magico is a manga where I can justify reading on a scanlation website. Hey cut me some slack, I can’t read Japanese and it’s not officially translated into English! Yeah a series published by everyone’s favorite manga publisher (Weekly Shonen Jump) never made it stateside. Which is a real shame because this series deserves a little more attention. It’s magic system, an epic quest plot, and the power of love! Okay I’m gonna need to go into depth now. I’m Fracadactyl and this is my plea to the manga gods to give this series a bigger legal audience.
magico: The Magical Wedding Ceremony
magico follows natural best girl Emma and her shotgunned husband Shion Elphias Levi.
Within Emma’s heart is the body of the magical entity Echidna, a monstrosity that nearly destroyed the world. For 15 years, she was under house arrest and lived in total seclusion save for a knight and books. Upon finally being released at 16, Emma’s effect on people make her a target. They either become infatuated with her at first sight or kill her to take the power of Echidna for themselves. Emma, being such a cinnamon roll with no way to defend herself finds in more trouble than she can handle for her freedom. Thankfully Emma doesn’t have to handle it alone.
Shion is Emma’s best chance of survival in several ways. Not only is he one of the most powerful mages in the country, he has a reason to protect Emma. When they were kids, she fed him some food when he was out alone starving. The reason why is pretty dark. See his mom was a rich and controlling woman who tried to make Shion into a demigod. But the ritual that required so many sacrifices of innocent people without Shion’s consent messed up. So she kicked him out after being labeled a failed experiment. With nobody but Emma showing him kindness (and at a great expense), he worked hard to repay her. It looks like it paid off, finding magic and equipment to do so. But he’s still dealing with his trauma and how people would look at him if they knew his past.
Rituals: The Magic System With A Price Tag
On the topic of rituals, that serves as magico‘s magic system. Rituals work by completing trials to obtain specific magical powers. They come in two types: gathering items like our title ritual and the action-based initiation where people either give up something or go through hardships. The more difficult the Initiation tasks, the more powerful the magic. But to use the magic again they have to retake the trials. Take for example, Shion’s Broom Magic where users have to kill a thousand of these bug monsters with just a broom. So yeah given how traumatic some of these rituals can be, it’s not always worth it. Which is why Echidna’s power is so valuable, a trained mage can use it to get any magic power without rituals.
magico: The Wedding Ritual
Speaking of, let’s go into magico itself. It isn’t just one ritual but several to completely seal away Echidna’s power. It requires finding very specific items and going through Initiations. Each one is more difficult and dangerous than the last with how valuable the items are. Some can only be won in competitions and can’t be stolen, less they won’t work.
But this brings up a more philosophical question. Is this marriage a union of love, or just a service? Sure the overall ritual requires bonding but Shion and Emma barely know anything about one another. There are cute moments between them, but there are times that remind people that marriage doesn’t always need love. But the tasks to get Magico items certainly do. Besides some Echidna Hunters want to use Echidna to share the magic with everyone. What’s the life of one girl matter to an era of magic without the trauma that comes with it?
What’s Love To Magic?
Now here’s where the the best parts of magico exist. Over the course of the series, Emma and Shion start to learn about and depend on one another. Emma is extremely naive, having spent her life in isolation, trying to do everything she learned from books. But her lack of life experience often leads to trouble. That and her lack of magic makes her feel like a burden part of the time. Thankfully it’s her love and compassion that drives her to give empathy and care to people around her. It’s why she stood by Shion despite his criminal status and shortcomings. Relax audience, he broke the laws of tyrants and dictators.
Shion, The Bled Heart
Speaking of, Shion usually keeps to himself most of the time despite his sense of justice. He’s able to enjoy the small things like the intense ritual that empowers his broom with an pervy old bug man. Why? Well there’s a sense of actually being able to open up with someone with friendly banter. It’s one of the few times Shion feels like he can not be judged if people knew about him. Heck, before Emma, everyone in his life was a black cat and a dragon he lives inside of. Relax magic makes that livable and not gross.
