What They Say:
“Reunion”
Aladdin steps forward to defend Magnoshutatt, which draws the attention of the remaining Leam forces. Will he be able to stand alone against the power of their metal vessel users?
The Review: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
I’m reviewing a ridiculous dichotomy of shows between Magi, Ace of the Diamond, Samurai Flamenco, Nobunagun, and Nisekoi. But I’ve spent an even more ridiculous amount of time with the characters in Magi, through the DVD release, the simulcast, and the manga. I have to say, creating character agency is something this show does really well.
Recall in the first few episodes when we cared about Morgiana, the slave girl who couldn’t escape her own binds. And she didn’t have much screen time. It was through other events with different slaves that we cared about her so much (relating to the less personal kid falling into the flower monster thing in episode two or so; not because we don’t care about the kid, but because we don’t know her like we did/would Morgiana).
This episode calms things down quite a bit, as the fighting is still going on, but a good 15 minutes of the episode is spent on talking between Aladdin, Alibaba, Shehrazad, and Titus. The first part of the episode, though, is spent on the fight between Aladdin and Mu Alexius, the leader of Leam’s Fanalis. It goes rather quick and more serves for the proper reintroduction of Alibaba to the storyline.
Once things have officially calmed down, the Leam forces retreat to their boats and the Magnostadt forces back to the city. Between them, on a tiny boat for four, sit Aladdin, Alibaba, Shehrazad, and Titus. Here, Aladdin tells everyone of the premonition he had about the big fight from episode one. This is where we really learn why these guys are friends, speaking of Aladdin and Alibaba. The two are extremely stubborn individuals and really just want to get things done by themselves. Alibaba had grown up that way, where he had to prove himself, and Aladdin never had friends until he left the dungeon where he and Ugo became friends. So when Alibaba learns that Aladdin has been keeping this in the entire time, he’s livid. This is what they’re around each other for, to spurn them to ask for the help they definitely need.
The agency comes later, between Shehrazad and Titus. It seems the body we’ve seen thus far is another copy and Shehrazad’s real body is a month, at best, away from dying. Titus will die along with the original body, back to the Rukh. He has to spend that precious time he has left with the one he loves.
But we haven’t been around Titus that much, so why do we care? Well, because we’ve been around Aladdin for 45 episodes now and HE cares. With one simple line, we care that much more. He says, “He’s a friend I made in Magnostadt and I can’t just feel indifferent about him anymore.” The short amount of time they spent together affected him that much, and it affects us that much more because of it.
In Summary:
This episode was full of little moments, but it was pretty talky. While I do love Magi, it can get very talky sometimes, and I don’t especially appreciate that. But the plot was moved forward a little because we hear that the Kou army is also coming, probably putting Aladdin and Alibaba back together with Hakuryu. Hakuryu’s changed since he left, but I have a feeling he’ll turn back around when/if they get back together. This moment also proves that Mogamett isn’t budging from his stubborn attitude. He heard that 250 magicians were killed in the battle, but still would fight against 20,000 Kou soldiers for the sake of his wonderland.
That only leaves one question: Where’s Morgiana?
Grade: B-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Equipment: Radeon 7850, 24 in. Vizio 1080p HDTV, Creative GigaWorks T20 Series II
