This is review number three hundred and eleven. This anime is part of the Fall 2013 lineup. I’ll be finishing up all the shows I missed in this lineup for the time being. You can also vote for the shows of Fall 2010 in my new poll already up and running. Anyways, the show I’ll be reviewing is the second season of Magi called Magi: The Kingdom of Magic. It’s a twenty five episode anime about a group of cool characters trying to take over the world. It’s hard to explain the plot and it’s really the main reason why Magi is so awesome. Let’s read on.

Story

The second season takes place in the country of Magnostadd where Aladdin decided to visit so he can become a better magician. With the looming bigger countries threatening to invade Magnostadd though, Aladdin acts fast if he wants to save this country of magicians from the outside danger and from itself as well. The rest of the world would be witness though to a history defining moment that would leave everyone in awe.

Taking the Pants Off

I was pretty excited to pick up the second season of Magi because of all the cool things that transpired in the first season. We saw a country rise in rebellion, Alibaba going emo for twelve episodes and Sinbad proving just how badass he is. There are also a lot of awesome Judar moments causing havoc and Morgiana looking extremely cute despite kicking a person’s head in. There was just too much to love in Magi that the idea of another season can easily get me excited. It’s a pretty solid Shounen anime with lots of fighting and people calling out moves with weird names. Anyways, Magi do have one thing that makes it stand out among other Shounen of its kind. It’s ambitious. It doesn’t really sound all that impressive considering a lot of Shounen anime tries to push the boundaries on a daily basis as well. Magi is different though. The typical Shounen anime involves arcs where one overpowered villain is fighting the regular heroes. It’ll have the typical clichés of this villain having minions that the characters beat on a weekly basis. Once that’s done, they’ll proceed to the next arc. Shounen is remarkably simple despite its daring content. Magi is different though. It gives us the standard cliché and then just goes beyond that. Your typical Shounen has a plot that just goes in a straight line about a group of good guys battling a group of bad guys, however long that may take. Magi, on the other hand, will start in a straight line and then slowly branch out into five different stories that branches out to create ten more sub-stories of its own. The sub-stories then joins together to form one true straight line that’ll repeat the process of branching out. It’s f*cking exhausting to watch this anime because it doesn’t stick to one main plot. This is also the reason why it’s going to be tough to review this show. This overly ambitious style of storytelling is something that makes Magi one of the best Shounen anime out there though. It takes the Shounen clichés, spits it at your face then grabs you by the hair and explicitly commands you to pay close attention. Magi is a Shounen anime that is swimming in exposition and an overarching story so complicated to properly present. It is still able to grab your attention though as you’re slowly engulfed into the socio-political happenings in the world of Magi. The second season proved all the more potent in its unique approach as it continues the story of our heroes after the amazing events that transpired in the first season.

I saw the first season a long time ago but I still remember important bits of it. The first arc is about Alibaba, a metal vessel user, coming back to his home country only to be met with his arrogant half-brother that is planning to sell the country to a more stronger nation. This led to a civil outcry and revolution that is spoiled when it is revealed that a dark organization is pulling the strings. Aladdin and Alibaba then joined forces to stop the dark organization. However, the nation of Balbadd has fallen into the hands of the Kou Empire. With the bitter loss, Alibaba had no choice but to flee into Sinbad’s country. The second arc then follows Sinbad’s country being attacked by the magi of the Kou Empire, Judar. I think Judar wants Aladdin but he would have to go through Sinbad first. He happily obliged as the first taste of an international scuffle unfolds. Alibaba, Aladdin, Morgiana and Hakuryuu are busy conquering a dungeon though while the war is happening. Anyways, Judar’s troops are forced to retreat as the combined forces of the metal vessel users overpowered him. The second season immediately followed afterwards with the first episode following the characters as they celebrate winning the struggle. I was honestly a bit disappointed, to be honest, knowing that the anime won’t be building any momentum from that confrontation. Instead, it killed the energy of the first season as it seems to be setting up another story. This seems to have very little connection to the things that transpired in the first season. I honestly thought Sinbad and the Kou Empire would claw each other’s eye out after that battle but nothing really happened. As the show progresses, it just followed the main characters talking and scheming. It was as if the show is setting up something big but it’s not really clear where it’s headed. It basically decided to start from scratch. The straight line plot of the first season somehow branched out giving us more sub-stories. Unfortunately, this requires layering the plot points in the limited episodes to come.

