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Sunday, October 4, 2015

Manga Review: Magi: The Labrynth of Magic, Volume 13, by Shinobu Ohtaka



Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5
Publisher: Shonen Sunday (VIZ Media)
Release Date: August 11, 2015
Volumes: 26+
Spoilers?: No.
Volume: 1. 12. 14.

Goodreads Synopsis:


Aladdin, Morgiana, Hakuryu and Kogyoku each leave Sindria on their own quests. For the first leg of their journey, they will all be aboard the same ship, and Alibaba can’t resist stowing away on it too. The high seas are dangerous though, and an encounter with pirates will lead them on a journey they never expected to take…


Review:

I’ve been wanting to read this series for a while, but just haven’t gotten around to picking it up. But now it’s definitely high on my list.
Admittedly, since I haven’t read any of the previous books nor seen the anime, there wasn’t very much of a synopsis for the characters or story. I was more or less just thrown into the story, but thankfully it was pretty easy to follow.
The characters are all in an in-between phase at the beginning, about to head off on their own. We see some new friendships forming, some closer bonds, as well as the characters having to say goodbye for now. Alibaba and the group make up with much teasing (though I don’t know what they were fighting about), Morgiana and Hakuryu have a bit of a shy flirtation going on (mostly from Hakuryu, though, who gets adorably embarrassed around her). Aladdin is a pretty happy kid, among all this.
In the second half of the book, the group gets attacked by pirates, and that ends with a cliffhanger that I’m actually quite interested to see where goes. They’re fighting a hypnotizing mother character, which is disconcerting. Through all that, though, I’m impressed by all of their fighting abilities and magic use (particularly Morgiana and Hakuryu). They also stay underwater during a fight much longer than I think is humanly possible, but maybe that’s just me.
Overall, this volume has me more excited to catch up with the series. The artwork is really pretty, the comedy is fitting and almost cartoon exaggerated, but in a good way. I like all the characters and am interested to get to know them fully.



A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, and Erik Jansen from MediaLab PR. Thank you so, so much!

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