Anime Review: Magi The Labyrinth of Magic

Genre: Shounen, Action, Adventure, Fantasy
# of Episodes: 25
# of Seasons: ?

Magi’s main character is a kid named Aladdin (we all know where that’s from), who holds an extraordinary power and is trying to find out more about himself. On his journey he meets Alibaba, who pretty much seems like a money grubbing little snot in the beginning. The two decide to clear a dungeon together (a dungeon is a magical tower - if one goes through it one can gain unimaginable wealth and power) so that Alibaba can get money for his ambitions and Aladdin can find a djinn vessel (kind of just like Aladdin’s genie lamp in the Disney movie). While in the dungeon the two make the acquaintance of Morgiana, who was a slave. Either way they get through the tower and free Morgiana, and the story progresses in your typical shounen format (bigger, badder enemies every time there’s something new to face off against).

Dungeon

The first episode starts off with an ultra-interesting lead, which is a scream and explosion. Really, you can’t go wrong. Of course after that you find out it’s a ten year old kid (Aladdin) who appears to be having a temper tantrum, which kind of puts a damper on the whole dramatic opening thing. In the same scene though, there is a giant, blue, well … genie, but it doesn’t look at all like Disney’s Genie of the Lamp (by that I mean dumpy and fluffy). He offers to grant Aladdin a wish, which, no matter how you look at it, is a bit like stealing plot lines there. After seeing the kid’s temper issues, I expected he would ask for something horrible, and that he would be a bad guy introduced first, but I was wrong and the boy asked for the generic shounen fallback. Be my friend.

 

From right: Aladdin, Ugo, Explosion

Anyhow, right after this we meet his highness Alibaba Saluja. I say his highness not only because what is later revealed, but also because he seemed at first to possess an exceptionally frivolous personality. He just kept talking about needing money so he wouldn’t have to follow his boss (who was admittedly awful and gross), and so that he could get all the women he wanted once even proclaiming “As long as he has money, any man can be popular!” Both Alibaba and Aladdin have the same taste in women as well, and Aladdin has no problems stuffing his face into a convenient large pair of breasts (even going so far as to sample Alibaba’s fat boss’s moobs). Despite the fact that every time the two go to the club (or titty bar, as it were)Alibaba pays and gets a “special service,” it is always a service by someone who is fairly heinous looking. He just has no luck in that department.

From right: Aladdin putting his face in moobs, Alibaba's hostess, One of Alibaba's "no luck" with women moments

While my first impression of Alibaba Saluja isn’t particularly wrong (he pretty much loves his money), it wasn’t all Alibaba had to offer. He was (of course) this really good guy, with a few problems he had to overcome. Aladdin saw this in him, and ended up picking Alibaba as his king candidate (a person he chose to be some sort of ultimate ruler). The biggest flaw in Alibaba’s character is his constant second guessing of himself. He easily loses confidence, and needs somebody to pick him up. He’s pretty whiny compared to most main shounen characters, but, for some reason, it didn’t detract from his character, it added a different and (I dare say) more interesting aspect to it.

Alibaba punches his boss

The main girl character in this show is Morgiana. She may have been a slave, but she is by no means weak. She is a girl that kicks ass (and seems to want Alibaba’s *wink wink), and takes name. She’s from the so called “dark continent” where they can apparently fell big cats with one kick. She’s definitely not someone I would want to pick a fight with, considering she pretty much crushes rock every time she MOVES. She’s got her own past issues as well, but she doesn’t use them as an excuse, which is actually much more typical shounen than crybaby Alibaba. (By the way, I really like Alibaba’s character, I just like ragging on him I think) She is really devoted to Aladdin and Alibaba because they helped free her from her confinement, and sticks to them like glue. That being said, the three of them make up the team of the show, and we follow their story throughout.

