Written by: Micha
Alma Torran story is officially over, which has gotten me a bit depressed but hopefully this continuation of the political summit will cheer me up. I like that stuff.
Now that Aladdin is finished with the story, it was a matter of how the people were going to react. This chapter covers most of that, and also coming up with a solution to their most upheaving problem that is the conflict between Reim Empire, Kou Empire, and Sindria.
There is someone in chapter whom I wanted to talk but didn't talk, and he has a goatee. |
After hearing Aladdin’s story, Alibaba contemplates about Aladdin’s background. He had been friends with Aladdin for quite a while and yet had no clue about his roots until now. Aladdin had always helped him and considered him a friend, and Alibaba always thought he was incredible regardless of being unaware of the fact that Aladdin, too, had a family and a hometown he could no longer go to.
This pondering pretty much extends to the following five pages, including a small flashback of Aladdin promising Alibaba and Morgiana that he would tell them about Alma Torran; where he came from. Alibaba also thinks that Aladdin and he were similar considering the fact that they had dead parents and were forced to part with their friends and start anew in a different world.
Alibaba thinks to himself that Aladdin was burdened with the hopes and wishes of different people, and entrusted with the future of the world, and yet Aladdin was just like him with many things to worry about.
After Aladdin told the story of the Alma Torran to the people, everyone went dead silent. Everyone was looking at Aladdin while letting the whole story sink in to them. Alibaba went to tell him but was beaten to it by Morgiana who sprinted to Aladdin’s side, which by the way, is the best shit I’ve ever seen this week.
Alibaba, you can't be a King Vessel if this keeps happening to you. |
Alibaba and Morgiana assured him that after knowing Aladdin’s story, they were glad to have finally known his background and were willing to fight beside him.
The people started discussing among themselves; that is their respective kingdoms, and Titus sees Yunan, magi and the Guardian of the Great Rift, standing in the middle of the crowd. This is also when Sinbad realizes that that was the story of King Solomon, who by the way, looked like he had had the best orgasm.
I thought he'd be a fan of David. |
Alibaba remembers Sinbad saying that he would do anything, even a dirty move to protect his country. Alibaba nods his head disapprovingly and Morgiana says to Alibaba that he should tell what he was thinking later.
The three magi stands in the center as Aladdin gets serious and talks to everyone about Alma Torran and what the destruction of it had brought among the people in the current world. He says that Alma Torran was now in ruins and he was uncertain if King Solomon was just or evil. The only people who can judge that would be the people who lived in Alma Torran.
He also tells the King Vessels and their allies that as people who shared the Earth together, should face the reality and decide what to do together. Aladdin gets extremely serious and asks the people if they going to save the Earth or destroy it.
If the Meta Vessel owners were to quarrel with each other like they have been until now, they would only repeat the destruction of Alma Torran. The Al Thamen organization was going to annihilate everyone, regardless of which kingdom they were from and for that very reason, Aladdin wanted Reim, Sindria, and Kou Empires to sign a ceasefire treaty.
I have just realized that I haven't seen Ja'far in a while. |
The Kou army, of course, has the ego the size of David’s earrings, and asks Aladdin if he really thought he could interfere with Kou’s foreign diplomacy. Aladdin then paraphrases and says that the Metal Vessel should not be allowed to fight each other since they now have a common enemy. The increase in dungeon appearance was so that people would acquire Metal Vessels and fight each other, which is exactly what Al Thamen wants.
Everyone starts thinking about what Aladdin said, and at the end of this chapter, it seems that the King Vessels have made up their minds. We shall see what Sinbad, Muu Alexius, and Kouen are up to in the coming chapter.
My thoughts on this chapter:
Firstly, the Alma Torran arc is over, and I'm a bit upset about it. I know a lot of you folks thought it was dragging but, it was not. It was rushed, leading to several undeveloped characters that are now one of the majors, like Arba. Her development was rushed, but if they had taken the time to build her character, y'all would not have liked it.
So this chapter was rather steamy, and more like a build up to the coming resolutions of the King Vessels. I, for one, am very anxious to know their answers and if I have to predict, I'd say that only Muu Alexius, King Vessel of the Reim Empire would accept Aladdin's suggestion. He seems like the cool, rationale type unlike the other two who are a bit selfish and self-absorbed when it comes to power.
I say this mainly because I think Sinbad is unpredictable. He cannot be trusted, and I think even Alibaba would agree with me. As for Kouen, the Kou Empire has links to the Al Thamen group although it was never implied that Kouen himself has any alliance with them. The story of Alma Torran Aladdin had told them can be interpreted in different perspectives, and it is to my belief that Kouen would not necessarily want to fight Al Thamen since he could actually see the rationality from Arba's point of view.
Speaking of perspectives, Aladdin said in this chapter that he is not sure if Solomon was just or evil. Now this is something everyone in Magi fandom should be aware of. There is no definite good and evil in this manga. I have said this before when I talked about not labeling David as a villain. He is not necessarily an absolute villain. He believed in moving along the flow, while Solomon did not. It's all about perspective.
I just hope they all (the three empires) disagree with each other and create chaos rather than forming an alliance like in Naruto. I don't need to see that shit in my favorite manga.
Chapter rating:
3/5
Bonus:
Kouen, why haven't you said anything? Open your beautiful mouth and give it to me. Your verdict, I mean. |
Also, she now has an ask.fm and tumblr. Here's your chance to harass her.
Micha likes to broadcast her terrible drawing skills to the world on her DeviantArt account and talks about her life long ambition of making Yakushi Kabuto a woman, on her Skype; michasucks. Yes, with the dot. She will also respond to e-mails on her michamichamicha@live.com because Amber forces her to.
I understand like you that the Alma Torran arc was rushed near the end, but realistically, Ohtaka couldn't have let it continue for much longer, what with fan discontent and the like. As for the characters of the Alma Torran arc; I feel that Sheba went through a powerful and engaging character arc, and we got good insight into Solomon's character and background, plus many key concepts and facets of the Magi story overall (Djinn, Metal vessels, Rukh, Il Ilah). While Arba may have not received as much development necessary to help us see why she turned on Solomon; I'm confident there will be subsequent Gyokuen flashbacks to explain how and why.
ReplyDeleteThank you for diligently reviewing Magi chapters every week, and I look forward to your next review. It is a great manga series, and you do us all a service by writing your thoughts on it.
I agree that the Alma Torran arc brought insight to Solomon and Sheba's characters and other concepts in this manga. If only the fans were more patient and understanding of how much an important arc it was. I'm looking forward to Gyouken now more than ever. She is easily one of my favorite characters now.
DeleteNo, thank you for commenting. It feels good to hear that people are reading these silly reviews.