Impression
While the guys out in the cove did give Alibaba, Morgiana and Hakuryuu a slight bit of trouble, I’m glad they didn’t display any sort of latent advantage in power. The pirates used the terrain as well as their magic tools to their advantage – but strictly speaking, our protagonists are way above them in power level. Go Morgiana! I was slightly disappointed by how a certain underwater segment of the cove fight was skipped out – it would have provided a bit more foreshadowing to the later events in the arc. But yeah, it was pretty shocking seeing mere kids (some look no older than toddlers) pick up swords and try to fight despite clearly being scared to bits – but that’s all they are, just kids. The only real problem is Aum Madaura herself.
It looks like Aum Madaura’s control really is the product of brainwashing after all. With her magic tool, the “Holy Mother Halo Fan”, she can induce some sort of dream in her target that makes them see Madaura as their mother, stirring up protective feelings in them. The degree of effectiveness actually seems to vary between targets – it’s probably based on how much exposure they’ve had to maternal love. For Orba and the rest of those kids, who’ve lived in the slums all their lives, having a mother’s love and protection must be pretty important to them – Alibaba somewhat shares those sentiments, and couldn’t resist the magic tool’s influence even though he knew it was a trick. Aladdin’s never really known his mother (did he even have one?) and so it’s understandable that it wouldn’t really work on him. The tool plays on insecurities, and is most effective on someone who strongly wants to know maternal love – and if anyone has a wish for a mother, its Hakuryuu, whose family was all murdered by Al-Thamen.
So ironically, our protagonists’ greatest challenge in this arc will be having to fight Hakuryuu! …Suddenly, he seems a lot more threatening now that he’s revealed himself to be fully capable of using djinn equip o.O
I don’t think Hakuryuu has yet full control of djinn equip. From the image shown it seems more like he has about 50% mastered it, sind only half is body is covered by it.
While the Preview didn’t show anything, there is still a chance that they might show the underwater battle next week as a Final Boss fight. Wouldn’t be the first time they moved things around in this adaptation.
That’s true, they might decide on that. If it’s done right, there’s merit in an adaptation that isn’t just a panel-for-panel reproduction of the manga. I suppose I’ll trust their judgement for now, as they seem to be doing a pretty good job so far (unlike the random non-canon wars and prolonged curses from Season 1).