cautions had been banished. This was the best episode of anything I’ve seen in quite some time – action packed, great looking (minus the occasional off model shot) with snappy dialogue and real heart in abundance. I’m going to disagree with Gee here and say I felt that Alibaba at least got decent character development in this one, as we begin to see hints that he’s not what he initially appears to be, and that he may have an ulterior motive beyond simple wealth. I was also pleasantly surprised by the care taken to sketch out Morgiana, who I totally expected to be a simple drop-in female character to accompany our adventure bros on their quest. Instead, she’s still an antagonist, and they’re clearly taking the time to develop her before forming the core trio.

I imagine she would have reached them if not for the chains.

As for action, I’m a huge sucker for Indiana Jones style ‘temple full of traps’ plots and that’s essentially what we got here, albeit in slightly abridged form. Seeing Alibaba waste all the bugs was incredibly satisfying, as was the subsequent djinn on….thing battle. It still looks great too, with flashes of excellent flair. I loved the final minutes, the door that can only be opened by two people and the amazing dissolve effect to reveal….well, we’ll have to find out won’t we? I can’t wait.