Manga Review: Magi #1 by Shinobu Ohtaka
In a setting not unlike the Middle Eastern tales of the Arabian Nights, there is a boy named Aladdin. He’s lived in isolation until now, so he doesn’t know much about the outside world, or how society works. Soon, Aladdin meets a drifter named Alibaba, who’s a poor laborer now, but dreams of conquering a dungeon, a mysterious trap-laden building filled with treasure.
After some difficulties with Alibaba’s current client, the wine merchant Budel, and a run-in with the local slavery laws, Alibaba and Aladdin find themselves with no place to go but the dungeon. It’s filled with dangers, just as described, but more dangerous may be the rival group of treasure hunters….
This is the manga the previously reviewed anime Magi: The Magical Labyrinth was based on. (Its sequel, Magi: The Kingdom of Magic is now airing.) The manga starts with a solo adventure of Aladdin, in which he helps out a caravan; this was skipped in the anime to bring in Alibaba faster, and bits reused after the first storyarc.
Aladdin has a rather annoying breast fetish, and some fanservice comes up throughout. As mentioned in the anime review, most of the characters are suspiciously pale-skinned for the Middle East setting and being out in the sun all the time.
That said, it’s a fun series that will later have a really interesting female character, Morgiana (she appears in this volume, but pre-character development.)
This will mostly appeal to fans of the anime, but might be worth looking into if you’re a fan of Arabian Nights style fantasy.
