Who’s that girl..?
Intriguing. Anyway, it’s the Alma Torran arc (kinda). Woot!
When I began this chapter, I’ll admit that I wasn’t hugely looking forward to it. Alma Torran is a fantastically interesting concept, but if I’m honest I have missed the action that had been building in the present – and I didn’t believe that we would be getting major revelations here, as a lot of it seemed to have already been told.
Well, I was wrong – but more on that later.
Coincidentally, I think it’s a viewpoint entrenched by the fact that right now in the anime the Magnostadt Arc is reaching it’s climax, and while still very good, these chapters were never going to compare favourably to the ridiculousness of the fight that’s brewing in the manga. If you haven’t seen it, just wait. It is off the fricking chain. Seriously – if you aren’t watching, then go do so. I hope to have a series review up sometime after it concludes, so go catch up! You will not be disappointed, I swear it.
Anyway, back to Alma Torran. There’s a definite Battlestar Galactica vibe going on here (and if that’s a reference lost on everyone, then I apologies profusely, but it’s true). Seems that in the same way that Magi’s world was created Solomon, the world of Alma Torran was created by another ‘God’ called Ilah. All this has happened before, and all this will happen again… Maybe?
More crucially, though, Ilah also left humanity with a weapon to defend themselves from other species: magic. Which he did, apparently, so that humanity could unify the world under their leadership.
Talk about playing favourites.
And again, the circular nature of Magi’s backstory comes into play as Ilah intended for a single king to unite the world under his banner – just as the various kings of Magi’s world wish to. It is, seemingly, the accepted route to peace and raises nicely questions about just who is the right person to perform the same role in this world?
And then we come to the crux of the chapter. We’ve seen this series of images of Solomon standing with his household surrounding him before, but this time dropped some absolutely huge bombshells.
First off, it was great to get a good look at the members of Solomon’s household who (in the present world) are Djinn. They’re a really cool bunch, from the suave Focalor to the oddly nerdy Zagan.
But then comes the real fun. Stood near Solomon are three characters – one, we’re told, is Ugo; the others are two black-haired woman.
And the first is a dead-ringer for Aladdin.
Ahh, Ithnan. You so sly (and so short-lived…)
Oh man, this is terribly exciting. Is that Aladdin’s mother? More importantly (and I can’t believe I haven’t really entertained this thought in the past, because it makes absolute sense…), but does that mean – given the way they are talking to each other and standing close together – that Solomon is Aladdin’s father..?
Damn. I mean, perhaps Solomon sent his loyal supports to the new world he created, and his son along with them under the care of Ugo when Alma Torran fell. This again begs another question: where was Aladdin’s mother during all this? Was she also sent through, and is out there, somewhere, in Djinn form? Or was she a magi (as I hugely suspect), and died with Solomon?
Or, maybe… was she killed by the second of the two black-haired women, getting friendly with Ugo: Ren Gyokuen..?
I think Alibaba’s reaction hits it on the head, really…
It’s no definitive, but that sure as hell looks like Gyokuen to me. Given their closeness, is it safe to assume that she and Ugo lovers (one hell of a good-bad power couple, there, folks…)? And what does that mean, given that we know Gyokuen was a major instigator of the death of Alma Torran and Ugo remained staunchly loyal to the boy who (I believe) was his king’s son..?
Gah, so many questions. I’ll admit to not necessarily being blown away by the initial stages, but having re-read the ending once or twice I’ve warmed to night 215’s brilliance – the threads being laid down here could weave into an utterly vast tapestry in the future, and I can’t wait to see more!
Oh, and next time we’re going to (hopefully) see the fall of Alma Torran. Given that Magi tends not to pull its punches with the hard hitting stuff, this should be epic…
THE GOOD!
- Those last four pages blew me away. The whole ‘attack of the ogres’ bit at the beginning had me worried we might just be getting a play-for-time type chapter, but the ending proved me utterly wrong. Just goes to show that you don’t need action to make manga gripping reading, eh?
- Over the course of the chapter, the art was really on-point. Magi has some of the most best character designs in manga, in my opinion, and this was really on show here.
THE BAD!
- Yes, I didn’t especially like the first half of the chapter but overall the ending more than makes up for it. Magi is really on the good stuff at the moment, and this chapter shows it.
- Not a criticism, as such, butI do really, really want to get back to the whole looming world-war-thing. Give me more SINBAD, dammit!!!
Overall: I may have harboured reservations of this Alma Torran-fest being just a brief interlude, fearing it would only retread old ground, but I was wrong. Very wrong. Great art and sledgehammer revelations made Magi 215 a great edition to a current streak of truly great chapters. I give it 9/10.
Koba out.
Sleeping Geeks 
Actually there is another possibly big revelation!
If you take a look at the chapter where Ren Gyokuen is revealed to be Solomons magi, if you look at this page of her holding her staff, not only those that staff look the same as the one hold by Aladdins assumed Mother, but the Person shown in the top Panel those resemble her too!
