Mashle: Magic and Muscles

The premise to this is fine, you've seen it 1000x, "I gots no power, in a world of power." THOUGH, this tries to be very subversive.

PLOT: Simple; boy is born without MAGIC, denoted by a line (or two) on ones' face. THOUGH, in this society, eugenics is the name of the game, and if you're not born with magic, you're literally as good as dead. A man finds Mash, after overhearing him crying in the bushes near the cliff he was about to jump from, to end his own life.

So, it starts out similar to My Hero. It is VERY MUCH structured like Harry Potter, and they're not even shy about it, which is great. It's part of its subversion gimmick.

Where this shines is in the beginning, watching a magic-less user just completely hulk out of any problem that would require magic. At times it's played for a gag, and at other times, it become annoying plot armor. Especially when you notice the pattern.

Most of the fun in this anime comes from watching the writers create "logical in universe" work arounds for Mash's lack of magic. Since he comes off as a dumb character, but you realize he's quite brilliant and extremely inventive. HOW? I don't know? They kind of use the whole, "he had to be clever to go undetected and unmurdered for so long", explanation. It's another one of those, don't think too much about it.

That's the problem, it wants to poke fun at shonen, but also falls into a lot of its trappings. Unearned power-ups or revelations, in Mash's case. Most of the Magic on Magic fights are meh, save for one near the end between two double liners; Orca guy vs Eagle guy. And it does do that thing a lot of these animes do, especially shonen, which is more of a fault of the audience it aims for. Almost every enemy becomes Mash's friend, or learns to respect him.

I like this anime, but season 2 ends with setting up the final boss, this manga has a definitive end, that end has been reached like 2 years ago now... So you can spoil it for yourself if you want. It's as fairytale and predictable as you'd expect.

My biggest issue was by the end, Mash's creativity didn't make much sense especially at the last encounter, where Mash is "flying" by running in place very fast. He does this gimmick during the "Not-Quidditch" match to fly his broom, which worked as a one-off gag, but to try to pass it off as a legit tool in his arsenal is weird.

Without getting too much into it, and spoilers, the last 4 episodes kind of lost me.

The series follows Mash Burnedead, a young boy who possesses no magical abilities in a world where magic is everything. Despite this, Mash dreams of attending Magic High School, where he can learn to become a Wizard.

The anime is a fun and lighthearted take on the shonen genre. Mash is a lovable protagonist who is always eager to fight for what he believes in. He is also incredibly strong, which makes for some exciting fight scenes. The supporting cast is also enjoyable, with characters like Lance, Dot, and Merle providing plenty of laughs.

The animation in Mashle: Magic and Muscles is well-done, with fluid fight scenes and detailed character designs. The music is also catchy and upbeat. Overall, the anime is a fun and enjoyable watch that is sure to please fans of the shonen genre.

However, the anime does have some flaws. The pacing can be a bit slow at times, and the story can be predictable. Additionally, some of the jokes fall flat.

Overall, Mashle: Magic and Muscles is a 7/10 anime. It is a fun and lighthearted show with a likable protagonist and some exciting fight scenes. However, the pacing can be slow at times, and the story can be predictable.

Here are some pros and cons of the anime:

Pros:

Fun and lighthearted shonen anime

Lovable protagonist

Exciting fight scenes

Well-done animation

Catchy music

Cons:

Pacing can be slow at times

Story can be predictable

Some jokes fall flat

Overall, Mashle: Magic and Muscles is a solid anime that is sure to please fans of the shonen genre. If you are looking for a fun and lighthearted show with a bit of action, then I would recommend checking it out.

This is a combination of Harry Potter, One Punch Man, and Black Clover. Throw in some ultra goofiness and the power of friendship for a complete picture. If you're good with that it can be fun.

The above stated, it does nothing new. That's not a problem if the familiar is well done, but it isn't. From the combat, quirkiness of the hero, villains introduced and friends found, it's all very much common and uninspired. There's some okay humor but it's exactly what you'd expect for anyone familiar with standard anime tropes.

I hope there's more to this in the coming seasons, but as it stands right now Mashle is a forgettable experience.

Review for Season 1:

This show didn't quite work for me towards the end.

It's at its best when it's trying to be a parody of a magic anime. Whenever it does so, it's very funny because of the voice acting and A1 Pictures' editing. The plot setup itself is obviously funny.

But it's at its worst when it tries to be a serious action shounen, using the most mediocre shounen tropes out there. For instance, Mash's character was supposed to be funny because he was very dense yet ridiculously strong. But towards the end he sort of changed his enemies into good characters (another shounen trope) and it just made no sense to me.

In the end, I was looking forward to a magic parody anime, instead of just another action shounen (this plotline just doesn't fit a serious shounen story). I'll still watch season 2 but I hope I get to see the parody moments a lot more.

Edit: Enjoyed it more on a re-watch once I knew what's coming.

Review for Season 2:

Mashle picks up from right where it left off and everyone's favourite fitness freak is back! He has returned to entertain us by outsmarting magic in all different, hilarious ways.

Season 2 is more of the same and I definitely did enjoy it plenty. Just like Mash, it's offbeat and stylishly funny. I'm actually very impressed by A1 Pictures' work for this anime because the animation was very good. And I love the editing because it makes this anime even more hilarious. The soundtrack is again great and there were some new tracks this time that I admired.

The friendship between the main characters is wholesome. Finn Ames actually gets some moments to shine this time and I like his character more after Season 2.

But whenever Mashle becomes serious and it goes into some sad flashback or a serious shounen action scene, it loses me completely. Because this is a parody setting and it doesn't fit at all. Whenever Mash arrives and does Mash things, that's where this show regains my attention.

Overall though, this is another fun season. This is definitely a unique and entertaining comedy. Hopefully we'll get a Season 3.

Pros:

• A lot of good action
• Very clean, no sexual content at all

Cons:

• Jokes were overly repeated and not very funny to begin with
• Overly copies Harry Potter, doesn't bring a lot of new material but does have some.

• Character personality is fairly poor and quickly felt predictable. I didn't find myself very excited for any one individual to come on screen.

• Every fight would be heavily interspersed with talking and flash backs which made things slow

Overall I was just a little bored and found myself finishing more for the sake of checking off a box and finishing what I started than anything else. If you don't mind the heavy copying of Harry Potter and aren't too critical you may enjoy this one.