Magi: The Kingdom of Magic Volume 1

The time has come for Alibaba, Aladdin and Morgiana to go their separate ways and leave the protection of Sinbad and his Eight Generals on Sindria. All three have different goals in life to pursue: Aladdin is travelling to Magnostadt Academy, ostensibly to study magic, but with another far more serious, fact-finding agenda; Morgiana is determined to return to the Dark Continent and search for any traces of her people, the super-strong Fanalis, and Alibaba has decided to go to train as a gladiator in Reim. So how is it that they find themselves all setting out together – along with their new companion Ren Hakuryu of the Kou Empire – on the same ship? And when that ship is attacked by pirates – very young and ruthless pirates at that – it’s only natural that they should stay together to unravel the mystery.

But life is never going to be easy for the three friends. After they part, Aladdin finds himself facing a baptism of fire at the academy in Magnostadt. The young magi is under strict orders to hide his true identity and extent of his powers – and he ends up in the lowest class, which is more like magic boot camp, with a teacher whose skimpy clothing and brutal teaching method suggest more a BDSM dominatrix than an instructor in the magical arts. With a high failure rate, will Aladdin be thrown out before he’s even begun the training? Alibaba fares little better, arriving skint and starving in Reim where he is forced to prove himself as a potential gladiator in the most humiliating manner. And as for Morgiana… an impossible decision awaits her; if she continues on her journey to find her people in the Dark Continent, she is told that she will never be able to return.

Dark hints that something is very rotten indeed inside the Kou Empire become manifest as all the royal step-siblings, heirs to the Emperor, are suddenly summoned back home to the palace. What fate awaits the embittered Ren Hakuryu – or his kind-natured older sister Ren Hakuei, Aladdin’s friend? Then, as the focus shifts back to Aladdin, we see him make an astonishing and unexpected discovery at the end of his first gruelling year in Magnostadt when he encounters a new student and dangerous rival: Alexius Titus from Reim.  

Magi 2 takes up exactly where Season 1 ended. So if you haven’t watched the first season, you might feel a little confused, wondering who all these exotic characters are and how they relate to each other. Because even though their names come from the Tales of the Arabian Nights, the story is very much mangaka Shinobu Ohtaka’s own creation. Existing Magi fans (and I confess I’m one) are in for a treat and will welcome the chance to meet Aladdin and his staunch friends Alibaba and Morgiana once more.

In The Kingdom of Magic, the world of Magi draws on rather more familiar stereotypes, going for sword and sandals in Alibaba’s journey to Reim/Rem/Leam (the subtitles don’t match the spoken versions) which seems to be based on Ancient Rome. Alibaba goes there to find out how to learn what’s wrong with his Magoi that’s preventing him from doing a full Djinn Equip – but he discovers something truly surprising about himself. Our first view of Magnostadt/ Magnoshutatt (both or either in Japanese and English versions) leans heavily on imagery influenced by the Harry Potter films with broom-riding witches zooming past. But the series continues to look great, especially in the Blu-ray version. The attractive character designs are faithful to the mangaka’s originals (even the amusing chibis) and the depiction of the Kou Empire’s palace is convincingly epic. There is a tendency to fall back on panning slowly across still shots for set pieces such as crowd scenes or banquets (there are plenty of both, it’s that kind of story) but the animation for the magical duels and battles more than makes up for the inescapable need to stay within budget.

Where Magi still scores high, though, is in its ability to deliver convincingly magical confrontations, given genuine weight by the growing feelings and meaningful interactions between the main characters. We really come to care when we see them struggle to achieve their goals, fall out, make up… or part, painfully. An encounter between Ren Hakuryu and Morgiana in Episode 6 counts for me as one of the most affecting I’ve seen in anime in a long time. I can forgive the creative team a great deal if they can deliver dramatic surprises of this intensity.

The original American and Japanese voice casts have settled into their roles (although I’m still not 100% convinced by Cristina Melendez as Aladdin, she improves as the series goes on). New character Titus Alexius is well portrayed by Johnny Yong Bosch and Yoshitsugu Matsuoga (the voice of Soma in Food Wars). However, the US dub script proves a little too slangy for my taste in places (and I’m no purist).

Then there’s the music. Shiro Sagisu’s score reprises much from Season 1, including the brilliant Big Orchestral Opening with its dramatic 1940s Hollywood-style evocation of Eastern Promise (which is just right) through some cheesy orchestral/synthesized stuff to genuinely ear-pleasing and effective Sagisu compositions using ethnic instruments. The new Opening Song is “ANNIVERSARY” by Sid which is suitably energetic and catchy. The Ending Theme, “Eden” by Aqua Timez, accompanies a moonlit sequence, all dark blue and silver. However, the lead singer’s distinctively reedy vocal timbre is not quite right here for the mood of the song or the animation; his upbeat tone suits the final song “MASK” in Bleach so much better.

There is still one small problem. Magi can’t make up its mind which way it wants to go or who its target audience is, resulting in some genuinely uncomfortable moments; quite why the mangaka decided it would be funny to give her brave, pure-hearted and young boy hero Aladdin a tendency to squeeze women’s boobs, I have no idea. The joke’s really fallen flat by now. It just feels kind of icky, inappropriate and wrong.

The only extras are the textless Opening and Ending Themes.

In Summary

Magi 2: The Kingdom of Magic delivers a full-blooded Arabian Nights-style adventure that the original Scheherazade herself would have been proud of, filled with treachery, forbidden magic, djinns and the pain of unrequited love. I’m already looking forward to Part 2!