Shinobu Ohtaka (大高 忍, born May 9, 1983 Tokyo, Japan) is a Japanese manga artist. She is best known for the creation of the manga series Sumomomo Momomo and more recently, Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic.
Oh wow, that was like a mighty slap on the face. All this time, the world is being driven by destiny. When Cassim was killed, it was destiny's doing. When Isaac was brutally murdered, it was also destiny. When the poor dies of hunger or forced into slavery or into a child reproduction machine, it is all because of destiny. Destiny is the mighty force that dictates what you are and who you ought to be. This kind of destiny is powered by the white rukh which also sides with Aladdin and the gang. The black rukh which is used by the villains long to disrupt the white rukh and consequently, destiny. Their main objective is to rid the world of destiny and to let people decide the kind of fate they will follow.
I mean, wow. Sure that sounds good and I think it should be the right way to go. However, it's the process of achieving this goal which makes it all wrong. Honestly, I'm surprised by how deep this revelation is.
More fighting and the story is getting convoluted cause of the poorly defined world.
World: The art is solid, some of the characters look great, and they emote well. The action on the other hand can get a bit messy and confusing at times. The world building needs work, the more I read into the book the more I find that this section really needs to be better defined to allow readers to actually follow all the pieces and all the machination of the nations and the characters. There are multiple nations that barely get hinted at and then the Kou Empire itself is a mess of characters that really needs a family tree or a graphic for readers to orient themselves. Add the organization and their hierarchy and it's a mess. Then let's add the sudden kingdom with with the magic school that rebelled and yeah we have a mess of a world with so many moving pieces that it makes your head spin.
Story: The story is aight, it's battle battle battle. However with the wonky world building the action is hard to follow with the magic system not really developed, with all the pieces of armor and the vessels and the differences of a Magi and a Sorcerer...argh. The story is okay, there are chopy chunks that tie together with all the different characters and their small individual stories. There's the princess they saved and her magic school rebellion story. There's the princess at Sindaria that doesn't want to go home. There's the prince who wants to overthrow the Kou Empire. There's Sinbad and his agenda. There's Aladdin and his journey of discover. There's Mou and her journey of discovery. There's Alibaba and his journey of discovery. There's the evil organization which is poorly defined and Judar. There's the Kou Empire and their agenda and the idea that an Empire is that stupid to not see the evil organization that wants to destroy everything that they are relying on. Yeah the story is a hot hot mess of jumbled ideas that are all crashing together in a barely cohesive plot. I did not really see this when it was just fighting but the quiet moments now really are a mess.
Characters: There are so many character and so many drives and arcs that it makes your head spin. However because of the limited page count we don't really get any depth. In the start of the series we had a lot of tales with individual characters that allowed for growth and time to build, not there are too many characters.
I am feeling like this book has somewhat lost it's way and wants to do too many things at once.
Volume con alti e bassi. È stato figo vedere Yamraiha usare davvero il suo potere, ma spiegatemi perché la sua vittoria si è basata sui.... vestiti che perde e lascia in giro. Capisco. [le mie note di lettura su sto pezzo: "Yamraiha che viene desnudata per vincere.... Vabbè...."]
Quello ha un po' tirato giù il rating per sto volume, che in realtà ha un sacco di momenti interessanti. Judal che cerca di impietosire Sinbad con la Backstory Triste™️ ma poi si mette a ridere; Kougyoku divisa tra il suo desiderio di lottare e diventare una guerriera e Sinbad; la sorpresina con il braccio di Hakuryuu. Ohtaka riesce a dare spazio a personaggi minori senza però farci sentire come se avesse accantonato i protagonisti.
In particolare si delinea sempre meglio personaggio di Sinbad: è figo vedere che lui è tutto carino e simpatico ma chiaramente tutti gli amici che si fa e la gente che aiuta è per un secondo scopo. Kougyoku, Alibaba, Morgiana, Aladdin e Hakuryuu... Tutte persone a cui ha offerto molto, ma anche che spera di usare a suo vantaggio. La faccenda del rukh nero e della maledizione dimostra che è molto bravo a manipolare la situazione a suo vantaggio.
Menzione speciale all'orecchino di Kashim e al suo spirito che continuano a proteggere Alibaba. Momento piantino anche qui.
