Magi Episode 18: The Kingdom of Sindria

 “I was so nervous about meeting a Magi, but look at you, you’re just a perverted kid!” -Yamuraiha

Summary: With the Kou Empire knocking on Balbadd’s door, Sinbad forces Alibaba to leave the country for his own safety. Aladdin, Morgiana, and Alibaba are forced to stay in Sindria for a month while Sinbad uses his position as head of the Seven Seas Alliance to negotiate with the Kou Empire on Balbadd’s behalf. While Balbadd is placed under the control of the Kou Empire, there rights as a republic are to be upheld, meaning the the people are safe from being turned into slaves. Sinbad asks Alibaba and Aladdin to join him in the fight against Al-Thamen, and in return offers to help refine their powers be letting two of his eight generals be their teachers. When a giant sea serpent monster attacks, Sinbad is given the perfect opportunity to show off the skills of his generals and boy do they deliver. To celebrate the return of Sinbad, there’s a huge party to finish off the episode.

Impressions: This episode served two purposes, and that was to introduce us to a whole slew of new characters (well really it was only 6 but still) and to set up the next arc by tying up a couple of loose threads and by giving our main characters some new goals. After last weeks heart breaker of an episode, this was definitely the return of the fun and light-hearted Magi, with lots of silly stuff happening. They even made room for Aladdin to indulge in his love of the boobies. While it wasn’t a great episode, it was still fun enough that it wasn’t a complete snooze to watch. 

While the citizens of Balbadd work hard to rebuild their city, Alibaba is forced by Sinbad to leave the city when an armada of Kou Empire ships show up. Rather than face him being made into a puppet or executed as an example of the old regime, Sinbad thinks it’s better to send Alibaba, Aladdin, and Morgiana to Sindria while he negotiates with them using his position as head of the Seven Seas Alliance. And after about a month he finally returns to Sindria, with the news that even though the Kou Empire will have control of Balbadd, they’ll still be recognized as a republic and the rights of the people will be guaranteed. Alibaba is over joyed to hear that his people won’t be turned into slaves, and even thanks Sinbad, since the solution that he came up with is the only one that would have worked. With that all out of the way, Sinbad tells Alibaba and Aladdin about Al-Thamen, the organization that has been spreading darkness throughout the world. They’ve been at work for some time now, and it’s because of their influence that things like war and famine have become more and more common. They’re the ones behind what happened in Balbadd, and that alone is enough for Alibaba to agree to help Sinbad find and stop this dangerous organization. With Alibaba comes Aladdin, and Morgiana as well, since she’s given the green light to do whatever she likes even if that means staying with the two boys instead of going to the dark continent like she’d originally planned.

In return for helping him, Sinbad offers to have both Alibaba and Aladdin trained by two of his generals. Coincidentally, a giant sea monster chooses this moment to go on a rampage and exactly the two generals who would be training Aladdin and Alibaba are given an excellent chance to show off their skills. Yamuraiha is a sea-shell-bra wearing magician who specializes in water magic and would be in charge of teaching Aladdin (much to his boobie loving delight.) Sharrkan is a gifted swordsman who makes quick work of filleting the giant fish, and who would be working with Alibaba. Yamuraiha and Sharrkan or only two of eight generals that are introduced this episode. Ja’far and Masrur are another two of the generals who we’ve already met. Then there’s Hinahoho, a giant of a man from the lands near the North Pole, Drakon, the reptilian soldier who was once in Partevia’s army, Pisti, a diminutive girl from Artemyura, and Spartos, who is very dignified and silent. For some reason or another they can’t return to their homelands, so they’ve all come to work under Sinbad. While this episode focuses on introducing Yamuraiha and Sharrkan, I’m sure we’ll get to know the other generals as time goes on.

The episode ends on a high note, as Sindria celebrates the return of it’s King in a giant party known as a Maharagan. Even though Sindria is a small island, it’s obvious from the start that this is a wealthy and happy country. It’s a stark contrast to Balbadd, and it’s all thanks to Sinbad that this tiny country has flourished so much. Even though Masrur calls him the Ditz of the Seven Seas, if he’s done so much good for Sindria then he can’t be all bad. With Alibaba and Aladdin officially in training now, and a new mission to somehow put a stop to Al-Thamen, our team has it’s work cut out for them. Especially with the two guests that are on their way to Sinbad’s island paradise. That’s right, as part of the agreement with the Kou Empire, one of their princes’ has been sent to observe Sinbad. Hakuryuu Ren, the boy with the scared eye that we’ve seen a couple of times in previous episodes, is on his way to see what he can learn from Sinbad and with him is Kougyoku, who looks like she’s got an axe to grind with Sinbad. Whatever could that be about? I wonder….Well, it looks like Team Aladdin is in for more than a couple of surprises in the near future. I’m excited to see where they’ll go from here.

Final Though: Oh man…I really wanted to like Morgiana’s dance. I really did. But it looked SO SCARY. And bad. Not only was it horribly jerky, but going through it frame by frame revealed some serious noodle arms (and legs.) The whole effect was less dancing and more like one of those horrible blow-up puppet things that you see waving around car dealerships.