Reviews for Mashle: Magic and Muscles

"One Punch Man meets Harry Potter". You've got an indifferent OP protagonist (similar to Saitama or Mob) and a premise like Black Clover where the protagonist has no magic at all, but trains hard and uses brute muscle strength to outdo powerful magic. It is obvious that the author takes a lot of inspiration from Harry Potter, but a lot of the art and humor seems heavily inspired by ONE, and just like One Punch Man, it blurs the lines of being a gag manga and being a serious fantasy shounen. If you're a big fan of OPM or Mob Psycho, I think you'll absolutely love Mashle.

Do not drop this manga after reading the first chapter~~!!! Don’t be like my past self!!! Concerns: -The art style of this manga isn’t top tier like some others. -The beginning of the manga is boring. -Why should I keep on reading? If you have those thoughts in mind, you are just like my past self. Answers: -Indeed, the art isn’t top tier; however, the art will be a lot cleaner. -Yes. Art is important. But… the strongest suit of this manga is its creativity in the STORYLINE. Even though it does contain a lot of elements from other stories/manga style, the plot of the manga is hella unique since the plotis unpredictable and original~

-You want to read this because this is a manga that sparks smiles, boiling blood from veins, and even a lil “warmth” inside your heart.

Story & Character: 10

Art: 7

Enjoyment: 10

Overall: 9

P.S. Just like someone else mentioned in the review, if you still dislike this manga after reading past chapter 3, then it is safe to say that this manga isn’t for you :) Happy reading!

At the moment of this review Mashle stands at 18 chapters, Mashle for me started out slow and seemingly like it would be axed but Mashle really picked up at Chapter 3 and has since been getting better and better with some of the best action and fights in recent Jump. The story follows Mash Vandead, a young teen with no magical powers of his own and is sent off to magic school to become a Divine Visionary. The series heavily mogs on Harry Potter which is personally really great for me as I'm not a fan of Potter at all. Mash himself is hilariousand such a great character to see in action. Characters like Lance and Duat are great and their reactions to Mash are hysterical. Artwise the series has heavily improved, objects of importance and spells have such cool and unique designs. The series is so funny and really knows how to build up hype during a battle and I'm hoping this series is here to stay.

The new hit anime starts up, and the manga ends. Worked for Demon Slayer, why not for Mashle? As everyone has noted, it's Harry Potter with One-Punch Man as the main character, but while Saitama in that is shaped primarily by boredom, Mash is driven by absolute simple-minded goofery. He's an absolute dumbass in a way you see from Goku or Luffy, but multiplied by 3. If you can get behind that, then you'll have a lot of fun with Mashle. The art starts off a little rough, but the action scenes shine throughout with beautiful spreads of the incredible feats of power as Mash fights overpoweredfoe after overpowered foe. The characters are all fairly flat, but there are enough of them to keep jokes circulating! You'll not find amazing character development here, but what little there is does feel nice. It's not a particularly deep series but it made me smile throughout, and has enough imagination to elevate it juuuuuuuuuust above a cheap parody of other, more developed franchises.

Definitely worth a read for a fan of action or comedy manga!

I really tried to give this a fair shot but it really falls flat. Mashle wants so hard to be One Punch Man but it doesn't have the creative character designs or the absurdity of One's writing. On a positive note, I did laugh at a lot of the jokes. Even as the joke got old, there was a giant grin on my face. The problem comes from its place as a parody of the guy outside of the world's power system. It's one joke of a really dense guy who punches his way through weak wizards while eating cream puffs does eventually run dry. Theart is okay and the character designs are awful with most characters just being a male with a line down their face. Every joke's punchline is a deadpan low detailed face.

This story really feels like someone who thought they could make an OPM version of Harry Potter to cash in to make some money. If you are looking for round 2 of OPM or the underdog story of something like Chivalry of a Failed Knight be ready for a letdown or look elsewhere.