This is an interesting manga. You have fighting. You have magic. You have magic fighting. There's humor, and then out of nowhere you'll get something utterly heartbreaking. And then you get some more silliness. And then there's fan service thrown in every once in a while.
This volume was interesting. We see the conclusion of the fights that were started in the previous volume. We learned that there is more to Sinbad's situation than we realized. And we also see that Aladdin is far smarter and intuitive than one might think. He realizes that Sinbad does have a reason for what he does, and that his plans don't necessarily align with what Aladdin wants, and is really considering his next steps because of this. I'm curious to see what happens next.
Magi has been one of, if not the best manga/anime I have read/watched so far. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good adventure story. This volume specifically ends this story arc very well and sets up the next. Magi has many different complex character plots and portrays many themes through them. There was Morgiana with her overcoming her trauma. Alibaba had to face his past, and Aladdin found the meaning of family. Thus showing the themes of overcoming hardship through Morgiana, responsibility through Alibaba, and Family and friends through Aladdin. Magi is definitely a great series and I am looking forward to reading the rest of the manga.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Yo sabia que este tipo máximo rey super saiyajin de los 7 mares que respira y las estrellas brillan era demasiado bueno para ser verdad. No me molesta que le ponga matices al personajes, pero desde ahora estamos en terreno peligroso con su papel en la historia, si sus razones no justifican sus acciones caerá en la mas profundo de mi decepción.
P.D: Cuando apareció Cassim mi garganta se hizo un nudo, aun me afecta.
Sinbad is so cool and this cover just makes it more so. I'm so loving the way the story is continuing to build, there is so much more to sinbads character that when little bits come through I can't help but speculate on what could be coming up in the future. The last few pages began setting up the next arc which if its like the anime, is going to be great!
Really, really unbalanced pace. It's the closure of the current arc and the beginning of a new one but I was really bored. Even the fights were uninteresting and except Sinbad, none of the characters caught my attention.
Seguimos profundizando en los personajes, en sus ambiciones, y en lo vasto que es el mundo creado por Shinobu Ohtaka. Algunos personajes se muestran cada vez más grises, lo que agrega complejidad a la trama y a saber a dónde está yendo la historia.
(Aviso: lectura hecha en ejemplar en español, publicado en México. La presente nota se modificará cuando se dé de alta en GR la edición correspondiente).
Yamraiha is fighting a dark metal vessel holder and while it looks bad for a bit Yamraiha easily defeats him. Judar dissolves the barrier protecting Sindria and states that the Kou Empire will go to war with Sindria. Sinbad is showing a little more of his true self and is trying to manipulate the new people around him. Hakuryu has some pain in his arm where he was bitten and suddenly his arm falls off and out emerges an Al-Thamen man who curses both Alibaba and Sinbad. With the curse spreading on Alibaba Aladdin takes matters into his own hands and enters Alibaba to save him. After everything has settled down Aladdin informs the group he will be attending Magnoshutatt Academy to learn more about magic and the group will have to go separate ways.
This was a decent volume with some action and a lot of questions begin to arise but overall not much happened. The story seems to be branching with each character going their own separate way. This could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how much they spend on each character and where their journeys take them.
I received this advanced copy from VIZ Media through Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review.
This Manga starts our humorous. I really enjoyed the characters at the beginning. The farther you read the deeper the plots become. Enjoyable at the beginning, and a must read for the later books. I can NOT wait for books 27 + Characters are real and raw. Everyone has there faults and I feel the author/artist dose a wonderful job of bringing everyones points of view, twisted though they might be, in to clear focus.
(note: I wouldn't recommend this manga for young teens. I fine the sexual innuendos pretty funny as an adult, but not really appropriate for younger audiences. Also the plot gets pretty dark at times. )
Magi is really a good manga series, because after leaving it for almost a month, I still enjoy the remaining chapters! Aladdin is very perverted!! and his decision to go that magic school alone is quite surprising and inspiring, hopefully will inspire our dear Alibaba, he can be quite whiny sometimes. Sinbad, good or evil??
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Oh I see how it is. I knew Sinbad was hiding something. I can see now why he is so powerful. Though how does someone maintain that sort of state? It would have to be a constant battle surely... I am very very wary of you now Sin. Try not to do anything that will force me not to like you.