From right: Morgiana, Morgiana and Alibaba, The troop

Anyhow, this anime seems like it has just begun, which it technically has. It can move in any direction, and there is a second season planned. One thing that really impressed me about it is the animation. It was super crisp, and wasn’t full of colored lights backgrounds. Every character looked completely unique, and the expressions were hilarious (compare to FMA/B, with Ed’s crocodile face). The anime looked really nice; it’s practically worth watching just because of this. That is not to say that it is not worth watching for other reasons. I gave the characters a bit of a hard time, but it’s actually a fairly interesting show.

Overall Score

7 out of 10

For a shounen, that is not as shounen as it could be.

Anime Review: Uta no Prince-sama

Genre: Shoujo, Romance, Comedy

# of Episodes: 13

# of Seasons: ?

Uta no Prince-sama (commonly referred to as UtaPri) is the story of a girl who wants to become a composer. (Nanami Haruka) She is late the day of the entrance exam, and (surprise, surprise!) two guys help her to get in to take the test. She (of course) passes the test with flying colors, and is admitted to Saotome Gakuen, an extremely prestigious academy known for turning out idols and composers of a high level. Once in the school she goes through many little trials, meeting the six other main characters of the series. (Ittoki Otoya, Hijirikawa Masato, Shinomiya Natsuki, Ichinose Tokiya, Jinguji Ren, and Kurusu Syo)

From left: Saotome Gakuen, Nanami Haruka

 

So the first day an assignment is given for music writing and lyrics from one person in the idol group and one person in the composer group, and some initial rules are laid out. First they are told they will have to choose a partner for the graduation audition (because they are in a school which is connected to an agency), but they don’t have to do it for a while. And second, guys and girls are not allowed to fall in love. Oh! How yaoi fangirls will love the non-specificity. After all this is a show with 6 attractive (they are all going to be idols) guys in even numbers. Just saying.

  

From left: Ittoki Otoya, Ichinose Tokiya, Jinguji Ren,
Hijirikawa Masato, Shinomiya Natsuki, Kurusu Syo

Anyway, she meets all the guys at different times and, obviously because this is shoujo, manages to change all of them in one way or another for the better. At one point or another all the boys sing with her and we get to know a little about them.  Of course this leads to a problem; all of them want her for their graduation partner. (*gasp* SHOCKER!) And, again of course, she just CAN’T choose, because they all mean so much to her. (Oh, and they all seem to want to be with her as well) After a bout of near confessions in the form of “I love……. your music” from all the boys they go on to form a boy band! Oh yeah! Bringing it back!

The Band's Name: Starish

After they form this band some drama ensues, because one of its members is already famous, but everyone gets over it and moves on with life. Right? Wrong! Because now the headmaster of the school (and the head of the talent agency) basically kicks Nanami off writing the songs for the band (as a way to  test her, but we’re not supposed to know that because this isn’t a typical anime or anything).  Anyhow there’s some crying and running away and singing and everything turns out well. The boys debut with her song and everybody is happy. The end of season 1.

My overall impression of this anime is hmmm. Worth consideration. I probably will be watching the second season (which airs in April 2013) because I don’t just stop watching things, but I’m sure it will end up a typical anime. I do give this show props for good introductions, though. It doesn’t just hurl characters at you all in one episode, despite the fact that it is a fairly short season. It slowly introduces them in ways that will be remembered after their initial ‘I’m this person’ introductions. And even though I gave it shit for being SUCH a shoujo anime, it’s still fairly interesting to see the progress of the characters. (Also, watch out regular shoujo fangirls because this is seriously recommended for crazy yaoi fangirls to make up pairings)

Overall Score:

7 out of 10

For interesting characters in a typical anime format.