As of writing this review, Mashle is still in it's very early infancy, so this is by no means a complete opinion, simply a work in progress. I think so far this is an enjoyable manga, it's funny in a very One type of way, the main character being clearly inspired by the likes of Saitama and Mob, however, the depth of Mash as well as the other characters in the story feel a little flat to me, and definitely lack the nuance it takes to completely pull off a One Punch Man type manga. Mashle wears its influences very clearly on its sleeve, from the aforementionedOne Punch Man/Mob-Psycho connection, to Harry Potter, to modern shonen like My Hero and Black Clover, which is not a bad thing, but it does seem hard to find an original idea among-st the influences, which detracts a little from the story.

It also lacks stakes so far, in stories like One Punch Man, it doesn't matter that no antagonist presents a threat to our heroes, because it's a seinen manga, the point of the story is to witness Saitama battle with his own mind, it's about mental growth as opposed to physical. On the other hand, Mash's goal is to get to the top in a physical sense, so the fact that up until now he has steamrolled through everyone that has stepped in his way, even after the manga tries to tell us that he's about to encounter a challenge only for him to one punch the supposed challenge, makes the consequences feel completely null. I hope a real challenge is introduced to him in the near future.

It's pretty much a by the numbers shonen with a One comedy style, it's enjoyable but didn't leave a mark on me.

Take the least interesting elements of OPM and plop them into a magical world (suspiciously like Harry Potter) and you get this. In all seriousness, I'm only about 17 chapters in and I'm still hoping there's some sort of interesting factor for me to look forward to. It tries to be tongue-in-cheek/satirical about the Harry Potter world but it's mostly surface level. The biggest problem I have is with the main protagonist, Mash. If you're gonna write a jokey character like him, why should I care when things get serious? At least with Saitama, we get a lot of his inner thoughts and feelings. His motivation isforce-fed to us in the early chapters and we never get anything deeper.

Otherwise, this doesn't capture the charm like OPM and just rehashes things that we've seen before.

If you want to read something that's funny and has substance, go read OPM or Mob Psycho. If you already have, just read them again, it's not like you can't have enough.

Throws out any speck of consistence in favour of a cheap laugh... It is basically the absurd humor, but with the author inserting 2D characters showing their amazed reactions which is a big bummer ,considering it is not too original. I mean if they didn't try to force the jokes on every scene it would be better, but they don't (all the chances of showing continuity and a slight development are ruined for an easy joke). Most of the jokes wouldn't even have sense if they just left the MC alone. And the "development" si just an excuse to create the next scene. It is justa better drawn version of reverse Mob Psycho 100 (with all the things that ruin manga mixed together). They completely ruin good fights with either, over-explanations of irrelevant and inconsistent powers or having the MC repeat the same jokes over and over.

At least it does give you some laughs and doesn't have echi...

This manga is the first manga I have read weekly from beginning to the end and although I enjoy it, it isn't that great. I love the main character mashle thoroughly but the side characters definitely leave a lot to be desired. While the main side characters are pretty cool and I do get hyped for them when they battle I don't really care as much as I would with other series. I wouldn't say the plot is bland but it definitely isn't all that great. The plot is pretty straight forward which I like but it doesn't give the chance to really explore theworld. I like that it didn't stretch that long and that it ended at a decent high note. In the end it is a good read but don't expect a revolutionary or insanely intricate story. Just a good read for a fun time.

Much like most comparisons, it's Mob Psycho 100/One Punch Man in a fantasy world, focused on mostly comedy and at times, becomes more serious. The problem is that when it does become serious, it becomes a generic and boring manga. Story: 4/10 The manga's story in itself isn't much of interest. It's the typical "defeat the big bad" kind of deal, and you'll see some parts that are intentionally and outright taken from popular media. Some are from pure laziness, while others are for comedic effect. Now, to the huge problems the manga faces, which only really happens later on. The story suddenly becomes more down-to-earth and serious,which would be fine, if it wasn't so incredibly boring. You can predict every single fight, every plot point, and every single twist. It's not because it's decently written, it's because of how generic the manga becomes.

