#first mashle: magic and muscles post!

[seungsuki]

propose - rayne finally ties the knot (gn!reader)

warning: none

note: kinda nervous cause i never wrote for other fandoms before

a gentle breeze lightened the warm afternoon, making it the perfect weather for a little picnic near the forest. the sweet smell of flowers plus the small birds chirping made the day relaxing for the two divine visionaries. it was a rare day off, clocking in earlier and receiving scolding's for that, rayne ames and [name][last name] wanted to spend time with each other. [name] was the one who suggested the picnic and planned a simple lunch to which rayne agreed. 

you spread out the chequered blanket under the oak tree that carried memories to talk about. rayne set the basket filled with sandwiches, fruits and juice boxes down and waited for you to sit down. the spot chosen wasn’t too far away from the school which is why the duo didn’t bother changing uniforms. 

rayne checked his pockets to see if he had everything he needed including a particular box tucked away from your eyes. the double liner watched you admire the oak tree protecting you from the dim sunlight, reminiscing the silly memories from small kisses to flower crowns. the oak tree had seen it all. 

“i’ve been looking forward to this all day”, you cheered finally sitting down with one of rayne’s bunnies on your lap 

“same here”, rayne sighed letting his other bunny chew on his uniform robe 

“it feels good to relax with you”, rayne continued handing you a sandwich and purposely brushing his fingers against yours 

“me too! we both needed a break! the juniors may be sweet but they can drive you crazy”, you shuddered remembering the chanting of your name during exam seasons 

“it’s tough but knowing your here keeps me going”, rayne said chewing his sandwich 

“i’m happy being a sort of motivation! you’re my motivation too”, you said smiling 

“you’re not just my motivation”, rayne stopped eating 

he placed his sandwich on his plate before locking eyes with you. you tried to read his emotions knowing how rayne isn’t that good at expressing himself but it was difficult. was it nervousness? what would he even be so nervous about? 

“is everything alright?”, you asked with concern 

oh how that melted the poor man’s heart. it’s the simple things that make rayne content. the way how your eyes search for any possible discomfort he felt or the way how you always put him before yourself, rayne couldn’t find the words to describe this feeling- no he concluded that no amount of words would be able to describe his burning heart 

“remember how you asked me what i wanted to do with my life?”, rayne asked 

“of course i do. you said you didn’t care”, you recalled 

“i change my mind [name]”, rayne said and took a deep breath 

“i have been thinking about this moment for a long time but i can't wait anymore. i have never been certain my whole life until i met you. you’re the opposite of me and that made me even more curious about you. i love to learn more about you [name] and i want to continue to learn more about you”, rayne said and pulled out a velvet box 

“i want to be the perfect man for you. i want to be that shield to protect your smile and laugh. i want to listen to your silly theories and complaints. our souls connected by pure chance for a reason and i think i finally found that reason. there is no doubt”, rayne gently picked up the box and opened it 

“[name][last name], will you marry me? i rayne ames, promise to keep you happy for the rest of your life and vow to never leave your side until my last breath”, rayne proposed 

you’ve never seen rayne with such emotions before. sure you have seen him talk about a future together at your late night talks but you’d never imagine the day he’d propose to you. rayne ames, the world’s youngest divine visionary, was asking for your hand in marriage. tears pooled your eyes as your smile grew even bigger 

“yes! yes a million times rayne! i would be honoured to marry you!”

your pooled tears were freely running down your cheeks. rayne slowly pulls the ring out of its velvet box and gently brings your left hand closer to him. treating your hand like glass, rayne carefully slips the ring into your finger. he kissed your hand and the rest became history 

packing everything, rayne picked up the picnic basket before the both of you walked back into the school. both of you were walking back to your dorms hand in hand. it was so obvious from your gleaming behaviour that today was the best day in your life 

“woah careful-” 

you accidentally bumped into dot to which you quickly apologised. feeling your right hand being tugged, you looked over to see rayne signalling to continue walking with him. waving dot and the gang behind him, you left the scene with your boyf- fiance 

“wait a damn minute! did you guys see that ring on [name]’s finger?”, dot question in shock 

“r-really? i didn’t notice”, finn said awkwardly hiding behind lance 

“no way!! [name] is engaged? oh i hope that happens to me too! right mash?”, lemon cheerfully asked the boy who looked blank 

“finn, why are you so quiet huh? what do you know?”, dot pressed 

that made finn spill everything. rayne had informed finn beforehand about the entire proposal plan. in fact, he even practised and helped rayne prepare a proper speech and encouraged his brother to speak from his heart. the whole gang froze for a minute before lemon began squealing and blushing about marriage 

“so we gotta call [name] with rayne’s surname?”, dot asked 

“[name] ames.. sounds nice”, lance repeated the name to confirm 

“i’m so happy for them! i can already imagine mine! lemon burnedead- ah” 

like that, lemon fell on the floor with a red face. finn panicked and rushed to the girl, fanning her and asking about her condition. all the while , mash wondered if [name] and rayne's wedding would have any cream puffs.

© seungsuki 2024-25 -- do not repost, translate, alter, etc on any platform without permission. Any characters used in my work do not belong to me, they are created by their original creator

[golden-eye-ramblings]

Agito Tyrone Headcanon Dump Part 1

This was mostly spurred from how little content and context there is of this guy so I’m sharing these as a way to ignite the signal flare, enjoy y’all. Gif credit to @fallinblossoms

————

Agito Tyrone

Height: 6’2/188cm

Age: 22

Birthdate: February 21st

Sign: Pisces

Gender: AMAB

Pronouns: He/It

Sexuality: It’s Complicated

• Chosen by Artemis. Goddess of the wild, the hunt, vegetation and of chastity. Although he rarely calls upon her or uses his thirds due to how unstable she is.

• Vegetarian. Fish and eggs are fine but he detests eating any regular meat or meat product. Save for when he’s getting groceries to feed his pets.

• Aside from Hippo-tan, he also owns a domesticated dodo he rescued from an illegal dodo trade. Dodos have no natural predators so they become too accustomed to the presence of humans to be released into the general wild, so he adopted one and has plans on relocating the rest to a proper environment.

• Lives in a relatively cozy house(read incredibly lonely feel, I’m talking single chair for one person at the dinner table, couch and minimal decorations save for pet items he bought for Hippo-tan and the dodo. His bedroom has a similar lonely feel although he has a dresser and closet with all his favorite torture instruments on display).

• Contrary to popular belief, Hippo-tan is not just a pet dragon. I like to believe he’s actually a special kind of service animal used to regulate Agito’s magic. Similar(ish) to Tsurara, Agito’s magic is rather unstable. So Hippo-tan acts as a familiar in order to balance and control the output(hence how he’s able to seemingly transform and control his size and attacks at will, also free emotional support dragon).

• Early bird. Regardless of how late he stays up he will get up at 6am on the dot.

• Frequent church goer. Occasionally stays after sermons to help out and do charity work. Although were it not for his status as a Divine Visionary, his presence usually isn’t welcomed.

• During his time in the Bureau of Magic he helped set up a menagerie/zoo of exotic and endangered magical creatures. And yes he does volunteer when he can, it’s always a surreal surprise for the other staff when they see him.

• Despite his rather quiet demeanor and the rumors surrounding him(and his unique proclivities), he’s actually quite nice. Although most of his kind acts around the bureau go unnoticed, he’s ok with that.

• In terms of closeness to the other Divine Visionaries, he is closest with Renatus and most friendly towards Tsurara. He’s on amicable terms with Sophina, neutral with Kaldo and Orter, and negative terms with Ryoh. He’s yet to properly approach Rayne, but it seems the two are content with keeping their distance from each other(although he is curious about the rabbit rumors…).

• His mother and father are both alive and well, though it seems he’s not on good terms with them…

• Aside from regular tomatoes, his favorite dish is bouillabaisse.

• Favorite drink is water. Yes, just water. If he has to attend the Bureau of Magic drinking parties he’ll settle for a cheap ale or wine as to not get egged on by his coworkers. He’s not a very exuberant person.

[mysticalallblue]

wheres all the mashle agere??? oh lord dont tell me im thinkin about a fandom with like. no fan content

[books-are-my-life-stuff]

The second episode of Mashle Picture Drama has been released today! Just like before, I asked my friend to translate it under read more, enjoy!

Warning: Lance's siscon tendency ahead.

Mash Burnedead, His Friends, and Their School Life

Episode 2: The Correct Spell

[00:04]

Finn: (sighs) Another failure…

Lance: What are you doing?

Finn: Hm? Oh, Lance-kun! It's almost time for our transfiguration exam so I've been practising but it's not going too well…

Lance: Is that so? Try doing it again.

Finn: Eh?! Y-you don't have to go that far! Besides being watched makes me nervous, I might fail again.

Lance: You'll be in the same situation for the real deal. Save the excuses and just focus on turning this pebble into a crystal ball.

Finn: Okay…

Finn: Morphius Figura!

[00:41]

Finn: Ah… It's still a pebble…

Lance: You've got the spell wrong.

Finn: Eh? Isn't the spell to change an object's shape Morphius…

Lance: It's not. The correct spell is "Morphirus Figura". Maw-feer-uhs.

Finn: H-huh… Really?

Lance: When you use the correct spell… Morphirus Figura!

Finn: Whoa! It really turned into a crystal ball! Nothing less from Lance-kun!

Lance: You should look at what's inside.

Finn: Inside the crystal ball? Well then…

Finn: Huh? There's someone reflected inside? 

Lance: It's my sister.

Finn: WHY??

Lance: A crystal ball to admire Anna's smile anytime, anywhere. I shall especially bestow it upon you. Be grateful.

[01:27]

Finn: Uhh… Thanks… (small voice) What am I supposed to do with this?

Finn: For now I'll just take another look—

Lance: HOLD IT.

Finn: Wh-what's wrong??

Lance: Did you say you're going to take a "peep"? On my precious little sister? No, you definitely tried to peep on her!

Finn: The heck?! Dude, you're creeping me out! 

Finn: Th-then I'll turn the crystal back into a pebble. You're okay with that, right?! Uhm, Morphi一

Lance: KHH!! You… are you trying to turn Anna into a pebble?!

Finn: WHAT KIND OF LOGIC IS THIS?! Y-you probably should keep this crystal ball for yourself, Lance-kun! I think I'm getting the hang of this, I'll be fine!

Lance: Is that so? Then I'm going back to my room. (walks away)

Finn: (sighs) I'm thankful for his help but… he's finally off my case…

Finn: Let's tackle this once more. Uhm… Morphing一 Uhh, Morphisu一 Huh…? What's the correct spell again? Ah, wait! HELP ME, LANCE-KUN!!

[livefinn]

the manga isn't giving me any new panels so i've defected to the anime to find the old ones

[mashleverse]

Mashle: Magic and Muscles Seiyuu Event "After Party!" Live Broadcast

The archive of the seiyuu talk is now available to watch! Enjoy the shenanigans of the Japanese voice actors looking back at the series' two seasons, answering viewers' questions, and recapping the information about the upcoming seiyuu event next month! Including surprise (voice-only) appearance of Ueda Reina, Japanese voice actress of Lemon!

The post-event picture from official twitter:

Referencing this scene from the first season:

[ukranianacearo]

Mashle: Magic and Muscles

{ Innocent zero: "Mother", a strong word part 1

Innocent zero: "Mother", a strong word part 2

Innocent zero: "Mother", a strong word part 3 }

{ Doom: Death won't do us apart

Doom: Devil's quintuplets - Playing "Uno"

Doom: Doom x Mitsuri!Fem!Reader

Doom: Doom x Arlechino!Reader

Doom: Surviving the horrors, or better yet, the horrors surviving me }

{ Famine: Devil's quintuplets - Playing "Uno" }

{ Epidem: Devil's quintuplets - Playing "Uno" }

{ Delisaster: Devil's quintuplets - Playing "Uno" }

{ Domina Blowelive: Devil's quintuplets - Playing "Uno" }

{ Mash Burnedead: A "Mage" and a "Not a witch" [Not posted yet] }

{ Carpaccio Luo Yang: The trust we build

Carpaccio Luo Yang: Don't forget about me }

{ Rayne Ames: Tropes!

