Mashle: Magic and Muscles

Episode 9

I appreciate that I can count on Mashle to continue to pursue the concepts in its writing, even as it lands in an obligatory Big Fight Episode like this week. We are here to watch Lance and Mash take on the opponents currently standing in their way, sure. But across both of those battles, they and their enemies espouse and debate the philosophies that govern this world and how those led them to the places in status and power they currently occupy. Separated even as they are, both battles revolve around exploring iterations of the same core concept: The effect of one's environment on how their abilities and personality turn out.

Lance's side details his fight with Wirth, aptly named as he's fixated on a person's worth. Mashle's satirical aspirations continue to serve it well even as it's out of full-on parody mode, as Wirth's espousals of his attitude make continuously clear that the Lang House really are just straight-up Slytherins if the person writing them was willing to admit that the philosophy of Slytherins made them unilateral fascists. Thriving on the values of this world's corrupt magical meritocracy, we hear how Lang is afforded all the best resources to allow its already privileged members to thrive further, propping up their elitist status. To Wirth, this is a justification for why his success, both in this battle and life overall, is a foregone conclusion.

Seeing how this runs headlong into what we already know about Lance and his own philosophy is what makes the battle interesting for us. Self-obsessed status and strength is the name of everyone's game in Mashle, as I've noted before, but Lance always very specifically credited his own efforts and abilities for how he reached his heights (even as aligning with Mash and the others has afforded his elitism to mellow out a bit). From that viewpoint, Lance can point out how Wirth's reliance on the resources afforded to a privileged "in" group marks him as the one who's actually second-rate.

It's a biting take-down of the idea of supremacist groups, both in and out of fiction. Wirth is afforded a requisite sympathetic backstory after Lance takes him down, but he's still overall rooted in his own lacking self-worth and inability to build it up and actualize under his own power. He thus has to throw in with a congregation of supposedly meritocratic fascists to leech off their advantages and enjoy their grouped successes as his own. When you don't have any accomplishments for yourself, being considered part of a group that claims they're on top of everything is the best you can do. Comparatively, Lance may be a recovering elitist, but at least he can back that up with something other than mere association.

On the other end of the societal spectrum, you have Mash facing down with Abyss Razer. Turns out I jumped the gun on presuming Razer's deal after he only alluded to it: It's not that he's magically unpowered like Mash, but rather he is afflicted with an evil eye that nullifies the magic of others. This makes for some inherent fun in the setup in Mashle's usual irreverent way, as Mash notes that he's the one guy who Razer can't show off his cool, signature power in a fight against. But it also rounds over to the opposite of what Wirth's story dealt in, and how society treats those it deems less than worthy.

Razer's magic-canceling eye directly refutes the sole assigner of personal value in this world, so he's positioned as a pariah to such a degree that even his own parents imprisoned and attempted to murder him. This need not be a unilateral response, since it's noted that Mash growing up in a much more supportive environment with his grandfather is what saved him from turning out as twisted as Razer. These elements all work to espouse the actual value of the environments people are brought up in, apart from the mere resources the likes of Wirth use them for. Mash acknowledges the advantageous life he essentially lucked into, but as has been seen with Lance, virtually anybody can turn things around given the right outreach later. It makes it that much more satisfying when Razer actually rewards his compassion with some advice about Mash's next upcoming battle.

I'm glad that Mashle can remain so committed and effective at outlining these ideas in the middle of what's otherwise a fight-focused episode, since the latter element I'm decidedly neutral on. The played-straight magic throwdowns have already become indistinguishable from the power-driven clashes of series like Bleach, down to this episode's reveal of sorts of magic Bankai abilities called "Secondth". There is a decent amount of sauce on the presentation of these battles, with Razer's arrow-based speed magic deployment being a clear highlight. As well, Mash's all-physical counter-attack he throws at Razer is a satisfying beatdown for the climax of this one, and I remain amused by Mash calling out his particular muscles like they're magic spells. He really does just want to fit in with what everyone else is doing. But that's all just fine-enough fighting content for those that might be here for it, otherwise carried, in my opinion, by continuing the more compelling conceptual content.

Rating:

Mashle: Magic and Muscles is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Chris is keeping busy keeping up with the new anime season and is excited to have you along. You can also find him writing about other stuff over on his blog, as well as spamming fanart retweets on his Twitter, for however much longer that lasts.