The only thing that's keeping interest is the comedy aspect. Remove that, and it's a typical shounen you've read hundreds of times before, the same and frequent; "teamwork is important" (which, in this manga does SO FREQUENTLY!), "power/status isn't everything", and the obvious "oh, I'm losing? Here, a power-up." You'll never really feel like the 'important' characters would die, except for other obvious ones. Heck, most side characters won't die, even during serious moments. They'll get injured for sure, but what the hell's the point if you're bleeding like a fountain and wake up a few chapters after, completely fine?

While there are definitely highlights even during a few serious moments, it's outdone by most stories that can mix comedy and seriousness. What makes things interesting is our protagonist. The story fails when it does become serious because you have the protagonist poking fun at it, which is actually a good thing because the serious-toned story is incredibly boring. But even so, the protagonist is the highlight of the manga, and if you dislike him, you'll hate this manga. This comes to my next point.

Characters: 6.5/10

It starts off great, you're introduced to an overpowered character with zero "talent", forced upon a school full of them. What differentiates between OPM and Mob Psycho is, as you continue to read, the hilarity of how the protagonist uses his own power to pretty much cartoonishly make a mockery of everything other characters. It's not just "oh, overpower and win". They're not often badass fights with the protagonist, but the protagonist's fights are very creative and just downright hilarious. The way he treats the villains as well as degrading, poking fun (unintentionally) at the serious tone.

This brings me to the second point, the only reason it's a 6/10 is the protagonist holding the 5 points up. The other side characters and villains are incredibly tropey, along with their intentions. The reasons for the characters fighting are so incredibly overdone tropes, that it actually feels like you're reading stolen characters. Some are actually just straight rip-offs.

As an example, there is a character that is obsessed with their sister in a creepy way and uses magic. He's also incredibly selfish and mostly believes in himself, but at times acts to help others when the story demands it. Does it sound like anyone? Maybe from something in Black Clover?

Another character is an old headmaster of a school with a white beard and hat, considered to be one of the strongest mages before losing to the big bad villain. That's f***ing Dumbledore.

Probably intentional. It's a gag manga. But if you're going to use these tropes or steal characters outright, there needs to be something different. Unless the joke is "Oh, look at this character, now he's in our funny world!", these stolen characters do not add anything. There are definitely a few characters that aren't just taken from other manga and media, some that are actually decent. But even most of the original characters are uninteresting. Not just from how they write the characters, but how they develop and become so incredibly generic.

The only thing redeeming about the side characters is when they interact with our protagonist. I've never read a villain character that I care about in this manga, due to most of their plain and a few serious personalities. Most of them will probably read off the same as others. Everything is just bland in comparison to our great protagonist.

Art: 6.5/10

It's not bad, completely serviceable and the artstyle compliments the tone during comedic moments. The facial expressions especially are done well and help with the jokes a lot, even during serious ones, the artstyle adds more. They don't make it confusing with the paneling, albeit at times a bit uninteresting. The protagonist does keep it interesting, as his artstyle changes from a goofy, less serious one to a much more serious tone. It does happen to our other characters which is fun, but for our protagonist especially, is usually the highlight. All in all, the artstyle isn't grand or horrible, but it's not in the middle, either.

Overall: 6

The manga tries to shift it into a serious tone, but that I think is the downfall of this manga. What initially was a hilarious manga about an overpowered protagonist and his funny sidekicks just becomes a worse Black Clover, Fairy Tail, and Harry Potter of a story.

I recommend, if you do decide to read this, to only focus on the comedic parts. You can actually skip most of the dialogues when it becomes too serious, except the ones where our protagonist is involved.

While it does have a neat concept going for it, it has a lot of problems that hold it back pretty bad for me. The characters don't feel like they have much depth, feeling like they exist as a small handful of character traits and not much else. It's very reliant on tropes and running gags for its humor, so it doesn't really stand out there either. And the worldbuilding is a little bit interesting with the way the big bads are being slowly established. But the manga also seems to contradict its own worldbuilding with saying how rare 2 line magic users are despitethem being really common within the story.