Rayne Ames: New and different! }

~ ♪ ~

Genshin impact

{ Albedo: yandere x robot/ai!reader }

~ ♪ ~

Lord Of The Rings/The Hobit

{ Legolas: his love remains unanswered, at least for this lifetime }

{ Thranduil: Yandere!Thranduil x First Wife!Reader (idea) }

~ ♪ ~

Tokyo Revengers

{ Mitsuya Takashi: Everybody's falling in love, while I'm falling behind }

~ ♪ ~

Soul Eater

{ Lord Death: Incorrect Quotes }

{ Death, the kid: Incorrect Quotes

Death, the kid: The two of us could reach the stars

Death the kid: Similar minds }

{ Liz/Elizabeth Thompson: Incorrect Quotes }

{ Patty/Patricia Thompson: Incorrect Quotes }

~ ♪ ~

Haikyuu

{ Hinata Shoyo: Haikyuu coded }

{ Natsu Shoyo: Haikyuu coded }

~ ♪ ~

[otomiyaa]

Random update

Some things from the past 2 weeks while I was gone.

I have no tickle fics in progress at this very moment, but I'm considering a multi-chapter Sousou no Frieren fic, and a fluffy Suzume no Tojimari fic, both are not very popular fandoms in the community so I'd probably please no one but myself with it.

The guy next to me on the plane was watching anime so I couldn't help but side eye all the time and I thought it looked fun but I didn't know which it was. So when I got home I googled the keywords: anime, grandpa, guy black hair, magic - based on the things I saw on his phone lol, and google didn't disappoint: the anime is called Mashle: Magic and Muscles and I will add it to my list to watch.

Luigi is adorable, that's a thought Ive been having multiple times. He makes a cute lee too. I didn't write enough fics with him....

My boyfriend tickled me a lot, yay.

I rewatched the movie Sing 1 on the plane (a bit reluctantly since I really was in the mood for Sing 2 but they didn't have it), and I would like to announce that Johnny is a cutie, and a lee and I just LOVE his performance scene so muuuch:

Thanks to motivation by @lovelynim I finally started catching up with Honkai Star Rail story (will take a while), but I'll say the thirst for gallagher is real and I didn't even meet him in the story yet.

Still addicted to Fortnite, it was the first thing I did when I had time to myself at home again.

Haven't touched Genshin in a long time but download the monster update yesterday. Sure took a while.

I bought a new Chikorita plush. Very soft, very cute.

Today I worked over 10 hours at the office, only downside about vacations is the pre-vacation and post-vacation stress at work lmao.

I still have a couple of asks left in my inbox and will answer them soon, but I really wanted to post this first, and play more Fortnite now.

[fruitanddarkness]

✒️

Send ✒️ and I’ll tell you a muse I’ve thought about writing, but never did

OOc;; Ok long-ish post.

AAAA ok this was back when I was first getting back into tumblr after a several year hiatus. I had this version of Gerudo Link I really wanted to write; this was when BOTW was fresh on the market and muses from the game were spreading across the RP-space like butter on hot toast. I made a whole blog and everything, I even think back to it now and I still get some old feelings of 'OH YEAH BRUH THAT WOULD BE SICK' because I really like the idea of what if he was raised within the gerudo village as a woman but still ended up becoming the chosen hero like we see in the game. It makes me sad I was never able to fully explore that, but that doesn't mean I can't now? I still have yet to play TOTK because I still technically haven't beaten the first game and my neurosis is being neurotic.

Other muses that are more recent are Muichiro, Beelzebub from the Hellava Boss series, and Mash from Mashle: Of Magic & Muscles. Mash is honestly my most recent comfort character and I relate to him on so many levels. I also think it would be funny as fuck to throw him at other muses just to see what happens because his whole premise is this: "Autistic gym rat gets into wizard school because his strength basically allows him to do magic. Local ballistics and wizards are bamboozled by his rizz."

Muichiro.. I'm hesitant because he started as a HC/AU version of him and I truly don't know if I could do a 'standard' of him justice. I will admit however, I do have strong hesitancy about writing HH/HB Beelzebub just because of the inherent drama that exists in the fandom even if you simply mention the name. And after some discord convo's with a friend, I'm honestly chomping at the bit to write Bee. Thing is, I am a humble creature who lives under a rock and exists only when summoned. I usually don't interact with fandoms and just try to vibe with my friends/mutuals when I do have the energy to write. The last thing I want to do is make people uncomfortable, but this is the internet, I cannot win every battle.

Lastly, I've been wanting to get into writing my OC's more. Ones that yall don't know about. My friends have been telling me they deserve more love and should be revamped bc they are very much overdue considering the last art I did of most of them them was 6 years ago.

[p-receh]

Thanks @sunlightfeeling. It's might be a good time to do tag game since I'm in a mood. ((:]

Last Song:

I have no idea what's this anime about (MASHLE: Magic and Muscles), but aside from how hella catchy this rap song is, all I think about is the first verse sounded a lot like this guy :

(pls don't blame me, I too have no idea why :/)

Favorite color: ❤️💛💚💙 but mainly 💗 forever!! :33

Last TV/movie show: Boboiboy Galaxy series!

For compiling gifs of course! XD

Sweet/Spicy/Savory: Is there an option for "Sour"? I have a high tolerance for sour. I could drink one lime straight without any processed products since kid.

Relationship Status: Single.

Current Obsession: I don't need to tell you more If you follow my recent posts I guess ^^)'.

Last Book: Lelaki Harimau (International title: Man Tiger) by Eka Kurniawan.

A very intense psychological thriller book about a young man accused of being possessed by an evil spirit to haunt locals in his village like some kind of wild animal hence the title itself. Look it up on Google and Goodreads. Very recommended for adrenaline thriller junkie.

For the record, I am not a horror, thriller, or gore geek(I'm such a scaredy cat person in fact). But I am somehow fond of reading that kind of genre in literary media, if done right. One of my original stories is also full of gore(still a bit shy to upload it since It's a hobby and I'm not that good at writing.)

Looking Forward To: Working in another tv production again! uaaa~ I have no idea when it starts but I still counting dates since they tell me either January or February will begin. I'm so nervous yet excited! (><)

I have no one else to tag but you guys could also join this fun tag game!

[reveristmikoto]

i used too many films...but it is worthwhile.

[large text: i used too many films...but it is worthwhile.

hi there. my name is mikoto! (you can also call me zizi) nice to meet you.

about me

[large text: about me]

im a writer as well as an artist--i am always energetic to write but at the same time my mind can't shut up so i often struggle to focus. a project that i've been working on since elementary is decaying rose petals. shameless self-promotion but you can check it out on @decaying-rose-petals

i play games too. my favorites are wuthering waves (although i don't play it much i still like some characters), call of duty, and reverse 1999.

i watch anime too! i'm currently focused on dungeon meshi / delicious in dungeon (i finished all of the first season and i'm patiently waiting for the second one), but i am in desperate need of fantasy anime that have more psychological elements to it.

i have the tism + adhd (mayhaps)

i am a minor!! so don't do weird stuff with me

im super into fantasy, thriller (but i'm VERY selective on those kind of stuff), and psychological fiction

i use he/him and she/her interchangeably, but any other pronouns are ok

my tags

[large text: my tags]

#mikotalks🌌 - for text posts

#artworkoto🖌️ - for art

#oyasumi gamer🎮 - for games

#mikoto of words📓 - for writing stuff such as poetry, book snippets, etc

#horrible jokes💀 - for memes

fandoms

[large text: fandoms]

[key: bold italics = current obsession, bold = special interest, italics = major interest, no format = minor interest]

call of duty

block tales

pressure

tf2 (+ lil’ pootis)

dungeon meshi

honkai star rail

milgram

itsfunneh

honkai impact 3rd

surviving a fantasy adventure comic

reverse 1999

omori

hi-fi rush

school bus graveyard

loomian legacy

the apothecary diaries

mashle: muscles and magic

bugbo

d4dj

takt op.

idoly pride

genshin impact

wuthering waves

bandori

project sekai

tears of themis

pokemon

cursed princess club

morgana & oz

qsmp

splatoon

ace attorney

book recommendations

[large text: book recommendations]

'no longer human' by osamu dazai (cw: mentions of suicide, implied sexism towards women mostly from yozo and maybe horiki)

'the secret history' by donna tartt (cw: homophobia from bunny; also my girlie camilla did NOT deserve the treatment she got from the main male characters, especially HER OWN BROTHER, like bro wtf 😭)

credits & inspo

[large text: credits & inspo]

dividers credit: @cafekitsune

pin inspo: @eicalors [cool moot! u should check out her blog!]

btw, you can check out my other socials here!

i also take asks, but please don't ask anything personal. and yeah that's pretty much it. thanks for reading!

[books-are-my-life-stuff]

(WARNING: This review will cover the series in its entirety, including the manga, so there will be major spoilers ahead, please tread carefully. This is also a VERY, VERY lengthy review. Should you decide to read this, it's recommended to read this from my blog instead of dashboard/search.)

Mashle: Magic and Muscles! At long last, I am finally able to talk about this series in its entirety since the series' original manga has ended, and the anime has finished its first season too. This is one of the two series that I followed regularly this season other than OnK.

So, I have been keeping an eye on this series for quite a while. It all started when one of my favorite artists from a well-known series that I love as well, has moved fandom to this series. From that time, they started drawing artwork, posting manga screenshots, and retweeting various artworks of this series, which interest me. But when I decided to follow the series, an anime adaptation was announced, so I held off from reading the manga and watching the anime first, then if it was good enough I'd pick up the manga.

So, what makes me look forward to this series every week? I will talk about this series as a whole, what I like about it, and my criticism of it. These are just my thoughts and opinions, your mileage may vary.

Since this review will be very long, I'll put separate sections between them to help me organize my thoughts. No promises on how "organized" this ends up being, though. Most of these are just my endless rambling and word vomit.

I. GENERAL

As I have mentioned in my OnK review, this show is more of a personal favorite of mine than an objectively great series, which is why I recommend OnK more than this. When I first watched this show, I was thrown off at how strange and weird it is, but in a good way.

The story is about a boy named Mash Burnedead, who can't use magic, who lived a peaceful life with his adoptive father while eating cream puffs and doing muscle training deep in a forest away from the city. In Mashle universe, anyone who cannot use magic should be killed, so when the cops found out about his lack of magic power, they went to hunt him down. Mash managed to survive the ambush and protected his father thanks to the result of his diligent muscle training, but his peaceful life was forever robbed...until one of the cops gave him a deal that he had no choice but to agree on or else he'd be hunted down forever: enter the magic school and become the next Divine Visionary, without any magic.

The premise and the setting seem bleak--a world full of discrimination--but this is, above everything else, a comedy, gag, and parody manga, that sometimes you forgot that the characters live in a terrible world. If you are familiar with a certain magic academy franchise, you'll see there are just so many aspects in this series parodying and criticizing that specific franchise. From the magic high school concept, uniform design, the dorm system, and how students are assigned to the dorms, even one of the sports and some of the characters' designs and personalities, are parodies of that franchise. This is great for me because I've always wanted to remove that franchise away from my memory. This and Wit.ch H.at A.tel.ier are the series I need to forever erase that franchise from my mind, replacing it with better series.

I think the main selling point of this series is how Mash will find his way to solve his problems despite lacking any magic potential. Keep in mind that it's implied Mash is not the only magicless person in the universe, he's just the only one that survived at the moment. There are potentially a lot of other magicless people like him, but they've been exterminated without mercy. So, he's not a special person by any means, he just happens to be the only one who can survive thanks to his adoptive father. And thanks to his adoptive father's patience, as well as his kindness when raising him, Mash can grow up and remain a kindhearted person, even in a cruel world that wishes him to drop dead, all the way to the final chapter. That does not mean his kindness and patience are boundless--he's more than capable of feeling upset if his enemies cross the line--but he's still generally a good-hearted person.

Of course, it's nothing new for the protagonist of the series to face any kind of discrimination with kindness and willpower, which is common in a lot of shounen mangas, but I always find Mash's journey to be inspiring, and heartwarming for me. And of course, hilarious. Yes, don't forget that this is a comedy and gag manga first and foremost. So the main focus of this series will often be the comedy and gag, but beneath it lies a heartwarming journey that is actually nothing unique or groundbreaking, but consistent and fun.