Anyways, this anime has three chapters. They’re three branches of the main plot. With the main plot still unclear, it decided to establish the ground works by giving us three chapters. The first chapter is about Aladdin, Alibaba and Morgiana setting out on a journey. They’ll be going their separate ways though as Alibaba has decided his magic sucks when he was unable to go toe to toe with Judar. He decided to train but he can really only improve if he goes to Magnostad, the country of the magicians. Alibaba also discovered that he sucked as well when he realized he can’t properly control his metal vessel. It bothers him that he can’t properly Djinn equip like Sinbad and his seven metal vessels he can masterly control. He decided to train as well. Controlling your metal vessel requires having full control of your magoi though and there is only one tribe in the world that can teach Alibaba of that. He decided to set on a journey to find them. As for Morgiana, she wanted to meet other Falinas of the world and she is hung up about what her homeland looks like. It was suggested that the only way she can get over her personal problems is to personally visit the homeland of the Falinas. Overwhelmed with feelings of discovering who she truly is, she decided to set out on a journey as well. The pace is annoyingly slow though as the first few episodes feature the characters acting all friendly with one another having pillow gossip in their bedroom. I think we didn’t get to see some action until episode six or so, a quarter of the way through. With that being said though, you can clearly see the first chapter has three subplots to them.

The first subplot is Aladdin’s journey to Magnostadd. It follows his entrance to the school and discovering how the academy welcomes its transfer students. Aladdin is a weak ass magician without his Magi powers and he had to work his way to become a better magician. He is told countless times that he must hide his identity as a Magi though and he must always be cautious of the country. They’re a shady nation but the reason is murky for now. The subplot follows Aladdin’s growth as a magician but it also gives us a rundown of how magic actually works. The spells are grouped by their elements and there are different terms for spells depending on how complicated they are created. We discover how magic depends on your magoi, which is like your MP, and powerful magicians have tons of magoi to spare. The relationship of the White Rukh and Black Rukh is also explored in this sub-plot. At this point, you’ll be confused with all the information dumping. I honestly didn’t care for all the technical babble as I was more focused on seeing Shounen fights. It’s giving us episodes with too much talking and not enough bashing faces in. This anime works like this though. It starts off underwhelming and then just goes crazy. It is layering the groundwork for the main story and, yes, all that technical magician crap eventually becomes crucial to the story. It explains how some of the fight scenes work and they won’t be mentioned again. As for the story of Aladdin becoming a strong magician, the story is admittedly dull but the characters certainly brightened it up. Aladdin is a character worth rooting for and the magicians around him gives us some well executed comedy scenes to make up for the lack of some good action.

The second subplot follows Alibaba and his journey to the country of Leam. It is said that he can find the tribes that master controlling magoi in the gladiator arena of Leam. This one is a pretty small subplot as it just introduces us to how Alibaba entered the country and the training he had to do to master his Djinn equip. It didn’t really focus much on his actual training unlike Aladdin. Well, there are no technical terms for Alibaba’s visit to Leam. It just gave us the solution Alibaba is looking for. Apparently, his magoi is special and he’ll need to toughen up his body if he wants to properly control it. The same goes, actually, for the third subplot. Morgiana’s quest to find her fellow Falinas was featured for a short time only. She arrived to the country and she was met with disappointment. Hopeful that she’ll find the people she’s looking for though, Morgiana track down a lead that literally sent her to the edge of the Earth. Again, it’s not as prominently featured as Aladdin’s journey in Magnostadd but it did give us some important details regarding the overall story.

Actually, there is a fourth subplot to the first chapter. While the three main character’s journey is certainly featured, it really only had one goal in mind. It needed to capture the “layout of the land”. The anime needed to give us a clear idea of how the Magi world is set. Giving us the layout of the land has been a goal of the show since the first season. Notice how it opened with Aladdin journeying to the grass plains. The first season introduced us to nomadic tribes being devoured by the Kou Empire immediately giving us an idea that the world is composed of small groups and larger ones consuming them. The layout of the land is then expanded when we discover the “East” part of the world had the country of Balbadd below the expanding Kou Empire. This is then expanded some more when we discover that South of those countries lie Sindria and the seven sea alliance. For the second season, the layout of the land is drastically expanded some more. The characters headed out to their journey in the same boat heading in one direction: West. We then discovered that Magnostadd, Leam and some more independent tribes composed the west as told by the first chapter. Why exactly is this necessary? I’m sure it’s pretty clear at this point. The whole world is involved in the story and each country plays a part in it. Let that sink in. An entire world as large as Earth covers the overarching story of Magi. Overambitious doesn’t give it justice. Pulling that kind of sh*t of is insane and yet watch how Magi does it.

