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I had a pretty profound insight looking at a K-On! album cover. My insight was that the relationships between the characters of Hokago Tea Time can be seen as a kind of descending wheel. Maybe that's what will make this review special is I talk about the relationships of the characters to one another.
Starting with Yui who is energetic, funny/clumsy and kind with Ritsu who is a little louder and can tease more. The distractions usually begin with Yui doing something funny with Ritsu following in turning it into a joke. Ritsu is actually an interesting character because she doesn't judge others on their ... oddities, especially other members of hokago tea time.
You can even keep going on this wheel from left-top to right-bottom, with Ritsu and Mio, who were childhood friends. Ritsu and Mio are opposites attracting, an extrovert and an introvert repsectively. Mio is serious and shy, maybe even easily startled while Ritsu is a bit more mischevous. I feel as though Mio keeps Ritsu grounded while Ritsu may bring Mio out of her comfort zone. Though there is a deep affection amongst and underneath this teasing.
Mio is, for these reasons, respected by Asuza from the very get-go. Mio may seem more "proper" than the other members. Both Mio and Asuza are hardworking and introverted, maybe even easily flustered. Mio can act as an older sister to Asuza, often sitting together during quiet moments or even awkward moments as in the cat ears, where they share the embarressment of wearing them.
The next one is easy since Mugi finds Asuza adorable and fascinating, enjoying her reactions and watching her with stars in her eyes. I also feel as if Asuza is somehow not "confused" by Mugi but maybe fascinated by her unpredictable nature, kindness and does not always know how to respond to Mugi. Asuza displays her awkward politeness here. This is one of the underrated bonds of the show.
Mugi's relationship with Yui is also one based on fascination and adoration. Yui reacts in expressive ways, very, very cheerful. But even better is how Yui sees Mugi, it's basically mystical or even a magical fascination. Mugi is the generous senpai while Yui reacts as if she sees a princess. Yui's fun additude causes Mugi to losen up sometimes too. Mugi also expresses emotional concern when Yui is sick. There relationship is subtle but deep.

I was very excited when in my anime journey I stumbled across Arabian Nights: Sinbad’s Adventures because it’s basically an old anime counterpart to Aladdin that works for me in many ways. I want to draw out some of the parallels and also highlight what makes Arabian Nights special.
Something particularly intersting is that the Studio that made this is Toei, which already is known for its wacky world of ideas and characters from Slifer the Sky Dragon emerging from Bo-bo-bo's afro to now this.
There are a few interesting caveats however that make it distinct from the more well known Aladdin, I see the ... parallels though.
Sinbad and Ali are stowaways on a ship. Hiding in a jar. The captain Hamdi sees this and says wow “You really must want to become sailors.” Winning the favor of the captain, Sinbad and Ali are seen in the next moment swabbing the deck.
I was slightly disappointed to see that the Cat that lives on the ship does not have a character entry on myanimelist. That being said, though the characters are enumerated there with names, there are no biographies, and pictures are sparse.
Abdullah is a funny character, he works on the ship with Yasim under captain Hamdi. There's a funny part when he and Ali are slicing potatoes and he cuts his finger and Ali who is a much younger child than the very large Abdullah begins to crack up at him.
You cannot help but appreciate the scene with the killer fish. There's a sword fish and a kind of smaller whale that approaches the ship. The harpooning scene that follows is dramatic. Abdullah and Yasim attempt but it is Sinbad who is able to spear the swordfish right in the middle, saving the small whale. Yasim says “I trained him.” That was funny.
There is a parallel between Aladdin and Arabian Nights next that appears. In an onion dome towered palace there is also a lonely princess with a pet companion (albeit a white horse not a tiger). There's even a sultan. There is even a spooky advisor to the sultan, who looks like Jafar, the Great King Torfa. The sultan also does simple fun things in his spare time. Like how in Aladdin before Jafar confronts the sultan, he is stacking small animal figurines, in Arabian Nights, the sultan is riding a big wooden horse and laughing. The sultan enjoys simple things in both versions, kinda funny.
Anyway the minister to the sultan, Torfa, has Sinbad, Abdullah, Yasim locked away, while there's a kind of fun scene where Ali, who somehow evaded, is scaling the castle walls. Ali finds the princess, whose name is Samir (or Sameer,) who hides Ali from Torfa, who reveals his true colors as evil and having bad intentions. Ali thankfully is able to escape when Torfa searches Samir’s room and the chase that follows is hilarious indeed. Ali is a cool character. Ali even scales across on a wire that was attached to bricks to get from one tower of the palace to another.
Samir is actually able to free Sinbad, Abdullah and Yasim from the prison. They escape on her horses. Interestingly, Samir is more about horses than Jasmin was, who only seemed to interact mostly with her tiger. Interestingly enough also, they do not take Samir’s white horse, but darker colored ones.
