Magoi, Physical Strength and its Relation to Women in Magi
I'm happy Ohtaka offers us women who are physically strong in Magi. I'm not even talking about Morgiana being physically the strongest out of the main trio. That's largely due to being Fanalis and having a race deemed physically stronger while also making them be the enslaved race is another can of worms entirely. I've spent too much time in school reading racist documents from slave owners. By which I mean not enough because familiarizing with racist language is a good thing. Before getting into the meat of this topic, a tangent rundown: Black slaves would be referred to as stronger, with durable bodies in a fetishizing way that promoted the idea that they could withstand more abuse and hard labor. I am not the best person to talk about it, and that is not the topic I'm tackling today, but it should be noted still anyway.
I do love Morgiana being the brawn, but it's not a flawless writing decision.
No, what I mean is out of the magicians -- the class of characters who reasonably focus their skill set on magic over beating someone in a fist or weapon fight -- the most notable exceptions to that are women, with Myers and Arba.
As explained (yay school arcs giving free natural exposition dumps), the Rukh and magoi produced is being suppressed to not put extra strain on the physical body if it cannot take it. This does make sense and stays consistent throughout. Aladdin relies on the outward Rukh from his powers as a magi and is surprised his actual output comes up with little. Judar, on the Dark Continent, and Al-Thamen (minus Arba), face the same realization.
I think it works to show the athletic magicians, who recognize they can get more power and utility outside their magical prowess, are two women. Even if Arba lost her powers as magi, she'll likely still be one of the strongest because she's shown repeatedly throughout the Alma Tran arc to care and keep up with her prime swordsmanship skills. That would in turn help her as a strong magician. But, putting a brief hold on Arba to talk about Myers.
She, with a military background, is the one to show her students relying on magical strength when it puts strain on the body isn't the most well rounded routine. This is not something she is only doing for herself, but also for the students who are deemed the most in need to catch up. (Honestly, her drills sound like an ableist gym class nightmare but it fits with the military background.) And I'll like to think if a disabled magician enrolled she'll be more willing and kind to think of an appropriate solution than the average drill sergeant or Physical Ed teacher.
She is proud of her students that do succeed. When talking in the stands during the Titus and Aladdin fight, she is a little smug (/affectionate) when confirming she taught her students beyond magic and into martial skills. I ultimately like that she is a teacher where most of that pride is in her students. Compared to our other case study in Arba.
Point is, she can very likely kick several people's asses, and she doesn't need to electrocute someone to do it.
Then there is Arba. The strongest swordsman from Alma Tran according to a lot of people. This includes herself because she's a bad bitch and she knows it. She takes great pride in her physical strength more so than her nothing to laugh at powers as a magician and magi. Arba specifically uses her way to stay immortal and strong (possessing her children... whyy?) in order to maintain the physical strength she's used to.
People greatly underestimate her due to her being a magician. By people, I mean Hakuryuu and Judar. The poor, poor fools. They think nerfing her magic and already nerfing the rest of Al-Thamen before hand will make her an easy target. An helpless old lady that's easy to take care of.
Arba's biggest pride, in comparison to Myers, is for herself, and she takes a lot of joy from catching the boys off guard with it. Her methods of preservation (again, possession, whyyy?), are also aided by the fact that Hakuei, and Hakuryuu if she succeeded with him, are Metal Vessel users and would be in athletic shape. She raised her children so fucked up, but they would suit her needs. Bleck.
Something else I find interesting, but doesn't quite fit with this theme, is that it's the spirit and Rukh in a person that makes them a magician or not. Though neither of her kids are magicians, when she takes over their body she retains her status as a magi. (I will note that both Hakuryuu and Hakuei are mentioned to have a high amount of magoi that may come from Gyokuen. It's brought up with Hakuryuu a few times for being able to have two djinn, and Hakuei has a massive household and imagined it's true for her too.)
On top of that, the one that beats Arba in a physical fight is Morgiana. Hakuryuu does a good job showing her up and proving he has started to move on from the trauma she caused; Yunan would have won if Arba's strength as an immortal wasn't overpowering, and Aladdin draws her to a magic stalemate while also giving her a headache of reminding her of Solomon.
Morgiana is the one to make her reconsider her pride on physical strength and melee skills. I love that for her. There is still emphasis on it being because she's a Fanalis along with her training, which eh. But she wouldn't have been able to do it without her training either.
A sidenote and briefly touching on the Fanalis. I do like the on average lower magoi levels don't have a clear bias based on gender. Morgiana can easily overextend herself with her household vessel, but so can Masrur and he only uses it in short bursts. Mu's djinn equip is the same way. Myron is the one who is shown to not have it be such a toll on her. You'd think the "obvious" character where it won't be a problem will be the King's Candidate. No, it's his sister.
There's a little sketch in the inside cover of one of the Magi volumes (it is in packing hell and I cannot check where exactly but that sounds right) that show the contrast. It's the trio (Aladdin, Morgiana, and Alibaba), with standard RPG stat bars. Aladdin's MP is maxed out, with low physical attack -- I don't remember what the stat was called -- and Morgiana was basically the inverse of that. (Alibaba had an average spread.) It was adorable, and I wanted to end this on a cute note. So, there you go ^^.
Lady magicians can kick your ass. And so can the other women in Magi too.
