Jan 18, 2024
Start watching Mashle: Magic and Muscles now because I guarantee you won't regret it.
At first glance, this anime resembles a replica of several popular animes, such as One Punch Man. However, Mashle only borrows ideas from them and does not disappoint in adding fun and creative twists. In general, this anime is a typical shounen with occasional, funny jokes and brings enjoyment.
Story (7.5/10)
To start, the main protagonist of Mashle, Mash Burndead is born in a world where magic is considered a "gift from god to humans" and people's social status depends on their magical ability. People's ability and potential to use magic is based
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on the number of marks on their face. Usually, people are born with one mark, while babies with two or higher marks are extremely rare and granted high privileges. However, Mash is born without any marks, considered an "error" and is despised by fellow magicians in this magic world. He is abandoned by his parents and is adopted by an old man, and they lived together in a distant forest peacefully for 15 years, where the old man trained Mash to become physically strong so that he can self-defend. Mash is told not to go into the city by his grandpa but breaks the promise to buy cream puffs in the city one day. The magic police then find out Mash's identity and threaten to kill his grandpa unless he goes to Easton Magic Academy, where he works his way to the top and becomes the Divine Visionary. The story then continues as a typical shounen under this premise, where Mash finds new friends, encounters various battles, and overpowers his enemies with his overwhelming strength. (Not with just a single punch only tho)
Animation and art (7/10)
The animation is decent, not amazing. The boss fights are cool and all, with different special moves and skills. However, nothing is particularly outstanding. In terms of art, the magic school is realistic, and the scenes are well-drawn. The appearances of the characters are also quite good.
Characters (8/10)
The main characters of Mashle consist of a group of five, centered around Mash. Although not everyone in the group is memorable, they all have their personalities and stories. In this review, I am going to talk about Mash and Lance only since the other characters are basically for comedic purposes. Mash is a guy with incredible physical strength and the most chill person in the group. He is obsessed with cream puffs and likes to share them with others. Like Saitama, he is often bored listening to villains' dialogues and allows opponents to use their ultimate skills at him before attacking and ending them relatively quickly. He also cares a lot about his friends and family and people see him as the "nice guy". Lance is gifted with two marks on his face and knows gravity magic very well. He is also fighting for the No. 1 spot in the academy and becoming the Divine Visionary, with the sole intention of rescuing his sister, who has a disease that caused her to have a fading mark on her face. He values his sister a lot and would do anything for her. Although contending with Mash, he seems to get along with him and have fun in the group. For the villains in this anime, most of them are painfully forgettable because of their shallow lore and their showtime, but they are decent for the anime's short length and better than those villains who spread evil and do bad things for absolutely no reason at all.
Music and sound effects (7.5/10)
There is not much to say about this. After all, ratings of music are subjective to people's tastes. The OP and ED are up to standard, but not extraordinary. The sound effects are on point, intensifying the battles and making them interesting. BGM in fights are successful at creating suspense.
Enjoyment (10/10)
In my opinion, this anime is extremely humorous. Every joke in this anime made me laugh and the characters do a good job in doing so. I can even go on to say that the jokes in this anime are on par with the level of the jokes in Kaguya-sama. I usually enjoy this kind of shounen, just like how I enjoyed One Punch Man s1 a lot, and the extra humor Mashle adds makes it sufficient for a 10 in enjoyment. The story and timeline of Mashle are extremely predictable, but let's face it: a large portion of anime is predictable anyway. I binged the whole series because it was so hooking and amazing.
Overall score (8.6/10)
Objectively, Mashle deserves a mid 7 only. However, I always rate animes subjectively and I find Mashle very exciting to watch. Therefore I am giving Mashle a 9/10 rounded up.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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