Adding to the craziness is the characters that play part in the story of Magi. Let’s call them “chess pieces” that’ll eventually become main characters in the story of Magi. In the first season, we are introduced to some chess pieces of the Kou Empire with Judar as their Magi. We are also introduced to Sindria’s chess pieces that include Sinbad and his generals. Towards the end of the first season, we are also introduced to Hakuryuu and a few more chess pieces of the Kou Empire. The second season didn’t immediately introduce more chess pieces but rather polish a whole lot of them. Sinbad’s role in this worldwide story, Hakuryuu’s evil side shaking his hand, the three main characters trying to become more reliable chess pieces and even a slew of old characters gaining new roles in the second season like the three dudes that rob Sinbad naked in the first season. They’re now gambling moguls in Leam living a happy life. Of course, the gradual introduction of more chess pieces is also done in the first chapter. It’s worth noting that all the magi were enumerated at the start of the chapter and their eventual role slowly revealed. The layout of the land is more important for the first chapter though and a storm of clusterf*ck will rain down on this anime. You are going to have to keep up.

The second chapter is about the Kingdom of Magic itself: Magnostadd. Aladdin had another goal in his stay at the magician country. He needed to find out what Magnostadd knows about the Dark Metal vessels that some people are suddenly getting their hands on. People will die if more are produced and Aladdin hopes to stop it. The show then introduced us to the ruler of Magnostadd, Matal Mogamett. Aladdin’s quest is really just a piece of the second chapter. It is really more focused on the entire status quo of Magnostadd. This is a shining utopia full of people working with magic. Magicians and their magic tools help people to improve their lives. It’s a beautiful place that Aladdin and his fellow students really admire. They feel blessed that they are able to enter such a wonderful country. Of course, that’s not how it really works. The group scratched the surface and they discover something pretty f*cked up. Curious about a certain district of the country, Aladdin and his classmates are asked not to enter it. This made them all the more curious though and they soon realized that this beautiful country is not all that great. Magnostadd is a country for magicians with the first class citizens pretty much being composed of magicians. It’s not all magicians though. Gois, or non-magic people, also composed Magnostadd and this country doesn’t really like these gois. Oh no, Matal Mogamett himself express his disgust for this group and the reason is something surprisingly convincing yet shockingly deplorable. The beauty of the second chapter is really about how Magnostadd works and how the show manages to make it a grey area for the viewers. Do you agree or disagree with how Magnostadd works?

Apparently, the world of Magi isn’t big fans of it. According to the layout of the land, Magnostadd is just a small country and a couple of big nations want it as it serves as a good base for their invasion towards the rest of the world. With Magnostadd pushed into a corner though, even a small country would desperately try everything it has to save itself. War is inevitable and the fate of the citizens of Magnostadd will be put in the balance. A big nation declared war on Magnostadd and an epic confrontation is about to happen. The buildup for this war is actually my favorite part. The show took its time establishing the status quo of Magnostadd first with its “magicians first” policy. Following a well-placed flashback, the war is just an added cherry for the second chapter. The progression is absolutely perfect. The show first tried to get the audience to either side with Magnostadd or wish for it to burn and then followed it up with a chance for the country to actually burn. This is also the best payoff you can get after a lack of satisfying action on the first chapter. It had no time for that. It decided to cram it all towards the end and the wait is definitely worth it. The face-off between Magnostadd and the invading forces is amazing. It is a true battle of brains versus brawn where one group tried to pin the other into submission. The back and forth is outstanding and the buildup at that point is really wonderfully executed. For a war to capture the twisted history of Magnostadd and nicely display its desperation is really outstanding. This is made even sweeter thanks to the chess pieces introduced in this chapter.

