Sinbad

Recap: Aladdin and Morgiana travel to Balbadd, and run into a naked man named Sinbad on the way. After convincing the two he is not a pervert, Sinbad journeys with them to Balbadd, where we learn that travel to Morgiana’s home land has been disrupted. Blame is being placed on a band of mysterious thieves that attack out of the mist.

Sinbad, who has had all his equipment stolen from him, realizes that Aladdin is a Magi and recruits him to help deal with the thieves. Aladdin, who is still looking for Alibaba, hears that the thieves have a new leader who goes by that name, but he refuses to believe they are one and the same. When Aladdin confronts the group of thieves though, their leader umasks himself to reveal that it really is Alibaba!

No, she will not wait in your kitchen.

Lifesong’s Thoughts: Sinbad is a bit of a doofus, but by the end of the episode I found myself liking him. This whole episode is pretty much setup and intro for Sinbad and Alibaba’s group of thieves, but for what it is this episode worked pretty well. I don’t have much to say as not much actually happens this episode.

I love the setting itself, I hope we will be in Balbadd long enough to explore it a bit more. Morgiana’s reaction to be told to wait things out while Sinbad and Aladdin deal with the thieves was pretty great. I love her character more every time she is given screen time. The setup with Alibaba is pretty predictable and very shonen, but I am okay with that. I am looking forward to seeing how things play out next week. Hopefully Alibaba won’t be stuck in emo mode for terribly long.

Darker than your average shonen.

Dragonzigg’s Thoughts: Another fine episode, as Magi continues to improve and widen its world. Sinbad has been much talked about since the beginning of the show, but now that we’ve met him, he’s exactly how I had hoped he’d be portrayed – basically medieval Arabic Han Solo. That is, he can be a bit of a jerk, but in a goofy way, he’s essentially a kind soul and doesn’t mind dirtying his hands to get stuff done. It’s a smart choice for the show to introduce him via a comic relief sequence, as it’s not only funny but immediately communicates his softer, more humble side.  Even his one moment of sexism in this episode is more gently patronising than out-and-out misogynistic  and given he swiftly gets a comeuppance it’s clearly just a comedy thing.

What really intrigues me here is the continued moral greyness Magi is dealing in. There’s clearly something rotten in the city of Balbadd, but the writers do a great job in making it a little unclear where. OK, so it’s obvious the king is not to be trusted, and I doubt chicken throwing fat aristocrat will be given much sympathy either, but the show deserves credit for not immediately jumping on the ‘Robin Hood’ bandwagon with the thieves, something which is reinforced by their pretty creepy lieutenants. Sinbad too shows some moral complexity, clearly having no qualms working with the corrupt king but at the same time subtly encouraging the storming of the aristocrats palace. Incidentally, that shot of the emaciated baby arm was dark as hell, and a welcome reminder that Magi dares to go places other shonen shows would fear to tread.

Aladdin is doing his thing again.

There’s a number of compelling plot threads happening at once here – Alibaba’s true motives, Morgiana’s first contact with another member of her race, Sinbad’s quest for his Millenium Items ‘tools’ – and they’re all interesting in some way or another, which is an excellent sign. How the show juggles these threads will be the key going forward, but there’s an abundance of cool story to play with, and that’s exciting.