Mashle: Magic and Muscles Season 2

Episode 23

Mash's quest to change the wizarding world he lives in has always hinged on some sort of "how?" Taking this exam on the way to becoming a Divine Visionary, thus becoming able to change the rules, was painted as the most direct option. But as we know, even in our more mundane reality, the gulf between something being a rule and the population respecting it can often be quite wide. The non-acceptance of the non-magical had seemed to be a baked-in societal norm for the world of Mashle. That's not something you can wave a (figurative) magic wand and change overnight.

It's a point wondered aloud by Innocent Zero as Mash and Wahlberg battle him. If an all-powerful hyper wizard, like this series' big bad, is questioning if the world can be changed on that level, then you know it's going to be an uphill battle. Of course, the irony comes later on when Innocent Zero himself is the one who creates the situation that allows Mash the opportunity to move the needle. Though it's also something only Mash would have, could have done, so maybe the muscly mushroom-head was always destined to make a difference regardless.

Either way, Innocent Zero siccing a giant zombie-monster on the kids in the coliseum ends up being, somewhat surprisingly, a saving grace at the end of this arc. Not to say everything in this episode's first half is bad, mind you, far from it. It's an intimidating brick-wall beatdown as the magical meanie manages to shrug off all of Mash's hard hits, which certainly sound satisfying with this anime's effects, even as they're not doing anything. Plus, the whole segment is comically complemented by the reiterated point that Mash can't use magic and thus can't actually fly the way the others are, and so has to be kicking his legs around in the air constantly to stay aloft like some physics-defying infinite-jump glitch. It's funny to me in the way it makes me consider how taken-for-granted flight in other high-level shonen battle series can be. Someone shouldn't be able to float in the air just because they're a super-strong fighter. But of course, Mash can.

This whole section working so well is the reason it's momentarily disappointing when Innocent Zero hits his deus ex machina power limit and has to peace out mid-fight. Like sure, I guess our heroes can't just beat the ostensible main villain already, but it still feels like something of an artificial cop-out. That's where Innocent Zero's parting shot comes in to save the stretch, and turns out to be an ideal way to cap off the climax of this story, beyond Mash just beating the bad guy. For one thing, it gives some of the supporting cast members stuff to do around Mash's part here. More importantly, the kids in the coliseum finally get unfrozen out of time, and that studio audience is the key difference-maker.

Visualizing the students in the school still rejecting Mash even after everything they've seen of him, even seeming to come around on his impressive feats earlier, is a trite narrative trick, sure. But Mashle has always been a series, especially in this second season, that found ways to thrive on its tropes. Having already had Innocent Zero directly articulate what an impossibility of changing the populace's minds might be, that turns this simple narrative device into an effective, brisk payoff. Similarly, the audience can tell whose job it's going to be to fight this thing as soon as it's mentioned that it has a barrier that specifically makes it immune to magic. This too speaks to the show's effective commitment to booking. Sometimes a story isn't good because it can especially surprise you with something, but because it can make even the most predictable payoff land satisfyingly.

Seeing Mash strain to save a coliseum full of kids who hated him just a couple hours ago, having them come around with some earnest cheers in his favor, and the spectacular finish that culminates in, that is Mashle finding a conceptually strong ending to this arc that's been so stringently fight-heavy. That sells the idea of the true value of Noblesse Oblige—in using one's power not just to defeat strong opponents, but using it in service of others. That Mash can do this not despite being non-magical, but explicitly because he is non-magical, makes the case to his peers and the audience. Mash wasn't able to defeat Innocent Zero, but he's made marked progress on eroding the world's perception of him. Given that's the conflict that started this whole story, that's perhaps the more impressive, important victory.

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Mashle: Magic and Muscles Season 2 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Chris is still the reviewer for Mashle, and wizards are still nerds. Get some reps in with him over on his Twitter, or peruse the magical back catalog of his blog.