 

Anime Review: Shiki

Genre: Horror, Supernatural, Mystery, Fantasy
# of Episodes: 22
# of OVA's: 2

Shiki is about a small town in the middle of nowhere (Sotoba), and it’s rapidly climbing death rate. At first the deaths are an unexplained phenomena thought to be caused by the summer heat, as it appears to be only old people losing their lives.  The local doctor, Ozaki Toshio, is mildly perturbed however, when the deaths start extending to include young people. As the death toll continues to rise, people start to suspect the newcomers in town, the Kanemasa’s. The family had just moved into the castle that had recently been built on top of the hill overlooking Sotoba. It is soon discovered by a young teen (and the doctor, a little later) that the dead are not, in fact, staying dead.  After that it is all fantastical creatures and gore.

Now on with the actual review.

The first episode’s focus is a pink haired girl Megumi who can’t wait to leave Sotoba for her dream of city life. There are only two things she cares about in Sotoba, the castle on the hill, and the main boy character, Natsuno. This is all well and good until we find out about her stalker tendencies. She literally hides in the bushes outside Natsuno’s bedroom window and waits for him to show his face! (Hide your kids people!) For now we are going to ignore the fact that she is a total creep, because she is where the story really starts.

 From Left: Megumi, Natusuno, Toru and Sotoba

Megumi dies very soon after she is introduced, and the plot takes off from there. After that Natsuno is able to reopen his bedroom window, because he thinks he’s not being creeped on. It’s not long however, before Natsuno starts feeling watched again, and is beginning to lose sleep because of it. It is then that we are introduced to Toru, who is Natsuno’s best ( and only) friend in Sotoba. Tohru seems like an easygoing nice guy, who gets along with basically anyone, up to and including Masao Murasako, the most self-centered, ridiculous (and UGLY) prick imaginable.

Murasako

Anyhow, Natsuno, for some reason still feeling watched at night, decides to spend the night at Toru’s claiming that it’s the only place he can sleep well anymore. The second time he stays there his fears are realized, as Megumi shows up in the middle of the night, and sucks Toru’s blood (vampire style!) out of jealousy, rather than Natsuno’s. From there Toru is drained of blood until his premature teenage death.

From Left: Tohru fixing Natsuno's flat tire, Megumi about to feed off Toru, Natsuno digging up Megumi's grave

By the time what happened finally catches up with Natsuno, Toru is already dead.  Natsuno proceeds to gather a couple of people who might believe him and digs up Megumi’s grave, proving that she has risen from the dead. After this Natsuno is horrified to discover that his friend Toru has also risen, and offers him his blood so Toru will attack nobody else. He is soon drained and appears to have permanently died.

Meanwhile around town people are still dying, and many of them are rising again. The doctor discovers this and is threatened into silence by none other than the suspicious Kanemasa family. However, that doesn’t last long as soon his wife passes away, and he experiments on her to find out how to kill her. He injects poisons, cuts her open, crushes various parts on her body, and finally drives a stake through her heart. This was one of the more painful scenes of the show, because although the people are technically ‘dead,’ they haven’t lost any of their personalities with death, and they have nerve endings. It is like watching torture, and being privy to nearly every pained scream it produces.

The doctor after the stake was driven into his wife's heart.

However, through his experimentation he discovers the way to kill the risen dead, now called ‘shiki.’ Once he discovers this he gathers the townspeople to his side, and they work to slaughter each and every one of the shiki. The humans attack during the day, so it is easy for them to win against the comatose shiki. They chase them down tunnels, and stake all of them until they run out of stakes. After that they tie the shiki to poles and wait for the sun to come up. Shiki, being basically traditional vampires, burn to ash in the sunlight. It is a painful way to go.

From Left: Toru as a shiki crying, Pile of bodies, Burning flesh of shiki

In the end neither side wins, as a few people from both sides survive. Shiki is a gruesome horror story through and through. It was really interesting to watch, as long as you can handle gore, and serious cases of human cruelty. There is some comic relief, though, in the form of creepy stalkers and ugly self-absorbed fools. You should not, however, expect slapdash humor, or fluffy happy endings. This is a very poignant and serious show.

Overall Score:

8 out of 10

For little character development, but amazing insight into human nature during troubled times.