It does have pretty nice art, especially on the backgrounds and during fight scenes, so it's got that going for it, but without a really good story and characters to back that up I can't really recommend this manga to anyone.

Mashle is a really fun series going on in shonen jump and it seems to be a jumble of fun different story elements. Think about if One Punch Man was mixed with the Harry Potter franchise and you have Mashle. Story: 7 The story is basic but works quite well. Mash Vandead is a non magic user in a world of magic and yet, he has to attend a school for magic users using his enormous strength to get by. While there is much more to the story but thats the basic synopsis. This story helps create a lot of comedy similar tothe way one punch man does with its overpowered protaganist.

Art: 8 I've heard a lot of people say the art in Mashle isn't as good as a lot of art in shonen jump I highly disagree. The art is unique and helps with comedic effect. A lot of physical comedy is present in the series and the art helps make it even. The art works well in action scenes and the character designs are very fun and unique.

Characters: 7 The characters in this series are pretty good. While characters on the atagonist side of the story aren't very interesting the main cast is fun and a joy to read. The main character, Mash isn't the smartest person out there but he uses his tremendous strength to overcome most obstacles he has even when they seem completely impossible. The rest of the cast is fun including Mash's energetic friend/rival Dot Barret and his timid but nice friend Finn.

Enjoyement: 8 This series is fun is you're just looking for some laughs. The fun characters and fun physical comedy help make the otherwise kind of generic story very fun to read and keep up with

Overall: If you feel like keeping up with a series similar to One Punch Man, Mashle is the series for you and I reccomend it.

Now that the manga is over, i gotta say that Mashle is almost an 8, the only reason i rated it as a 7 is because i never really got to get attached to many of the characters before the manga ended. The whole read was entirely too fast paced which was good at times but ended up biting it in the ass. If we got to explore deeper into characters like dot or lance (don't even mention the white bread that is Lemon) i really would've loved this manga but pretty much every chapter was a fight which was somewhat unique but as said beforeit ended up biting it in the ass in the end. Plus the ending is lacklustre but what do you really expect from a shonen

Currently not up to date with Mashle. Just my current opinions Story:5/10 Starts as a 9 but then just becomes a Harry Potter knockoff. Art:7/10 Compared to some Manhua and other manga it isn't the best but it certainly is quite good Characters:6/10 The characters are very weird. The characters basically all have just 1 or 2 traits.Overall:6/10

Decent but it's way too similar to Harry Potter and the characters aren't as interesting. If you want to read it, you can but it isn't the best manga nor the the worst. IF your on the fence just give it 10 ch or so. you may like it.

I will continue to update this review as the manga continues.

In todays modern mainstream and even "not so well known" mangas and anime at that, this series just feels like a breath of fresh air. It doesn't take itself too seriously and that's a lot of fun, because that's how you can see the creativity in the absurdity that mashle brings to the table. It doesn't try to be super long with complicated and oversaturated twists and turns, it takes you from point A to point B in a super fun way. Be it the character designs, be it the story arcs, be it the "out of nowhere" jokes, be it the power-system, be it the theniche aspects that it has sometimes.

I started first with watching the anime and just about when things take a turn, I switched to the manga because I simply could not have enough of the story and of mashle.

Don't go in to read this with a serious critic's mind, just let loose, lay back in your chair, and have fun while reading (or watching!)

Oh and of course I have to give a spotlight for the second op of the anime, fresh, interesting and in my opinion captures exactly the essence of the series, I think its the best op that they could given it!

This series has given me more enjoyment, more laughs, and more muscular development than any other series (it inspired me to lift weights instead of pursuing dark magic rituals with the guy that lives under my deck). Mashle is a gag manga that feels like the bastard, impossibly conceived child of harry potter and OPM; much like how the russians tried to combine apes with humans and failed, these two stories, on the surface, should never have combined. The idea, when you first consider it, seems like just a fleeting dream that you would have while hanging out with friends; "What if harry potter andone punch man got crossed into a new manga series" said your pal kevin, just before taking his fifth bong rip.

