Magi Vol 1
By Shinobu Ohtaka
Genre: Graphic Novel-Manga
Published Sept 2011
Pages: 197
Published Sept 2011
Pages: 197
Publisher: Viz Media
Summary: A young boy, Aladdin, travels a mysterious continent that is home to a mysterious ruin known as the “Dungeon”, in which great treasure is said to lay hidden. During his travels, the young boy meets Ali Baba, and together they attempt to clear the “Dungeon” in order to claim the treasures within. As their quest brings about new encounters and farewells, Aladdin will come to learn of his true destiny.
Review: A playful manga series based on the stories from Arabian Nights!
A fantasy adventure with a good blend of comedy. Great for older youth (ages 12+), teen and adult based on stories most readers should recognize! We have the ever famous Aladdin starring in this series With a magical flute that summons his friend, Ugo. Ugo is a shy, headless djinn. Aladdin is trying to help him recover his head and this book begins their adventures. Another famous name is given to us Alibaba who is hand for hire who wants to make it rich.
Aladdin can appear as an adorable little boy one minute, an intelligent youth the next or can seem to be a very pervy child. This gives Aladdin an interesting depth that leaves me curious to learn more about the real him in volume 2. Alibaba befriends Aladdin so that he will explore a dungeon for treasures with him. The way the dungeons are described remind me of old-school video game play.
Again, I love the various portrayals of Aladdin. In one scene he can be overly snuggly with some girl, the next, saving the day! While I love the different sides to him, they ways he can be drawn varies a bit too much. He can look 4 years old on one page, 10 on another and around 14 on the next! Too many styles were used in this manga, making difficult to decide if I like the art style or not. And for graphic novels, artistic style is just as important as the story in my opinion! Also there is unnecessary narration that I could have done without.
There is a character we meet you seems to know something about Aladdin but we don't learn much in this volume so I am eager to learn more of him in volume two. Overall, the book has some amusing parts and a playful yet beloved storyline that I am curious to see where it leads. Fans of the original Dragon Ball series will likely enjoy this series as well.
A fantasy adventure with a good blend of comedy. Great for older youth (ages 12+), teen and adult based on stories most readers should recognize! We have the ever famous Aladdin starring in this series With a magical flute that summons his friend, Ugo. Ugo is a shy, headless djinn. Aladdin is trying to help him recover his head and this book begins their adventures. Another famous name is given to us Alibaba who is hand for hire who wants to make it rich.
Aladdin can appear as an adorable little boy one minute, an intelligent youth the next or can seem to be a very pervy child. This gives Aladdin an interesting depth that leaves me curious to learn more about the real him in volume 2. Alibaba befriends Aladdin so that he will explore a dungeon for treasures with him. The way the dungeons are described remind me of old-school video game play.
Again, I love the various portrayals of Aladdin. In one scene he can be overly snuggly with some girl, the next, saving the day! While I love the different sides to him, they ways he can be drawn varies a bit too much. He can look 4 years old on one page, 10 on another and around 14 on the next! Too many styles were used in this manga, making difficult to decide if I like the art style or not. And for graphic novels, artistic style is just as important as the story in my opinion! Also there is unnecessary narration that I could have done without.
There is a character we meet you seems to know something about Aladdin but we don't learn much in this volume so I am eager to learn more of him in volume two. Overall, the book has some amusing parts and a playful yet beloved storyline that I am curious to see where it leads. Fans of the original Dragon Ball series will likely enjoy this series as well.
I received this book from Viz Media in exchange for a fair/honest review. All opinions in the review are my own. No money/other gifting was offered/mentioned/etc.
This looks super cute!
ReplyDeleteIt was! :) Just a simple, quick, playful read.
DeleteI just added this to my CrunchyRoll queue to watch the anime. I love watching anime - not so much reading manga. though my husband loves to read it. Looks like it was just middle of the road for you huh. weird that the age changes so much.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't aware it was already an anime too! Sweet! I will have to check it out. :)
DeleteI actually enjoyed it a fair amount. A 3.5 is pretty good by me still. 2.5 to 3 is middle of the road. The series has potential to do quite a bit better. That is the hard thing with manga, since you get only a splice of the story at a time, it is harder to rate. Kinda like watching a tv show after on 1-2 episodes. A lot can happen still.
It sounds funny and adorable! I haven't seen a manga based off of something like this before...actually I saw one based off of Alice in Wonderland...but I can't think of any others...hehe o.o;
ReplyDeleteI always love Magi!!
ReplyDeleteThe story is great and makes you want to read the next story..
And Magi also already has an anime ^_^
Because I really love watch anime and read manga.. hehe
I've watched the anime version of Magi and I loved it! I'll try reading the manga series during summer vacation when I have lots of time to read. :D Thanks for the review!
ReplyDelete