Magi Episode 3: Magician of Creation

“You’re my friend!” -Aladdin 

Summary: Ali Baba and Aladdin finally make it to the innermost room of the dungeon, only to be attacked by Jamil and Morgiana. Morgiana quickly dispatches Aladdin into a nearby wall, leaving Jamil to take on Ali Baba. What Jamil thinks will be an easy fight turns into him getting his ass kicked by Ali Baba, who turns out to be an extremely talented sword fighter. Before Ali Baba can do anything to really hurt the at this point psychologically and physically destroyed Jamil, Morgiana enters the fray at her masters command. With Ali Baba down for the count, Morgiana is ordered to kill him, which she is hesitant to do at first, but her fear of Jamil wins out in the end. Right as she’s about to stab Ali Baba, Aladdin finally decides to wake up, using magic to make the sword disappear. He then uses his powers to contain Morgiana, and gets his flute back from Jamil.

With that out-of-the-way, Aladdin and Ali Baba “clear” the dungeon, and the whole room transforms, becoming filled with riches. The djinn of the dungeon, Amon, appears and answers a couple of Aladdin’s questions about what exactly a “Magi” is, but before they can finish their discussion, the dungeon starts to collapse, since a shadowy figure (also referred to as “Magi”? OooOO mystery!) outside it is trying to close it off. Aladdin and Ali Baba (towing a couple of sacks of treasure) start to make a hasty getaway and try to convince Morgiana to come with them. Initially, she is so tied to Jamil that she can’t leave without him, but Goltas (who everyone thought was dead at this point) tells her to go as his last wish, while he stays and makes sure that he and Jamil never see the light of day again. He breaks her chains and she leaves with Aladdin, Ali Baba, and Ammon, who after using the last of his powers, attachs himself to Ali Baba’s sword. Ali Baba and Aladdin swear to remain friends and to continue having adventures together (Morgiana takes a nap, because that’s what you do I guess?), but when they reappear from the dungeon, the three of them have been separated, with Aladdin being sent to a field in the middle of nowhere.

Impressions: Woo! Action! Sword fights! Magical flying carpets…in space? Just another fun-filled episode of Magi, I guess. So. This was basically the episode in which everyone got to be a badass, except for Jamil, who was just fully off the deep end. So far off the deep end in fact, that one could say he was in the Mariana Trench (look it up.) After some touching Aladdin-Ali Baba bonding (while flying over a necropolis, because that’s a really appropriate place to be cute and all), we get to the main room, which was very nicely done, with the wall text and all. Very detailed I must say, even if I wasn’t the biggest fan of the color scheme (all that weird gold-tone yellow, and washed-out gray was a little blah in my opinion.)

Before they can really do anything, my main squeeze Morgiana comes flying out of no where and takes out Aladdin in a move that could be described as as painful looking as it was beautiful. Seriously, watch how she lands on one foot like a ballerina coming down from a grand jeté, it’s that level of graceful. Thanks to Jamil, we learn that Morgiana is a descendent of the Fanalis, a tribe of people whose “kicks are like thunder and who are said to be able to rip open the bellies of one hundred lions”, which explains her incredible speed and strength. She’s one tough cookie, and from the brief flashbacks we see, has clearly suffered a lot of abuse from Jamil over her lifetime. It takes Goltas’ first and last words to get her to even really think about crawling out from under his control. Which I’m sure everyone is really glad about, especially me, since I really like her character so far and am going to enjoy seeing how they develop her now that she’s free.

Ali Baba shines too this episode, with his crazy sword skills. He’s obviously got a back story as to how he learned to fight in a style that is passed down only to nobles. His fight with Jamil was fun, specifically once Ali Baba starts to fight for real and easily breaks Jamil. He also proves to have more aspects to his character than just silly/greedy/ etc, as he shows at the very end when he acknowledges his own flaws. It takes a lot of guts to admit that you’re not the greatest thing on earth, and a failure to do so can sometimes lead you down a very dark path, which we see in Jamil’s case. Even at the end he was still in complete denial that he wasn’t god’s gift to mankind. So kudos to you Ali Baba, for being the bigger man and accepting your flaws. Plus, how cute and stupid was his face when he was asking to take all that treasure?

Knowing that this is a shōnen title and that Aladdin’s the main, main character, it was kinda obvious that he was going to be super cool and powerful, which came into full effect this episode. With just a wave of his magical staff, he makes the stab-y part of Jamil’s sword disappear, he’s able to put a force field type thing around Morgiana so she can’t move, and he scares Jamil into giving him his flute back. Jamil, in his delusional state, thinks that Aladdin has shown up to crown him king for all the “good” things he’s done, but Aladdin just shuts him down. The look of complete and utter contempt on his face was just The. Best. Who’d have though that fun-and-boobs-loving little Aladdin could muster up such a stone-cold face? It was perfection. A Magi, as Amon describes it, is someone who chooses kings, people who were born to rule and will do a good job of leading the people as well as keep the nation together. This explains why Jamil thinks that Aladdin will make him a king and also why he showed him such (relative) deference while dragging him through the dungeon. The animation involving Aladdin and the little butterfly things made of light was also very nice. There are still a lot of unanswered questions about Aladdin, but I’m sure that next episode will bring some answers, as it looks like he’s on his own.

Other things of note that happened this episode included the “talk” that Amon and Ugo had, as one of the only really comedic parts of the episode. While that part didn’t have me rolling on the floor in tears, it was chuckle worthy. We also saw our first glimpse of what looks like our over-arching bad guy(s). I won’t give anything else away, since I’m keeping the manga out of these reviews, but suffice to say one of them is quiet the fan-favorite (we all know who I’m talking about right?) So in the end; the first dungeon has been cleared, oaths of “BFF’s 4evurrr!” have been made, villains have been spotted, and we’ve got a small mountain of questions waiting to be answered. I’m looking forward to next episode and what kind of mischief Aladdin will get up to now that the sensible Ali Baba isn’t there to tell him not to molest men’s man-boobs (try saying that 5 times fast.)

Final Thought: We need to talk about Ali Baba’s coat and that little knotted part at the end of it. The way it moves…and the way it looks…I can’t help but think it looks like a seal’s tail. Like any second Ali Baba is going to bust out a ball and start balancing it on his nose or something. I think I’m probably alone in that but…next time, just watch it and maybe you’ll see what I mean.

For Real Final Thought: I know I said originally that I wasn’t the biggest fan of the opening, but it’s really grown on me the last couple of weeks (somehow I feel like that always happens with me.) I’ll be damned if that song isn’t stuck in my head for days after watching an episode, much to my chagrin.