Which brings us to the ultimate question: what do you expect from this series? I think the reason why Mashle remains under the radar on the Western side even after the anime's adaptation is that people are often expecting something more than just "Mash finding a way to solve problems and defeating enemies without magic". They expect more battles and more action than comedy, even though Mashle focuses more on the latter. There will be more action and backstory akin to the shounen-demographic series in a similar vein, but this series is often about Mash performing a ridiculous feat without magic and everyone freaking out about it. That's what makes this series as it is. That's what makes the series extremely fun to watch and read for me. Mash didn't just use his muscle to power through things or kill enemies in one punch, but he also uses his spontaneous thinking to outsmart his enemies. A lot of his enemies are not easily defeated with just a punch, some of them are even invulnerable. The interesting part is how Mash gets through the enemies' gimmicks with the limited tools that he has: muscles, sports skills, spontaneous thinking, cream puffs, and some sassy words. That, I think, is what makes Mashle entertaining, and gives a different feel compared to the other shounen-demographic series. It rarely takes itself seriously, because this is a comedy manga. Mash's incredible and nonsensical feats, including his friends' reactions, are part of the gag in this series. But this series also has some surprisingly heartwarming and tear-jerking moments slipped between all the laughs, which can throw people off guard, including me.

That is the kind of series Mashle is for me, and what makes me like it a lot. It's not fully serious, you are not supposed to take it seriously despite the bleak premise, and if you are into a life journey of a good simple-minded boy who fights through discrimination for the sake of his family and friends through strength and spontaneous thinking, if you are into series who are just absurd and nonsensical but fun, then this is for you. It's not for everyone, but it's very popular in Japan (and apparently France too). You can give this a shot if that kind of series is what you are into. Just make sure you prepare a cream puff and a cup of hot tea because cream puffs are everything in this world!

II. STORY

Mashle is often promoted as an "abnormal magical fantasy with an easy-to-follow story", and it's true for me. The plot never goes way too convoluted or complicated. It stays on the rail, is simple, and is consistent from the beginning until the end. I've seen people call it boring since there's not really much of a plot twist and sometimes the outcome of the battles is predictable. However, in my opinion, sometimes simple and easy-to-understand plots are better than plots that are too difficult to follow. This makes Mashle a series that can be enjoyed by many people, a series that you don't need to think much about, just take a seat and enjoy the ride.

This does mean there will be a lack of discussion and speculation about the story due to how simple it is, but I don't think it's a bad thing. I like enjoying a straightforward story as a refresher from a tiring or stressful day. From the beginning, you might be able to predict that this story will end happily, and eventually, Mash will be able to live happily and safely with his family and friends. He will be the next Divine Visionary, people will admit his strength and no longer discriminate against him anymore. Perhaps you can already see that kind of ending from miles away.

However, the journey is what's important. What kind of hardships, and what kind of road that Mash has to traverse in order to be a Divine Visionary and regain his peaceful life with his family back? What kind of fight that he has to go through, and difficulties that he has to endure? Following Mash's strange, hilarious, and heartwarming journey is very entertaining. It almost feels like the reader is a part of them (Finn often being the character that calls out Mash's ridiculous feats and explains everything that's happened so as to not leave the audience/reader behind), and when Mash does get what he wants, it is portrayed like a bird leaving its nest. Looking back at everything that's happened, even a happy, predictable ending that you probably can guess miles away, is much more welcome. It's especially helped by the fact that the series rarely overstays its welcome--it's only 162 chapters, and possibly three seasons of the anime. It's long, but not too long to be exhausting to follow. I am never a fan of series that goes on for way too long, which is why I rarely follow the big shounen-demographic series nowadays, and would rather enjoy whatever series that I'm interested in.

Being shounen-demographic series, this of course has some common elements such as power levels, tournament and training arcs, and plenty of battles. There are some generic shounen-demographic series elements here and there despite it being a parody, but battles usually don't last for too long, save for some exceptions. There are some battles that happen just because they had to, and some battles are less entertaining and less relevant than others, but since those don't go for way too long, I can deal with that. There were some battles that went on for too long, which I will talk about later.

What's strange about Mashle is how important Mash's role is in keeping the charm of the story, because there's almost no one in the cast that can maintain the original charm of the series other than him. He's the main character and the (partial) titular character, yes, but as I said, the main part that intrigues me about the series first and foremost is the ridiculous and absurd feats of Mash to overcome challenges offered by his enemies. It's unfair that he hogs most of the spotlight to the point that some main characters didn't get their chance (some still don't, even until the final chapter), I'm pretty sure Hajime Komoto, the series' original creator, at some point, realized that, which was why Mash got knocked out of commission twice.

However, when other characters do get the chance to shine in the final arc, while it's great to see and learn more about them, Mashle becomes the standard shounen-demographic series and I find myself missing Mash's existence in the series a lot when he was absent. The unique comedy and gags that are mostly from Mash's ridiculous antics are missing, and the series lacks the charm that appeals to me in the first place. I understand Komoto-sensei's decision, it's necessary to give the main characters more depth and more moments (Volume 13 of Mashle is one of my favorites for a reason), but it dragged for a little too long. Master Doom's fight in particular is the one battle where it started to go on for a little too long for my liking. The Innocent Zero fight was the worst offender, though, as it knocked Mash out of the picture AGAIN, and things went a little too serious and too grim, even for Mashle's standard. Yes, it gave moments to the other characters, but what's annoying about the Innocent Zero fight is that he's like a classic RPG boss with multiple forms, so even when Mash regains his consciousness, the battle still drags on for several chapters until it finally ended properly at chapter 160. The comedy and gag elements that are usually present were completely missing when Mash was on the verge of losing during the final hour against Innocent Zero's final form as well.

I've seen some criticism coming from the final arc as well, so I'm not the only one who thinks the final arc went a little too long, which is odd because this case only happened at the final arc. Usually, Komoto-sensei knew the right length for a fight, but Master Doom and Innocent Zero fights were annoyingly lengthy.

Despite some problems here and there, Mashle is still a greatly entertaining series story-wise. This being Komoto-sensei's first series (his other works prior to Mashle are one-shots) is amazing already. Komoto-sensei did say in one of the Q&A corners that Mashle was intended to be short and sweet, but he was determined to give Mash true happiness before truly wrapping things up, thus ending up making the series longer than it was initially planned. It's relieving that Komoto-sensei never wanted the series to overstay its welcome.

III. CHARACTERS

In this section I will talk at length about my top three favorite characters of this series, briefly about my fourth and fifth favorites alongside honorable mentions, then my criticism about this series' characterization.

Mash Burnedead (& Regro Burnedead)

I love this cream puff-loving boy so damn much. Being the main protagonist, he has the advantage of carrying this series' main charm and unique points, as I have explained in the Story section. Seriously, it's unfair that he hogs most of the spotlight in the series but Mashle lacked the unique gags and comedies without him, he's the reason why this series was so entertaining in the first place. He stuttered whenever he tried to lie, he brought cream puffs in his robes and ate them ANYWHERE, including in the final boss fight, he wants to be a patissier and live happily, he sassed everyone no matter who they are, he masters a lot of sports, and he just never stops being confident despite everything...I just can't help but to root for him. Especially because he's a marginalized person in the magic society, a lot of people really went out of their way to make his life difficult or kill him, but he never lost his kindness. As Rayne ever described in his fight against Macaron, Mash fights against his fate. Mash never hates himself and regrets why he is born in this unforgiving society. He never laments about his lack of magic. Even his father once apologized for not being able to give him a normal life, but Mash instead said how happy he was for all the good things that happened in his life: his father always looking out for him, experiencing school life, having great friends, and eating a lot of cream puffs. He also has a really strong determination to keep going no matter what, no matter how brutally injured he is, he wants to stay alive for the sake of living in peace. He is honestly admirable.

And the reason why he becomes the person that can inspire (and surprise) people around him is because of his adoptive father, Regro Burnedead. Regro is someone who is born without amazing magic skills, and from him, we learn that even people that have magic, if the magic is not powerful enough or follows society's standard, those people will be shunned from society as well. The magic world is truly an unforgiving place, so much so that Regro attempted to jump out of the building because he didn't feel like he was needed anywhere...until he found baby Mash abandoned. He found that Mash didn't have a mark on his face (thus magicless), and from there Regro felt like he had to shelter the baby or he'd be killed. For the first time in his life, Regro felt like he was needed, so he was determined to take care of Mash with everything he got and taught him with kindness and care. Regro probably didn't realize back then, that he had undone the generational trauma rooted in this society by raising Mash with kindness. And because of Regro's teaching that Mash can survive in this cruel world, make many friends and allies, and eventually, change the world and society of the magic world as a whole.

It's honestly difficult to talk about how much I love Mash without talking about how much of a great father Regro is, especially in the magic world where most parents there are downright awful people who determine their children's worth from their magic, and can easily dispose of them. So, to see a wholesome family relationship and how big of an impact it makes is really nice, and heartwarming. It also pays off in Chapter 158:

This chapter is one of my favorites of the series as well because Mash had finally gotten the appreciation and reward of his endless effort for a right to stay alive and live peacefully with his family and friends. On top of that, his father expressed how much he's proud of him, and Mash replied by saying that it's Regro's teaching that made him able to reach this far, it really hits me. This is supposed to be a gag manga and I'm crying! Over this wholesome father and son relationship! As if this chapter cannot get any better, Mash visibly smiled at the end and expressed how happy he is to meet everyone...god, I love this series. I love Mash and his father. Regro adopting Mash is what caused the chain of events in this series to happen, and the world could change to be better. Imagine if Mash had stayed with his original father who only wanted to use him...the world would surely have become worse. I'm glad that Regro is Mash's de facto father and the only one he wants to consider as his father, not Innocent Zero.

And in the final chapter, I am happy that while he is still the first magicless Divine Visionary, he wants to focus more on his dream: to be a patissier, and he lets Lance handle the celebration formalities (poor Lance). He becomes a Divine Visionary so he can live peacefully with his family and friends, stop discrimination and change society for the better, but he still wants to make cream puffs forever. On top of that, he has erased his fake magic mark and can finally live as himself, no longer pretending to be someone he isn't to avoid being persecuted. His love for cream puffs is never-ending, and so too is his love for his family and friends. I love him, and I'm so glad he's living happily with his friends.

2. Finn Ames

Honestly, if you know how often I like the younger sibling character in a complicated sibling relationship, it's not hard to tell why I would like Finn a lot. But before getting into that part, let's talk about Finn in order. For the beginning of the series--hell, even for the entire season 1--we don't know what he's capable of. What kind of magic that he has, and if he will or can do anything at all. Apart from the basic magic used to silence Mandragora in Episode 5 of the anime, Finn does not use any magic at all. Even in the fights, he only stood on the sidelines and did absolutely nothing other than be scared and cry. I don't blame people who watch only the anime to think about Finn as a mere hindrance to the team, I saw and heard that criticism a lot, and I will not blame them to think that way. Hell, if you're anime-only and decide to read this post for whatever reason, you might be wondering why I like Finn so much.

The thing about Finn is that his character development is very slow, and takes a while to get there. Unlike other characters who get their moments and even their own battles even early in the series to show what they're capable of and what their characters are, Finn is not like that. He's similar to Ruby (of OnK) in being the main character who barely has their moments until much, much later. And once he gets his moments, it pays off so damn well. Finn's moments are rare but when he does get the spotlight, it's great. You will not see it until the second season, but there would be a time when Finn had to fight a powerful student from the Orca dormitory, Carpaccio, alone. Then at that time, Finn would finally use his personal magic, and that was also the time that marked Finn's character development. Finn in the past would turn around and run, or give up everything that he had to avoid being killed, but after his meeting with Mash, Finn has slowly changed to be a better person. He finally has the courage and determination to stand up against people who bully, belittle, and cruelly compare him with his brother. He might be scared, his magic is support/utility-based and thus he cannot attack or do much, but he would not abandon his friend and would protect them even if it meant he'd risk himself getting killed. This is the result of Mash standing up for him against Lloyd Cavill for Finn's sake at the beginning of the series, Finn has become a loyal and admirable character, especially for the sake of his friends. And the time Finn spent together with his friends, the encouragement he shared for Mash when he gave up on studying, how much the moments he shared with his friends motivated him to keep going even when things are dire... there are just so many moments to showcase that Finn has truly grown since the first time we met him, later on in the story.

