'Mashle: Magic and Muscles' Season One Review: A comedic anime with Harry Potter influence

I think everyone managed to forget that One Punch Man exists with its second season coming almost a decade ago at this point. Its first season was something that managed to instantly make waves and catch people's attention with its unique look and intense fight scenes featuring a basic protagonist that appeared to be pretty much invincible. Season three of One Punch Man seems like it's stuck in limbo and things aren't looking all that great. Though, with the success of One Punch Man comes similar ideas as other creatives take inspiration from the brand and do their own thing with it. You might be curious as to why this post mentions something of another name, and I've started this review with a rambling on the failures of One Punch Man's anime releases. Well, that is due to the fact that Mashle: Magic and Muscles is in fact a similar idea. A protagonist that seemingly holds no true match. But this anime holds a more comedic twist to it that takes things to another level: it's heavily mocking the Harry Potter world. Our protagonist is a regular teenager that lives in the countryside with his grandfather in a magical world. But in this world those without magic are considered subhuman and must be removed from the gene pool as to avoid complications within the magic world. Mash is discovered, leading to a threat against his life, but he has to prove his worth by attending magic school and becoming one of the true elites having put up a fair fight.

The school Mash must attend is basically a version of Hogwarts. Magic students from around are educated on the world of magic in this location, and the school features a challenge in which students must prove their abilities in order to be considered of the more higher elite wizards and witches. Fantasy settings are nothing out of the ordinary these days within anime, but this one doesn't feel all that deep in its fantasy setting. Remember how I said this is basically a mockery of Harry Potter? It has students performing the same classes and struggles as the films, from making a plant stop screaming to even the sports side of things. All down to learning how to control a bloom for flight. Mash, being someone that has no magical abilities but must keep it hidden from the general public, manages to pull off these insane feats in which he manages to convince everyone that he does in fact have magical abilities, all while conducting these acts purely out of his incredibly fast thinking and supreme fitness. This is a show that takes the comedy to another level. Mash features pretty much superhuman abilities with his strength, to an insanely similar degree to which he's almost invincible. The comedy coming in from how Mash manages to get out of difficult situations. Take the broom flying lessons for example, or the sports that require flight: instead of actually being able to fly, Mash flaps his legs so fast that he manages to gain flight. Holding himself up in the air from the sheer speed of movement alone.

Taking heavy inspiration from the events of Harry Potter, Mash basically is the wizard that can do everything, but without being a wizard. Our characters are still similar to the story, but some have their own personalities and that's often where the anime manages to branch things off a bit more. But the show still manages to find its way to connect itself to the hit franchise: there's still your typical school headmaster like Dumbledore. There's a small redhead kid that's definitely a mockery of Ron. And there are little hints here and there that suggest other characters are certain teachers or villains. With the similarities and jokes pointed to Harry Potter, Mashle: Magic and Muscles distances itself by offering up more drama and a different story that has these characters engaged in various other manners; Mashle fights other students of other houses, but their designs and magical abilities are unique and made up. These are more unique abilities rather than specific ones that everyone else uses, and I quite liked that given it gave the fight scenes a bit more weight and variety to them, which is important given how many of them there are. Mash is always fighting someone in the episodes, to the point where it's really all that the show is about. That constant fight forward to earn his freedom with his grandfather.

Mash's character himself is fun. A character with little awareness of the world around him. All he did was workout and that's how he managed to obtain his intense strength. Though it becomes clear that he's part of a superior being that is something similar to the Voldermort and Harry situation. The whole Horcrux thing in some essence. Mash being a character of innocent and total idiocy adds to the comedy and personality. He isn't one to brag or seem all smug, but he's straight to the point with his hits and I really enjoyed that aspect of his character. Not one to just sit around talking, and that adds to the story with sudden moments in which Mash just resorts straight to throwing the hits instead of talking and endless exposition. So that is to say that you watch Mash for the action. For the comedic moments with a bit of a dim protagonist much like One Punch Man, and that's how I made that comparison much earlier in the review. I don't think it's all that similar though, it still manages to do its own thing despite also pulling influence from another major franchise elsewhere. But I don't think I've seen much else like this. It reminds me of the Gintama side of things, which itself is riddled with references and rarely is about a more serious set of narratives within its characters.

In terms of the animation within the anime, I think it's pretty good. It varies from exaggerated and cartoonish features which have always been a bit of a trend within the anime world, but still finds its moments to be more detailed and impressive. Mostly again in those fight scenes where Mash turns all muscular. In one scene his leg becomes absolutely huge as he's swinging in for a kick, only to land it and go back to little twig legs. It's moments like these that give the show its identity. Not being overly serious, not always being so comedic. But riddled with various stylistic choices. I really liked it for that. And it didn't take long for me to dive straight into the second season to watch more of it all. I'd say it's well worth the watch if you're looking for something with fast-paced action, good humour, and a fun story that pokes fun at things without taking itself too seriously. This is what One Punch Man could've been had it not suffered drastically in production Hell. And those action scenes will definitely have you looking to pause and take some epic screenshots.