There were a couple of important chess pieces to the second chapter. The most important of all would have to be Matal Mogamett, the director of Magnostadd. In my opinion, this guy is a f*cking racist with a misplaced superiority complex. Still, the dark days of Magnostadd from long days past gives you a clear picture of why this guy is just so twisted in his beliefs. He is a nice guy and he holds his country in high regard. This guy just has some really unlikeable ideals that make him the perfect flawed ruler of a country. His character is complex as he has one unshakeable belief he holds true until the end but it’s also the same thing that poisons and clouds his judgments. You could actually make a wonderful character study with this guy. I would love to dissect his character because he’s so simple yet complex at the same time. I’ve said way too much though so I’ll just drop it. Still, his role as a chess piece doesn’t really end here as he is also an unwilling pawn in the next chapter. At the start of the second chapter, we are also introduced to this guy named Titus. He is apparently a genius magician that toppled Aladdin’s own skills. The guy started out as an arrogant douchebag but he is an important chess piece for the second chapter. He also has his own beliefs set in his head and this also clouds his judgment. After knowing of Magnostadd’s past and its unforgivable present deeds, you can actually feel the pressure come down on poor Titus. He is a magician that shares the bounty of Magnostadd but he also believes that the rest should have a piece as well. Being confronted with how the world works changes this little douchebag into one of the most vital chess pieces for the second chapter. Add to that the bastard’s “pre-destined” life and you have a character simply being pulled at the seams. I think Titus will really grow on you. He is the person the audience would most likely relate to concerning Magnostadd and his course of actions will eventually make you worry for him. When the war breaks, Titus is really a big piece that plays a wonderful part in the show.

Of course, there are also other chess pieces introduced that plays a big part in the world wide story of Magi. The invading nation’s Magi is introduced, the king candidate she chose also appeared on the battlefield and his squadron of rabid wolves joins in as well. The rest of the metal vessel users of this country are also introduced despite not really playing a part in the war. They’re not really needed but they do play a role down the line so the show introduced the chess pieces now. Some of the important chess pieces on Magnostadd’s side also appear. The first class magicians of the country assemble on the battlefield to wreak some havoc on the invading troops. The second chapter also took time to introduce us to other chess pieces, mainly the important ones on the Kou Empire’s side. The current ruler, the king candidate, the metal vessel users, the household weapon users and many more are also introduced in this chapter. Yes, the show immediately dumped a whole load of characters after dumping a whole load for the layout of the land in the first chapter. It’s because of the war, damn it. Sh*t hits the fan pretty fast in the second chapter and an even bigger one scatters for the third plot point.

The third chapter is composed of the last five episodes or so. The war between Magnostadd and the invading nation really escalated into something big. Cornered, Matal Mogamett unleashed his last trump card into the world. It’s something so big that it required the chess pieces to gather and fight it off. I don’t want to spoil it. It’s generally where the Shounen aspect of the show truly shines as overpowered characters try to beat an overpowered villain. See, Magi goes back to its Shounen roots from time to time. Faced with an unspeakable evil, literally every chess piece, that will play a part in the world wide story, bands together. It is beyond epic and the ultimate payoff for watching the show. The third chapter also tried to give us the actual main story of the show. The layout of the land doesn’t actually end in this world. Apparently, there is another world and a lot of stuff happened there. More chess pieces are introduced and things eventually come into a full circle once you connect all the dots. The eventual war for the right to be king of the world, the dark organization plotting something more evil that’ll make the events of Balbadd look like a run through the park and the secrets the Magis knows soon starts making sense of the main story of the anime. It finally combines together to fully give us the one true straight line of this Shounen anime. Of course, that’s all up in the air for now as these things are hold off for another season.

This is the part of the review where I’ll be talking about the characters. Yeah, right. I might as well stick a fork in my eye. The characters make this anime special. Their complex roles make the story become interesting. It’s their well roundedness that’ll grip you into seeing more of the show. A lot of them have minimal roles though like series mainstay Alibaba and Morgiana. They had a part in the story but nothing as big that it is worth noting about. For now, I’ll talk about characters important to the actual main story of the Magi world. I’ll refrain from talking about characters that has branching subplots of their own. I think seeing them branch off and doing their own thing is part of the charm of Magi. Anyways, Aladdin is really the main character of this anime for now. His journey in Magnostadd from being a student to seeing its dark secrets unfold to finding ways to stop the war is really a remarkable one. He is the typical Shounen lead in this gigantic Magnostadd arc as he possess that persistent attitude you’d expect from the main character. Aladdin is a magnificent pacifist though. He’s only solution to all the problems in the world involves finding a way to compromise. I guess his magi skills makes him capable of that but it’s still pretty remarkable how meek this guy is. He faced off with a lot of unspeakable evil in this arc and yet he always just trusts the goodness in their hearts. What the hell is wrong with him? I would love to see his pacifist attitude crushed as the impending world war unfolds but this dude is actually holding on to some more important stuff. Throughout the show, Aladdin’s past is often brought up and the question of “Who Aladdin is?” is often blurted out. He is a really vital chess piece in this game but his role is still somewhat murky. His past, his relation to Ugo and so much more is eventually raised by the show as if hinting at something even bigger than the worldwide war the show has established.