Now, let's talk about Finn's complicated sibling relationship. Having a big brother who's basically a genius prodigy in everything he's doing can make his life hard. The characters in the series would often compare him and Rayne, he's best known as "Rayne's little brother" than as himself, and it didn't help that Finn and Rayne's sibling relationship was best described as "strained". Finn thought it was his lack of notable magic skills that made his brother disappointed and eventually kept a distance. After discovering that wasn't the case, Finn could finally stand up on his ground and, despite his lack of offensive magic skills, managed to assist his brother in the fight against Delisaster. And it's not just a mere assistance either, Finn is the healer of the group, and no matter how powerful Rayne was, even he could not handle the enemy who regenerated every time. Finn's healing spell, after training with one of the Visionaries, could outpace a regeneration from the enemy and eventually, helped Rayne not just to survive the fight, but also defeated Delisaster. At this point, Finn has changed from someone who could only helplessly watch the fight unfold, to the person who is very needed for the team's survival, thanks to his magic being improved to a healing spell. The brothers also have mended their strained relationship, and they can finally learn to accept each other's help and be more open as well. Finn's character development genuinely fascinates me, he's such a sweet-hearted boy who tries his best despite his lack of abilities, and he is very loyal too. Even when he's scared and cries, once you understand his situation, his reactions make a lot of sense. I love him so much.

The catch? If you are anime-only, you will not be seeing any of these awesome Finn moments for a while. The battle against Carpaccio? Probably happens in mid-Season 2 of the anime. The explanation of Finn and Rayne's strained relationship? Won't happen until either the third or fourth season depending on how far season 2 will adapt the story. Finn is noticeably less popular than his brother because he needed a while to get his impactful moments. So, yeah, I won't be able to explain why I like Finn without spoiling the story later on. For now, you will only know him as the tsukkomi of the group who reacted to Mash's ridiculous antics, and the person who stands on the sidelines as the battle unfolds. Doesn't change that I still like him a lot after reading the manga, and I'm glad I decided to read it, otherwise, I'm not sure I would like Finn as much as I do now.

3. Rayne Ames

The mysterious prodigy from Adler dorm, the youngest and newest Divine Visionary before the final chapter, and Finn's older brother. Also arguably the most popular character in Mashle (if the comments on his debut episode, the number of fanworks related to him, and the overpriced Rayne merchandises sold in second-hand stores are anything to go by). He made a cameo in the first episode when he was newly chosen as the Divine Visionary, indicating that he would be an important character later on. Well, he is kind of an important character, but he never reaches the position of a main character, since he wasn't present that often. But when he did, the impact he made was meaningful.

It's not difficult to see why Rayne is incredibly popular, because I think he's near flawless as a character in a series where every character at least has flaws somewhere. People like characters that are shrouded in mystery. There was little that we knew about him until his proper debut episode, and when he finally made an entrance to the scene, he definitely left a strong first impression. Stabbing an enemy with giant magic swords and proceeded to call the enemy "trash" while beating the hell out of the said enemy, then moments later he gave Mash a bunny-patterned handkerchief. Immediately, we are shown the gap between Rayne's harsh and cold personality and the hidden sweet side that's indicated by his adoration of bunnies.

People love characters with gap moe. In case you don't know, gap moe is a term used to describe how a character acts/looks in a different way than how they usually do, and Rayne is a perfect example of that. He never smiles, he always looks tired, annoyed, and serious. He even got visibly angry and beat down the enemy while calling them trash. You wouldn't expect someone like him to like bunnies so much he had a magical pink-colored handkerchief with cute bunny patterns. You wouldn't expect someone like him to protect Mash, speak for him, and even bowed in front of his seniors for his sake, potentially risking his position as the Divine Visionary. You wouldn't expect someone like him to shut himself in his room after finishing his class/work, then threw chopped carrots all over his room as he fell asleep while his twenty (or more) pet rabbits nibbled on the food he had scattered around, sometimes they also nibbled him. My assumption is that Komoto-sensei was possibly trying to make his adoration for bunnies his weak point to make him less cool, but it wasn't even a weak point. In fact, it's his strength! It backfired and Rayne became a flawless character in Mashle. And that's not even including how he's arguably the most powerful student of Easton, having a third line as a sign of how strong his magical prowess is and can summon God of War. No wonder people love him so much, including myself. He's so popular even more than Mash himself.

At least, until the final arc we get to see his imperfections, which were hinted at a little bit after his fight against Macaron. He said that he was never good at encouraging people, and he definitely proved that. He told Finn to leave when he found out Finn was training under Kaldo (one of the Divine Visionaries) to improve his magic and participate in the battle against Innocent Zero. When Finn successfully opened the way to the enemy's lair, Rayne didn't even say anything. Even when they decided to handle one of Innocent Zero's sons, Delisaster, together, the first thing that he did after saving Finn from Delisaster's ramblings was shove Finn out of the way and called him a burden. Things went south pretty quickly as Rayne was overwhelmed by Delisaster's power and his regeneration skill, and that's when we got to know why Rayne decided to be distant from Finn. Being a Divine Visionary, his goal was to create a better world where orphans (like him and Finn) can live happily. His ambitious goal could cause backlash from society and as a result, would put people close to him in danger, which was why he created a rift between him and Finn, telling Finn to live a normal life while he handled the dirty jobs. Eventually, Finn and Rayne's heart-to-heart moments mended the rift between them and they could stand up together again as a family.

Rayne is an odd character. I like him when he first appeared because of how cool he is and how he radiated the caring senpai aura that doesn't show his soft side often. My opinion of him hit rock bottom when he told Finn to leave. But I like him again and even more after learning his backstory and after he solved the issues between him and Finn. It's also implied in the final chapter (from the panel where Finn was happily surrounded by Rayne's pet bunnies and how Finn acted so casually around him) that they've mended the rift between them and become close brothers again. I think my opinion of him generally improved after knowing that he's not as perfect as the series made him up to be. While I don't like him as much as I like Finn, he's still one of my top favorites that I'll happily talk about.

4. Lance Crown & Dot Barrett

I put these two together because their dynamic is interesting and they're also pretty good individually as well.

Let's start off with Lance. We all know Lance has issues, it's even spelled outright in his debut episode. At first, he only had his little sister in his mind, and his goal was to save her and nothing else. Later on, he met Mash and everyone. By the time he fought Wirth, Lance has started to feel some sort of care for his new friends, despite the short time they spent together, but it's only implied because Lance possibly hadn't figured out what he actually felt for his friends and whether or not the care he felt for his friends was the same or different from the one for his sister. And that's the point of his moments most of the time. He eventually realized that his sister is no longer the only person he cares about in the world, and he slowly but surely cares for his friends to the point of even risking himself to save them. The battle against Epidem meant a lot to him, defeating Epidem would mean curing his severely ill sister, but he decided to take the lethal blow directed at Dot because he holds his friends dear to him. Lance never shows his actual feelings, what he says to his friends may or may not contradict what he actually feels (or tsundere in other words), but he's still a good person who cares for his friends as much as he cares for his little sister--not that he wants to admit it.

And that's the thing with Lance, I think his character was meant to evoke complicated feelings. If we decided to ignore the elephant in the room which was Lance's severe issues, he'd be a flawless character. But Lance would be a completely different character without the severe issue that he has, so it's hard to ignore that. In the end, even though he returns to his usual self, he seems to not mind hanging out with his friends anymore, introduced them to his sister, and thanks his friends for the help against Epidem which cured her illness, which is heartwarming to see Lance finally being honest to his feelings for his friends. His sister being healthy again, even joined the friend group (and possibly entered Easton as well), made Lance smile happily at the cover of the final chapter. It's nice to see the Crown siblings can finally live happily without any of them being in life-threatening danger anymore.

Dot is the complete opposite of Lance. He always puts his heart on his sleeve, and his emotions are clear and shown through his face and action (especially because his hidden power is related to emotion). If he cares for his friends, then he makes it clear that it's what he feels. If he likes someone, then he will express it in his own way. At first, you may find Dot as an annoying sidekick who desperately wants a girlfriend and blames others (specifically Mash and Lance) for his unpopularity. But Dot's character growth becomes pretty interesting. Later on, he would arguably have the most patience in dealing with Mash's antics, become a tsukkomi duo with Finn who freaks out over everything that Mash is doing together, sometimes even plays along with Mash's shenanigans (or forced to), and he is very loyal to his friends too. His brash attitude may turn off people, but his brash and always charging head-on attitude is what makes him stand out more than Lance, Mash, and even Finn in some ways who tend to find a way to outsmart their enemies.

That being said, Dot was also one of the main characters that didn't get explored much. We knew he was an Ira Kreuz, we knew that once his emotion hit a certain threshold, he unlocked a huge amount of power that made him could compete with even the more powerful third-liner magicians. But there was no further explanation or lore behind this Ira Kreuz anymore. His family also got very little spotlight, even though he has a really cool big sister she never appeared that much. It's unknown if his big sister was also an Ira Kreuz just like him, which could be an interesting subplot of Dot's family. Thinking back, there really was a lot of opportunities to explore more of Dot's backstory, from the Divine Visionary Exam arc, but Komoto-sensei didn't take the chance. It's a shame, but at least his current personality and his relationship with other characters helped to fill the visible gaps, and I still like him a lot. His moments with Lance at the training arc and the final arc were really great too, they fight a lot but it's clear that they care and will protect each other. They're also basically Orter's students now! Orter even has a picture of him alongside Lance and Dot on his desk, which is very cute.

5. Abyss Razor

I wasn't expecting to like him a lot, especially after he revealed his backstory. He was another example of why the society of the magic world is really fucked up. Abyss happened to have an Anti-Magic eye that cancels all magic directed at him, and when his parents knew about that, he was locked inside the cell, only got fed whenever the parents remembered, and finally, his mother attempted to kill her while saying "I should've never given a birth to you!". All of those happened when he was around 10 years old. So, he ran away, living his life in solitude and isolation, enduring hatred from people around him, until he met Abel who wanted to use him as a tool. Not for long, fortunately. Abel eventually sees him as an important person to him and not just a tool anymore after Magia Lupus Arc finished.

After living his entire life being a pariah to magic society, Abyss finally felt a sense of belonging when Abel wanted him to join Magia Lupus, even as a tool initially. Hearing all of this story, Mash realized how privileged he was for being raised in a nice environment and having a great adoptive parent, he said he couldn't even imagine himself being in Abyss' position, but Mash thought about Abyss' story a lot during the rest of the arc. Mash emphasized that his attitude would not change just because of Abyss' Anti-Magic, regardless of what other people would think, and hoped they could have cream puffs together.

Abyss' undying loyalty left him injured to protect Abel from Cell War, but he managed to survive thanks to Mash giving Rayne's magical handkerchief to keep Abyss' injury from being fatal. Afterwards, Mash alongside Abyss can finally eat cream puffs together, as promised. I really like how after the Magia Lupus Arc has concluded, Abyss is now a genuinely nice person who wishes all the best for Mash and will support him however he can. His undying loyalty to people he cares about often bites him back, as proven in the battle against Domina later on, but I just adore Abyss' kindness and loyalty so much, especially after knowing his backstory. I like him. He's just another victim of the ruthless society, and once the battles are done, he will gladly befriend Mash and the main characters too.

Honorable Mention 1: Domina Blowlive

When the stage was set for Mash vs. Domina battle, I'd had enough of troubled siblings in Mashle universe, especially when it didn't really appeal to me because I didn't have strong feelings for the characters involved in it, like Madl siblings and Rosequartz siblings. It makes sense for a lot of sibling conflicts to be a common occurrence in a society where magic is everything and determines one's value, but I didn't feel much attachment for Madl and Rosequarts siblings, because I didn't have strong feelings for the individuals involved in it. For me, to get invested in a fictional relationship, platonic or romantic, it's necessary for me to like the two (or more) characters involved in it. I'm a sucker for complicated sibling relationships, but if I didn't care enough for the characters involved in them, I wouldn't be invested. So, when Domina was shown to have a similar sibling issue for Mash and the rest of Innocent Zero's sons (but especially Mash), I thought this wouldn't work out.

Turns out I unexpectedly liked Domina a lot after the battle was concluded. I didn't like him at first because of how temperamental he is, but after he accepted Mash's handshake, and saved Mash twice at the cost of his life, I like him, and I ended up getting a little invested in him and Mash's troubled siblings relationship. Not as much as I did for Ames brothers, but I like it and I'm glad he's resurrected and can live happily in the final episode along with everyone. As Mash said in his final "speech", he's just a boy who wants to be loved by his parent as his son, not as a tool.

