Recap: Prince Hakuryu and Princess Kougyoku arrive in Sindria, but the Princess brings a revelation that threatens Sinbad’s bachelor lifestyle.

Dragonzigg’s Thoughts: OK, let’s get the obvious out of the way first. Aside from the first five minutes and the last thirty seconds this episode is basically pure, unadulterated filler that mostly consists of two groups of people standing and talking. That’s not to criticise it for what it is, but simply to point out that fact. It’s odd that you’d essentially waste an entire episode so close to the end of your season, but as far as building breathing space between arcs goes i suppose it makes decent sense. As it is, all of the trademarks of the filler episode are in effect – there’s basically no action and little movement, the animation is cheap and it goes off model a fair bit though given that A) Magi makes a habit of this and B) There’s a lot of dumb faces in this one anyway, it’s not a big deal.

The thing which sort of saves this episode from further scrutiny is that it’s really rather amusing. OK so, the joke is essentially ‘Did Sinbad rape the Princess?’ which is a pretty uncomfortable horse to hitch your comedy wagon to, but there’s a right and a wrong way to go about getting laughs from this premise. This episode goes the right way, by making it more a joke about people’s preconceived notions of Sinbad and his lothario lifestyle, and making sure basically every laugh is at his expense. His retainers almost total lack of faith in him is extremely funny and while our belief in him is never really tested, it’s a nice, funny way to bring the character down a peg. Ka Kobun’s villainy is pretty obvious early on, but despite his insidious plans he’s so incompetent and hammy that we’re clearly not meant to take him seriously as an actual baddie. Chances are he’ll stick around as a sort of sitcom-styled arch-nemesis to Sinbad and the gang, a role I can see him excelling at.

There is some actual substance to the episode though, mostly teased out of little bits and pieces of detail scattered everywhere. Yamraiha provides a rough breakdown of how magic works in the Magi universe, which also usefully illustrates how Aladdin can be a Magi without necessarily being a very good magician. meanwhile, Alibaba gets a sweet new weapon which provides us with a brief and rather charming flashback to his boyhood days. It’s also important to note that this confirms the Millennium Items Metal Vessels themselves have no inherent power, they’re merely convenient containers for the djinn spirits.

Sinbad also talks about the Household system, and how King Candidates can lend power to members of their household. Given that this appears to be how Sinbad’s Eight Generals operate (in episode 17 Masrur and Jafar clearly described their attacks as ‘Household Vessels’) does this mean Sinbad himself was once a King Candidate? If so, which Magi picked him? There’s also a nice moment for Morgiana, who’s been somewhat sidelined for a little while now, but still gets these brief moments to remind us the writers haven’t forgotten her. The bit with the gauntlets is funny and adorable but also serves as a reminder that she’s largely unaware of societal norms or what’s considered ‘feminine’, something which has no doubt helped her avoid falling into the cliche woman character trap. It’s an interesting decision to have her retain the shackles as well – I personally would probably have had them thrown away as soon as possible, but Morgiana’s counter argument that they remind her of her past and the people who freed her has resonance as well. If nothing else, the prospect of a magically powered-up Morgiana sounds fantastic.

Speaking of the Household, we get very, very brief insights into the past of some of the Eight Generals. Two are told to us explicitly – Masrur was himself a slave (though he was a gladiator), a pretty obvious narrative choice to further emphasise the links between him and Morgiana. Jafar however was a child assassin, a rather unexpected history given his current soft-spoken nature. We’re shown one additional freeze frame which lets us guess a bit more – it appears Yamraiha was a witch from a tribe of witches, and the young Sharrkan is dressed a bit like a shaman. They’re all portrayed as children, indicating they’ve been with Sinbad a while. While inconsequential here, these details are surely groundwork for some more thorough explanation down the line.

The biggest bombshell here comes right at the end though, when Hakuryu reveals he’s not only familiar with Al-Thamen (I think that’s a safe assumption to make about who he’s talking about) and, more surprisingly, that he wants to destroy the Kou Empire, despite being it’s Prince. All along we’ve automatically believed Hakuryu is a bad guy because he’s Judal’s chosen King Candidate, but is that really true? Perhaps he resents Judal for forcing such a destiny on him? An furthermore, is destroying the Kou Empire a good thing? As anime fans we’re automatically suspicious of the Empire because it’s a vast, faceless and impersonal force and those tend to be bad guys, whereas our small, plucky and empathic band of heroes are the good guys. But what we’ve seen of the Kou so far has hardly been overtly villainous, and given the show’s surprisingly multifaceted portrayal of politics so far I suspect and hope for a more nuanced plotline than simply ‘destroy the big kingdom’. I’m not sure they can pull it off in the five or six episodes remaining, but I’m excited to see them try.

Random Observations

• I am now fully onboard with the new ending song. It’s pretty great.
• Any mystery about what Morgiana’s reforged shackles will look like is undone by the fact she’s wearing them in the ending sequence.
• The ruse would have been infinitely more effective if Ka Kobun had also stripped the Princess naked, but I like the idea that’s not something he can bring himself to do.
• I love the mixture of reactions from the Generals when the flashback is playing. Most notably Pisti hides her face when Jafar declares it’s not something children should see, but then peeks out between her fingers