So there is a high implication that Ren Gyokuen, the treacherous magi, is actually also Aladdins Mother!
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<a href="http://www.mangahere.com/manga/magi/v12/c193/18.html"link
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sry not very good at this linking stuff ^-^’
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Haha, me neither.
You’re right, it’s a definite possibility, and actually what I originally thought when reading the chapter (meaning Ugo might be Aladdin’s dad..?)!
But I had a look back at the chapter and I’m honestly not sure – there’s a panel in which someone resembling gyokuen is seen holding the wing-topped staff, and the holder of the crescent topped staff is blacked out. The suggestion, I think, is that Gyokuen is the one holding the crescent staff (they just look evil…) but then who’s the one with the wing-topped staff?
The only other kooky theory I can suggest is that the one holding the crescent staff in the top panel of p.18 ISN’T Gyokuen? Her hair looks different, with a long-braid similar to the girl in this issue… Maybe Gyokuen stole that staff later?
Argh, I have no idea. I’m sure it’ll all be made clear in time… Thanks for reading 😀
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Good-damn, that was a long comment….
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Well, my own theory here would be that the Evil Magi became a Spirit, who survived over all these centuries by taking over a new body every few decades, similar to what Dante the Main Villain in the first Full Metal Alchemist Anime did. This would mean that Gyokuen is just her most recent Victim, which is being possessed by her.
Of course this is all just my Speculation on why she would still be alive after so many centuries and why she and Gyokuen might not look similar but we will just have to wait and see what the real explanation is going to be.
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Nice – that’s actually a pretty neat theory… Certainly does explain how Gyokuen still looks like a spring chicken despite being as old as time (literally).
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Dammit. Here I was thinking that Aladdin was Solomon’s reincarnation, and that it would be really cool if they met in a dream or something, because, come on, from the recent chapters, all I can see is Aladdin’s resemblence in character to Solomon’s badass character. Remember when Aladdin made the face of indifference when Baba died in the Kouga mini-arc? For some reason, those mischevious grins and such just connected directly to Solomon in the manga for me. And in the newest chapter, Solomon and Arba talk about his height, in the same way that Alibaba and Aladdin would. I’ve been digging through fan fictions to try and find one where Solomon and Aladdin meet, but no such luck so far. I have to say though, that I never thought of the possibility that Aladdin and Solomon could be father and soon. My mind has been officially blown.
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Yep, all this alma-torran stuff is mind-boggling 😀 I still think there’s a really big possibility that Aladdin IS Solomon reincarnated or was at least born of him through magical and not natural means – just from what Gyokuen has said about Aladdin in the past. I would really like him to be Solomon’s son, though. A father-son dynamic between them (especially if they ever got to meet in a dream etc) would be really cool! And it leaves open the option of who might be Aladdin’s mother – my money’s on Sheba, I think, as like with Solomon she seems to share big personality traits with Aladdin. The way she came across really silly and goofy when thinking about Solomon in the last chapter looked really similar to the way Aladdin reacts around pretty much every female character ever… just saying. Man, speculation is fun 😀 Thanks for reading!
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in recent chapters two black haired woman who are possible Aladdin’s mother or Solomons lover are shown. Here are two things i’d like to point out. There was a leaked picture of Aladdin’s mother who looks like the black haired woman not holding a staff. The two possible people that could be is Aladdin’s mother, Ugo’s lover or Solomon’s lover are Arba one of Solomon’s oldest allies who is older than him or Sheba the newest of Solomon’s Allies and who’s story with Solomon, who she fell in love s currently centered. Her staff is also a dead-ringer for the staff of Ren Gyokuen and the girl holding a staff in the above picture. Aladdin may be Ugo’s son or Solomon’s son since they both have blue hair. The way the woman holding the staff in the picture is shown moving is also similar to that of Sheba while the one holding with Ugo looks like Arba. I think that Sheba or Arba have been corrupted (since both seem nice or change sides after Solomon fell in love with one of them. Personally I believe Sheba should be Solomon’s love, She’s a cute and young woman who although is easy manipulated or fooled into believe something is very kind and know what she has to do .
P.S. I just noticed that Ugo’s hair is very spiky like Aladdin’s.
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the leaked picture has disappeared along with the page on the wiki. By the way all his info about character’s appearance is from the wiki
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this is a theory but i think that whoever Ren Gyokuen is was possessed or changed by Solomon’s 800 year old father
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I totally agree, from what’s come out in the last few chapters my theory is that Solomon’s eventual lover is Sheba – and that the black-haired girl above is her as an adult. I also really hope they are both Aladdin’s parents as I really like both of them as characters – although Ugo as Aladdin’s dad is also a pretty damn good theory.
I’m honestly not sure whether Arba got corrupted and became Gyokuen (in a way) or whether she was always a trickster and fooled Solomon into trusting/loving her right from the start… I guess only time will tell on that front!
As for Solomon’s dad, I have a feeling he’s going to play a big role at the end of this arc and quite possibly beyond, so the possession idea is definitely an intriguing one! 😀
Thanks for reading!!
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