Honorable Mention 2: Ryoh Grantz

Characters who often boast their powers, prattle on and on about how amazing they are, and narcissistic, are often only bark and no bite. I'm glad that Ryoh is not falling into that stereotype. He's very strong, it's no wonder why he's considered the greatest magician in the magic world. He often boasts a lot about himself and has a lot of confidence, which can be annoying at first, but he means well for all of that. He is putting a front in order to keep the citizens safe and not panicking, and as the leader of the Divine Visionary, he also has the responsibility to take care of his fellow soldiers, especially when Finn, Lance, and Dot joined the final fight against Innocent Zero. And even when he's nearing death's door, he still holds tight to his ideals. "Ryoh Grantz and the Definition of Handsome" is such a meaningful title once I got to read the chapter and learned what happened. I thought he would be a joke character, but now I greatly respect and like him. He's truly one of the greatest humankind in the magic world.

Honorable Mention 3: Lemon Irvine (& how she is doomed by narrative)

Lemon is a character that I truly wish I could like more, but in the end, she only could reach the third honorable mention, for reasons that I will explain below. I like Lemon's design, it's simple and cute. Her delusional but cheerful and studious personality is also very amusing and relatable, at least for me. It helps that the anime made her more gorgeous and she's voiced by one of my favorite seiyuus. As one of the main characters, she had a lot of potential to be as great as her friends...but it didn't happen.

See, the thing is, Komoto-sensei initially wanted to make all-male main casts, but his then-editor told him to create a girl character in the main group. His then-editor said that his manga wouldn't be able to be popular if it didn't have a girl in the main cast, so Komoto-sensei created Lemon, even though he was not used to drawing girls before. So, Lemon exists at the request of his then-editor.

It's honestly very apparent that Komoto-sensei wasn't really sure what to do with her. Heck, there were even times when I genuinely thought Komoto-sensei probably forgot about her. She only primarily appeared in the Easton entrance exam arc, and after that, she felt more like a supporting character than a main character. She was barely present in most of the story, and she even barely appeared in the final arc either, even though that arc was supposed to be when characters other than Mash got their chance to shine. Not to mention, she didn't get any backstory explanation, at all. She's more underdeveloped than most of the villains in the series! I have no issue with her having a huge crush on Mash and being a little too delusional about it, she is fifteen. Her possessiveness kinda weirds me out a little, and that's a consequence of what happened with her character as a whole. I just wish Komoto-sensei explored her character and background more and gave her more spotlight. It was mentioned in her debut episode that her parents live in poverty, which was why she was so determined to attend Easton Magic Academy and get accepted. There was so much potential from there, Komoto-sensei should have explored more about her family circumstances, what are the causes that made her immediately latch on to Mash, and perhaps a heart-to-heart talk with Mash (not necessarily need to be in a romantic sense), because if Lemon claims herself as the future wife of Mash then she should start talking about her past. Something... just more about her characters! All of her moments are directly related to Mash, she never gets to shine as her own individual with something more to her than just her affection for Mash. It's honestly a shame because I really like her design and I wish I could like her more, but she's doomed by the narrative. The final chapter capitalizing her yandere side didn't help matters. Well, there's your idea to expand more of her characters, fanfiction writers, only you can save her.

The truth is, personality-wise, none of the female characters in this series stands out as much as any of the male characters. Their designs are simple and cute but in the end, they got zero development and there's no backstory exploration. Lemon was the example that's most apparent since she's the main character, but if you follow the series, you will notice that other female characters also don't really have much in their personality. When Komoto-sensei finally made an interesting female character (Meliadoul), it was already in the final arc, and the bar was pretty low anyway since Meliadoul is pretty similar to a certain character in a similar archetype from a certain well-known shounen-demographic series. She also didn't get much backstory exploration, but Ochoa did. Female characters being badly written is a common thing that happens in a lot of shounen-demographic series, even ones that I like and often sings praises for, but it bothers me every time.

Well, this section ended up becoming an explanation of another big criticism that I had with the series instead of entirely about Lemon, but she's kinda related to it, so...yeah. Anyway, I like Lemon, I wish she had more screen time, development, and even a backstory explanation.

IV. ANIME ADAPTATION

Since I've read the manga, I can now talk about how the adaptation goes. I think it's serviceable and good enough to make me want to pick up the source material, something that surprisingly OnK cannot do despite it being a great show. Adaptation is a tough job. If you have read the manga, you will notice how the different kind of media affects this series in one way or another. There are some parts that hit better in the manga, but the anime sometimes smoothens the pace of the story and even added some scenes for consistency. For example: in the first episode of the manga, Mash could open and close the door normally when Regro told him to redo his training as a punishment, even though the running joke of this series is how Mash just could never open the door properly. In the anime, this was changed into Mash almost walking through the door only for Regro to help open the door for Mash so he would not break it again. Rayne's cameo in the Magia Lupus arc where he talked shit about Wahlberg was supposed to be before Lance vs. Wirth's fight, but it was moved to before Dot & Finn vs. Love & Milo to align with his debut episode. Dot's rambling in his first appearance and Mash slapping the Mandragora scene is more dramatic in the anime. Rayne's first appearance is done better in the manga thanks to the constant use of black and dark screen tones to set up his intimidating aura. There are things that the anime did better, but there are also things that the manga did better, something that commonly happens in the process of adapting one media to another. The artwork for the anime is also very nice so far, and I like it. That's for the first season, who knows how the second season will turn up.

The voice actors and actresses' lineup is staggering, though. So many big names participated in this series, whether as the main character or as supporting. I haven't been watching a lot of anime lately due to time constraints, so Mashle became the series that introduced me to Kobayashi Chiaki. And wow, his performance as Mash is just...perfect. Many people said Mash sounds exactly like how they imagine and they are all correct. I cannot imagine someone else voicing Mash anymore, his voice is permanently stuck in my head whenever I read the manga. Ishikai's performance as Lance stands out for me because he's one of my favorite seiyuus, and I didn't expect him to voice a character like Lance with that kind of voice, but damn his performance is amazing.

What's interesting is how at some point I mixed up the seiyuu between Finn and Rayne. I knew Kaji Yuki-san participated in this show, but back then I knew nothing about the series and the characters before actually started watching, and I had never watched or heard Kawashima Reiji-san's performance before. So, when Finn finally spoke, I assumed he was Kaji-san's character, since he sounded similar to the characters I often associated with him like Yukine, Alibaba, Haruaki, and Shu (yeah, I don't watch any of the shows he recently participated in). But when I double-checked, Finn was voiced by Kawashima-san, and in episode 3 I finally noticed the difference between Kawashima-san's performance and (past) Kaji-san's performance voice-wise. Finn's voice at first sounded like Kaji-san's performance of Yukine and Alibaba, but Finn sounded...more like a fifteen-year-old boy than Kaji-san, especially when Finn speaks casually you'll notice the difference. When Finn freaks out or is in his tsukkomi mode his voice sounds similar to Kaji-san. And I think it's interesting to point out the similarity because Kaji-san voiced for Rayne, Finn's older brother, to the point I assume that the seiyuu choices are on purpose. Because I associated Kaji-san more with his past roles than with his recent roles, I had no idea how he would perform as Rayne. In fact, I could not imagine Rayne being voiced at all. Until he made his appearance in episode 10, that is. I was thrown off guard by how deep he sounded, and how Kaji-san nailed the cold and harsh personality that Rayne has. It took me some rewatching of his scenes to finally get used to Kaji-san's performance as Rayne (unlike Kobayashi-san's performance where his performance just immediately matches the character), but after that, I think Kaji-san's performance is great so far. Really excited to hear my favorite Rayne moments being voiced by him, the second season will surely be a blast. Imagine the scene where Rayne summoning Ares being voiced by Kaji-san...that's gonna be so great!

The English voice has also been great so far, I like all the voices. Special mention goes to Finn's English VA, he sounds perfect! The dubbed version is still ongoing (it's still at episode 6 by the time of this writing), I am looking forward to watching more of it.

All that said...I think the anime has noticeable production issues going on. The number of animation directors that participated in the show grows in the later part of the first season (the final episode had 19 animation directors according to the official website), some scenes felt a little off, and I heard the seventh episode was also outsourced to SHAFT, the studio that made Mad.ok.a Ma.gic.a and many others (which explains why Lance looked extra handsome there, maybe he's SHAFT studio's favorite boy). That, and the fact that there's only six months break between the first and second season (which will have plenty of action scenes than the first season) is...really concerning. Aniplex really doesn't give a lot of breathing room for the animators and staff, it's worrying how the production committee treats them. I was honestly expecting at least a year minimum between the first and second seasons, but six months is very short. I can only pray for the staff and animators to take care of themselves, while at the same time, I am dreading the worst outcomes to come (delay in episodes mid-airing, or even a whole season delay like what happened with a lot of shows nowadays, major changes in story/scenes due to lack of time). I really hope it won't happen since Mashle is very beloved in Japan and this anime adaptation has been long-awaited, but if it happens, I'll be disappointed but not surprised. Blame Aniplex for this, honestly. The staffs and animators deserve to rest. This rambling about production can be an entirely different, separate talk, and I am by no means an expert at this so I can only talk from what I know.

V. ART

I am not the best person in talking about artworks, and I don't mind unusual art styles as long as the story is good, but damn, Komoto-sensei's art is amazing. For his first work, he's certainly talented. Reading Mashle means you are treated by amazingly well-drawn cover artwork and some detailed action sequences, especially when Mash is doing Mash things. When it comes to the art style, people have their own preferences (like how I never have problems with ONE-sensei's art), so I will put some examples of my favorite cover artworks and scenes (both colored ones and black & white ones), then I'll let you judge Komoto-sensei's art on your own. In my opinion, he's a very talented artist, and I would totally buy a Mashle artbook if there's any (hopefully the upcoming fan book is also an artbook).

I would love to add more examples but I've limited myself to 4 favorite colored artworks and 4 favorite BW artworks. If I didn't stop myself I would put way too much and this post was already too long lol.

VI. SUMMARY

This section is to summarize everything I have written while also adding some new information that I didn't know where else to put, the plus points of Mashle and the minus points of this series, in case you don't wanna read the wall of text (I don't blame you, it's mostly rambling).

The plus points about Mashle?

The story is simple and easy to follow, nothing too complicated

The artworks are beautiful

Battles for the most part don't last for too long

Mash is a very enjoyable main character

There are some heartwarming and touching moments when you least expect it

The comedy, gag and Mash's shenanigans are fun

The story doesn't drag on for too long and ends in a conclusive manner

The anime adaptation is good so far, the voice actors+actresses lineups are amazing

The minus points about Mashle?

The final arc and some battles in it lasted for way too long and become a standard shounen-demographic manga instead of a comedy/parody as it's supposed to

Mash carries most of the manga's charm to the point when he's gone the manga, again, became a standard shounen-demographic manga

(But if he's around he'll steal the spotlight every time and not give other characters to develop, so it's a catch-22 situation)

The simplicity and sometimes predictability of the story may cause a lack of discussion

Lemon is left horribly underdeveloped despite being one of the main characters, without any backstory or character development, even her moments didn't stand out as much as other characters and it feels like Komoto-sensei sort of forgot about her

The female characters' personalities and development are nothing to write home about

Lemon, Dot, and Lance's personalities being back to the status quo in the final episode might be unsatisfactory to some

My favorite characters in Mashle?

Mash Burnedead & Regro Burnedead

Finn Ames

Rayne Ames

Lance Crown & Dot Barrett

Abyss Razor Honorable mention 1: Domina Blowlive Honorable mention 2: Ryoh Grantz Honorable mention 3: Lemon Irvine

My favorite moments/arcs/chapters in Mashle?

Chapters involving Finn's character development and his sibling relationship with Rayne (Volume 6 chapter 52-53, Volume 7 chapter 54-55, Volume 13 chapter 115-118, Volume 14 Chapter 119)

Slice-of-life moments (Volume 5 Chapters 43 & 44, Volume 9 Chapters 73 & 74, most if not all of the omakes)

Rayne's moments (Volume 4 chapters 30 & 31, Volume 6 chapters 45-47, Rayne's secret omake, Rayne's morning routine omake)

Lance & Dot vs. Epidem (Volume 14 chapter 120-123)

Mash vs. Abyss (Volume 3 Chapter 26, Volume 4 Chapter 27 & 28)

VII. CONCLUSION

Mashle is a great series that I had lots of fun with. It's far from perfect, it has a lot of things that I have problems with, but that doesn't change how much I enjoy reading, watching, and following this series. This is a good series to enjoy if you need something fun without much to worry and think about, just relax and enjoy the ride. I will genuinely miss this series and the characters, especially Mash. However, it's been a good run and I wouldn't like it if it was prolonged for no reason. It ended conclusively, and happily. Thank you Komoto-sensei for the strange, funny, and heartwarming adventure!

