A young boy named Alladin asks his Djinn Ugo for a wish. Soon after, the boy crosses paths with Alibaba, a young man who dreams of obtaining power and wealth by clearing the mysterious dungeons around the world, claiming their treasures in the process. After learning of Alladin's secret powers, Alibaba rties to persuade him to dungeon-clearing with him...
I was never much into the arabian tales - Aladdin, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves and that lot. What Magi seems to be doing, though, is taking the characters from them (with an anime twist, of course), mashing it all up with a plot that sounds vaguely Tower of Druaga (in that the 'Dungeons" are all magical towers straight out of an RPG game) and having a little fun with the results. Not entirely PG-rated fun, either, what with the early appearance of hookers, slave trading, and other curiosities all featuring in the opening episode. It's a curious mix, for sure.
But the setup seems to point at it aiming to be an RPG dungeon crawl, which really would be a waste of the setting and characters that they have here. Aladdin and Alibaba both have particular gaols in mind, but both those goals involved dungeon-clearing - and I don't know that that would be the most exciting subject-matter for a series. On the ther hand, having that a a secondary aim while the obviously caring & considerate Aladdin sets out to change a world that places so little value on a human life... that's another line that's pointed at, and would be far more interesting to watch.
THE GOOD: Sense of humour, good production values (it's Aniplex and A-1 Pictures, so that's a given), promising characters and a wonderful setting.
THE BAD Has a couple of lines to take on the plot front, some of which wouldn't be the most engaging. But that's not carved in stone yet.
Another keeper, then, at least for the time being. A fun and promising start.
Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic is streamed by Crunchyroll (North America) and Anime On Demand (UK & Ireland).
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