Well, I'll be honest, I didn't have much expectations initially for a manga named Mashe which I came across randomly while browsing through Anilist. I was like "Mashle? Huh that's a weird name, oh well, I'm reading trashy manhuas without giving any concern for it's name or my mental health, why not try it out". Thus began my journey Mash Burndead and his legendary creampuffs (which is pretty delicious ngl, i had the one available in my country which isn't exactly the one he's having, but it's sweet and creamy so.. oh well)
When I first read the synopsis of Mashle, I was like hey, this is Saitama in Hogwarts, which it kinda is, but yeah rest assured there's a lot more than that. I'd say man, this was like one of the funniest shit I read in some time. 5 chapters into the manga and I'm like God, this is a good one. Speaking of Mash, he's your average shounen mc who seems dumb, wants to protect his friends, gains power ridiculously, yeah all that usual shounen bs. But still though, i find him more enjoyable and tolerable than someone like Deku or Tanjiro. Not like I hate whiny characters or don't wanna see a thousand flashbacks in single fight scene, i just never connected with them. It's not like I find Mash relatable, but i find him lovable, despite the dumb stuff he does, I'd say he got balls to try out the ridiculous and still be dumb enough to make the scenario a funny one.
Now on to the story, So Mash and his Pops are living alone in the forest in order to keep him away from toxic peeps who likes to walk over non magic people. He's told not to go out, he goes out and here's the grand entry of our creampuffs. Well he gets them, he eats them, wait that's not what I'm trying to say... So he's caught by a guy who likes to crack down on said non magic users, he follows mash back, mash fights him back and makes an arrangement to let them live in peace as long as he becomes the Hogwarts Divine Visionary, which is quite an impossible task cuz u know, he can't use magic. Oh well
That's Mashs goal. Kinda fair, nothing lofty (lel). Following his adventures he meets lemon, his fiance on his entrance exams, Finn Ames the timid guy who just wants to get by, Lance Crown, a highly devoted brother to a sister and totally not a siscon and then we have a Natsu hybrid but has a huge thing for girls, Dot Barettt. This pretty much makes up Mashs gang. They're on their quest to get 5 or more Gold coins.
The Divine Visionary exam arc really had me going ngl.
The settings of the exams, the matchups were interesting to see. And the fight with Macaron or the sound guy, man that was one hell of a fight. Macaron was great character to have a around, his power was pretty good. I was really happy to see him again in the final arc, was kinda sad till then that they didn't make use of him. Then there was the Final exam arc with multiple schools. It really reminded me of Goblet of fire xD. We were introduced to Domina in this one iirc. He was pretty pog itself. Also i liked how Mash stumped each and every one of his opponents with the kind of absurd logic. I really felt that it was one of charming points of this whole series. Next is the final arc i believe? I also remember the scenes where Innocent Zero and his sons were introduced, pretty menacing ngl. Not to mention the fight of Wahlberg vs Innocent Zero, that was pretty interesting too. I really wanted to see more of them and Adam Jobs. I hope we get a spinoff someday.
Next thing i should mention is the Divine Visionaries ig. I'll say this, right from his first appearance to his best and only fight, Ryoh Grantz... Man this guy was frickin amazing. I get that it's the troupe that's set that way, but boy he sure got some level of charisma. I really liked his powers and i think he's one of my favourite characters in this entire manga. I definitely like to see more of his fights. Sadly we only got the one in the final arc. Again hoping for something from Komoto Sensei :).
Last but not least... The Art, man then characters do have skinny legs but boy is the panels so fucking good. Like all the spells scenes, the Seconds, Thirds and most of the rage scenes were really spectacular. The Ryoh Grantz, Rayne Ames, Macaron, the Doom fight and of course the final fight.. there actually a lot more but from the top of my head, all this had really great visuals.
To sum it up, this is a good fuckin shounen manga, definitely worth the try, and i definitely didn't mess up my review trying to convey what I wanted to say. But oh well
Do give it a try peeps. I did watch the anime, and I liked it alright but still i think I'd prefer the manga over the anime. Sadly I felt this got overshadowed by the other mainstream series that were released last season.
32 out of 38 users liked this review