Recap: While the Eight Generals battle to defend Sindria, Alibaba’s party manage to defeat Dunya and Isaac, but at a terrible cost…

Dragonzigg’s Thoughts:  One thing that Magi has lost as it approaches the finale is consistency, and this episode exemplifies that. There’s a bunch of exciting, creative stuff here, but also a fair bit which is draggy, silly or both. As a result, it’s perhaps not quite as entertaining overall as it could be, particularly as it seems pretty late in the run to be busting out new characters and situations like this. Ideally this is the point all of our heroes would be united against a singular threat – as it is there’s still new plot material unspooling. Nevertheless, there was far more good than bad to be savoured.

Let’s start with the good. The outstanding sequence this episode is definitely the deaths of Dunya and Isaac, or rather ‘death’ in Isaac’s case. Giving you villains tragic backstory is hardly new, but it’s a compellingly presented few minutes, aided by some good visuals and music and an impressive willingness to show massive violence onscreen. It adds depth to the previously utterly two-dimensional character of Dunya and I feel that, had they played up the whole ‘driven mad by despair’ thing from the beginning, she could have been a considerably creepier and more effective villain. Of course, this is all moot as she and Isaac are dead by the halfway point of the episode, so I estimate their total screen time at maybe half an hour. It’s a shame, as there’s real potential in the pair as a sort of mad, us-against-the-world villain pair with warped intentions. There’s even some mileage to be had with the pair as a dark shadow to Aladdin and Alibaba. As it is, they’re one and done villains, and while their passing inspires sadness, they were too brief and shallow for their deaths to really register.

That’s also the problem with the Sindria plot this time round, which basically features a bunch of the Eight Generals facing down generic bad guys who we never even learn the name of and curbstomping them easily with their household vessels. While I’m sure the idea was to give us some sweet action scenes to counterbalance the angst and talking in the dungeon, the cheap animation budget (they even resort to the old Dragon Ball standard of looped rapid fire attacks) and uninspiring choreography make this kind of dull. Admittedly seeing the Generals cut loose is cool, but since we’ve never even seen the baddies they’re battling before (and they all look extremely stupid) it’s difficult to get invested in the fight. Special praise goes to the (most likely unintentionally) hilarious scene where Pisti summons a bunch of sea monsters and sends them to pointlessly die in the evil goo.

The ending again is sort of a miscalculation in my book. Granted, the twist that Al-Thamen’s goal all along was to find themselves a ‘Dark King’ is cool and opens a lot of potential plot avenues. The problem is, Alibaba’s plot arc here is essentially the same existential angst he went through in the Blbadd arc, except this time he succumbs to the curse and is reborn as a fantastically goofy looking evil space alien. I mean, terrifying evil black warrior king. I personally was under the impression that  next episode would be the finale, which would be interesting if true. Surely this plot can’t be resolved in just one episode? Or will they end on a cliffhanger and gamble that a second series will come soon, as it surely must? That’s an intriguing metatext to consider for sure.

Random Observations

• Seriously, if any readers know anything else about the airing schedule, please leave a comment, I’d like clarification
• This ending arc is apparently anime original, which shows – it’s a little predictable and by the book.
• Given Morgiana appears surrounded by creepy looking vines, and also appears in the preview, I’m going to assume some magic healing is in order.