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.
4 stars for Alibaba. Oh, he cracked me up in this volume. And for a shounen series, this volume was full of romance. Of course I've been 'shipping Alibaba and Morgiana from the beginning...and it was nice to finally see Alibaba not be so oblivious to his own feelings.
This volume is a lull in the action after big bad battle and now a council of nations or something coming up in the next volume. While Magi isn't my favorite series, I do appreciate the complex world building and character development. It's definitely a solid series, otherwise I wouldn't hang in there for 37 volumes. I generally avoid series that go beyond 30 volumes. It's just too much of a commitment for me to keep up with, but this series is worth the exception.
World: The art is fine, it’s a bit hard to follow at time due to the art style. Also, characters have really weird proportions. The world building is okay, we get a quiet arc after the shit show that was the last one so there are some new pieces and world building here to expand the world. There are some bits and pieces of lore and history which I enjoy. Then there’s also the nonsensical magic system with even more nonsense added to it. There’s also the convoluted story of the Kou succession which is way too complicated for no reason.
Story: The story is okay, it’s about what happens after that tedious last arc. We get back to small emotions and building up of tension. We get reunions and new status quo for the world and we start seeing the pieces set up for the next if conflict. The stuff with friends is nice and the stuff with Alibaba and the girlfriend is kinda over the top but kind needed after the heavy arc. Then there’s the stuff in Balbadd which is rather bland, expected and the exact same story again of slavery and class again (There’s one story to tell in this series...and this is it...slaves are bad...those in power are corrupt).
Characters: Some nice little moments for the mains, more learning. But not a lot of time with them together which is a shame. I will say that I want more depth in terms of Aladdin and some concrete answers to the world and characters as a whole moving forward.
Creí que no podrían superarse con tomar temas tan oscuros de la realidad mundana en un manga para chicos, pero otra vez lo ha logrado. No sólo de la esclavitud que ya ha sido harto tratada durante todo el manga, sino que ahora tenemos la destrucción de una cultura por otra más poderosa. Hay muchas capas para sacar los verdaderos temas de los que se hablan en este manga de humor y aventuras.
Comenzamos un nuevo arco argumental de la mejor manera posible: peores conflictos, nuevas uniones, personajes desarrollados. Qué buen manga.
Isto não era nada do que eu estava à espera ou o que eu queria! Sei que em mangas são necessários capítulos "filler" para criar uma ponte entre arcos mas fazer um volume inteiro deles e ainda por cima não muito interessantes tirou bastante o meu aproveitamento deste volume. Houve pedaços interessantes nos capítulos mas de um ponto de vista geral e tendo em conta os outros 20 volumes que já li, este foi sem dúvida o pior deles. Não foi mesmo nada de especial. 2.5/5 estrelas
A very solid volume, the battles are over for now but there is a different type of fighting that takes place, one of love. I cant get over Alibaba and his reactions to people's question about his time in Leam, it was rather funny. Then morgiana, oh my she is too Darn sweet I swear!!!!
The last few pages were so good too, I'm expecting so much from the next volume!
Disclaimer: I watched the anime and needed to read the manga as I loved this story. Unfortunately, I binged every volume back to back each moment I was free so its hard to distinguish what happened in each volume.
A nice break from the high-tension of the last volumes with lots of laugh-out-loud moments. Important things and revelations happen, but the tone is much lighter.
(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).
The gang reunites for a short time in this volume, with some even older characters. There's much teasing, and even a little lying to appear more mature.
Then Alibaba and his younger gang of followers depart, and Morgiana tags along as well. There's some rather big misunderstandings between Alibaba and Morgiana, and it causes some self-esteem loss for Alibaba. And then they arrive in Alibaba's home town, and everything is different, which makes him uneasy. It's interesting to see how Alibaba handles it, and how he decides to do something about it.
I'm not all that into this series, and I'm only vaguely following along. Aside from the main plot, though, I don't mind the characters, and the humor is all right, and I think the art style fits the humor rather well.
A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!
This volume starts with chapter 199 right after the ending of the Magnostadt Arc. First of all, I started reading this because this is the continuation of the anime. (Ending of Season 2) I didn't want to read 20 volumes for some minor differences. I will probably do it but not soon. However, the anime was really good and the story really intrigued me. I especially like the characters. Almost all of them are very complex and relatable. Even the most minor characters manage to surprise you. The last arc was really good so I had high expectations for this volume. The art style is similar to One Punch Man and Mob Psycho 100 in my opinion. It is very quirky but also serious at the same time. I wish I had known about the manga because I always prefer the original material over the adaptation. In short, read the manga (2o volumes or 198 chapters) and then go watch 2 seasons of the anime.
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. )
Podríamos considerar este tomo como uno de transición, hacia lo que vendrá con la cumbre en donde Aladdin hablará sobre los secretos de “Alma-Toran".
Capítulos, aunque de transición, importantes. Me encanta que los familiares del contenedor metálico de Ali baba crezcan, eso demuestra su valía cómo candidato a Rey.
Por otra parte nos muestran la situación en qué los territorios y países conquistados por el Imperio Kou se encuentran.
Y sin duda, lo más importante viene al final, con el encuentro de Ali baba con Ren Kouen y Ren Koumei. Dejando en claro las aptitudes de política del príncipe Koumei y los planes a futuro que tienen.
Seeing Alibaba return to Balbadd and finding everything under the subjugation of the Kou Empire is the most defeated I've felt reading this manga. Knowing that after all the pain and success they went through during the Balbadd Arc was all just so they could be ruled over again. That hurts.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.