It’s been a long time, but I’m craving for the original Dragon Ball, when Goku was a kid and went on crazy adventures. Back then, the Dragon Balls weren’t cheap plot devices and collecting them all was a difficult quest.
I wondered why there isn’t more adventure-based shounen anime. I’m not an avid shounen manga reader (I followed Bakuman to its conclusion, but stopped reading Jump afterwards), and I rarely watch long-running shounen anime, so I wouldn’t really know.
Then I remembered One Piece. I don’t like One Piece. I watched a few episodes of it when it aired on local TV. It was fine, but I never grew to like Oda’s crazy art. And even if someone did convince me to start on it, there’s so many episodes for me to go through. I see its appeal and why it’s popular, but nah.
So you’ll understand why I got into Magi fairly quickly. The manga’s art has a nice softness to it while keeping its appeal universal. The anime’s character designs are easy to like, and aren’t an acquired taste. The main characters don’t automatically resort to force to solve their problems, because two of them aren’t even fighters. And it’s funny how it’s the girl who has the biggest physical strength of them all.
Instead, Magi follows an adventure plot where the main characters meet new people and places, gaining life lessons along the way. This might sound generic and applicable to a lot of shows, but few of them distill the fun of having an adventure like Magi does. It’s simple, but isn’t simplistic.
It’s about making friends and keeping them close to your heart, knowing that they’ll come around eventually. It’s about feeling connected with people, kinship or not. It’s about shrugging off all sorts of chains that hold you back, even those that aren’t immediately obvious. It’s about keeping your integrity despite hardships. Because Magi isn’t very interested in the spectacle of battle, it could present its themes with much more variety.
I’m mostly drawn to the character of Alibaba, who’s had a rough life, but which isn’t noticeable until he actually sits down to recite his backstory. He may seem weak and faltering at times, but he has an inner strength that allows him to perform great feats. And I’ll be around when that happens.
Do you know other shounen adventure anime/manga that are similar to Magi? Tell me about them!