Mashle

I dunno how this anime got so popular on release. So basically you have a OnePunchMan protagonist but with a brain size of a pea in a Harry Potter setting (you have your typical characters of Ron, Dumbledore, Draco and Lucius Malfoy, ect... your broom flying lesson, the house selection hat, quiddich, Hogwarts and everything else that's not original). This kind of concept already failed with Black Clover, having a protagonist being OP besides having "no magic", but somehow it fails even harder here, despite having to pass tests that require magic, the MC just breaks the laws of physics (which contradicts the challenge the anime impossedon him, which is the whole point of the anime) and passes them anyway by brute force. In the topic of the MC it's really unbearable having one being so dumb, he doesn't even follow orders or rules, and gets off scott free thanks to Dumbledore being too nice. It fails as a shonen offering no challenge to the MC both when it comes to fighting or following the rules of the school/world, and it fails as a comedy by having the same ol' repetitive jokes on how the MC can punch through everything. It serves only as a parody not worth watching

Spoiler-free review So... Mashle isn't the worst comedy-focused shonen I've seen. That's the highest praise I can give it honestly. The anime is fine... the humor is OK for the most part (many jokes miss though). It's the same repetitive gag over and over and over though about how ridiculously strong he is and about how he shocks everyone constantly. Which makes the show kinda one-note in my opinion. Nothing is shocking or surprising or keeps me guessing, which is why this show felt kind of dull for me. The qualities that had the potential to save this show for me are the pacing (it's veryfast paced... thank god for that) and the memeability of the protagonist, Mash. He makes many faces that can be used as reaction images, and that's honestly the main draw for me. Which isn't great for a tv show, which has the goal of entertaining you and making you want to watch more. Okay, I've been beating around the bush. There's one major glaring issue with this show that I feel is not talked about nearly as much as it should, and that's the absolute flop that is every female character. This author either hates women, or does not know how to write them. There is one female character that is a part of the main group, and her whole purpose of being there is to have a crush on our beloved stale af MC. Yep. She is there to fangirl. That's it. As a female viewer, it's honestly insulting to see. I'm waiting for the day that female characters are written as people and their own unique individuals, that aren't tethered to the MC. Just... why??? It's very infuriating and actually made me want to drop the show (I probably should have, but alas, the sunk time fallacy strikes again). Another thing that's really unfunny and out of place is one of the side characters having an obsession with his little sister. It's really offputting and just... weird. I know this is a common gag in anime, but when can it end? It's not funny, it's not endearing, and the author basically just wrote this character into a gag that he's going to be repeating over and over indefinitely. I get that humor is subjective and someone may find this funny, but even if this is supposed to be funny, the sheer repetitiveness ruins any potential humor in it. The OP and ED are good, if you care about that (I do). The VAs are great. But these qualities aren't enough to save the show. This anime is meant to parody the generic-ness of the shonen genre, that's pretty clear by how in-your-face it is. But there's a point where it stops being a parody and actually becomes what it was trying to parody. That's what I think happened here. I watched the first two episodes of season 2 out of curiosity, and it hasn't gotten better. It's majorly disappointing. TLDR: Go in with low expectations if you want to watch it, but I don't recommend you watch it anyway. There's much better shonen you can watch. This anime treats female characters like props and the jokes flop a majority of the time.

