Magic x Manga on Acid? You Get MASHLE: Magic and Muscles. I F-ing Love It!!!
Hajime K.
Created by Hajime Komoto, Mashle: Magic and Muscles leads us to an enchanted world, where everyone has magic, except for our ‘strong’ protagonist, Mash Burnedead. ‘Son’ of Regro Burnedead, Mash lives in the forest with his father away from this magical ecosystem where everything is used with a magical spell. Open a soda, use a spell, make food, use a spell, put on clothes, use a spell. With Mash and his acquiescent personality, his worldview alone allows people to interpret him as timid and a weakling, but make him angry, you’ll see something even the Hulk would be scared of and that is one of the highlights of this series.
Since there will be a lot of articles describing this manga, I decided to do a slightly twisted review. With Viz media being nice enough to give me access to this little bauble, I decided to forgo the basic introduction of all the characters, eliminate the listing of their powers and abilities and just go full steam into the melee that makes this manga one of the funniest shonen to read.
Who knew one could fall in love with a project at first read and for RGN 99, I’m going to exam Mash’s strength, from a compared-to-anime character perspective, explore the brain behind the project, Hajime K. and take a glimpse into how this Shonen is comedic gold.
How Strong is MASH?
From reading just the first chapter, Mash‘s power level ranges between Rock Lee from Naruto [Shippuden] and Asta, from Black Clover. We know the arcs of these characters and how their strength evolved throughout their perspective series, sure. Yet, as I continue reading this page turner, and when I headed into chapter 4, I started paralleling his strength to Saitaima from One Punch Man. Ambitious, I know, but I would say that his strength also compares to Yuji Itadori from Jujutsu Kaisen, but I’m being bold with that comparison.
The Brain Behind This: Hajime K.
Hajime Komoto definitely had fun with his first creation as it brings back those nostalgic magical tales of Harry Potter (HP), but only in appearance alone. As some of these characters’ features and clothing resembling J.K. Rowling’s hit masterpiece, his take on the ‘sacred mark’ is quite a concept as every user has one. Yet, the more marks you have, the greater the character’s power and abilities. The concepts behind those abilities lead to laughable moments as Mash bends reality, space and time, proving magic wrong. They’re so shocking, I couldn’t wait to see what he does in the next chapter.
For example, some of my favorite moments in Mashle took place during the ‘magical lock breaking’ assignment as HP’s Maggie Smith’s doppelgänger literally goes into ‘captain obvious’ mode to inform Mash that this is a Magic school and when he tells his roommate, Finn Ames, the ‘play-play’ names of his muscles (I won’t spoil who Kevin and Mike are for you). Hajime’s approach to Mash’s abilities to both process his environment and make fun of its inhabitants with his strength is what makes this shonen beautifully well done. Additionally, Hajime, himself is giving us a piece of his soul as he describes his manga journey at the end of every chapter. The love he has for his characters and the passion behind it is enough for me to support this work alone.
The Good, The Bad and The Weird
With Mash, we first see him training in the beginning chapters, lifting in the forest, getting stronger, but, as he leaves his father for magic school and starts to come into his own as a mage, his actions move from being a student, to being a lackey to being an almost ‘unmarked’ superhero. It’s almost as if every page I read, Mash is continuously evolving as a character, with his strength setting the plot for each new venture. What will he do next?, How will he approach the next magical obstacle? His strength is in the passenger seat, riding along with gas money, while his wit and sarcasm is the driver heading to the next magical destination.
Mash appears limitless with his creative approaches to passing the magic exams and confronts every form of corruption that is the magical education system, however, will this be all there is to Mash, or is this just the volume that sets up the multiple arcs that we will encounter? I’m curious just how far Hajime will take his characters and if there is an actual weakness to Mash, we’ll see either early or later on in the series.
Furthermore, will Hajime go as far to incorporate those lovable animal pets that were in HP? I don’t know, but I would sure as hell like to know what animal Mash ends up with. I bet it’s a donkey…..
Final Thoughts
Hajime’s love child manga starts with the protagonist on his quest to be the best at Easton Magic Academy. With the help of his father, some low-level first year students, and the malicious Brad Coleman (yes, there’s a person named BRAD COLEMAN), he runs across a multitude of situations and encounters some fascinating characters along the way; especially some bully students like Lucci, some top ranked professors, and what appears to be Edward from Twilight, but on steroids.
Hajime’s approach to upsetting J.K. Rowling’s magical ecosystem is met with comedic fervor as he takes some of the best and brightest in the HP series and turns them into comedic one-liners with the worst of the book’s characters getting the full force of Mash’s hands. Hajime offers readers a chance of a lifetime to see how an unmarked, non-magical, acquiescently humble student resembles, literally, the role of Senegalese TikToker Khaby Lame by pointing out the obvious to bad guys and ‘puts dem hands’ on them. Whether they’re a professor or a very ‘well connected’ student, they all get ‘dem hands’. You should see what he did to the Vice Principal; that was pure comedy gold.
Mashle: Muscles and Magic is a laughable, adventurous romp that flips magic on its head at a hero who just wants to help his family. Now, while he may just want to get through these obstacles the best way he can, his strength and his banter is what guides us with Hajime giving us no clue to what Mash’s, dare I say it, ‘Plus Ultra’ is. Either way, I’m here for the ride to see how far he’ll go. I see an anime in the works, but I need to be in Volume 3 or 4 to pass judgement for that statement.
My only question, closing out my review, would be, ‘Does he get any magic at all’?
I rank Mashle: Magic and Muscles a 4 our of 5 stars.
