Mashle: Magic and Muscles

thor123 Sep 6, 2020

8

Mashle is a comedy battle shounen manga that parodies the Harry Potter series as well as other shounen series. While being familiar with the Harry Potter universe may be beneficial, knowing general fantasy and shounen tropes will be more important however. Our protagonist, Mash Vandead, is a young guy who is hidden in the woods by his father because he doesn't have a lightning mark on his face - which shows to everyone that he is about the only person around who can't use magic. To conquer this weakness, he is made to train his body. Which leads to his current state, where he is almost the Saitama of his world. Because of reasons, Mash gets sent to magic school. The setting will be familiar to any who know of Harry Potter: big building, broomriding lessons, some discrimination, exploring forests you shouldn't send any wizards into etc. While the comedy aspect of the setting (nonwizard in wizard school) is the most important, the author does manage to tell a story that is engaging enough to keep me reading - with side characters that are also actually fun to spend time with and get a good amount of "screentime". The comedy is mostly gags and absurd situations, as well as people reacting to the feats of impossible strength that Mash tends to show off in order to get through his magic classes and battles. It does feel like there are limits to how long this type of comedy can keep being funny though, which might explain why it feels more battle-shounenish (with still plenty of comedy) in the last chapters (currently 29). The art is sadly the weakest point of the series. While it looks nice when the mangaka puts in the effort, we also get a lot of very basic panels and even some reused drawings. While simplicity can be excused for comedy at times, this isn't always the case. Overall: It's a fun gag manga that parodies Harry Potter and shounen manga. What's there so far is very fun for fans of the genre, but the manga is at risk of hitting the limits of the current setup. I for one hope the author can keep the current level of quality.

Manthika Jul 11, 2020

2

Cute and amusing but sort of a low effort knockoff manga where they seemed to try to mash together One Piece, Mob Psycho, and a magic fantasy world.  Watch a boy who is Special and Unlike Other Boys be OP in body but stupid in the head.  There’s original.  But it’s written for 12-year-old boys, and they’ll probably love it.  Maybe if the art was a bit better, and the characters less flat, I would put it as above average, but the comedy and storyline are the only things carrying it, and even then?  It’s mostly the comedy.

superzaiyan Apr 12, 2021

8

Hey hey hey hey! I must remind people that if you are reading or watching animes/mangas wherein it is meant for comedy, don't expect it to have a big, heavy plot or whatever lol, go somewhere else. There are a lot of other mangas for that. Now, as a COMEDY manga, did it serve it's purpose? I would say, HARD YES. GOODNESS I am aware that it will be funny, but I am always, always caught off guard by the deadpan jokes (which are my type of comedy ever since Saiki Kusuo awakened my knowledge that I love dead voices and dry jokes to core). It is a very easy read, the art is not overwhelming and gentle to the eyes, which is a plus considering that I am looking for a light-hearted read anyways.  Perfect for: people looking for comedy similar to Saiki Kusuo or any deadpan or dry comedy, people who are looking for a very easy light-hearted read (if you wanna just chill) (Honestly, if I were to rate it by enjoyment alone, it will be perfect.)