Also, at the end of the day, this series is basically a huge advertisement for cream puffs. It's delicious. Go buy some and enjoy it while following the series!

[pxuvalentinx]

✧Rules n Info

General Rules

#01 - First off, basic DNI criteria - also don't talk to me if you're weird. #02 - As already mentioned in my pinned post, don't read my work if you dislike the tags/warnings. They are there for a reason. Just move on and don't complain in my inbox about how you don't like it. #03 - I do ask of younger people to not read my work, since the majority is nsfw. #04 - Feel free to message me though. My DM's are open anytime. I'm always happy to meet new people (I desperately need writer friends)

Req Rules

#01 - I can, and happily will write for any of the fandoms down below. I've watched most of the 'big' anime, so you'll probably find what you're looking for. #02 - I sadly won't do male!reader, since I'm a woman and I don't think I'd be able to do a good job, when it comes to writing a male!reader. | #02 . 2 - I can write pretty much anything with a female!reader, including wlw. #03 - Feel free to request both sfw and nsfw, thirsts, drabbles, headcanons and so on. I am also fine with dark content - besides rape, incest, drugging (aphrodisiac's are fine) and stepcest. #04 - Please do keep in mind, that I write entirely for fun. I sometimes just despawn for a couple of weeks, so writing your request might take a while. #05 - Do not send me the exact same request you already sent to someone else. #06 - I don't mind writing for multiple characters, so do specify which characters you want it for, or if it's only one, if it's sfw and nsfw or both. Do keep your request vague, unless it's a super specific plot you want. I like to have some freedom :) #07 - I do not mind writing for characters who are under the age of 18 in the anime, but if you request nsfw for them, keep in mind that I will age them up, and probably make a college au out of it, or whatever I come up with

Fandoms

#01 - Jujutsu Kaisen #02 - Assassination Classroom #03 - Demon Slayer #04 - Mashle: Magic and Muscles #05 - Haikyu!! #06 - Kakegurui #06 - The Seven Deadly Sins #07 - Tokyo Revengers #08 - Windbreaker #09 - Attack on Titan #10 - Bungo Stray Dogs #11 - Chainsaw Man #12 - Hunter x Hunter #13 - Danganronpa #14 - Persona 3, 4 and 5 #15 - Honkai Star Rail #16 - Genshin Impact make sure to regularly check this out<3

 ©pxuvalentinx - do not steal, modify, translate or repost my work.

[mashleverse]

2 days left until Mashle: Magic and Muscles Second Season premiere!

Have you seen your first dream in 2024? The official X (formerly Twitter) account of Mashle has posted the characters' first dream in 2024! Translation of the captions is under read more.

Image title: "Take a peek at (character)'s first dream"

Mash Caption: OF COURSE!!! (He dreams of cream puffs)

Finn Caption: Even in my dream, I'm reacting to everyone's antics... (His dream is about becoming a tsukkomi as usual)

Lance Caption: OF COURSE!!! (2) (He dreams of Anna)

Dot Caption: TV Anime "Dot Barrett" is now broadcasting!!!! *It's a lie. (He dreams of becoming a protagonist in an anime series named after him)

Lemon Caption: Mash-kun ♡♡ (She dreams of Mash)

Rayne Caption: Rabbits are really cute. (He dreams of rabbits)

Abel Caption: Even in his dream, he's still holding onto his doll... (His dream is just him as usual)

Abyss Caption: Abel-sama... (He dreams of being helped by Abel)

[aspiring-holistic-otaku]

Also wanted to mention some recent/upcoming releases I think folks who are new to, or even already in love with the medium might want to check out

- Mashle: magic and muscles got an anime this month, I started the manga last year for season 1 ramble 7 just jump in, where I take a deep dive into the jump manga lineup. It’s funny enough, nothing deep which is fine, and from what i’ve read it doesn’t take itself too seriously either. check it out if you want some laughs.

- Blue lock got an anime last year october, started this cause sports in manga is somehow usually some of the wildest shit you’ve ever seen, cool enough for those reasons but nothing too crazy , maybe because i’m not a soccer fan idk… like fucking calm down greg it's soccer.. It’s soccer..

- Hell’s paradise got an anime this month, talked about this in season 1 ramble 7 as well, should be an enjoyable watch for most anime fans i think, white haired mc,, sexy ninja,, blood and gore on a deserted island with no means of escape,,, dedicated fan accounts are gonna be popping up out of the woodwork in no time

- Demon slayer season 3 also started this month i believe, personally only interested in seeing that one moon call that one pillar a whore/harlot or however they’re gonna adapt it. It’s on its third season with one of the highest grossing animated films of all time so there’s really no need for me to sell anything here

- Chainsaw man, CHAINSAWSSSS GO BRRRRRRRR!!!! Chainsaw man got an anime adaptation last october in case you missed it, only 1 season which covered up till the fight with katana man or samurai sword or whatever you wanna call it. Not gonna lie I was scared cause they went the cgi route but they did a great job in both audio and visual directions. They had great material so I'm not surprised but still just so happy to see. A second season release date hasn’t been announced but it’s definitely coming and ofc I’d recommend you go check out the manga if you haven’t. Fujimoto sensei is an absolute legend already in my eyes and I mention more of his works in just jump in as well as season 1 ramble 10, one shots and other stuff where his works made up my number 1 reads for that month.

- Slam Dunk got a movie last year december, The first slam dunk, after being away from the screen for like 27 years. It came out of nowhere and was a big shock when inoue sensei himself dropped a teaser on twitter, really could not believe. Legendary manga, already had a series and some movies but their animation is a bit dated, which I personally don’t mind at all but it’s hard enough to get folks into manga and most newer fans of the medium don’t get any nostalgia from the older styles. Not judging them though as obviously you watch stuff with your eyes so how you feel about it is gonna be based on what you see, and if you’re accustomed to or relate anime to shiny stuff like demon slayer then older stuff probably registers more like someone’s pet projects than a professionally produced anime to you. Still though i encourage all to get out of their comfort zone when it comes to media, there’s just so much greatness out there that only you yourself is stopping yourself from experiencing.

- Heavenly Delusion. something completely new to me. this also got an anime this month,, A is for anime fr lmao. I happened to see twitter user KUshiKURitiKaru tweet about it and checked it out cause I really respect their opinions and so, highly recommend following them on twitter as well as their anilist by the same name. I don’t really read weekly shonen jump as often as I used to besides fujimoto’s chainsaw man and ishida’s choujin x as i prefer to let stuff stack but when I did and even now I thought their weekly analysis was the best. It has 6 episodes so far. Won’t speak too tough on it but it’s a post apocalypse monsters type beat and the animation is pretty clean.

- Insomniacs after school also got an anime this month, mentioned in both season 1 ramble 3 romance lol and season 2’s ramble 2 romance lol v2 and for good reason. That some of the cutest shit i ever seen, also very aesthetic highly recommend checking it out if you’re into romance or want to try getting into it.

- Gosu is getting an anime, the announcement was just this month with no date yet but i’m pretty excited, pretty dope martial arts series i spoke on just last episode so yh

- Inio asano’s Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction got an anime announcement back last month, no date yet but again very very excited, if that name sounds wild to you the story is even crazier, same author who did a girl by the sea, it’s a beautiful world, solanin (shout out rav and kill bill the rapper one time), nijigahara holograph, it’s a beautiful world, a few other stuff and most famously good night punpun. Heads up, they’re all depressing as shit. And in the same breath i want to mention he has a new work out called mujina in to the deep about a katana wielding assassin in modern day tokyo

- Lastly, Naoki Urasawa’s Pluto is finally getting an anime adaptation later this year. Tears in my eyes they said it would never come but hail the helix even if i don’t live to see it i never stopped believing. Naoki Urasawa is my favourite mangaka, only ever doing masterclasses, most popularly known for monster but reaching the same if not greater heights in works like 20th century boys, pluto of course, my favourite series by him billy bat and more. I dedicated an entire episode to just him and his work in season 1 ramble 11, National Treasure Naoki Urasawa. Pluto is set to be on netflix later this year and if they do the impossible and bungle it there will be consequences.

Season 2 Ramble#4 - A is for anime (solo reprise) ver.2

Hello Hello Hello and welcome to another episode of MM..MANGA, the podcast about getting more people into more manga.. Incidentally, as you may have guessed from the title, this episode isn’t about manga at all, as this month I focused on manga’s seemingly more popular younger sibling, anime.

Before we get into it, a couple house keeping matters/points of information:

Last season I had some friends on the cast cause I don’t really watch anime like that and different perspectives are invaluable when it comes to any media. Plus I really fw them and the more the merrier. Sadly I won’t be having them on this episode, as again, you probably guessed from the title. Reason being, we had fun and everything but back then a lot was going on, I was just moving in with my then girlfriend and for one reason or the other I didn't put in as much effort as I could have into quality assurance. I definitely had fun but I really think I did them a disservice attaching their names to some mish mash of a ramble.

Those guys are some of the coolest people I know, and I really wanted to solidly improve the quality of the cast before getting anyone else involved in my ramblings.

Anna, Asha, Adley, Ashina, thanks again for being on the cast. Shout out stevaughn and daniel as well for being there and bringing vibes, always a pleasure. And a huUUge shout out to katastrophe kat for letting us use her house as the location. This was during peak covid n everything so I know having a bunch of folks in your house to make a podcast of all things could not have been ideal, but you supported the homie when all he had to offer was vibes and pizza. Many many thanks, and I hope to have you all back on one day.

All that being said I'm still just a guy recording on his phone at his house so if you hear stuff like people, animals or vehicles that's just my environment, give thanks for hearing and give thanks for the world around you.

That’s housekeeping.

Now some points of information

Firstly, I’ve come to understand that when it comes to anime there are 4 main release formats:

- Theatre releases which are usually movies

- TV releases which are usually series

- Original Video Animations or OVA for short, which are either movies or series made specifically for home video releases like dvd, blu-ray, etc.

- Original Net Animations, ONAs, which are either movies or series released directly onto the internet.

…of course here in the west I think alot of us just call everything anime,, or at least nobody's ever asked me if I've watched such and such OVA or ONA…

Second point, the average length of any series mentioned here is 23 minutes unless otherwise stated.

Lastly, if you’re completely new to anime and don’t know where to find stuff, all the series mentioned are on 9anime, zoro.to or you can ask a weeb friend. You probably have one or two and they would likely love to share if you’re interested.. You can also try for movies on those sites but I personally recommend torrenting them. I’m generally an advocate for supporting creators where we can but some of this stuff just isn’t on streaming services and if we’re being really real we can probably chalk up any “losses” to Japan paying for their war crimes…

Alright. with that out the way, let’s get into it.

THIS episode's format is different from the usual, list of stuff consumed this month then stuff consumed before that,, this time it’s all stuff watched this month but split into series and then movies. Also the order isn’t any sort of ranking it’s just the order I happened to watch them in.

Again I haven’t really done too much anime and I already mentioned my fav older watches in Season 1’s Anime solo reprise.. Fairly certain that if i went with that format again It would pretty much be the same lists except most of what I watched that month would move into this month’s older top 5 or so. I also really didn’t want to have to try and balance between series and movies for a top 5 list,, or do any type of ranking tbh,, plus seeing as i haven’t watched all that much anime I feel like my perception’s bound to be changing rapidly at this point..

When I add more to the stack I'll probably make another list but for now you can check out that ramble or read the writeup if you're interested.

[SERIES]

- Gunsmith Cats (1995 OVA, 3 episodes, 30 minutes each)

Picked this up for the shits because I liked the name and wanted to see if it had any relevance to the plot,, plus I'd always seen some 90s anime lofi type beat gifs of it and that made it seem pretty cool. Only 3 episodes. 90 minutes total, and if there was going to be predictably gratuitous fan service then that seemed a fair and tolerable length.

Not bad,, pretty enjoyable even if you don't mind or just wanna see some pulp., As anilist user Wilza put it, girls + cars + guns = fun.

