Mashle: Magic And Muscles

Alright, I'm in the middle of the final arc. Read up to Mash showing up after the mandatory "protag is out of commission and the others have to kick ass until he's back" moment.

...not gonna lie, this is feeling like the BEST arc of the series so far? There's a few issues I have, but overall there's a lot of good to it. Many of the battles are fun stuff. Lance and Dot going all out and having to work together, showing that they DO care about each other? Good shit. The Ames brothers getting to work together (FINALLY getting Finn and Rayne to interact) was also great. And Ryoh...fucking RYOH, god I love that dude.

Though, I wasn't too into Orter's fight with Famin, but to be honest I don't like Orter that much. He's just a dick and his backstory was kinda meh. Also kinda felt bad that *four* of the Divine Visionaries got taken out like right after getting to kick some ass...though the visual of them being CRUCIFIED was pretty good. Meliadoul is really good (can't believe I called it that there'd be a Tsunade-equivalent here) but I feel like she should've gotten a little bit more time to shine. And uh, Lemon is still Lemon...I don't even hate her but I just feel very disappointed with how she's handled compared to the other leads (and really, I don't have the most positive feelings about how Mashle handles its female cast).

Beyond that, I'm LOVING Innocent Zero's boys. Doom is a fucking beast, Epidem and Delisaster are hilarious weirdos AND genuinely powerful, and Famin just creeps me the hell out, yeesh. Really looking forward to finishing this, cuz I just know Mash is about to do some crazyass shit like usual.

Oh yes. In hindsight, the manga feels very short, because so much of it is dedicated to fights. Mash vs Doom is probably the highlight for me as well. It does kind of suck that most of the Divine Visionaries are only there to build up Zero's kids, though.

About Lemon — apparently, she was a late addition. The manga was going to be all boys, but the editor wanted at least one girl, so she was added in. May explain why she does so little in the manga — although Komoto apparently said he really grew to like her.

Oh man, Lance and Dot vs Epidem is my favorite fight in the series, and that's pretty impressive since most of the best fights are Mash's. It's just the complete package, both Lance and Dot's respective character arcs come to a climax, Epidem is cool and intimidating and goofy, and it's the funniest non-Mash fight in the series.

I do think Lemon's stand against Galbo is genuinely badass.

Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Dec 9th 2023 at 1:20:09 PM

Yeah a lot of it is focused on the fights, and I don't necessarily dislike that...but I do wish there were more low-key things and stuff. I like the goofy shenanigans, I want more!

Either way, finally finished the manga. Hell of a climax, LOVED seeing everyone (even tiny minor characters) show up to help save the day. Mash outright forcing himself back from the brink of death was SO good. And then he just told Innocent Zero "Nope, no tragic backstory flashbacks, none of that". I love how Mash just refuses to play by some of the rules of the setting, it brings some of the funniest gags into play.

But yeah, overall my opinion of the series is mixed-to-positive. The pacing and length mean that a lot of characters don't get enough development, and I feel like I would've preferred the setting be explored more and junk...but eh, the good stuff outweighs my complaints. It's funny, it's goofy, the action is great, and the emotional moments gradually got to me the more I read. Some of these character arcs snuck up on me a little. I liked Lance and Dot a bit, but then their fight with Epidem really made me think of how far they'd come since they first showed up. Despite all their bickering, they DO value each other as friends. Plus GOD, all the moments where people keep getting demolished and beaten to hell and back and STILL force themselves to stand up and keep fighting...personal favorite trope of mine, and the final arc had a LOT of that.

I liked Lemon getting Cerberus, but overall I just think she was a mega-wasted character who didn't really do much, and I think it was kind of disappointing. If Lemon really was only introduced cuz of editorial suggestion, I wouldn't be surprised. Her gags are kinda funny, I liked the couple of moments where she tried standing up for Mash, and I liked that she ultimately *didn't* end up with Mash romantically (Mash really doesn't seem like the romance type), but other than that she's just not that interesting? She doesn't have the same level of depth as the other main leads and she doesn't undergo the same kind of growth in power as they do. She's just kinda there most of the time.

The final volume release does have a bonus page of Lemon taking Spot, Spotty, and Spottington home to her poor parents.

Okay that's actually genuinely adorable.

Found it!

Oh yeah, and now that you've seen the series end, you can see the meme I made for it:

HOLY SHIT, KOYASU IS VOICING MARGARETTE (DIO from Jojo)!

And Uchiyama is voicing Carpaccio (Shigaraki from MHA)!

And a new Season 2 Trailer:

Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Dec 16th 2023 at 3:22:53 AM

Okay that's actually really good casting for both of them, it makes too much goddamn sense.

Feels kinda like stunt casting to brag about how good season 1 did.

Mashle will be getting a special 37-page side story. Some kind of one-off thing, no info on plot.

AYO???

I thought this series was done, unless they got around to localizing the novels.

So, the special one-off chapter is out.

It's just a cute little story with Mash and Wahlberg's grandson. Mash is a cool dude to this little dork and there's dragons and clothspins and other stuff. Honestly nothing much else to say beyond that Mash is just a really cool guy and I love this sweet boy dearly.

Speaking of which, the extra chapter is out. Cue random character not believing Mash is the hero because he was hiding in the bathroom during Innocent Zero's attack haha. We also get a classic physics-defying Mash gag with Mash "floating" in the air by flapping his arms. Never change, Mash.

I love Mash so much, he's great. I liked how Mash inspiring Young Master Baigan was like a parallel to Adam inspiring Wahlberg, and like the mentor Regro never had.

Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Jan 5th 2024 at 9:18:24 AM

Episode 1 of season 2 is out, and the sound design for the anime continues to be the absolute best.

As does the soundtrack and the new OP is great as well, that Mash dance is amazing.

For the record, here's the opening;

The dance part has already become a minor meme.

Episode 2: Perfect. No notes. Adapted some of my favorite chapters wonderfully.

And someone made an awesome AMV for the full song (warning; contains scenes and characters from future chapters);

Well that was pretty fun, a bunch of goofballs just getting to hang out together.

Margarette Macaron is one character that I heard some positive buzz about before, so I'm expecting there is a lot more to them(?) then it seems.

Margarette is non-binary, stated by the author. And yeah, he/she's my favorite character in this manga.

Cool. I had heard about Margarette being an explicitly queer character, though not really any details beyond that.

Also, they've barely been introduced, but Orter is aroace and Tsurara is genderfluid.