I actually don't understand how this series became as popular as it is. Is it bad? NO. Is it Great? NO. It is barely above mediocre? The main protagonist doesn't really have any personality, his character traits are that he is strong and he likes cream puffs. The side characters are diverse in personality, but overall kind of generic. There are some giggle worthy moments between them, but nothing that had me dying of laughter or anything. The story is just so uninteresting, the main protagonist is just OP, and he needs to pass magic school as the Valedictorian to prove to the world he isOP. If you think well one punch man is op and does the same thing... this is not One Punch Man, in one punch man there are character moments that make you cry and feel like the fight between the sea king and mumen rider.There are never moment's of suspense when it comes to a fight. The villains just call him weak because he doesn't use magic or he doesn't have two magic lines and then they get punched in the face. He never has to train or anything to win a fight. There is absolutely no character development at all. The main character just kind of uses a "muscle magic" move and is able to win because plot armor. There was kind of some suspense and creativity in him trying to hide the fact he cant use magic like the broom flying episode, which I actually kind of liked. But, it doesn't last. Idk why I watched it all, because of its popularity I thought maybe it'd get better, but it is just the same jokes, the same villains, the same contrived plot. Boring 4/10

In this round of Spring, A-1 Pictures only has a single competitor against some of the hyped anime, fighting the likes of Oshi no Ko, Jigokuraku, Demon Slayer, and Production I.G's fantastic apocalyptic anime, Tengoku Daimakyou. So, when you hear that they're adapting a gag humor about a buff boi enrolling in a magic academy, your first thoughts are "This is just One Punch Man infused with Harry Potter lore." Welcome to Mashle, a magical action about a boy brute-forcing through every adversity being launched in the most absurd way possible. Enter Mash Burnedead, the main protagonist of this 'comedy' story, as he initially was forcedto enroll in an academy where he's always at risk of being exposed as a human without magic, he would later put himself on the line to fight back against the world's limitless bigotry and cruelty towards the lower-class and those of without talent. Watch him shed blood and tears to fool every single person in the magical universe they live in. When you look back, this is a good premise and can make for a thrilling story where he has to think hard on how to successfully blend into the world of magic, almost like an escapist trying to prevent the death sentence after running away from prison. Unfortunately, any kind of mental effort would be unexistent as it is replaced with years of physical training that made him so strong he is somehow not bald. Because all of his life before the magic academy arc is just physical exercise after another, he has made minimal effort for his academics and critical thinking; Otherwise, how could you explain this man being able to read, talk, or even comprehend simple words? Instead of jokes centering around Mash struggling to fool the world, it's more interested in the actions of Mash that just defy the logic of physics and reality. It's not that I don't hate the physical jokes, they can be pretty amusing to watch, but it's disappointing the fact this potential was not tapped and would have added more diversity to the jokes other than its gag humor. Let's talk about the other main characters. They have a Siscon, a loud simp, a female simp, and a certified nobody. These characters only play one trope and never expand beyond their initial stand. Their dialogues are so obnoxious, that even the voice actors can't save these pathetic one-note characters. There's nothing else to add other than what I have just described to you. Of course, we all know the saying 'Comedy is subjective.', but these characters are just painful to watch. Not only that, they also exist to purely explain what kind of bullshit Mash has managed to pull off at the challenge of being absurdly impossible. Should I also mention every other character also act this way? It's better to let them shut up and let their actions do the talking, which fortunately does happen in this anime. As a product of A-1 Pictures, the animation is solid and serviceable to a degree, especially when it's Mash's turn to take the spotlight. Some of the action scenes are good and satisfying, so rest assured. It's not as visually impressive as some of its other competitors, but it's consistent enough to draw your attention with the wacky bullcrap this anime subjects you to. The most stinky part of this anime is the villains in this anime, and almost every character initially starts on this route. In every second, you are subjected to an exposition of their thoughts about 'being stronger and throwing away the weak.', boast about their high prowess in said skill and comment unnecessarily about their powerful skills, only to get backfired at the end. If they reappear again, they usually end up being a pawn to the bigger plot this anime heavily implies. It's very predictable and the execution is very poor, so it makes for mostly bland battles with zero stakes, to pursue the absurdity in the action for the sake of comedy. In the end, you can watch this if you want: - Dumb fun. - Good animation. - A catchy ED. Avoid this if you: - Think this is a shameless rip-off. - Hate one-note characters. - Predictable plot. - The clichè shit you'll find in every episode of this nonsense.

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