Personally though I prefer media I consume to look good, be enjoyable and also be filling in some way,, but I pretty much knew what I was going into, and again, 90 minutes total. Not a bad appetiser for a whole month of anime.

Spoiler alert. The only relevance the title had to the plot was the main characters owning a store with the same name.. A gun store… idk what I expected…

- Riding bean (1989 OVA, 45 minutes) & Bean bandit (2021 OVA, 8 minutes)

The 1989 Riding Bean is actually the parent of Gunsmith Cats and the 2021 Bean Bandit is supposed to be a kickstarter for a new anime,, if i’m understanding my google search results correctly….

The mc of Gunsmith Cats, Rally Vincent is the partner of the mc here, Bean Bandit. Mostly watched for the Gunsmith Cats relation and the fact that there was less than an hour total length between the two. Also the name, again, had a strange pull on me cause I just still can’t fathom that naming sense and needed to actually see what was up.

Unfortunately I can't say there's much worth mentioning,, The mc is supposed to be a badass courier that has a cool ass car and drives anywhere anyhow but with basically one episode and an advertisement, neither of which were spectacular in any fashion, I couldn't find myself picking up the anything they were putting down. My only real comments are; cool car ig, the main character's chin is insane, like google the guy, bean bandit,,, and it was nice to see Rally again but in a different style… ig…

I encourage everyone to evaluate stuff for themselves but… you can probably let this one pass you…

- Digital juice(2002 OVA, 6 episodes, 3 mins each)

Very cool anthology, no real relation between each episode besides an effort being made to transport you to a different, usually high fantasy world.

Not too much to say barring going into each of the 6 shorts but ain't nobody got the time for that + they were mad short fr. Not even 20 mins length total, so I feel like I literally can’t start speaking on any of them without just about spoiling it entirely.. I will say that I definitely enjoyed all of them though.. Like a 7 on average if I was pressed for a score...

Really diverse animation styles throughout and, at least for me, it was a pretty decent shakeup of my preconceptions as to what anime, meaning Japanese animation, looks like. Highly recommend if you're bored of the same old same old and want a quick shake up.

On that note, this is one of three cool looking unrelated anthologies I wanted to watch this month. Sweat Punch and Short Peace are the other two. If anyone can find them please send them my way.

- Sonny Boy (2021 tv series, 12 episodes)

Wasn’t expecting much going into this, if anything I was expecting some lord of the flies, kids slowly going insane and picking each other off type beat, but I was so off the mark and in the best of ways.

The gist of the story here is that a high school has drifted into another dimension and at the same time, some of the kids start developing powers. With that setup I don’t think you can blame me for thinking this was gonna be another pseudo death game type beat, plus the title Sonny Boy, literally gives nothing away about the show,, but as I said the show went in a completely different direction.

For the most part the students are actually working together to try and get home albeit in their little factions, each having their own ideas about how they should go about that. Their situation was anything but normal and shit never really hit the fan like i expected but shit definitely got weirder and weirder.. But keeping the kids actually behaving like normal kids for the most part was a pretty good choice as it was way easier to relate and empathize with stuff like a class spat leading to people being isolated or god complex student council members, rather than dudes killing each other over who gets the best part of a fucking deserted island or something like that yk?

On that note the cast was great, pretty brilliant actually. Loved pretty much all the dialogue and despite the heavy scifi setup, it was more slice of life leaning a bit into psychological. Kids being kids, they’re gonna have issues yk? Put em in a different dimension, give em powers, kids are still gonna have issues. I think the main thing, was trying to find the place where you belong and the journey to get there, but honestly there was so much going on, so much cool social and existential commentary before and after that became clear, it was phenomenal. All wrapped up in some of the most dope visual direction I’d ever seen in anime.

Definitely highly recommend, honestly feel like i must have missed when it was buzzing cause it’s just so good in every direction I can think of,, my last ditch attempt at selling it would be to say it’s like a cross of the magic school bus and doctor who.. I think watching this as early as I did in the month was a big driving force for me actually trying to watch a bunch more stuff and I'm super thankful…

- Bus gamer (2008 TV series, 3 episodes)

Series about death games are about a dime a dozen but usually an okay time.. You know what you're getting and sometimes they can actually be really good and if not, what's another gratuitous chainsaw massacre?

The story, as with most death games is pretty simple. Different corporations/businesses hire teams of three strangers to steal and protect each other's data for huge sums of money.. As opposed to just getting a safe or investing in tech.. who knows why rich people enjoy toying with the lives of poors.. In any case, outside the games I like the plot point of teams made of strangers as it usually makes it more interesting to see how they pull stuff off.

Just 3 episodes, not that good in any sense plainly speaking. Very abrupt ending as it's based on a cancelled manga so that should tell you… I will say it did have a few cool lines I saved for future use though.

In any case I wasn't expecting much going in, the name just intrigued me. idk even know how I chanced into this. I just saw the name and was just like “are they playing games on a bus? in transit? what's going on?” but no they just play the games wherever..

Very sick op and ed tho I’ll for sure give it that,, and yeah it wasn't great but as hanma yujiro said in Baki son of ogre, if you only consume the good your body will become vulnerable, you have to take the good and the bad in their share to become stronger.

- The Tatami Galaxy series

So so so so so good, and without powers or anything really, just pure brilliance. idek what else to say… Tbh after watching Sonny Boy I thought I’d be lucky to see another series even half as good but I was thankfully blessed with another masterpiece and I’m so grateful.

The Tatami Galaxy series is actually 3 different series and a movie. Not really clearly related in plot but moreso the characters and themes, with each series showing those off in their own way. All thankfully and wonderfully brilliant,, but 4 items is a lot to squeeze in without turning a ramble into a lecture so i’ll try to speak on the general first then brush on the differences of each.

At its core, tatami galaxy is a romantic comedy that we never truly get to see the fruit of as the mc's ceaseless cyclical efforts are barely enough to start up a conversation with a woman…. Felt my dude…. :’^)))

Our mc is a freshman college student hoping to have a rose coloured college life as he's wasted his highschool years, and to that end he tries to join a club for their social circle, and hopefully even find a girlfriend. Sadly for him, but pivotal to the plot, he fails miserably at finding the ever elusive ideal girl and even worse, finds himself with only one so called friend he could call close after two years.

Another common thing were the absolutely stunning visuals which were so beautifully dynamic, in so many ways, it doesn’t even make sense to start listing. (breathe)I think this worked really well with the anthological feel the series gives off as a whole, and even within each individual part. Like the visual direction was almost too perfect man like i know some folks just don’t do slice of life but fr just look at the thing man it’s so beautiful.

btw, having watched all of them I’d say you don’t have to watch any particular one to watch any of the others, or in any particular order. I just read the summaries and decided to watch it in the order i’m about to talk about them in and yes I’d recommend that order but it’s not any strict thing.

Tatami Galaxy (2010 tv series, 11 episodes)

I’d say this is the definitive main branch but again, not something I’d say you have to have to watch before the others.

Here we follow our mc as he thinks back on his past two years of college. Unsatisfying, living alone, and with only one so called friend who he blames for being the cause of his failure to grasp a rose coloured college life. I really liked the gimmick of the story telling where basically every episode he would decide he’s going to join some club for their social circle, find he didn’t like the club’s activities for some reason or the other, meet that same one friend, then end up wasting time for two years. This makes it so that at the end of pretty much every episode he finds himself in some dire social situation that makes getting friends, not to mention a girlfriend, virtually impossible. He curses his fate and wishes he joined a different club because then everything would be different and everything would be awesome, most of all he wouldn’t meet that one guy and he would definitely get a girlfriend. Then the next episode his college life starts all over again and he chooses a different club.

Personally I really love strange loops, and I just couldn’t believe how fun it was to watch the story progress even within said loop. All brilliantly wrapped up and I have to say the second to last episode is some of the greatest episodes of anything I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching.

Tatami Galaxy specials (2010 dvd, 3 episodes, 7 min each)

These are side stories that have virtually nothing to do with the main branch and if nothing else, just gave more screen time to a cast I was completely in love with by this time. I think it could also be first in your watch order if you don’t want to jump into 11 episodes of the main branch, or even in between episodes tbh, as it gives little tastes of the main cast and the kind of antics they get up to. Thankfully keeping the killer visuals I'd come to associate with the series. It was like they knew they already did everything right and just wanted to have some fun.

Tatami Time Machine Blues (2022 ONA, 6 episodes, 17 min each)

Same main cast, same main character having the same problems, but completely different like nothing from the main series ever happened,,, or was somewhere in between, time machines are involved so who knows man, such is life.

This was more on the nose actual time travel as the name implies, as opposed to the original’s recursive reminiscive storytelling,, The art was a little different than the first two i mentioned but the direction was still chef’s kiss. getting into the story of how and why they’re time travelling in the first place would spoil the wonderful ridiculousness of it all and despite everything I’m aware ramblings aren’t usually well received, so I simply highly recommend this..

Night is young, Walk on girl(breathe) (2017 movie, 1hr 30 mins)

This one is completely completely different from the rest as though they all balance the vantage points of the main cast reaaaaally well, this one actually has most of the story coming from the main heroine’s perspective which was reeeaaalllly cool to see after all this time. Also the art is again a little different from the rest but thankfully still with the same utterly beautiful yet playful charm.

I think I'm getting a little repetitive now and I have other things to get to so I won't even give the synopsis but just know, as with all the others, this shit is flames. Source: dude trust me.

Speaking generally on the series again, I loved how the main character’s narration was very like fast and clean cut, almost mechanical as opposed to how he and really the story were actually very whimsical and unstable. Fair warning, the dialogue could be very cutting emotionally and psychologically despite that whimsy, which almost always somehow managed to come from left field, but it all just blended so well, especially with the amazing visual direction. Also absolutely loved the main cast btw, from just their designs to their individual eccentric oddities,, easy 10/10 man

- Ayakashi: Japanese classic horror (2006 tv series, 11episodes)

Not a big horror fan in general, but I can’t deny enjoying the occasional dash of gore and body horror in my media, but something about Japanese horror, specifically their supernatural realm stuff has always been very appealing to me. The diversity, creativity and folklore usually present is just so wild it always makes me wonder, wtf are the Japanese on and how long have they been on it.

That being said this wasn't all that great but it was an anthology of 3 stories, max of four parts each so nothing dragged on too long for me to hate anything. On average the stories themselves weren't bad or anything, actually they were solid enough and to the point but the age in animation showed through in a way that made me feel like I was watching a homemade project or something. But on the other hand, as I'm getting older myself, it did give me a bit of nostalgia for the days of searching through YouTube videos for hours to watch one anime episode split into four parts just to find out they only had 2. Also I thought each story was better than the last tbh, ending with an amazing three parter called Bakeneko, which was just so much different and also better than the first two in every sense, it's almost hard to believe they're from the same series.

If i’m being honest, even though I really dig japanese horror in general I actually mostly watched this series to see that last story as it actually ended up getting its own series called mononoke the following year.. I knew they weren't related but as a completionist I like to complete things yk? For those wondering, no you don't have to watch this series or even the last part, Bakeneko, to watch and enjoy mononoke.

- Mononoke (2007 tv series, 12 episodes)

Technically a spinoff of the previous series but definitely stands out on its own.

Honestly went into this almost to hate watch, for two reasons. One, for the most part I'm a manga purist so my hater self was like "fuck all those fancy shmancy colors n shit, all you need is the good ol black and white and a good story". Secondly I'd never actually seen anyone talk about it outside of thirsting for the mc and aesthetic blogs posting the same few clips so I thought it would’ve just been eye candy, but just from what I saw in Bakeneko I knew I was wrong and was actually really excited to get into this.

The story here is that the mc is a "medicine man". Medicine man in quotes cause we never see this dude sell medicine and tbh it seems like wherever he goes people are about to be or already getting fucked.. But he calls himself a medicine man. Though in reality what he does is exorcise supernatural beings called mononoke. All together the show is split into five multi part stories, each focusing on a particular mononoke.

Now you might be thinking "ohhh brother, not more demon slayin". Trust me I get it man.. I get it… but it's different in that the mononoke are said to come into being because of the misfortune of humans, so they really focus more on solving the mystery of that first creation step for most of the story, rather than physically fighting demons,, which does happen but usually more to the climax of each part., I was expecting to find it getting more and more predictable with the same general outline for each; mc shows up, mononoke shows up, shit hits the fan, MC saves the day, different day, different mononoke. But every story felt so richly unique, less so because of the obviously different mononoke and underlying themes but moreso I think, because of the mix of lengths and pacing which made it hard for even the general layout I described to feel predictable.

