Mashle was a pleasant surprise in a rather weak year of anime for me personally. The comedy was on point, the parody aspect was something fresh and the music was unique and exciting. But comedy anime can definitely fall of over time when certain jokes get overused. Is it the same with Mashle?
Story – 7/10
This season changed a lot of the story structure from season 1. While the first season was very episodic and mostly served to introduce the world, the school and the most important characters, culminating in the Magia Lupus arc. This season switched things up and changed the structure to a more fast-paced, serialized storyline. The scope and scale of the story gets bigger and bigger during this season and we get our first look at the highest possible power ceilings in the world of Mashle. Saying all this, this is still a very basic, shounen storyline that follows all the known shounen trademarks. This season, it is the famous tournament arc that gets tackled, and it was a lot of fun. The comedy aspect is still the shows biggest plus. Everything just works together so well. The character dynamics are being explored more and more, which is exacerbated by the introduction of a lot of side-characters and villains that have great comedy potential. The timing of the jokes and the whole concept of Mash, trying to solve every problem head on without the use of magic is just fantastic.
The manga of this show has ended after only 162 chapters so I hope we get a full adaption of this story, which would probably only need two or maybe three seasons to wrap everything up.
Art – 8/10
A-1 Pictures is always a pleasure and this season of Mashle is another step-up for the studio. I think they ether raised the budget or the insane fights this season just lended themselves to bring the most out of the animators, but I liked the animation here more than in season one. The character designs are fantastic as well, every new character that is introduced looks fantastic and unique. What I really enjoyed is the visualization of the different magical powers. Of course, the author clearly took some inspiration from stuff like “Naruto” or “Black Clover” but it just looks too cool for me to ignore. The show as a whole has yet to have the one, big “wow” moment in terms of animation, but it also never disappointed in any fight.
Sound – 9/10
My god, this season just hit it out of the park with the sound. First of, we have another huge contender for opening of the season. There is a reason why every corner of the internet seems to have been flooded with Mash´s iconic moves, and the song itself works so well and fits the weird genre mix of the show perfectly. The BGM is also fantastic, the use of rap in combination with EDM is just a blast. The sound-design is also a huge plus, especially in combiantion with the amazing comedic timing. The ED song comes with amazing visuals and a very cool theme, the song also goes hard. One of the most unique shounen soundtracks off all time in my opinion.
Characters – 8/10
Like with a lot of people that I saw online, i´m liking Mash as a main character more and more. He never breaks out of character, his absolute deadpan seriousness and absolutely hilarious lake of common sense is a great mix that I never knew I needed in my life. The side characters are also a nice step-up from season two. Of course Margrete Macaron is the huge standout this season and gets a lot of screen time. But the one who surprised me the most was actually Wahlberg. His complex relationship with the main antagonist, Innocent Zero was explored really well this season and gave everything that happens between them a strong emotional foundation. The other side character are enjoyable too, some standouts are Finn, Rayne and Orter Madl.
Enjoyment – 8/10
Like season one, this is a perfect show to watch when you just want a fun, entertaining ride. You can put this on any time of the day and have a pleasant experience. Seasons 3 was already announced, so more of this magical story is coming to us in the future. I think this season edges out the first season and improved in multiple categories. If you like shounen, this is a must-watch.
- Marco_Yooo
FINAL SCORE - 8/10
