“No one can conquer a dungeon alone.” -Ali Baba
Summary: Aladdin and Ali Baba venture forth into the dungeon! After a narrow escape from drowning and being set on fire, our heroes must fight an army of alien ants. Using Ugo’s power, they’re able to defeat them, but afterwards, a tuckered-out Aladdin collapses. As it turns out, every time he calls his magical friend, Aladdin uses some of his power, and he can only use so much of it before he needs to recharge, as you will, by eating or taking a bit of a nap. Ali Baba looks after the unconscious Aladdin, when they’re discovered by Morgiana, the magenta-haired slave girl from last episode, who has entered the dungeon with her master, Sharif Jamil, and another one of his slaves, the silent Goltas, in search of Aladdin, whom the Sharif refers to as Magi.
Jamil takes Aladdin and ends up…persuading Ali Baba to join him. The group wanders on, until it eventually falls to Ali Baba to disarm a particularly fiery trap, and after doing so, he is engulfed in flames. Aladdin wakes up, and is left in Morgiana’s care, while the other two explore further. Once Aladdin get’s her to open up, the two talk, mostly about Morgiana’s homeland, and shackles that keep her tied to Jamil. As Morgiana’s telling Aladdin how Ali Baba died, who should appear above them but…Ali Baba! He and Aladdin make a quick getaway, and find themselves in front of a huge gate, that requires both of their hands to open, as well as a magic incantation (and if you didn’t see the magic phrase needed to open the door coming from a mile away then…just go read the original stories or do some research or something). The door dissolves, revealing a whole underground city!
Impressions: After the last couple of weeks of sampling all the new shows that have been coming out, I can honestly say that of all the ones I watched, I think the one I fell in love with the most was Magi. Yeah, it seems really weird for me to say that, and trust me, I’m still trying to get use to it to. I mean, sure, there are a lot of other good shows that started that I really like, but something about this one in particular really caught my fancy. It’s silly at times but also has a serious side, the animation is good, I like all the characters so far, especially Aladdin, Ali Baba and Morgiana (even though we haven’t really seen a lot of her so far), I like the opening and ending songs, and I was looking forward to Sunday all week, because I was impatiently waiting for the next episode. And here it is!
Dungeon time! Yeah! Ali Baba got to show off some of his fighting skills, taking care of the ant things, but not before making some quality funny faces. He’s face when he turns to the monster that he thinks is Aladdin is PURE GOLD. The Ant things were cute and funny looking, until they joined together to form Super Ant, and then of course there was a nifty show down between Ugo and it. The flames during that scene looked especially well done. This episode made it clear that there’s more to Ali Baba than meets the eye. Not only is he good in a fight, can read ancient languages, but he also seems to have a deeper reason to enter the dungeons than wanting to get rich quick. I’m thinking there’ll be more on that next episode. Aladdin was kinda in the back seat this episode until he was talking with Morgiana. He’s workin’ that “I may seem like a silly kid but really I’m a lot smarter than I look” angle pretty well. He line about the invisible chains that hold Morgiana to Jamil was especially touching and true. Sometimes, you have to also fight a mental battle to get out of tough situations, as well as a physical one.
But speaking of Morgiana; my precious boo! How hard was I grinning when she laughed at Aladdin’s funny faces? My face hurt afterword, that’s how hard I was smiling. How much did my heart ache for her when she was defending her home against the way that Jamil described it? If I were a 50-year-old overweight man, I might have been worried I was having a heart attack, that’s how much it ached. How sad was I when she was imagining being free, only to cruelly be brought back to reality? Pretty freakin’ sad, let me tell you. Plus, she’s strong. Like really strong. Like hey, I can just hold Aladdin like a little baby no problem, and oh, yeah, I can RUN UP WALLS using just my bare feet. She’s probably in the running for favorite female character of the season. I’m looking forward to seeing more of her next episode.
Jamil was suitably bat-shit crazy for our first real villain. He was barely in the first episode, so we properly to know him the episode, and man, he is a fruit loop. Not only does he use his own slave as his personal pin cushion, but he also seems to be under the delusion that he’s destined for greater things and that Aladdin is going to help him get there. If he doesn’t get knocked down a peg next Sunday, I’ll eat my hat (I’ll have to find it first, but you get the idea). This was also the first time we heard the word/title of Magi, and I’m curious as to what it means. Just what or who is Aladdin? OoooOOOOooo Mystery! The animation continues to be solid, jokes continue to be funny, although less plentiful this episode (which was okay by me), all-in-all this show continues to be a good time. I know I’ll be waiting eagerly for next Sunday!
Final Thought: The backgrounds were off the chain this week. The exterior of the dungeon! The eerie alien ant baby birthing room! The dragon gate thing that had all the fire in it! The doorway at the end with all that stain glass detail! And the city at the end! Very cool. Very nicely done. Hurray for nice artwork!
Random comment for this:
Yes, no one can conquer a dungeon alone especially if you’re the support type. LOL
But all the laughs seriously made my day. haha
Haha yeah…Although to be fair, I think they’re doing a pretty good job so far of making Aladdin and Ali Baba equals, instead of have one be clearly superior to the other right off the bat.