Shion is extremely self-conscious about the idea of being unloved. Shion’s lack of self-worth comes from the fact that his family abandoned him after the botched ritual. The main reason he does what he can to help is out is to pay back for the lives lost to it. At first, it looked like Shion was only helping Emma because he felt he owed the only person who was nice to him. It’s also why he doesn’t like talking about himself, seeing himself as the catalyst for so much death. But the more time he spends with Emma the more Shion becomes more comfortable with himself.
It’s seeing Emma and Shion fall in love that serves as the heart of magico.
A Little Family of Wonders
This couple’s marriage isn’t the only thing going for them; they’ve been growing a found family. Both Emma and Shion never had good ones before so having a cast like this helps round them out. That black cat of Shion’s Anise practically serves as the reader’s guide but she’s also friendly tease. Out of everyone in this group, she encourages Shion to be more open and embrace what he’s got with Emma. However, she hides a dark secret that we’ll come back to.
The dragon house Sieg is a Holy Dragon Shion rescued as an egg after being driven to near extinction. In just his design, he’s got an eye-catching attitude, like a stoic bodyguard driven by loyalty. Plus being able to ride around in his guts sounds like a kid’s dream.
Finally there’s the daughter of the family, Luu. She’s a feral orphan who was nearly sacrificed for her village to change their luck. But having lived through the attempt, Luu obtained her own magic to survive. After meeting Emma and Shion while helping them with magico, they take her in as a kindred spirit. She rounds everyone else as a physical powerhouse with her brawny magic. Which combined with her attitude from warm-hearted to fiercely aggressive against family threats, is a welcome addition.
Seeing these characters interact with the world around them is always a delight.
magico On The Dark Side Of Love
magico isn’t all about hugs, kisses, and wedding bands. It’s about what love’s effects on people can push them to do horrible things. Remember Shion’s family? Well his mom wasn’t the only bad apple. His older brother Faust is everything their mother wanted him to be, powerful and rotten. But maybe that’s because it was all Faust ever knew; killing his mother couldn’t take away the abuse. It certainly doesn’t help that Faust’s wife Ain loves this rotten personality of his. Despite questioning wanting to use Shion as ritual material and berating his perverse attitude. Love doesn’t always bring out the best in people.
Then there’s the series final villain, Typhoeus Oz, the husband/creator of Echidna and magic. A powerful and ancient mage, his only real goal is to reunite the Echidna body with the head on the moon. Comic book magic everybody! Because of how powerful they became, the couple was chased to the ends of the world. With Oz not being able to know peace despite what he created with magic, he plans to restore Echidna to destroy the world and be alone with her. To do so, he uses a few Black Cat golems like Anise to keep an eye on Emma.
Why Is Nobody Animating magico?
So with a plot that big and lovable characters to follow, is there an anime to this like many other Jump series? No! It’s been ten years since this was published and there’s not even an… am I gonna sound old if I say OVA? Well you get the point.
The magic system alone has great potential for special effects in the sakuga department. Who wouldn’t want to see the 100 powers of Shion’s broom in smooth animation? The only problem is, the animation studio needs to see it’s worth. It certainly helps to have a huge fanbase which not all Jump series get in just a few years. Take for example Mission: Yozakura Family, it has moderate success with award nominations. But after four years, studios don’t just animate it. Mostly because Spy X Family has its genre covered on all bases.
Maybe I shouldn’t make a big deal over this. I mean Parasyte and Ushio & Tora had to wait 20 years to get the TV series treatment. And magico does have critical success. Maybe in another 10 years, somebody will see this as the cult classic that it is and give it life. It’d definitely help its creator Naoki Iwamoto. After the manga ended, he mostly does one-shots or freelancing in license work.
Is magico Too Big A Commitment?
Look I’m not saying magico is the best thing to come out of Weekly Shonen Jump. I’m just wondering that if it appeared when the app got popular, it might have an even bigger audience. This series really puts in the effort of the heroes falling in love and not sacrificing the fantasy battles for it. It’s a simple yet memorable experience that I feels deserves some more praise.
Thanks for coming to the end and as always remember to look between the panels.