Recap: Alibaba, Morgiana and Hakuryu storm the pirate base to rescue Aladdin but are then laid low by Madaura’s magic

Zigg’s Thoughts: It’s another one of those episodes, an episode where there’s a bunch of individually interesting ideas that don’t really gel together into anything approaching a coherent plot. And yet again, the pacing issues which have dogged this early part of Magi rear their ugly head, so the episode ultimately feels like something of a missed opportunity.

It’s definitely stronger at the beginning, as Alibaba/Hakuryu/Morgiana vs kids in weird flying water bubbles is a solid action sequence, and I find it hard to dislike any bit which ends with Morgiana beating the crap out of people. Having said that, I don’t think the sequence is very well directed or choreographed overall, and while it’s fun to get a burst of action, it’s not the finest example we’ve seen. Bad animation continues to rear its head as well – perhaps its just wishful thinking but I do feel the first season covered its crappy moments better than this.

Once we get inside it’s perhaps a case of a mismatch between show and subject matter. The idea of an army of children, barely old enough to hold a blade, is compelling and creepy in a good, effective way, but I’m not sure Magi has the necessary gravitas for such an idea to fly.  The show makes hay with what it has to produce some chills but the kiddy soldiers are brushed aside relatively quickly, though I do hope that we come back to them at some point.

I actually really like the concept behind Madaura’s magic – the idea of being able to pacify and control people by invoking a maternal longing in them is clever and, again, is deep enough it’d probably have legs outside of the shonen action genre. The problem here is that it translates into yet another series of turgid flashbacks/mental battles, which is a trope Magi has so thoroughly abused already it’s tiresome. Particularly egregious is Alibaba’s one millionth mental breakdown. Just let the guy be a hero already! His excessive whining is actively making me dislike him and that’s a bad move for one of your main characters.

The ‘twist’ at the end here – the Hakuryu turns on the others – is not unsurprising given the effort this season has gone to in highlighting his lingering family issues, but it makes sense and should give is a solid fight for next week. Magi is trucking along OK, but I can’t say we’ve seen anything particularly inspired yet, and there’s not been much movement on the character front to complement the first season’s excellent work in that area. Buck up please.

Random Observations

• Isn’t Alibaba at least a bit old to be classified as a child under any circumstances?
• Gotta love how 5 year old Hakuryu has the same voice as teenage Hakuryu