What They Say:
Alibaba, Morgiana and Hakuryu are now on the island where Aladdin is being held hostage by Madaura. Madaura is not worried about the situation, since she has plans for them. Will she manage to hypnotize Aladdin and his friends, using her Magic Tool?
The Review: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
This episode picks up with Alibaba, Hakuryu, and Morgiana flying in from the sky to save Aladdin. It is, without a doubt, exciting. Our three heroes are at a clear disadvantage at the beginning. They’re playing in their home field and the weapons they’re using are more powerful now than ever. When Morgiana steps up and enters their maze of rat holes, the fight is turned in her favor. In fact, she defeats them all. It seems their weapons don’t work too well inside their labyrinth.
The kids they’re fighting, clearly brainwashed, brandishing little knives and daggers, are…well…kids. Some no more than a few years old. They’re left at a moral impasse where they want to save Aladdin, but no one wants to fight these kids. It’s Hakuryu that’s able to throw away his mortality to the extent to push the kids to the side. Their story runs parallel to Morgiana’s. Her “parent,” as we know from the first season, was kind of the evil Jamil and other slaves, who would tell her to do what Jamil says. She, I’m sure, did unthinkable acts as a child and is no better off for it.
Aum Madura is shown using a pinkish, purpleish mist to brainwash Aladdin. Aladdin doesn’t initially seem to fall prey to it as Alibaba, Morgiana, and Hakuryu arrive, but only time will tell. What she’s doing isn’t giving you hope or what you wanted, but she’s giving you a thread. That thread leads you to make you own hope and these things are only revealed as the episode moves forward. She doesn’t only do that, she also pushes any doubts out of your mind. She makes you forget about any connection you might have with the life you have so you’ll follow her and her alone.
Madura’s powers were pushed out by, of all things, the power of friendship. But it doesn’t feel cheap. It feels earned, for these characters especially. As Aladdin said, they’ve filled their hearts with something more than the bonds between their mothers. Enough so that they can’t just throw away everything they have for that one little thread.
It’s Hakuryu of all people, the one who has no parents to speak of and hasn’t made these bonds with the others, that falls under her powers. The episode ends with him equipping Zagan.
In Summary:
Magi has a bad tendency to seemingly draw things out for too long. I think this is a consequence of the adaptation to anime from manga, but it’s still bothersome. This episode could have been shortened by five minutes or so and been fine. There’s a lot of unnecessary monologues with Madura and her powers’ influence is played for too long. Despite that, the content itself was good and lived up to the build up from the last episode. The next episode seems to end the Madura storyline, and I’m curious to see where it ends up.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Equipment: Radeon 7850, 24 in. Vizio 1080p HDTV, Creative GigaWorks T20 Series II
