Mashle: Magic And Muscles

I'm creating a thread about this manga already 110+ chapters deep because the anime just got announced and according to leaks, it's gonna be made by A-1 Pictures (of SAO, Kaguya-Sama, and Anohana fame). So, as long as it doesn't get the Seven Deadly Sins treatment and gets shafted off to Studio Deen after two seasons, Mashle should be in good hands.

As for discussion about the series itself, I really like Mashle. It's not my favorite series, but it's the most consistent I've seen in a long time. It is almost always a solid 7/10. At its worst it's a 6/10, and at its best it's an 8/10. It's not exceptional, but I'd struggle to call any part of it bad. It's also an almost scientifically satisfying 50:50 ratio of comedy to action, every action scene has comedy and every comedy scene has action, there's something beautiful about that.

And I really love the worldbuilding, how it feels like a jaded Harry Potter superfan's giant middle finger to JK Rowling in the form of a maximum-effort fix-fic.

For recent events, I'm theorizing that Mash will unlock a God in his wand. Not by gaining the use of magic, just by threatening the wand hard enough that the God shows up anyway, similar to how he threatened the letters to stay still in his entrance exam. And that God will obviously be Heracles, the demi-God of muscles.

Sacrilege. The only god Mash would worship is cream puffs.

I've been fond of the series. I tend to describe it as "If Saitama went to Hogwarts".

There are a lot more Harry Potter references in here than I think people give it credit for. Like how Innocent Zero's plan for immortality is the exact opposite of Voldemort's plan for immortality. Voldemort split his soul up between 6 objects and accidentally, Harry himself. That way, Voldemort could be resurrected from any of those soul pieces. Innocent Zero created 6 blood-related children, Mash among them, though him being magic-less was accidental. Zero's plan is to sacrifice those children and fuse their hearts with his own to gain an immortal, invincible body.

That's the kind of deep-cut lore reference that you wouldn't know to make unless you were an actual fan of Harry Potter.

Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Jul 7th 2022 at 2:52:31 AM

Betting the final fight has Mashle go bald temporarily as a Saitama Homage. His weight removal stuff was already a Rock Lee Homage, right down to a red skinned super mode. XD

My bet is still on the Heracles thing. Maybe the wand transforms into a sword, as another Harry Potter reference.

Heracles would be neat. Followed by Mashle's own take on the Serious Table Flip.

Chapter 115: Hey, Finn got a focus chapter!

Good for him.

Chapter 116: They enter the castle and deal with bugs before facing off with the brothers. Rayne and Finn are together against Delisaster, so that should give the brothers some more development. Dot and Lance are fighting Epidem, and I'm worried for their chances. Famin vs Orter is going to be a fucking bloodbath, and I'm here for it.

It's weird, based on how this manga has built the Sons of Zero up at this point, I genuinely can't tell if our heroes are going to win these fights. I could see them losing, and then Mash needs to fight and beat all of his brothers one-by-one in a row. I don't really want them to lose, but the sons have been pushed SO HARD at this point that I don't know if they can really win. I'm pretty sure Ryoh, at least, is going to lose his upcoming fight with Doom, just so that Doom and Mash can have a rematch.

Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Jul 18th 2022 at 11:24:27 AM

You forgot an important part: Lemon remembered she isn't just a background character and decided to help her future husband.

Oh yeah, there was a new character introduced. Wasn't her name... Lime or something like that?

I kid, I kid, I do like what little Lemon has and I wish she had more. At least give her a weak-on-the-surface but with strong utility personal magic like what Finn has, and include her to the same degree as Finn. She used to be part of the gang for a while, those chapters of the gang shopping in town or visiting Mash's dad are some of the best chapters in the series. Unfortunately, the author has admitted that he only created Lemon because his editor told him to make a female major character, and it really shows.

This series is not good with its female cast, but at least Margarette and Meliadoul are awesome. Margarette is actually one of my favorite characters in the whole series, and I can't wait for when the anime gets to her, specifically for the sound and music design. I'm imagining something like Nonon from Kill La Kill.

Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Jul 19th 2022 at 8:40:55 AM

I believe the author missed an opportunity here, since Lemon should have trained her cooking instead of Finn, so it could develope into support magic similar to Charmy from Black Clover, since already she was cooking cream puffs for Mash anyway (just imagine her casting a massive creampuff of recovering, that is the moment Mash ask her to marry him).

Didn't know the author said that. Makes sense that Lemon got shafted hard then.

Chapters 117, 118, and 119: And the battles begin. Very unexpected and heartwarming development for the brothers Ames, I didn't think they were orphans. I like that Finn gets a Secondth as his big power-up. It makes him more awesome without going completely overboard with a God or Thirds.

Chapters 120, 121, and 122: Damn, the author busting out all the stops with call-backs and references, highlighting both Lance and Dot's established character motivations, backstories, abilities, and conflicts. This is some final-arc "this is the story's emotional climax for these characters"-type writing, and I am all for it. I really hope Lance isn't actually dead now, though. Dot's right, he's still got stuff to do, and we can't leave Lance's sister on the note of her being a test subject for Epidem's virus. I hope next chapter we learn more about the Ira Kruez.

Chapter 123: Kinda wish we got a little more lore of the Ira Kruez, but we got a bit. Interesting that the Ira Kruez healed Dot and then when it wore off, Dot's wounds opened right back up. But the comedy in this chapter was on-point, Epidem having a beautiful flashback to his life with pudding and then acknowledging that he died 100 times over, and Lance surviving because of tons of pins of his sister in his robe (which explains why there weren't a ton of orihalcum spikes sticking out of his chest last chapter, even if it makes no sense) were really funny. And I'm glad Lance isn't dead, Dot was right last chapter that he still had responsibilities to take care of.

Next up should be Orter vs Famin, and I can't wait.

Chapter in a nutshell: More Dakka

The flashback where he did the "Piccolo's sacrifice for Gohan" moment but to save Pudding was hilarious.

124: Orter vs Famin begins, a true battle of Lawful Evil vs Chaotic Evil. Orter's speech about rules is absolutely the kind of thing that his weird fans will swoon over him for. I did cackle at his kissy eyes when he lost his glasses, which even took Famin back.

Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Sep 19th 2022 at 9:46:35 AM

The “number 3 eyes” gag was pretty amusing. Haven’t seen that in a while.

Short PV for the anime:

Chapter 125: Orter’s backstory is pretty cool. Good enough to make up for the otherwise underwhelming curbstomp.

So, even among the divine visionaries, there's a clear difference in power.

Chapter 126: LEMON DID A THING!!! I'M CRYING WITH JOY! Granted, she didn't actually get a solo win, but hey, we got to see her Personal Magic, she won over the cerberus, and blocked a cluster of needles by getting stabbed through her hands, that was legit badass. Gave me One Piece vibes, Nami vs Ms. Doublefinger.

Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Oct 2nd 2022 at 11:20:17 AM