But (hold on to your butt), this series somehow works. I can't explain how humor works, and I can't explain why farts make me laugh, so it might be difficult to explain why this makes me laugh so much. Maybe it's the completely unsubtle digs at harry potter, with a headmaster reminiscent of dumbledore in every way instead of the name (and alleged closeted gayness), and scenes like wand picking ripped straight from the books (and movies, if you hate reading). The main character, who is powerful like Saitama in one piece, cannot use magic, so he works out harder than anyone else and simply punches through magic. The absurdness, and the authors devotion to it's absurdness, is why this series has so much potential, and why I love it (so far).

Pros:

Hilarious; the humor often times can make you laugh (or snort air out of your nose if you're a puritan) harder than most other series.

The art is also a pro; the author mixes shitty art for comedic effect, while blending high quality work into the story to demonstrate serious events. It feels as though ONE's one piece comic has mixed with Murata's well drawn version.

Cons:

This series, at times early on, has concerned me with it's ability to properly progress. While very funny at times, some of the chapter early on were less than stellar, and in my opinion, were carried by the very strong, top tier chapters that this manga has produced. In those bad chapters, the story became uninteresting when it tried to become serious, and because it was serious, there was no humor to redeem the chapter. So, the dilemma of this series will be the authors ability to write serious portions. Even though his attempts to make areas of the manga serious is a good thing for readers hoping for long term installments, failure to do so properly will ruin the series, and change this review from ranting praise, into a depressing memorial for what could of been.

A deceiving end to a promising series Mashle is a magic-action series that drives off its humor from impossible exaggerated situations and breaking the fourth wall and by trying to be funny (whether it is poorly executed or not), it can ruin good moments. So, unfortunately, the story can't, most of the time, compromise. It wants to be fast-paced, but in doing so, wastes a lot of character's arcs, even forgets characters or goes over a lot of the lore and worldbuilding. It has amazing artwork, but the writing does not do justice to that well-drawn panel. Going in more details, the first half of thestory is actually really good: the characters are enjoyable, the action is fun to watch and it's well-paced. But from around chapter 100, it goes at the speed of light to the end of the story while somehow streching out fights. Every character is protected by plot armor, so none of them die and Mash's interaction with God(?) and his final comeback is meant to be funny and playful, but actually ruins the final arc and highlights some of the series's aforementioned problems.

To give the story some credit, first off, Finn and Rayne's plotline and battle against Delisaster are two of the series's highlights. Secondly, Ryoh Grantz is a great character and one of the best in the story, his narcissitic and flamboyant attitude works well here. Lastly, chapter 147 is a 10/10 and shows that Orter's character arc is, in my opinion, the best in the manga.

Finally, while the series is not amazing, it's a good debut for Hajime Komoto and I hope they come back stronger than before.

Mashle is a bit of a weird one for two reasons - one being that, unlike most shonen manga, it basically only gets better as it goes on and figures out what it wants to be, and two, despite its popularity, barely anyone online seems to know anything about it. Everyone describes it as "Harry Potter but with Saitama from One Punch Man", but that description only really applies for the first 20 or so chapters. What starts out as an aggressively unfunny "comedy" manga about a "funny guy who always wins because haha wouldn't that be so funny" becomes a surprisingly solid (if abit typical) shonen series with a strong but very distinctly *not* unbeatable main character, a consistently engaging side cast, and a great power system that offers consistently interesting and unique abilities for its varied cast. It takes a while for the series to gain the confidence to fully take itself seriously, but once it does, it's a great time.

