Impression
That match was just as brutal as I’d remembered. To be honest, in terms of power level Garda isn’t even as tough as the strange hybrid monsters Kougyoku brought along with her to Balbadd. Sure, its got some impressive muscles, but it’s nothing Alibaba should have had any trouble with – provided he’s using his djinn equip, that is. It brings me back to what I said a couple episodes ago about djinns being a very strong influence on power levels; if you’re a regular guy like Alibaba is, there’s only so far you can take your skills unless you’re willing to train extensively in the long-run. Metal and household vessels provide an immense boost in a short period of time – a boost Alibaba relied a lot on, given how the first half of his match went. Though against an opponent like Garda, I suppose Alibaba’s innovative thinking played more of a part than his sword skills per se. Taking advantage of Garda’s status as a dumb beast was probably the way to go – you’d think the Colosseum was setting its gladiators up for failure by handing them a standard sword. While it was a happy by-product of the fight, Alibaba’s managed to get some proper closure on Cassim with the fusing of the two types of magoi in his body – not only is his life not in danger anymore, he can finally work towards achieving a full djinn equip.
The crowd was particularly cruel – in the end they’re just there for their own personal entertainment. They initially started off on Alibaba’s side purely because he had the advantage; given their comments I don’t think many others have managed to inflict flesh wounds on Garda let alone take it out. Then all of them jumped ship once Alibaba began his bout of suffering – they sat there and jeered as he got thrown about like a ragdoll, then jeered some more when his arm was ravaged. I suppose it’s just the nature of the Colosseum not to stop these things – given Garda’s previous kill count, it definitely seems like a life or death thing (much to Toto’s anxiety). I think this was the case in Rome too – if he failed to kill his opponent, the fate of some gladiators depended entirely on the mood of the crowd. Other fights were just lavish public executions (of criminals of some sort), and in those cases there was every intention for the guy to end up killed.
Anyway, there was also a small segment with High Priestess Scheherazade and Mu Alexius – a Magi and her King Candidate who are determined to fight against the threat from Magnostadt as well as the abnormalities of the world. Clearly, it’s not just Aladdin and the Kou Empire who are interested in what’s going on; news of these strange happenings have even reached places as far flung as Reim. I’m actually in awe of the Fanalis Corps they’ve constructed there – we’ve only seen three of its members, but just the name itself is enough to inspire fear and wonder. Think about it… Morgiana brought a great deal of badass into this show all by herself, and by Fanalis standards she’s presumably got a ways to go. These Fanalis in Reim are all trained, adult gladiators – and you’re telling me there’s an army of them.
Ahaha, this episode made me laugh. You can have slavery, you can have a main character’s arm broken and nearly bitten off, you can have prostitutes…but you CAN NOT show any of the characters smoking!! That’s how you know whether a show’s being aimed at kids or not lol (since Alibaba took a puff of that cigar and started hacking instead of lighting his hair on fire in the manga). Strange priorities, A1, but congrats on not toning down the violence for the most part! Up next is Mor’s storyline, ohoho I’m so excited~
Logic at its finest 😀 Alibaba did originally try to smoke it, didn’t he – I only remember him making a fool of himself while trying to look cool xD As a whole, A-1 seem to be doing just fine in adapting this arc; while I still haven’t forgiven them for their previous atrocities I can only hope they don’t try and pull another retarded move somewhere down the line.
I’m pumped up for more Morgiana too! I almost wish they didn’t show a few flashes of her storyline in the preview, it would have had a greater impact if certain scenes weren’t there.