Magi - The Kingdom of Magic: Season 2 - Part 1
Released By: Manga Entertainment
Rating: 15
Running Time: 318 Mins
Audio: English & French with Japanese & English subs.
Release Date: 5/10/2015
Reviewed By: Sandra Scholes
As they have won the war, they have plenty to celebrate, they have conquered another dungeon, Aladdin, Alibaba, Morgiana and Ren Hakuryu are the team of the moment and everyone wants to know them, none more so than a certain person...
While the festivities rave on, King Sinbad takes Aladdin aside to ask him about the other magi around him; Judar of the Kon Empire has ties to Al-Tharmen and as such is someone he wants to warn Aladdin about; El-Yunan the Wandering Magi who caused the first Dungeon to appear fifteen years ago is another who is elusive and, he thinks not to be trusted, but the one he thinks is the darkest and intense is Scheherazade, the Leam Empire's Magi who has supported the Empire for over two hundred years.
The main reason for Sinbad's conversation with Aladdin is to ask him to go to Leam as the Magi of the Kingdom of Sindria. It's a lot for Aladdin to take in as he's nowhere near that powerful in his own opinion, but Sinbad has a lot of faith in him. As Scheherazade is shrouded in mystery, Sinbad suspects the reason for Leam's great prosperity is due to her rule and wants Aladdin to confirm his suspicions. Without letting the others in on his mission, he has to go to Leam alone as Sinbad doesn't trust his friends.
Magi has a wide range of characters, the cute, huge-eyed Aladdin Alibaba the handsome, bishonen style guy, the older and even more handsome Sinbad and the strong and utterly shojou Scheherazade. It has the same appeal as Fairy Tail or Yu-Gi-Oh!, the animation is brightly coloured with every character drawn different to show their personalities and the battles are epic, long and very drawn out. Also, like Fairy Tail there is almost no end to the journeys they go on, and more than anything else they have quite a lot of fan service that involves big, bouncing boobies (which, incidentally Aladdin loves). Aladdin might be young, but he can handle himself rather well, and it isn't as though he's really going it alone anyway, he's got Morgiana, Alibaba and Ren to board with on the ship they set sail in.
All four of them are in different stages of their development as far as their magic is concerned, Aladdin doubts his own skills even though he is powerful, and Alibaba wants to go to the village of Magoi Manipulation as he intends to get some training in with the gladiators there as he can't manipulate magic at the stage he's in. His mind is set to improve his chances of being a great Magi, but there could be trouble on the way. Magi, ever since the first season has been a great, fun manga that's not just for kids - they are some of the most enjoyable characters I've come across in a while and some of the best storylines I've experienced too - for those who love adventure anime series, you could do worse than pick this up.
Bonus Material: Opening 1 and Ending 1.
Verdict: Four companions on a voyage - it sounds a bit LOTR, but this has a lot of Eastern promise with Aladdin, Alibaba and Sinbad along for the ride, what else can you expect from Magi?