Ali is also able to escape on a kind of flying feather, which acts as a counterpart to the carpet from Aladdin I suppose. When they all see Ali flying in on the feather in glory, Abdullah said he taught Ali how to do that. Samir, from the shore on her white horse, begins to actually move towards the departed ship. Torfa reports to the Sultan that Samir has escaped. She actually ultimately makes it to the ship. The princess boards and thus begins Sinbad protecting her on board.
There's also a counterpart to Iago the Parrot, in a way. Torfa has all of these weird kinds of eggs that he throws on the ground, when they hit the ground, a different species of bird emerges, from a crow, to a parrot, to a bat. The bat is significant to Torfa. Torfa says “I like you” and sends the bat to find out where Samir is.
The bat does arrive but by now, the ship is headed straight for Treasure Island. Samir also begins to feel isolated or that everyone on board is afraid of her and confides in Ali, who is really enjoying themselves when they are dancing and listening to music on the ship. I also found it interesting that Ali would rather stay at the side of Captain Hamdi than dance with the others.
When a storm hits, Ali and Sinbad save the ship from capsizing. Sinbad, with Ali’s knife in mouth, will climb to the top of the sail, to cut the rope, so that the wind does not cause the ship to capsize. They weather the storm, yet, Torfa is closely following on another ship with the sultan’s men.
There's a very heart warming scene when the young whale, which is actually on the ship, goes to be with their family of whales, and leaves the ship, with a warm goodbye spray from the sprout that lands on the cat of the ship. Ali and Samir are also there to bid the baby whale goodbye, a moment that Samir actually recalls in her letter to her mother and the Sultan to home from the ship. The sultan also learns from this letter of Sinbad who Samir says saved her.
The cat also has an interesting scene where Torfa’s spy bat is spotted on the ship. The cat begins to chase. The bat gets away and returns to Torfa’s ship. The bat is able to report that Sinbad is up to something. Torfas’s real intention is to win the princess as well as diamonds.
Things begin to turn as Sinbad notices the sky is dark.
Sinbad calms the situation by strumming music while “evil spirits” are clearly at work while the ship won’t move. Sinbad is able to calm not only the spirits, but also restore life to the waters and motion to the ship. Actually, Ali is the one to notice that the ship is moving after a group of small whales (perhaps paying it back for rescuing one of their own) bring the ship into motion, nudging the very ship itself.
Fog is also an issue. Neither Ali not Hamdi can see a thing in these conditions. Sinbad also is able to heroically steer the ship away from a rock after being blinded by this fog. Actually it was Ali who points out the rock.
The cat actually stays with Hamdi on the ship when they finally arrive on Treasure Island. The strange birds are already apparent upon their arrival. Also, a kind of whirlpool begins to disturb the ship, causing it to crash into some rocks and break into pieces. Yasim and Abdullah are able to escape the watery cave while Sinbad calls out for Ali from a different location on the island.
Abdullah also has a funny moment on the island, where after sipping the drip from some coconuts, falls backward into a kind of giant sticky venus-fly trap-like plant, struggling only to be rescued by Yasim.
Sinbad’s encounter with the strange bird while he is dangling by a rope from a cliff is also an intense scene. There are also some phantom kind of flying jelly-fish looking beings that begin to sting Sinbad, that he is able to do away with using a dagger while riding the bird, holding onto it’s claw while it flies.
Ali and Samir are seen together on the island before it is noted that Torfa has arrived on Treasure island also. Sinbad is still calling out for Ali. It’s interesting how much Sinbad cares for both Ali and Samir, going out of his way for both of them on numerous occasions in this.
Ali and Samir actually encounter Torfa at the treasure in a cave. Fortuitously, Sinbad is in this cave also, and rises to protect them both from Torfa and his men.
While Sinbad and Torfa begin to face off, the phantom jellyfish actually take down Torfa’s bat spy. The swordfight between Sinbad and Torfa is dramatic with it culminating in Sinbad throwing rocks in Torfa’s eyes for Torfa to realize after that he was right before the treasure, rushing his men to stick it into bags.
Then you get a scene that I remember from the Cave of Wonders, the treasure is touched by Torfa, causing a stone bird statue’s eyes to light up red. The cave will begin to collapse, but in Arabian Nights, it’s through flooding, not through the walls caving in. It’s also not a lion head like in Aladdin’s Cave of the Wonders, but the stone guardian of the cave on Treasure Island in Arabian Nights, is indeed, a strange stone bird. This fooding persists. Sinbad prays. His prayer is answered and Torfa falls into a trench that opens up in the cave floor, sinking to his death.
Sinbad awakes unharmed. The bird, looks contently at Sinbad as the scene changes to Sinbad and Samir. Yes, the greatest treasure in the world, he found it. Sinbad says this. He found it, it was Samir.