Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Magi Chapter 224 Review

Written by: Micha

This chapter started with where they left off in the previous one. Upon having discussed Solomon’s future marital affairs with Arba, Sheba is trying (and failing) to woo Solomon to go on a date with her. Solomon however, as predicted, is asexual and does not seem to care much about Sheba’s gestures. 

Sheba is a lesbian if she thinks this is how you convince someone to date you.
Now let’s come to the more disturbing panels of the chapter, where the rest of the gang has a conversation about how Solomon is more of a father figure to Sheba. They draw a parallel that since Solomon was just 12 years old when he left his father’s side and Sheba was also 12 years old when they had taken her in, Solomon treats her like a kid. However psychologically deep and interesting the thought may be, this has left me greatly disturbed and rustled since Solomon and Sheba would be an inevitable canon couple (yes, it is, haters fuck off).

In the next scene, Sheba and the others go to the Shamal District, which I hadn’t realized that existed until now. Sheba senses the hostility in the environment and they ended up calling Solomon to resolve the internal conflict that was on the edge among the other species.

I don't have anything clever to say about this picture.

For those who found it confusing or difficult to comprehend the “isolation barriers” don’t worry, the concept is not hard to understand. Basically, it's a barrier created by the Three Divine Staves, that has a resemblance to the borg which has been made where the other species live that acts as a resistance against magic, or more specifically, the mind-breaking magic. It was a magic that was allegedly made by Elder David and/or the orthodox to control the other species.

I made a spiritual connection with this guy. 
 Here we see is a psychopath who is an ally of Solomon, and is mentally manipulating the Centaurs and “Berserkers” causing them to turn against each other. The person argues that while Centaurs are useless in battle as opposed to the Berserkers, they receive equal favor from Lord Solomon just for their intelligence. And then invokes rage in the Centaurs that the powerful fangs of the Berserkers are unreliable and might be used against Solomon one day.  It’s twisted, but sounds like something I would do for fun.

Solomon, seemingly displeased, announces that he has sentenced the magicians in the district to be expelled and was going to confiscate the Divine Staves from both the Centaurs and Berserkers. He goes on to justify that to use the other species to increase their own personal fortune is the same thing as the orthodox does.

Now this is where the chapter really takes off. The dude accused Solomon of hypocrisy stating that Solomon’s recruiting of other species to fight the orthodox is just the same as using the other species to increase his own fortune.

Normally I'd call bullshit on something like this, but his pretty face is very convincing.
 More interestingly, this person conspired that the one who makes the other species suffer, created the “Gunud” towers, and mind-breaking magic was Solomon. Allegedly, Solomon has been a cunning villain for 300 years until he decided he needed the support of other species in order to become the sole ruler of Alma Torran.  

Sheba, of course, jumps in and claims that Solomon is only 22 years old because she can’t stomach the thought of marrying a person who has been living for 300 years, which is understandable.

This is me during a statutory rape case.
 When the conspirator mentions that will Solomon become an arrogant ruler just like his father, Solomon remains silent because the topic of his father is extremely sensitive to him. Or he fears that the conspiracy theorist was right.

Enraged, Sheba then dissolves the restriction barrier and demanded that the species take Solomon’s head. Sheba taunts the species that the reason they can’t trust the kindness of Solomon, a person much stronger than them, is because they have a weak heart. She relates this to her own past when she was a “despicable woman” who feared and hated the other species.

If the Fairy Tail mangaka drew this, I'd see some panty shots.
 She states that the species were acting out of protectiveness, for their own family and loved ones. And in that aspect, the humans were no different than them. Which is the reason Sheba has faith in Solomon.  

And then we have this last panel, Solomon finally acknowledging Sheba, with a perverted expression on his face. And Arba who appears to have gotten her underwear wet after witnessing her ship sails toward Canon Land.

Arba represents the SolomonXSheba fan club

My thoughts:

I have very mixed feelings about this chapter. To most, including myself, this chapter seems useless and unintelligent, but it has two important purposes:

Number one: To imply that Solomon, in an alternative way, is just like his father. He’s a politician who strives off the support of others so he and his ideals will be centralized. And there was someone intelligent enough to point it out. I’m not saying I agree with him, but the irony is just too damn brilliant.

It could be that Solomon is hiding something very big. It’s very possible, because if you can see in this panel, the person was cut off by the obnoxious conspirator. It seemed like she really had something secretive to reveal about Solomon.

I wouldn’t be surprised if there is some ugly truth before Solomon had rebelled against David, because if there is anything in Magi I have learned, it is that you cannot trust any person who seems like a kind politician. Ergo, Sinbad. Who is very much like Solomon both in personality and goals, however, we have come to know that he, too, has been fallen halfway in to “depravity”.

Number two: To demonstrate how Sheba sucks Solomon’s dick. As I have mentioned above, Solomon and Sheba is an inevitable couple. This chapter hopefully has accelerated the process of its becoming, and I just wish that they’d marry each other so we can be done with this painfully slow plot.  

Manga rating: 
3.5/5
Judar is not amused.

 Prediction:

Where is this plot going? When will we come to the story of the destruction of Alma Torran? Why must the manga artist like to see me miserable? 

Micha: [Co-founder]
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.
Also, she now has an ask.fm. Here's your chance to harass her.

4 comments:

  1. I thought you were going to do a review on magi chapter 222.5

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. http://www.otakunuts.com/2014/05/magi-chapter-2225-review-and-analysis.html
      There you go, master.

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  2. I think that you are misunderstanding the meaning of the term 'arc'. To compare, the Davy Back Fight Arc, one of One Piece's shortest arcs, was around 19 chapters long. Since the current Magi chapters are part of the 'Alma Torran Arc', you should give it at least 5 more chapters to end, before you complain about its pacing and length. Remember, this isn't just a flashback (one crucially important to the overall story); it is an entire ARC.

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    Replies
    1. I don't think you understand my complaint. I'm fully aware that this is an entire arc and its importance, but what I'm not exactly happy about is how it's dragging out. I'm anxious to know the outcome of this arc, and Sheba and Solomon's never-ending love story is not helping it. I'm not the type of gal who is fond of romance storylines. I just want them to get it over with soon.

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