Long running series are sometimes the hardest to get into, not matter what the medium is. It can’t just have a good first chapter, it needs to have an amazing first chapter to get your very first readers to return month after month. Here in the US we get manga in volumes, not doled out chapter by chapter. Our Versus feature looks at some of the longer running series in the US – some of the early volumes versus some of later ones – to help decide whether these series are worth jumping into. First up – Magi!
The Beginning
Magi’s plot isn’t what most people would call complicated, but it’s certainly not the plot I expected. I gave the series a few shots before it really stuck with me; I tried a few chapters of the manga once or twice, tried the first episode of the anime, and it never clicked. Recently I wanted to give it another shot however, and since my library had the first five volumes I decided to go for broke and read them all. Funnily enough, volume three came in much later than the other four so I skimmed that one, but once I finally got that volume it was the one that hooked me into the series.
Up to volume three Magi was a rather generic, action-adventure manga. The premise is a weird one, in a setting that felt more like Shinobu Ohtaka read 1001 Arabian Nights instead of actually researching the Middle East. “Dungeons” have started appearing throughout many kingdoms and while most people go into them and never return; those who do are heroes and rich as kings from the treasures inside. In these first few volumes it feels as if the story wants to be another “trapped in a video game” tale but changes its mind halfway through, and the setup and pacing for the first few chapters is very messy. Two of our leads, Aladdin and Alibaba, stick together to conquer these dungeons but don’t have any real chemistry yet, not to mention after the dungeons are first hyped up as these nearly impossible adventures, they conquer one without that much trouble! But then the story splits up these two (plus our third lead Morgianna), and once they’re apart the story can finally take a breath and explain, coherently, what it’s trying to do.
Once the group is split however very little of the story focuses on Alibaba until all three reunited again, and for that the story seems to breathe more easily. Morgianna was the newest addition to the cast but develops the fastest. It only takes a few chapters to show that she’s quiet but not simple-minded, and she works surprisingly well both on her own and bouncing off of the other characters. Aladdin too goes from being 90% comic relief to a more even mixture of serious and funny, and the heart of the story clicks into place. The dungeons aren’t just a source of wealth, they’re kingmakers, and the magi choose candidates to conquer the dungeons. Accidentally or not, Aladdin and Alibaba have ended up in a complicated situation. The story grows from a small adventure into a larger one as the trio gets caught up in a greater game of destiny and politics where sometimes the enemy is a cruel king and other times it’s a shadowy group that plans to use dark magic to upset the very order of the world.
That’s where we stand with the most recently released volume in the US, volume 13. Our trio (which might even be a quartet at this point) has met a huge number of other characters and are planning to split up again briefly. The manga truly has gotten better at balancing a large cast as it goes along, especially as its side cast gets larger and larger. Of the side characters the most interesting is someone who again feels more like the “expected” shounen lead than the actual leads, Sinbad. If Alibaba has a “typical heroic past” then Sinbad has it in spades. I’ve joked with friends that he’s so powerful within the context of the story that the author is actively trying to keep him from interfering so he doesn’t take over. But even that serves a purpose, just like how Alibaba has become a much more realistic character for his failings (and being a more appropriate comic relief than Aladdin at times), Sinbad also represents what could happen to our heroes if they become too caught up in the big picture of saving the world and stop caring about how they achieve it. Ultimately all of these characters are on the side of good. Most of our “evil” cast are more chaotic than true bad guys at this point, but the story is clear that methods are just as important as intentions when you play the games of politics.
Despite all of these big ideas being thrown around the story still manages to be a lot of fun. There is adventuring and bantering, and cool looking battles that never go on too long; the characters don’t get so many “upgrades” that it feels unrealistic. So if you want a shounen action-adventure story that isn’t brainless, that has a plot, stylish art, and best of all, an actual end (it’s expected to end in Japan soon), then I think you should give this manga a shot and see if you can try a few volumes at once instead of just one.
Want to try it out? Magi is available both in print and digital from Viz Media.