The brief online hype surrounding Mashle when the anime (and especially season 2) started is one of the most bizarre and disappointing things I've seen happen to a series like this in a while. If you picture it like one of those iceberg images, the very tip was just season 2's opening. Slightly below that, you had the braindead video essays praising it for "subverting shonen tropes and saying fuck you to the power system because it's funnier that way" from people who very clearly never got past the first 6 episodes. Then, just below the surface of the water, you had the actual show, which seemingly no one watched past season 1, and right down at the bottom you had the monumental task of... actually reading the manga. It's a shame, because what I believe to be Mashle's weakest aspects are the ones you always see emphasized and praised online, and its best arc, the Eclipse arc right at the end, is one that seemingly nobody has ever read.

TLDR, very good series, not amazing or anything but well worth a read if you like good shonen. Anyone who describes it as "One Punch Man but in Harry Potter" very blatantly has no idea what they're on about, don't listen to them.

This is a cheap parody of Harry Potter, which is already a controversial series because of what JK Rowling liked and said on social media. And Mashle made the story feel even more pointless since those are just full of gag comedy and no substance. Lemon is just a placeholder prop character that the author was forced to add because the editor said so, but the character doesn't change the story much. And it's dehumanizing to see that Lemon doesn't have much personality, goals, or whatever, and her weight was depicted as 3 strawberries. I don't think people who want a logical story would likethis. And people who are against Rowling would also dislike this series. If JK Rowling's speech already made Harry Potter controversial, it would subsequently make Mashle controversial. If a person uses a pre-existing story as a template to make another story, the person is therefore agreeing with the first author's words, no matter what they say. And that girl's name is literally Lemon! A food, a fruit. That's dehumanizing. And I think Harry Potter might be racist since they're against "black magic". It can be A) bad magic, B) black people using magic, C) a black person's magic is bad, or D) a black person using bad magic. By tethering itself to the Harry Potter template, Mashle inherits all of its predecessor's controversy without offering any unique substance to justify it. The 'Gag' logic is an excuse for lazy writing, specifically in the treatment of characters like Lemon, who are stripped of human mass and agency. It is a derivative system that offers nothing for the logical or socially conscious reader. If JK Rowling is against trans people (trans women included), Lemon is only 3 strawberries light and doesn't have a proper life in Mashle, that means the author of Mashle is saying the same things Rowling said. The art style is nice, though, but that doesn't mean anything important. A substance-less parody that relies on a controversial template. Characters like Lemon are reduced to prop status with 'strawberry-unit' biology, proving the author values cheap gags over human agency. If you value consistent world-building or logical power systems, skip this.

I mean it literally is One-Punch Man in harry potter. The only difference is that the one punch man (mash burnstead here) is a total goofball instead of depressed. There-in lies the strength of Mashle, its comedy and over-the-top-ness. GOOD BITS: It can be quite funny. You'll find out if the humour is for you in the first chapter, but I think for the most part it's quite funny. The other thing I previously mentioned is how over the top it is. Seemingly impossible situations are created yet are thwarted with incredible ease. Again, this might not be for everyone, but it works very well andis far more fitting in the comedy-action Mashle than the action-comedy One-Punch Man. (spoiler for opm but yes this is in reference to the lava squrit gun that replaced a great fight) Back to Mashle, the artwork really improves. At first it's very simplistic, often without backgrounds but as the story progresses the artwork improves greatly while still staying consistently simple and effective.

BAD BITS: The story isn't paced Well. It's quite often just a slew of fights without much room for the characters. If you're only reading for the fights (which are really stellar) this won't be a problem but otherwise it can be quite noticable. This is especially noticable in Lemon and Finn, who are vastly underutilised. The main trio get a lot of focus and the other characters do have some moments, but for the most part the characters are pretty black and white. The story and themes are quite simplistic. This isn't necesarilly bad but it is noticable how much the story is "fight him. Ok fight this guy who is the last guys boss now." This again isn't that bad if the fights and comedy are the main things you're after, but it's something to look out for.

OVERALL: Pretty good. Great fun. It's paced quite fast and doesnt leave enough room for the characters or story, but the fights and humour are exceptional. If you like One-Punch Man you will probably like this. If you dont like the first chapter, it probably won't be for you, but give it a shot anyway and find out.