TITLE: Magi – The Labyrinth of Magic vol. 26
YEAR: October 2017 (US Release)
COMPANY: Viz Media
Story and Art by Shinobu Ohtaka
The kingdom is headed to an all out war. Hakuryu has been consumed by darkness and with his magi Judar, his first goal is to kill his evil mother Gyokoen and next, he has his eyes set on Lord Koen.
Meanwhile, Alibaba and Aladdin travel to Rakusho, the Capital of Kou in hopes to stop Hakuryu from all this madness, but instead it becomes a heated battle between between Alibaba vs. Hakuryu and Aladdin vs. Judar.
Who will emerge triumphant from this battle?
All this and more in the 26th volume of Shinobu Ohtaka’s hit manga, “Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic”!
What is “Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic”?
When it comes to opportunities of becoming a manga writer/artist (mangaka), Shinobu Ohtaka’s story.
She has written about her story of how she became a manga artist, as a person who was the person who would sit quietly in the corner of class and was not really great at anything and often playing a supporting role. But if there was one thing that she was confident in, it was drawing pictures.
Her first year in high school, she was submitting manga manuscripts because it was her dream to become a manga author. And like many writers, her submissions were denied and this continued through high school and college. And when she was about to call it quits, she was given the opportunity to do a one-shot and it led to the creation of the series “Sumomo Momomo” in 2004 which would eventually become 22 volume manga series and also a 22-episode anime series.
After completing “Sumomo Momomo”, Shinobu then created “Magi” which would be serialized in Weekly Shonen Sunday in 2009 and to this day, the series is till ongoing (currently, at 17 volumes) and an anime adaptation which was aired in Japan in Oct. 2012 – March 2013 and a new second season which has aired in Japan.
In volume 24 of “Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic”, the story introduces readers to the distant past. David has abandoned his base to attack the others and people are worried if they would survive.
Solomon wants to ensure his wife, the pregnant Falan will survive and so Solomon and one of the great (yet no confident) magoi users, Ugo try to stave off the attack. But when they leave the barrier, they find some of their own outside the barrier burned to death.
In order to save others, Solomon makes the decision to sacrifice himself but to also split his power and divide them among the intelligent beings.
But we see what this sacrifice has done in the long run but most importantly, how this decision would affect the young Aladdin.
The main characters of “Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic” are:
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- Aladdin – A young magi who doesn’t know too much about himself or the outside world. But he’s kind and goodhearted and wants to protect the people he cares about. When he blows into a flute, a headless blue giant named Ugo comes out.
- Alibaba – A thief who appears to have a mysterious background that befriends Aladdin.
- Morgania – A slave who comes from a country of people known for their superior leg strength and speed. She is the slave of the tyrant, Lord Jamil.
- Amon – A djinn with fire elemental powers contained in Alibaba’s training sword.
- Sinbad – The King of Sindria and leader of the Alliance of the Seven Seas. He has sailed the seven seas and captured seven dungeons and is a master of seven djinn.
- Masrur – A Fanalis who works for Sinbad and trains Morgiana in hand to hand combat.
- Ja’far – A former assassin who becomes loyal to Sinbad.
- Hakuryuu Ren – The fourth prince in the Kou Empire who becomes an ally of Aladdin, Alibaba and Morgianna but has gone a major transformation.
- Judar – An evil Magi working for Al-Thamen. Raised by Al-Thamen after the organization killed his parents
We have read for volumes of how Judar is evil, while Aladdin is the naive but respectful young magi and watched as Aladdin and Alibaba have grown together. Taking on various adversaries but also having to watch as their once companion and friend, Hyakuryu has worked hard to become a leader.
But unfortunately, that drive for power has consumed Hyakuryu and by making Judar his magi, he has descended into pure darkness and has been wanting to take over the kingdom and mold it to his own way. Controlling everyone to do what he wants and he has literally become evil.
Aladdin and Alibaba are not aware of how much he has descended and so they want to make one peaceful reunion with him and to stop an all-out war. But by doing that, Haykuryu has declared Alibaba and Aladdin his enemies and immediately tries to slay them on the spot, leading to one of the most heated battles that one will read in “Magi: The Labyrinth”.
It’s one thing to see a shocking, violent death of a character in the first few pages but this battle between Alibaba vs. Hyakuryu and Aladdin and Judar is just intense and it will no doubt carry on to volume 27.
This was no doubt one of the most shocking volumes I have read thus far of the series.
The artwork and storytelling by Shinobu Ohtaka is magnificent and the storyline has built up for many, many volumes for this battle that many readers have anticipated. How it was going to go down, no one knew but after reading this volume, this build up for an intense battle against Hyakuryu and Judar was no doubt entertaining and action-packed.
Overall, “Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic” vol. 26 is highly recommended!