Shinobu Ohtaka

This is the second installment in the Magi series and I really enjoyed it. Aladdin and Ali Baba delve deeper into the Dungeon only to find that their worst enemies may not be the monsters in the Dungeon!

When we left Aladdin and Ali Baba had just ventured into a Dungeon and faced some scary monsters. In this book they are joined by the leader of the city (the evil prince Jamal) who is determined to use Aladdin and his power for his own ends.

This installment had lots of action towards the end show more of the story and great character development throughout. This book didn't have quite as much humor as the first one and some of the villains are pretty darn mean (probably why this is rated 13+).

We do learn quite a bit more about Aladdin and Ali Baba’s backstory. We also learn quite a bit about Aladdin’s true destiny. All of it was very entertaining and engaging. We also meet a lot of new characters (not all of them good). One of them is the slave girl Jamil owns, Morgiana, she is an interesting character that I hope features in future Magi books...and she has very strong legs :-)

This is a traditional Japanese manga, read right to left and back to front. The illustration throughout is a lot of fun and very detailed and well done. I also enjoy that the author continues her small asides talking about how Magi was made.

Overall I am really enjoying the manga series. This is a great world and we learn a lot more about the characters’ background in this installment. I am excited at the addition of some great new characters and really enjoyed the direction the story was taking at the end of the series. Definitely check this out if you like action packed mythology based fantasy manga. show less

I got this book for Christmas, I actually added to my wishlist after reading a glowing review of it on the blog It’s All Comic to Me. This was a very well done Manga, I really enjoyed it and will definitely be reading more in the series. To date I haven’t read a ton of Manga. However I have read and loved the Hellsing Manga series, many of the Berserks, and a good portion of the Vampire Game series so I am not a complete Noob :-)

Aladdin is a strange young boy, with a super crazy flute. show more He journeys to a new continent where strange Dungeons occasionally appear out of the sands. In the city there he meets Ali Baba. The two agree to go on a quest to try and clear the most dangerous of the Dungeons to claim the treasure within.

This book is a good balance of world-building, characterization, adventure, and humor. I really enjoyed it.

Aladdin is a strange character, he looks like a young boy but obviously has experience and appreciation (especially of women) outside of a young boy’s experience. This makes for some very funny scenes. He is an interesting blend of naivete and worldly experience.

Aladdin also carries around a flute that has a genie in it, kind of. This makes for some hilarious scenes as well.

Ali Baba is of course out to make some money (after Aladdin kind of spoils things for him at his current job). When he sees the power of Aladdin’s..uh..flute he decides that this is his chance to finally conquer a Dungeon.

The Dungeons are a very cool concept. Basically they are giant structures that have been rising out of the sands. They are full of ancient monsters, ancient evils, and loads of treasure. The worst of the Dungeons (the one where thousands have entered and never returned) is in the very city they are in. Ali Baba decides that this is the place him and Aladdin need to go.

I was very impressed by how well the world and characters were developed in this little Manga. Both the world and characters were very engaging and it was hard to put the book down. When I was done I wanted to read more!

The author also has some cute asides in here about how they ended up writing Manga. This is an interesting story in itself and I enjoyed reading these asides throughout the book.

Overall a stellar start to an adventure fantasy manga series. I enjoyed the world, the characters, the adventure, the magic, and the humor. Recommended to those who love fantasy Manga. show less

The finale at last, and everything is resolved. It worked out more or less as I expected, and I was a bit sad - I never really felt the main romance was remotely viable, and still don't. It's built on a massive disparity of feeling, alarming hero-worship and guilt. Meanwhile, a perfectly healthy and believable romance between the protagonist and a friend got sidelined away. The martial arts stuff is okay, but I'm mostly finishing this for the sake of completeness. It's a decent series, but show more turned out not to be quite what I hoped. show less

A somewhat fun twist on the old martial arts, arranged marriage thing: the male protagonist has spurned the family martial arts tradition and wants to be a lawyer. This makes for some interesting scenes. Mostly the art was solid, but there's some weird inconsistency in portraying the heroine. They're apparently teenagers (supposedly 17), but Momoko varies from looking 15 to looking about 6 in some scenes, which is *particularly* creepy when she's trying to get into Koushi's pants. Seventeen, show more never. That stylistic weirdness threw things off for me. show less