The king candidate of the Kou Empire is also pretty interesting. Kouen has a really dominating presence and he look like someone that is really destined to rule the world. The internal strife within the Kou Empire is slightly featured in the show but it’s this itching need of his to uncover the secret of the world that is really interesting. He pointed out that the world of Magi only has one language and he believes it is because the world is meant to follow one king. His obsession with finding out more about the history of the world is really interesting because that story goes all the way back to Solomon himself. Kouen seems more intent with finding out the secret of the world rather than ruling it but he does believe one king will stand true someday. He will continue expanding the territories of the Kou Empire but for reasons that doesn’t necessarily include “ruling” it. I think the story will come to a point where Kouen and Sinbad’s believes will clash. Sinbad is a different kind of leader wherein he puts his country’s affairs first. Establishing an alliance means he wants people to co-exist together rather than have one King rule the world while Kouen thinks the world is designed to be ruled by one King and having different people, not co-exist, but to be ruled by one being. The thought of these two badasses clashing is making me giddy with excitement.

The second season ended with so much stuff going on that it made me restless. With the layout of the land becoming clearer and the important chess pieces finally placed on the board, the story here on out is going to be pretty amazing. The story could focus on various countries clashing as they ease their way into the world war the main story is hinting at. The branching subplots opened up a lot of beautiful things as well. The rest of the potential kings have yet to make a move so it excites me how they’ll join the fray. The various roles of the different Magi also excite me because they seem to be crucial pieces throughout the war. There is also the thought of the dark organization stirring more trouble as it tries to use the world war as an excuse to see the world burn. With the organization having a leader you can actually hate, it makes it all the more exciting how their chess pieces will do in the battles. There is also this idea nagging me of how Alibaba can become king. I’m guessing he’ll take back Balbadd but that means clashing with the Kou Empire. I don’t think he has any right to join the world war but his role is certainly exciting to see unfold. The fate of Magnostadd also excites me. With the stuff that happened in the second season, I think Magnostadd would be itching for a comeback but it would mean appointing a new leader. There is also this little happy subplot involving Hakuryu and how he’ll play a part in the world war. Arghhh! There is so much to love about this Shounen anime. Over ambitiousness is something I admire but you’d have to be a f*cking genius to pull of something like this. To craft a story that involves an entire world, to patiently build a story that will soon become part of a bigger story while also telling small stories that will become big stories down the line is pretty insane. I like her approach with Shounen and how complex her stories are. She killed the excitement starting the second season but she gradually builds it back up again and gave us something that certainly outshined the first season in terms of epic intensity. I cannot wait for a third season. There is no announcement so far but I think A-1 Pictures would definitely release it. The studio did a wonderful job covering the insane work of Shinobu Ohtaka. They took their time as well building the plot before unleashing its craziness and I think it paid off wonderfully for them. It’s risky having dialogue heavy scenes in Shounen without some satisfying action from time to time. I was honestly annoyed for the first six episodes as it just had characters talking but I love the precise storytelling. Nothing happens out of chance. Things eventually connect themselves and A-1 Pictures did a good job of it. This studio makes great Shounen so it’s no surprise they did great on Magi. Here’s hoping the third season comes soon and I hope it is as amazing as the second season.

Sight and Sound

Shinobu Ohtaka’s design is pretty standard Shounen. We have some pretty handsome characters in very vibrant outfits in the show. There is still the Thousand and One Nights inspiration but the layout of the land expands far after that. The outfits are still Arabian-like with turbans and long clothes draped on characters but various nations also have different outfits on. Kou looks like an ancient Chinese empire with their get up, Leam looks Roman with their toga get up and gladiator attire and there are many more characters in uniquely well designed outfits. For the character design itself, I often notice the lack of consistency in some panels but she makes sure the faces remain clean and beautiful. She often relies of facial expression to carry the mood of most conversations so she makes sure it is clear what the characters are expressing. The design becomes a bit mangled though when characters are viewed full body but it’s not surprising given the amount of stuff she have to draw. The female characters are also pretty well designed. I love how she doesn’t shy away from making sexy characters and it gives us an idea how wide her range is design-wise. I also love how even side characters are given some nice range. She’ll have plain face ones mixed in with beautiful looking characters mixed in with those pointy nosed freaky characters she loves to make. My favorite part of her design would have to be the Djinn equip outfits of the characters. As I said, she doesn’t shy away from making sexy characters and you see that clearly in the Djinn equips. Oh my gawd, topless dudes with great abs adorned by frilly stuff and the typical Shounen hair is outstanding to look at. The female Djinn equips have the same flashy flair but seeing Alibaba topless kinda gives you a satisfying payoff sticking for so long with the series. I’ll shut up now.

