Recap: Aladdin’s schooling in Magnostatdt begins with an extended session of training from hell.

Zigg’s Thoughts: Magi goes for a very, very basic plotline here, but to the show’s credit they make it relatively fun and entertaining, and it’s certainly a step up from the stuff we got last week. Granted, there’s very little actual plot progression here, and the outcome is as predictable as can be, but decent presentation and solid writing means this episode at least held my interest.

The very basic plotline that I refer to is of course the old ‘intro to a new school’ spiel, and sure enough we hit most of the major points here – protagonist is put in the loser class, has to endure ridiculously tough training but ultimately triumphs. Given that we’re in a magical academy, there’s some distinct Harry Potter overtones – there’s even a sorting! – but overall Magi manages to rise above the cliches through smart humour and sheer wackiness. The main responsibility for this lies with Meiers, who is so gloriously, ridiculously over the top that she lends a campy, surreal air to the whole training montage. I remain distinctly disapproving of the cheap ‘Aladdin likes boobs!’ jokes but overall this is a decent arc for him to go on and gets us several good laughs.

The other thing that makes this episode a cut above is that for the first time in a while there’s an injection of genuine wonder and interest into the Magi plotline. Magnostadt looks terrific in the little screentime it gets and the introduction of a bundle of new characters, new settings and (most compellingly) new ideas. There’s genuine interest to be had in things like the explanation of the magic system or the hierarchy of the city, and I’m glad we’re getting back to the worldbuilding which made bits of season 1 so great. It’s kind of disappointing that the preview shows us we’ll be leaving Aladdin for a while, but at least it’ll keep the storylines fresh and varied.

Random Observations

• Aladdin falling asleep during Sphintus’s attempted story is kind of funny the first time, way less funny the next 2 or 3 times.
• Why does Aladdin fly with the head of his staff facing forwards?
• There’s some footage reuse in the training sequences which is glaringly obvious and totally inexcusable.
• Iro’s Note: The Djinni are named after the 72 demons of the Ars Goetia, and there are 8 types of magic. Does this mean that the Djinni are separated into groups of 9? We’ve seen two Djinni that are ostensibly wind-element, and the others we’ve seen seem to broadly adhere to the introduced element wheel. I guess Hakuryu’s Zagan would be Life magic?

Iro’s Thoughts: And thus, we hit the most heavily advertised portion of the new Magi season. The entrance to Magnostadt is a beautifully animated flight through the city’s skyline, but the budget takes a nosedive for the rest of the episode. The very same exercising montage is used twice in the same episode, which combined with Meiers being pretty ridiculous even by anime standards and the shonen cliches scattered about basically reduces the entire sequence to a complete farce. However, it remains enjoyable enough to see our scrawny little hero become slightly less scrawny, and to learn more about the theory behind the magic in this universe.