Aug 15, 2020
Magi was honestly very captivating at first. I really enjoyed the sense of wonder and excitement that the author was able to write into the setting accompanied by well written characters. It brought back a sort of Hunter x Hunter feel for a while. Aladdin and Alibaba are a loveable duo, and one's who you root for throughout the entire story. I honestly really enjoyed the (most of) the story, especially the first couple of arcs, but the later arcs of the show did not really make the best decisions story-wise. I understand it can be difficult extending a series and planning a long plot
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spanning over 30 volumes, but my gosh does the writing just really fall off towards the last third of this adventure.
Story: 4
I liked up until the last third or so. My problems exist with how Sinbad's character was handled, it really felt off, and the entire thing seemed very drawn out. The way the last chunk is set up just feels a bit like the author was struggling with how they wished to end the story. I just got tired of the twists because half the time they wouldn't amount to much. It just clearly wasn't as well thought out as previous arcs, and the pacing also becomes much less enjoyable in the last third too.
Art: 7
The artwork in this manga is very enjoyable, there were definitely some stand out panels in this one. Sometimes battles seemed to get almost too clustered, but overall Magi's art has a nice, and very shonen feel to it. The character designs are also very diverse and interesting, as are the designs of the monsters. It does honestly have a very distinct feel to it, but it does feel a little lacking sometimes, as the author does sometimes have panels that are naturally much less interesting than others.
Characters: 5
I liked most of the characters, though none really didn't feel all that profound, save for maybe Alibaba and Morgiana (though she is missing or MIA in many parts of this story). Aladdin was nice but he was just sort of a typical, "Be nice to save the world," sort of main character. Hakuryuu honestly just didn't really do it for me, especially in later parts of the manga. Sinbad shares Hakuryuu's fate but it is much worse, he is written very poorly in the final arcs. I'm honestly just not a fan of how the characters in this manga have so much wasted potential.
Enjoyment: 5
I enjoyed this manga. It was not the best I've ever read, but Magi is not a bad manga by any stretch of the imagination. It is a fun shonen with very unique character design, and an interesting world. It has it's short-comings but I still liked what I read.
Overall: 5
Magi is a decent shonen, but not something I can necessarily recommend to everyone. If you like shonen like One Piece or maybe even Hunter x Hunter than give this one a shot, but I'd be lying if I didn't say there are definitely shortcomings in this one. The story flucuates in quality, half of the cast gets written so very poorly in the last arc, and the plot is rather predictable at times. But there is something good here, it's just not the first thing that I would recommend to someone when discussing shonen manga.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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