The animation is decent. A-1 Pictures did not put much detail work in the animation. It’s not as crisp as Fairy Tail with some scenes look badly inconsistent. The color palette looks dull and it gives of an “ordinary” feeling that doesn’t quite match the epic-ness of the worldwide story the anime possess. I have gripes with the lack of beautiful sceneries in the show because it could’ve given more emphasis to how the author is painstakingly trying to paint the layout of the land. Flashy colors could also help give more drawing powers to awesome characters like Kouen. Thinking back though, the manga does have a bit of dullness as well so I guess they just stayed true to Shinobu’s vision. They could’ve done more though to truly make the show their own. Some fight scenes look decent but the pacing is a bit too dull and the highly detailed animation could’ve really brightened it up. Unfortunately, the animation is really inconsistent. Some one on one has poor frame rate and the transition of most scenes look rushed. While some scenes truly have epicness written all over it, the animation often doesn’t give it the justice it deserves. It could’ve been better considering how amazing A-1 Pictures is. The work they did on Ao no Exorcist easily won me over so it’s a shame they didn’t think they needed to put as big of an effort animating Magi.

The anime have two OP. The first one is “ANNIVERSARY” by SID. It’s your typical Shounen opening song, to be honest. Sid has a wonderful voice as he sets a beautiful pace to the song. The chorus sounds pretty great as well but the song doesn’t stand out as great overall. It’s a decent OP song though. The OP sequence features our three main characters and an introduction of all the chess pieces that have key roles in the anime. I think they introduced half of them so imagine just how big the cast of this show truly is. I also love the animation as it employs the bright color palette this anime is supposed to have and some complex camera angles that actually make the OP more good looking than the main series itself. The second OP is “Hikari” by ViViD. This one pretty much has the same vibe as the first OP. It doesn’t really standout that great as well but it has a great beat to it. The rhythm is pretty great but the lyrics doesn’t really sound all that good. This is just my opinion though. The OP sequence pretty much covers the events that went down in the second and third chapter strung together in a wonderful montage.

The anime have two ED as well. The first one is “Eden” by Aqua Timez. This is a pretty cool song. The slow pace combined by the singer’s voice is pretty calming. It gives off a really wonderful vibe that I personally enjoy. The ED sequence features Aladdin, in his Magnostadd uniform, gazing at the moon. The ED sequence kinda highlights his resolve since it is a big part of the story somewhere down the line. The second ED is “With You/With Me” by 9nine. It’s pretty much like the first ED but an idol group sung it. It’s a decent song with some nice lyrics and the voices do give it a wonderful tune. I guess I just don’t really like idols though. That’s just my own opinion though. Anyways, the ED sequence features Aladdin and Alibaba standing back to back with White Rukhs flying around them. It then transitions into a scene of all the chess pieces, once again, being featured. It then ends with the two characters holding hands together. It’s pretty cute.

Overall Score

8/10 “The storytelling is incredibly detailed as it elevates simple Shounen concept and give us something ten times more exciting.”

I really love the complex and over ambitious story of Magi. It is amazing and it blows my mind how the author can pull off something most cannot even dream of trying. If I have one complaint, it’d be the animation. There is an untapped potential in the animation A-1 Pictures didn’t bother to give us but that’s alright. Between the gripping content, engaging fight scenes and vibrant characters, Magi is still a solid and enjoyable anime. If you love Shounen then you’ll like this anime a lot. If you’re a fan of complex stories then you’ll be surprised how this one unfolds. If you like well thought out socio-political stories with the appeal of a Shounen anime then Magi is something you’d be glad you watched. You don’t really need to see the first season as well. The series hits its stride in the second season and you can just work your way back. Magi is an incredible anime experience that I do highly recommend.