Trade and alliances and betrayal. Oh my?
Creative Staff:
Story/Art: Shinobu Ohtaka
Translation & English Adaptation: John Werry
Touch-up Art & Lettering: Stephen Dutro
Editor: Mike Montesa
What They Say:
In order to rebuilt the Kou Empire, Alibaba travels all over the world to establish a magical transport network. But his efforts are thwarted by Sinbad, whose friendship at times seem less than trustworthy. Meanwhile, Aladdin, Morgiana, and Hakuryu hide out in the Great Rift, gathering strength for their return!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Magi has largely turned from its shonen fighting storylines into a much less straightforward one. Sure, it’s still about head-to-head clashes of egos and power, but now it’s all brain power. Armies or skill with a blade hardly matter anymore, and all countries seem on good terms, at least trepidatiously.
Case in point: Alibaba trying to rebuild Kou as a country that produces food and other magical items. To do so, they need to create trade treaties with other countries because of Kou’s location so far away from every other country. These treaties just include a provision to create a magic transportation circle. Seems logical enough, and accessible enough for a shonen audience since it isn’t going into the weeds of something as complex as NAFTA or the TPP.
But Sinbad starts some rumors (read: lies) that Kou is remilitarizing. Other countries, fearful of invasion from Kou, put pressure on their leaders to nix the magic transportation circles. All of this seems so very familiar… Art imitates life, I suppose.
This is modern war. War is no longer sword against sword, clashing against armor and supplanted by magicians. War is now a fight between Sinbad’s disinformation network and Alibaba’s hard work. War is innovation, leading to the largest profit.
In Summary:
I like this new direction Magi is going in. There’s still some fights in it, but it’s not the contents of several consecutive volumes anymore (not that it was bad when it was!). But this gives Magi a chance to breathe and grow from what it once was, while still maintaining a level of entertainment for an audience that might not be as interested in random fighting.
Content Grade: A-
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: August 14, 2018
MSRP: $9.99
