“Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic” is an entertaining, humorous manga series with fun characters, plenty of action and an enjoyable storyline. Recommended!
Image courtesy of © 2009 Shinobu Ohtaka. All Rights Reserved.
MANGA TITLE: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic Vol. 2
STORY AND ART BY: Shinobu Ohtaka
FIRST PUBLISHED IN JAPAN: Shogakukan
PUBLISHED IN USA BY: VIZ Media, LLC/Shonen Sunday
RATED: T for Teen
RELEASE DATE: October 8, 2013
Aladdin and Alibaba have entered the Dungeon of Qishan hoping to find hidden treasure – but danger’s found them! A horde of slimes closes in on them, while Lord Jamil and his slaves head into the dungeon looking to intercept Aladdin and grab any riches he may have found! But these rivals have more to worry about than each other, and new friends, new enemies and amazing riches are yet to be discovered!
After a battle with a giant in the labyrinth, both Aladdin and Alibaba take a rest as Aladdin has exhausted his power.
But they are found by the ruthless slave owner, Lord Jamil, thanks to his slave Morgiana. And with Aladdin out, the slave owner takes his flute.
While Alibaba manages to get Aladdin, without his flute, will they be able to protect themselves while traveling through the unknown areas of the labyrinth.
Also, Alibaba’s past is revealed in Shinobu Ohtaka’s popular hit manga series “Magi: The Laybrinth of Magic” vol. 2!
What is “Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic”?
When it comes to opportunities of becoming a manga writer/artist (mangaka), Shinobu Ohtaka’s story.
She has written about her story of how she became a manga artist, as a person who was the person who would sit quietly in the corner of class and was not really great at anything and often playing a supporting role. But if there was one thing that she was confident in, it was drawing pictures.
Her first year in high school, she was submitting manga manuscripts because it was her dream to become a manga author. And like many writers, her submissions were denied and this continued through high school and college. And when she was about to call it quits, she was given the opportunity to do a one-shot and it led to the creation of the series “Sumomo Momomo” in 2004 which would eventually become 22 volume manga series and also a 22-episode anime series.
After completing “Sumomo Momomo”, Shinobu then created “Magi” which would be serialized in Weekly Shonen Sunday in 2009 and to this day, the series is till ongoing (currently, at 17 volumes) and an anime adaptation which was aired in Japan in Oct. 2012 – March 2013 and a new second season set to air this fall.
But in August 2013, the manga series titled “Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic” will be released in the US courtesy of Viz Media.
“Magi” vol. 1 begins with a boy begging for water and food but the bandits that captured him want to strip the young boy of everything he has. Immediately, massive arms is seen coming out and defeating all bandits.
While at the Oasis of Utan, the boy named Aladdin meets a merchant named Laylah and Sahsa, the daughter of a caravan leader. He introduces them to his friend Ugo, which appears to be a flute. When Aladdin blows into the flute, massive arms come out of the flute. Ugo is a Djinn, spirits that appear in myth and not many people thought it was a real thing, but we learn through a flashback that Aladdin was given three wishes in which he could have fortune, fame and eternal life. But instead, he just wants one wish and that is for Ugo to be his friend. And since then, the two have been together.
Aladdin has the ability to extra Ugo which is a massive body without a head. As Aladdin goes on trips with various people, we learn that Aladdin must be well fed and have had a lot to drink in order to use Ugo, but also Ugo is shy if a girl touches him.
And in Aladdin’s adventure, he meets a boy named Alibaba. Alibaba’s wish is to be rich and find treasure inside buildings that have shown up all over the world. And treasures with wonderful powers are the most valuable, the one that Alibaba seeks is the Djinn’s metal vessel. But he sees using Aladdin as important in his plans as Aladdin’s use of Ugo can help protect them while they visit the dungeons to find treasure. But he realizes that for Aladdin, his main thing that makes him happy is having a friendship. For Alibaba, for now, he’ll play the role of being a friend in order to find treasure and obtain a Djinn metal vessel.
In vol. 2, as Alibaba along with Aladdin look for the treasure, not far behind them is the tyrant slave owner along with two slaves, including Morgiana.
As Lord Jamil treats Alibaba as nothing but filth, he challenges him in a sword fight but why does Alibaba know the ways of royal swordfighting? Meanwhile, as the Lord Jamil has taken control of Aladdin’ flute, will Aladdin be able to fight without it?
Shinobu Ohtaka’s “Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic” has turned out to be a pretty enjoyable series with a good balance of humor and action.
In volume 2, both Aladdin and Alibaba join forces to look for treasure in the labyrinth, but for Alibaba, what was most important was being wealthy and finding treasure has changed after meeting Aladdin. Both become friends and now Alibaba wants to protect his new friend as much as possible.
Meanwhile, Lord Jamil wants to use Aladdin as a way to become King and by taking his flute, Aladdin thinks he now has control over him.
In this volume, we learn more about Alibaba’s past but also learn a little about Morgiana and how she became a slave to Lord Jamil.
If anything, the second volume is quite interesting and entertaining as we get to see both Alibaba and Aladdin without his flute in action, but also getting to see how powerful Morgiana’s legs are. But this volume is more character development and definitely setting up a storyline which will involve all three characters from here on in.
The main protagonist Aladdin is rather interesting because he has an appearance of a little boy who possesses a flute that houses a headless giant named Ugo. But there are quirks with Alibaba, for one, he’s often hungry and thirsty, which helps with activating Ugo. He’s also somewhat of a pervert as he is often wanting to rub his head on a woman’s breast.
But most importantly, it’s his strong desire to find and have friends which makes him a bit naive when people pretend to be his friend but they have ulterior motives.
One of these friends that he does make is Alibaba, a boy who is in severe debt and people who owe debts, end up being slaves for a wealthy owner (most often a tyrant). He desires wealth but most of all a Djinn, similar to Aladdin and hopes that with partnering with him, he can obtain treasure and a Djinn.
But with the power of Ugo, Alibaba is betting that having Aladdin on his side, their chances of finding treasure and a Djinn is great.
Overall, “Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic” is an entertaining, humorous manga series with fun characters, plenty of action and an enjoyable storyline. Recommended!