My Thoughts About: Magi The Labyrinth of Magic

I just finished watching this awesome anime series yesterday and I can't really properly say how much I enjoyed it! It's been a while since I was able to find an anime that I marathon-ed within two days just to finish. Magi is a story about the adventures of two friends, Aladdin and Alibaba. I love that the series shows the importance of unconditionalfriendship and unfaltering loyalty. The story tells us the many destinies changed and created by the bonds formed by these two. Although the story offers excitement and sometimes laughter to people, it also has its own fair share of darkness caused by poverty and injustice that is being experienced by people from different countries. This anime reminded me so much of various anime series that I grew up watching and loving like Hunter X Hunter, Fairy Tail and a bit of Shingeki no Kyojin.

Aladdin and Alibaba's friendship reminded me so much of Gon and Killua's from HxH. They travel together in their many adventures and depended on each other while facing obstacles on their travels. In my opinion, Aladdin is very similar to Gon especially their kindness and naivety. They both appear as their partners' strength and guide in times of confusion and weakness. Although Alibaba's a bit different from Killua's personality, they are similar in the sense of wanting to protect and be with their friend. Also, the constant use of fire and ice magic reminded me so much of Fairy Tail. Judal, one of the magi(s), appeared a lot similar to Fairy Tail's Gray Fullbuster and Midnight. Judal is the one in the far left, Midnght is the one in the middle and Gray is in the far right. They kinda look similar, ne?

On choosing and continuing anime series

I watch a lot of anime. Not as much as those people who marathon late into the night, but a good amount. After a while, you come across the problem of, do I continue to watch this? There are different ways to deal with this. Asking it in the beginning of a series, some people have a 3 episode rule, always watching the first 3 before deciding. Another is to watch the first episode, and see if theres anything you like. Often this is combined with the 3 rule. Some watch the whole series regardless, because it bothers them not to finish, or they keep saying, but it could get good. Its often a good idea to look at the review if you are in doubt. Usually the majority can tell you if its worth watching or not. But sometimes stuff you'd really like is specific to you, and most people dont think its spectacular. For me that was shows like school rumble, where I'd be laughing uncontrollably at it almost every episode. But it doesnt seem to be that way for some people. Ultimately only you know whether you'd enjoy it. Pacing is important. Some shows change pace as they catch up to their manga source. Like one piece now is 1 episode= 1 chapter. Hunter X Hunter is still at 2-3 chapters an episode. Slower can mean more in depth, more often meaning drawn out scenes, which sometimes have a bit more detail to them since the timeslot has to be filled.



Hoarding anime you are going to watch, is it a good idea? I used to think so, afraid I'd forget. But time passes, and as you go through the list sometimes you don't care about what you did before. And it gets huge. I used to have to scrap my list every year because itd get too large. Now I realize it was just a thing to give me false security that I'd remember to watch it later. If you really want to see it, I feel you'll remember. Watching anime, do you do other things at the same time? I used to, but then it was harder to judge if I really wanted to see the series or not. So now I make it full screen, and unless I have a good reason for moving to another thing, I have to scrap the series if I close the window. If I find it too boring, I throw it in a bookmark folder called revive?, and give it time. If I forget about it, then its gone.

Fall 2013: Strike the Blood

I don't know why, with a title like Strike the Blood, that I didn't think that this show would be about vampires. At first glance, the world seems like it's completely normal. But once you get about seven minutes in, you realize that magic and demons area natural part of the world, as a PA system announces that an abnormal magical surge has been detected. To top that all off, something called the Fourth Progenitor is coming.



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Really trying to commit...

I'll be returning to the States to start school in two day. Since I'm all packed, I think I should just make a quick update.



As of now, I'm sampling some Anime's. Generally watching 2-3 episodes, then deciding on which ones to continue watching. I went on an Anime watching hiatus for the past 2 years. Only recently found out there was a new Hunter x Hunter series, and started watching it.

The "My Doctor" theory/ trope: a blog entry on Weekly Shounen Jump manga

I mentioned in my last blog entry (The Wonder Woman special), something I described as "The "My" Doctor trope". Basically, to clarify, the trope refers to the point in a series where somebody really gets into it, or where a series has various versions (for example Dr. Who and each individual Doctor being someone's "My Doctor", hence the trope name).



My next few blog entries will be variants on this theme. In this blog entry I will be looking at some of the Shounen Jump manga I have read, regardless of if I still like them or NOT cough Naruto and Bleach cough. This is about the points at which I began to love them.

2013.10.02

I couldn't sleep so I'll blog a bit on some significant events today.



I finally returned to Kickboxing after almost a month of laziness. Haha. I am more determined to lose weight this time! Tomorrow, we have badminton again so that makes it 4 badminton sessions and 1 kickboxing session in a week. That's as active as I can get.

Overview of the past Half Year

Inspiration can both be a blessing, and a curse. It's awesome to have, but often likes to strike at the most inconvenient moments. So hereby I present a list of my impressions of the series of the past half year. I've been feeling guilty for a while knowing that I can't write a full review for all of them, so hereby an overview, in order of how much I like them. With the ones that I finished I included their final rating. Also enjoy the big pictures.



And yes this is about the past half year. As in, the most recent six month, otherwise known as the series that aired in the spring and summer season. Not the winter season. Just the past six months.