ANIME MONDAY: Magi: Labyrinth of Magic – “The Two Princes” Review


Previously on Magi:

Alibaba & Aladdin began their training on Sindria, but things were soon thrown into mild chaos when two visitors arrived from the Kou Empire; Prince Hakuryu Ren & Princess Kougyoku. Spoilers Ahead!

Alibaba & Aladdin resume training on Sindria as Hakuryu & Kougyoku try to adjust to life there. Alibaba’s group and the Kou royalty eventually cross paths and Alibaba’s injured arm causes him to collapse. While in the doctor’s doctor’s office Sinbad comes to check on Alibaba and a purple fog emerges from the boys arm. It forms into the agent of Al-Sarmen who spills blood on Sinbad when the king attempts to cut him in half. Now cursed, Alibaba, Aladdin, Morgiana, & Hakuryu travel to the dungeon known as Zagan before Alibaba & Sinbad are killed.

Things have certainly gotten hairy in a hurry for Alibaba and friends and this episode is a nice introduction into the next arc of the story. A couple of things get developed in this episode. Al-Sarmen’s plans get expanded for one thing so let’s break those down.

Alibaba & Aladdin are continuing their training under Sharrkhan and Yamraiha but as the days pass it seems like Aladdin is fairing better than his friend. Aladdin has already begun to get the hang of giving the Rukh commands (although he still has a way to go) while Alibaba is still having trouble using his new sword. Not everything is angsty though as there are some humorous moments with Sharr & Alibaba in a brothel.

Things only get worse when Hakuryu & Kougyoku arrive to talk to them. Alibaba keeps hearing a voice telling him to hate and kill Hakuryu, and while it eventually turns out to be the agent of Al-Sarmen Alibaba also thinks that it may actually be his inner thoughts since he still hates the Kou Empire. The curse placed on Sinbad & Alibaba is one that infects their body with black rukh, turning them over to Al-Sarmen’s side, but due to Solomon’s rukh being in them the two sides will clash and rip their bodies apart (you can see the urgency of the situation). Because of this they must travel to the island of Tran in the southern part of Sindria to reach Zagan, whose Djinn can cure ilness.

Hakuryu is portrayed so far as a serious and kind young man (which he shows when he promise to save a young girl’s parents from the dungeon), he also wants to destroy the Kou Empire (talk about family issues). Kougyoku is relatively the same so nothing new there. Pisti is expanded more as she accompanies them to Tran. Turns out she can become friends with animals using Rukh and shes older than Alibaba (despite Aladdin not believing her because of her small boobs, classy kid). Tran is a pretty small island whose inhabitants remeble native americans and nothing is really know about Zagan at this point besides it’s Djinn’s abilities and that it apparently “eats” people. Finally Morgiana also debuts her metal vessel, basically her chains have been fixed and dolled up and the links have become extra long (which she demonstrates when she accidentally attacks Alibaba & Aladdin) so she has to wear them on her arms instead of her legs, although you couldn’t tell from the inconsistent animation.

Morgiana’s Metal Vessels

“The Two Princes” is a decent episode that introduces the next arc of the story well enough. A new dungeon is introduced, evil plots are set, characters are expanded on and there even some humorous moments to lighten the mood. The adventure continues next week as Alibaba & Co. tackle Zagan.

3.5/5