Volume: 13 (of 26+)
Creator: Shinobu Ohtaka
Format: Right-to-Left
Original Publisher: SHOGAKUKAN
US Publisher: VIZ
Release Date: 8/11/15
Pages: 192
ISBN: 1421559633
MSRP: $9.99
Genre: Shonen Sunday
Rated: T (Teens)
Description: Alibaba, Aladdin, Morgiana, Hakuryu, and Kogyoku each leave Sindria on their own quests. For the first leg of their journey, they will all be aboard the same ship, and Alibaba can't resist stowing away on it too. The high seas are dangerous though, and an encounter with pirates will lead them on a journey they never expected to take...
Contains Chapters 119-128:
- Night 119: Parting
- Night 120: Zepar
- Night 121: Setting Sail
- Night 122: Voyage
- Night 123: Pirates
- Night 124: Zagan Unleashed
- Night 125: Storming In
- Night 126: Pirate Fortress
- Night 127: Ice Spears
- Night 128: Mother
Review:
Cover Art: The cover features Kogyoku in her Full Body Djinn Equip form. The blue and pink colors correlate really well together, but it does take away from some of the other features on the front cover, mainly being the series title, the mangakas name, and the volume number, All of which are present, but are fizzled out with the coloring scheme used with the overall image. Another thing that the Japanese Tankoban has that the US Release doesn't, is the full name of the series, The Labyrinth of Flames is no where to be found anywhere on the cover, and you actually need to flip to the inside pages to see the full title of the series, unless you look at the back of the cover, which shows it, but it is not really noticeable.
The Spine is pink and from top to bottom has the Shonen Sunday logo, the series title, the volume number, the mangaka's name a smaller cropped picture of Kogyoku from the front cover, and a magic lamp.
The back cover has a cool picture of Aladdin with Judar. This honestly makes no real sense to me as Judar makes only one appearance in this entire volume, and it is a one panel flashback scene.
In a nutshell, the artwork for this cover is superb, but it leaves me wondering if people would walk by it if it was not showing the spine, as it is very hard to see what series it actually is.
Artwork: The artwork for this volume follows in the same style as previous volumes. It is a typical Shonen manga series so it has similar styles of artwork like Fullmetal Alchemist and Black Clover. One thing that I love is how the mangaka can transition so well between moods in her art form. The comedic parts can be a bit simplistic and cartooney, but when the story shifts to a serious point, the artwork does as well.
Translation: As I have not read much into the Japanese version of this series, I can not fully judge the series entirely on it's full translation. There are English Sound Effects used though to replace the original Japanese ones. All character names are kept the same. I have to question though at times they seem like panels can be edited to make the series a bit more "Young Teen" friendly.
Extras: There is one extra in this chapter, a bonus Night 122.5 mini chapter, which elaborates a bit more on Alibaba rejoining his friends on the ship.
Content (Warning: May Contain Spoilers): The volume begins fresh, as the previous volume ended the current storyline of the series. We have Alibaba questioning why he still is not as strong as his friends, and when Kogyoku runs into him, they decide to show each other what they have learned. Kogyoku has already achieved the power of Full Body Djinn Equip; Sinbad sees this and tests her strength to see how far along she has come since learning this new technique, but finds out she still has a long ways to go before they can fight on an equal level.
Alibaba then decides he needs to become stronger somehow, and as his friends are about to leave on their own separate journeys by boat, he decides to sneak on board with them to find his own place to get stronger. Alibaba is eventually found out that he is their and Aladdin and the others welcome their friend back to the group, but it is short lived as the boat is attacked by pirates. Our heroes are not that strong to defeat the pirates just yet, but Hakuryu manages to put a tracking spell on the pirates as they escape.
Back on dry land we learn that the pirates are kidnapping children from the slums and are taking them someplace. Because of Hakuryu's tracker, our heroes end up going on a new adventure to the pirate's island hideout. This time, our heroes are more prepared and defeat most of the pirates, but they call out for their "Mother," a strange woman named Madaura who has horns. Madaura destroys the island and then uses a Magic Tool that makes anyone who it affects not able to attack her, but feel them with the comfort of motherly love.
The volume of course ends with a cliffhanger in which our heroes are now at risk of not being able to defeat Madaura. I really enjoyed this volume, as it kept me entertained through my entire read. It had lots of action and a few light hearted humorous moments that really made my laugh. I really liked how they are beginning to focus more on the characters backstories a bit. when "Mother" was brought up, we start to see who actually had an actual childhood out of our heroes, and the effects of what not having one has on the other characters. Overall, this was another amazing chapter in the Magi story and I can't wait until the next volume is released!
Objectionable Content:
- Language: No
- Violence: Yes
- Nudity: No
- Sexual Situations: Yes
Overall Rating: 8/10
Where Purchased: Barnes and Nobles
Original Review Date: 8/11/15
No comments:
Post a Comment