©甲本一/集英社・マッシュル製作委員会
About 50% of tournament stories in shounen anime have it, Mashle’s story was forced into an open battle against a terrorist attack. As far as disruption goes, this is good. The lead and execution of Mash’s war against Macaron is based entirely on hype, and our main mushroom head even seems to be getting the majority of the student body to accept the non-magical muscle-based medium his. So the move to another plot point is well-timed here and, perhaps more importantly, gives the remaining cast more action to engage in after being sidelined in many ways. differently in the last few episodes.
The anime plays with positioning its main plot at the forefront in this episode. It is not entirely clear how literal Innocent Zero is in considering Mash as his son—if he is his biological child or some other creation or component that he needs to complete his existence. at his own. I will say that the idea of Mash’s lack of magic (and his general training-based overpowering abilities) being part of some master plan doesn’t bother me in the right way. . I like Mash’s whole thing best when it’s an irreverent commentary on the existence of magic in storytelling and a vehicle for blunt, humorous antagonism. It would be funnier if he could take on powerful magic users purely through the power of doing a series of sit-ups. Trying to be too clever with its complications and intrigue risks turning Mashle entirely into the kind of period story it’s always been about.
However, that’s a concern for future episodes, as well as right now. It’s all just speculation based on the innuendos of Innocent Zero and Principal Marky Mark. It’s there to give a sense of the stakes before Wahlberg stops the Funky Bunch just in time and allows everyone to line up in their assigned corners during the fight scene. His battle with Innocent Zero is the crux of all of this, setting off a climactic conflict, plus perhaps some impending status quo upheaval. Much like the nature of Mash and his relationship with Innocent Zero, that actual fight is still in the teasing stage.
Luckily, despite just coming off a top-notch tournament match, Mashle shows no signs of slowing down in the fighting department. After the decisive live action of Mash vs Macaron, things go back to the show’s more goofy sensibilities with all this fighting, and I’m certainly not complaining. Mash’s rematch with Cell War, of course, represents the purest elements of this. Just seeing Mash kick and punch the rows of towers down until Cell War was level with him was enough to make me say”I love this show”. The film then received harsh comments about the dangers of the cast of the Shonen airship series when Mash pointed out who this guy was. I had to look up his name to remember so no shame in that, Mash. They then also brought up the point that Cell War was so last season that Mash got bored of having to fight his tricks a second time. Perhaps this is why I trust Mashle not to cut corners on its more sensitive storytelling with any plot twists surrounding Mash—it clearly still understands its fun factor.
That’s evident in the pacing of the other battles in this episode. In last year’s less intelligently structured anime adaptation, I could see Dot and Lance’s fight against the silly Sitter Baby being painfully stretched out into a separate episode. Here, this is just a short paragraph that even takes most of the “child talk translation” jokes to the point of stupidity. Sitter Baby, in her brief screen time, seems to embody the same bullying attitude as many of Mashle’s most basic villains. In this case, it’s mostly a reminder of the overall system vibes that Mash and friends are up against and makes it satisfying that even as a kid, Lance could overcome get past him. Also, it’s nice to see Macaron finish their shift after completing the tournament battle, returning to work immediately after losing the one-on-one match.
With so much happening at the story’s isolated transition point, this Mashle episode doesn’t look as good as previous episodes. But it’s still active and preparing for another spectacle, plus the music continues to deliver it impressively. This may not be an official match from the previous tournament, but you can still officially mark this as another match in the win column for Mash.
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Mashle: Magic and Muscles Season 2 is now streaming on Crunchyroll.
Chris is still the reviewer for Mashle, and the wizards are still nerds. Please contact him on Twitter his or check out the blog’s magical back catalog.