I must admit, the tale of Sinbad- King of Sindria, Conqueror of the Seven Seas, a legendary man whose mythical adventures have been woven into countless movies, books, and cloth- is a rather difficult story to tell. So far, Magi season one and two have both done exceptionally well in portraying Sinbad as a grown man in charge of a nation. Rather than sticking to just the classic mold of "Sinbad the great sailor!" or "Sinbad the witty, flirty, virtuous bad boy!", they add depth by darkening the inner workings of his tactical mind. However, the same effort in characterization was not applied to eitherof the OVAs of Sinbad's adventures.

STORY (6)

The first OVA begins on a dark, stormy evening with the screech of a woman in the midst of an excruciating labor which just happens to be occurring during a magical, mystical, wondrous night full of shooting stars, glowing genie lamps, and the classic array of oddities that only happen "once every thousand of years". If this were any other anime, this would be an irritating (and frightful) way to start off the episode but because it's Magi and it blends together legends with just the right amount of originality, I gave it some leeway. After all, the intro music was fantastic, and if you're a Magi fan already, at this point you're cracking your knuckles cause Sin's finally in town! There's no way this can go-

..wrong...And before you know it, the producers have dragged you into one of the most cliche, overdone story lines known to fairy tales. Sinbad's portrayed as the classic hero, complete with a tragic background story, the help of a supernaturally gifted stranger, and everything else that serves as the pedestal upon which this adolescent's destiny sits- awaiting his overbearing greatness. While the main character's traits are clearly established alongside the antagonists' and a clear goal is conveyed, the origin- the story behind the very essence of Sinbad's character is unfortunately, not the work of just his own hands, but of the imperious power of 'destiny' that he was assigned from birth.

The second episode of the OVA consists of Sinbad and Commander Drakon's meeting, and together, they face the creatures of the dungeon. While this episode is action-packed and amusing, it fails to retain any hold on reality when Sinbad flips the bird to every law in physics. Another irk is that Yunan can be officially branded as the deus ex machina magi when he appears out of nowhere to do nothing but act like Sinbad's personal magician. The final moments of the episode are drenched in a vat of cliche tropes.

The third OVA, however, redeems this series more than I hoped. It finally introduces a brand new character and hurries along the plot to a possible dungeon fight that may occur. This episode brings back the classic excitement that often accompanies the tales of Sinbad. If the series is ever continued or revived separately, any episodes from here on out will surely lead to a better telling of Sinbad's adventure and it may finally give his character the depth it deserves.

ART (8)

The art is just as amazing as it was in the series- perhaps even more so. Details are not shirked and even minor characters are given diverse facial features that go beyond the usual haphazard sketches. The quality of the other two episodes is similar, yet not quite on par with the extraordinary display of the first. Nevertheless, the animation itself is enjoyable overall.

SOUND (7)

As is the soundtrack- the only two notable bits of music being at the beginning and ending of the first OVA, the ending rock instrumental that rolled with the credits at the end of the second OVA, and everything else flows on the waves of equilibrium.

CHARACTER (5)

Here's where they stopped hammering the nail in halfway through the script.

With a dead father, a sick mother who feels guilty for worrying her son, a village jam packed with kids and adults alike who absolutely adore Sinbad because he's just so NICE, so speshul, so won-der-ful!~

He's everyone's favorite guy!
Everyone's awed and inspired by him,
And it's not hard to see why,
Cause no one's slick as Sinbad,
No one's as quick as Sinbad,
No one's hair is incredibly long and luxurious as Sinbad's!
For there is no other teen in town half as heroic,
Perfect, a classic archetype!
You can ask any Natsu, Lelouch, or Levi,
And they'll tell you whose team they prefer to be on!
There's only just one guy in town who's got it going on,
And his name is SINBAAAADDD!

Unfortunately, Sinbad's characterization falls flat. They might as well have inserted the song montage in the background to accompany the numerous occasions that validated the glorious, inherent valor of Sinbad who- around the age of four, 'somehow' supernaturally directed his father which way to row their boat to get out from under the raging storm. He all but rowed the damn thing himself- which, of course, would have been far too absurd to show. It's understandable that the directors want to stick to the conventional tale but Magi's been about deviating from the given plot line and spicing it up. I honestly looked forward to the twisting of Sinbad's tale into something thrilling-perhaps about a boy who wasn't meant for greatness, but instead I was met with the same old generic set-up for a child's play of heroism.

As for less familiar characters such as the traveling magi: Yunan, or the ruthless military commander leading the next dungeon raid: Prince Dragul, and his childhood family friend: Princess Serendine- they all attempt to squeeze their personas into trope coffins as if the entire point of their existence is to offset our main character as the 'good guy' who always knows the right thing to do. By the time we reach the second OVA, the characters still lack depth. The third OVA, on the other hand, redeems itself by introducing new ones that gain depth through the hurried narration of events- which fits the pace at which Sinbad leads his adventures. Although the episode ends as a cliff-hanger, it holds much more potential than the first two stints.

CONCLUSION:

All in all, the three-pack episodes of Sinbad's adventures are mildly amusing. The art is superior to that of the series itself and the soundtrack appears new- making it a worthy watch if only for the sake of aesthetics. However, the plot line itself is lackluster in comparison to the series due to the standards (of the original series) that it's held against. At the very least, the OVAs can be viewed as the classically cliche retelling of the animated version of Sinbad the Sailor with the conjunction of Magi's take on magic- making the shortened tale an entertaining ride till the very end.