:)
That’s it.
Really. There is nothing more to praise Mashle for.
So now, let’s talk about the bad:
The character design has no distinct quality. The OST is uninspired. The characters are shallow. The jokes get saturated and are predictable. The narrative is a textbook shounen replica. And the parody… well, let’s go into details first…
Mashle plays the parody card by not taking certain story elements seriously, but without subverting any expectations or using these elements in any meaningful or intelligent way. The parody “events” are just that: events. They are barely even attached to the main story because the show plays out as any other mediocre shounen and takes that part seriously. Okay, so, maybe the main character is a subversion of the shounen genre, when we put him against average narrative tropes… And sure, that might be the point. But that’s just a cop-out from One-Punch Man.
What about the Harry Potter parallels then, you might wonder? “I betchu that’s great parody material!”, you might say. Well, no. They hardly have any relation to the story, aside from the simplistic overarching parallel of the story taking place in a magic school with different groups inside (the rest of the elements taken from HP are simply used for gags).
Okay then, what about the gags? “They have to be good right? Look at the score on this show, something must be capturing the audience’s hearts!” Well, again, no. The gags can be summed up to: exaggerated character quirk put against a “straight man” and/or the simple saturation of character quirks (e.g.: Mash is so strong he can’t open doors, he breaks them; Mash loves cream puffs, so he thinks of/eats them in unusual moments; Red haired guy takes himself too seriously, as if he were the main character; Blonde girl is a pervert; White haired dude is a hardcore siscon; etc…). All characters can be summed up to one characteristic or two, which are played for laughs AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN, to the point of exhaustion. That is, except when the story is busy trying to SERIOUSLY justify that single characteristic in a long monologue/flashback in the middle of a fight due to enemy provocations which then provoke the well-known transformations and rage fueled power spikes.
Taking it all into consideration I still can’t say Mashle is BAD… it’s an okay, inoffensive show. I’m not that critical about my anime, after all, entertainment is entertainment, and being COMPLETELY cliché and predictable doesn’t necessarily take away from the enjoyment. For that reason, Mashle is perfectly average and perfectly enjoyable, if it suits your tastes.
HOWEVER,
I did not rate it 5 (an average score for an average anime, duh). And you might be wondering why. Or not? Anyway… it is because I have a beef with the main character.
Dude… at the end of (almost) every fight Mash sympathizes with the villain and forgives their behavior and the evil-doer (which up until that moment was nothing short of a psychopath) suddenly has a flashback that “justifies” his actions and comes to the realization Mash is Jesus and repents for his sins. PLUS, Mash is always fighting to defend the weak and oppressed. It’s the wet dream of a bullied kid. We get to watch Mash watching someone get humiliated for half an episode, so that then he can take action and his violence be justified because he is Sanctity incarnate. Rinse and repeat.