The main character was honestly just too brilliant and pretty much everyone, in this very shuffled cast mind you, played their parts so well. Also I said what I said but the eye candy was there and cannot be understated. Loved the horror aspects of course, more creepy than scary though, and really most of the time, the most horrific things were the sequence of events that caused the mononoke to come into existence.

Also a movie should be coming out this year so that's another reason I decided to check this out.

- Yokohama Shopping Log/Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou (1998 OVA, 2 episode, 29 minutes each) & it’s sequel, Yokohama Shopping Log: Quiet Country Cafe/Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou: Quiet Country Cafe) (2002 OVA, 2 episodes, 32 minutes each)

Actually read the manga just over 2 years ago when I was on a slice of life binge and really dug the vibe, was so strangely peaceful I really wanted to see it in motion.

There's no real story tbh, it's literally just vibes, as it comes from a slice of life subgenre called iyashikei, apparently meant to have a healing effect on audiences by showing characters in a calming environment, living out peaceful lives. There's no real grand happenings, but that's really the point. As anilist user c00kiemaster puts it. Finding peace in the mundane, seeing beauty in the damaged.

The setting is one of those very rare post apocalyptic ones that aren’t all sad and hopeless. a little melancholy but that's just the personal disposition of the mc, which makes how healing it is all the more wild.

The two parts cover different parts of the manga but you don't really need to see one to see the other, as I said the plot is minimal and it's more about the setting. They don't cover as much as the manga but I really enjoyed just hearing the wind and watching it blow over the fields, watching the waves crash here and there.. a lone engine revving up then hitting an abandoned road… and the soundtrack is just… so peaceful..

If you want to see stuff happen then this probably isn't for you but it's a great wind down.. The reason I watched it last… If you're trying to get cozy then this is it.

[MOVIES]

- Roujin Z

The plot here is that the ministry of health has developed a new machine to automatically take care of the elderly who can't do so themselves.. Generally a movie needs conflict, so needless to say that didn’t go quite as well as they planned.

This is a Katsuhiro Otomo movie. Fairly certain Otomo’s most popular, or at least his most commonly referenced movie is Akira, but he's also been involved in quite a few other films. I had the pleasure of watching a few anthologies he worked on last year; Robot Carnival, Meikyuu Monogatari and my personal favourite, Memories. These all pretty much stand toe to toe with Akira so I had pretty solid expectations heading into this and they were pretty well met.

Solid cast and great aesthetic as I think most anime fans do, or usually come to expect from Otomo, and also pretty funny. I don't think Otomo's comedy gets enough credit tbh, especially for pulling it off in these usually sci-fi, end of the world, high tension situations. If you check out his anthologies you’ll see he can be a pretty funny guy, and though Kaneda provided a bit of that in Akira, I’d definitely recommend checking out his other work, Stink Bomb, from the Memories anthology to really see what I mean.

- One Piece movies, Stampede and Red

Stampede was sort of cool because we got to see the worst generation all in one place again, though I don't really care for most of them, so it wasn't THAT cool to me. Honestly I find it hard to care for them when it's not like the main story, or even this movie seems to either. Cool looking main enemy with a simple mindset and characterization that plays their role. The only thing I didn't really like is this thing where the main baddie had some connection to Roger or is from that generation. Another movie that did this was One Piece movie Z.

Let me just put out there though that I liked it when they did it in the Strong World movie, because the antagonist there, Shiki, was actually canon and one of Roger's greatest rivals besides Whitebeard. So being the first movie post time skip, it really hit to see Luffy go head to head with someone like that, but also because of that,, pulling any other character from that era doesn't make much sense to me seeing as Luffy beat THE Golden Lion Shiki and has only gotten stronger since then. That being said I recognise Luffy's win over Shiki was a once in a lifetime ass pull but it's a movie you know,, cool once in a lifetime shit is kinda supposed to happen.. unlike his asspull win vs a certain Katakuri… which I'm evidently still salty about to this day.

One thing I really appreciated though was usopp's role in this movie. After spending 2 years on such island during the timeskip, being trained by a dude named Heracles, he's supposed to be a real yute now yk, but in the main series we haven't gotten it all that much.. Thankfully he was for really really real here, like all real ones know god usopp to be… also shout out warlord turned yonko genius buggy one time…

Red

Wasn't expecting much from this movie tbh. If you're a One Piece fan then you know Shanks is the biggest tease in franchise history, so despite all the ads and previews alluding to his supposed involvement, I knew he would show up for like 5 minutes, say a few words and maybe swing his sword once. Which was pretty on the mark,, but I didn't expect to love it as much as I did nonetheless. Probably the second most emotional one piece film after one piece movie 6: Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island.

- Lupin III: The First

That might be a little hard to follow for folks who don’t know the character but his name is Arsené Lupin the third and the movie title is The First.

Gonna just go with the anilist description here and say the story centres on Lupin teaming up with a woman named Leticia to steal the Bresson Diary, a treasure that even the first generation Arsène Lupin could not steal., Simple heist plot but this shit was so damn cool, the craziest thing is that Lupin just looks like kinda dorky idk but he just so smooth with it. Not to be outshined by his gang that’s not quite a gang, all utterly killing their respective roles of sword, charm, gun and somehow funnily enough the law.

I had unreasonably high expectations heading into this tbh, firstly because of the crisp animation I'd seen in trailers. Secondly, because after watching my first lupin movie last year, the blood spray of goemon ishikawa, and being absolutely blown out of the water, I unreasonably expected them to easily produce another master class. Thankfully I was not disappointed in the least, all my expectations were far surpassed and I'm even more excited to watch the rest of the movies and get into the main series.

- Millennium actress

A Satoshi Kon movie. If his name doesn’t ring a bell his other movies, Perfect Blue and Paprika usually do for anime fans and regardless i’d recommend them.

The story here is that a documentary film maker is interviewing a legendary actress that disappeared at the height of her career. Like most Satoshi films I've seen till this point, it neatly blends the lines between illusion and reality but this is still the first normal Satoshi Kon movie I've seen until this point. Very touching and ironically down to earth given the intentional blurring of reality by the characters themselves. I definitely preferred this to both perfect blue and paprika, I think mostly because of how whimsical the fantasies of the characters were here, as opposed to the darker more dissective nature of Perfect Blue and Paprika. I mean those were pretty solid movies but I guess that’s how it usually goes? Like yh what a wicked and ironic comment bro, now try saying something true and beautiful… still solid movies but yh..

- Angel’s Egg

This was actually my 3rd attempt to watch this movie in like 4yrs. Still don't know what I watched so I couldn't even give you a real synopsis. And I still can't figure why it seems so highly rated.. I definitely get that it's aesthetically pleasing, Yoshitaka Amano having done the art. but there's like 10 lines of dialogue,, and sure there's some cool existential bits but that's like 3 out of the 10 lines. To each their own but man… idk…

- Tokyo godfathers

Another Satoshi Kon film, actually didn’t realise until I started it and saw the art and was like, “is this Satoshi?” And yh it was Satoshi.

The plot here is three homeless folks find an abandoned baby girl on Christmas eve and try to reunite her with her mother. No fantasy or anything really, just some very real shit, teared up and almost cried at one bit tbh. Brilliant visual direction as expected but I actually found the sound direction a bit odd idk,,. Still, it easily became my fav Satoshi Kon movie like half hour in.

And that’s it for stuff watched this month, much love and thanks if you're still here, I'm gonna ramble a little bit more after this but the main part of the episode is done now so,, love and peace and safe travels 🤞🏿

[seishirology]

BAROU SHOEI + BOYFRIEND HEADCANONS

request : hii, I love your headcanons and you make them fit the character so well!! So I was wondering if I could request some Baro boyfriend hcs?? Thank you <3 includes : barou A/N ; my opinions only!! sorry it took so long I'm having problems with my posts. atm masterlist

SHOEI BAROU

big sigh. I'm honestly not going to lie his whole personality was so much more different from what I had originally thought at first. he's a lot like dot/daht(?) from mashle: muscles and magic and it's really funny how they grow as characters.

anyways we all know that he's a perfectionist, and he likes to have everything planned down to the littlest detail, so I think that if you're going to date him you're going to have to be willing to be flexible. depending on how long your relationship has been going on he's less likely to build his schedule around you if you haven't been together for too long. however if you've been together for a strong year at the very least he'll occasionally make sure to make time in his day for the both of you.

I think he'll treat you like every other person, but the thing is he cares about you so it isn't like him being domineering because he wants to control every aspect of your life. He'll plan out what you should eat, maybe he'll even cook for you and say that he just happened to think of you and it wasn't like he was trying to go out of his way to make you happy.

He doesn't seem to be a big fan of pda or physical affection in general, he prefers to simply spend time with you. but he does like to hold you while you're sleeping or while he tells you about his day or vice versa. He likes to watch you sleep, but not in a creepy way. It's more like he likes to simply enjoy the fact that you trust him enough to be this vulnerable with him. not just that but ur a cutie yk

one of the ways he shows his adoration or love for you is by working out with you, or simply doing stuff with you that he would usually do alone. he likes having you by his side, and that's why he's such a sucker for couple activities. it's because you're just so important to him that any time he can he will spend that time with you.

if he ever meets your parents you're honestly not even going to have to explain much. because as unruly as he may be personality-wise, barou isn't a monster. he shows up to your parent's house with housewarming gifts. he flatters your mother and impresses your father with his muscles lol.

hates children. claims that he will punt the next kid who breathes his way, but whenever you see him with a child he's treating them like they're his own. he comforts them awkwardly when they're crying, patting their back while mumbling words of affirmation and promises to find their parents. if you have little siblings, he's gonna pretend not to like them but he's going to let them ride on his shoulders, he'll play ball with them, and might even give them a taste of his workout routine.

listens to all of the playlists that you make for him if you do. he'll heart it, and listen to it with whatever activity you've made it for. if you made it for his workout routine, he'll listen to it then. when he's practicing, cooking, cleaning, anything simply because it reminds him of you. he might even make one for you if you beg for it.

He likes to clean, a lot, so he has mixed feelings on your room if it's clean. on one hand he wants to make your room tidy, it's one of his ways of showing that he loves you. however if it's messy he'll scold you while he fold your shirts and makes you put them away. either way please leave him some clothes to fold so that he can show his appreciation for u.

when you guys go shopping together he stays in the soap area, where the detergent, sponges, swishers, where those appliances are. which means you have to do the real shopping of looking around and buying food not just cleaning supplies. in these instances his face looks the same as usual except his eyes are shiny with excitement.

actually doesn't cry when watching disney movies, he has watery eyes but never lets the tears fall. it's not toxic masculinity but rather he doesn't want to seem like a liar because he said he's never cried except for when he was born.

doesn't use petnames but if you want him to use them the best he comes up with is sponge. he calls you the name of his favourite sponge brands or simply just sponge as it is. literally before he left he called you and his last words were, "bye scrub daddy." and then hung up on you before you could say anything. actually hates being called stuff like honey or baby because he claims that he's "not a baby nor a jar of honey".

when you say something weird he side-eyes you the way dogs do. he just stares at you in disappointment when you say the dumbest shit. will not join you, because that is not main character energy. I feel like even though he may hold the most braincells with you he loses them twice as fast as he would with the blue lock boys.

does not take you out on dates. at least not anymore, because before he would take you out once every two weeks because he planned them out very specifically. but then one time you guys bumped into nagi and the gang, and he had to pay for them as well as you. so now you guys just watch movies at home with homemade popcorn.

if you want him to help you with your homework i think he's the only one who will be of help. passes every final he's taken with flying colours but doesn't rub it in your face. he just brings it up every once in a while when you complain about your homework so you'll ask him because he doesn't want to be the one to initiate it. he's shy you guys.

if you ever make pudding for him, he will appreciate it forever and anything he does will never be on the same level as that. especially when he's sick it reminds him of the good memories he had when his mom made it for him when he was young.

doesn't let you touch the 'x' on the side of his head after that one time you said you would cut the 'x' for him at home. he's never let you near his hair with a pair of scissors after that. however he lets you braid his hair though, he likes the feeling of you hands in his hair.

doesn't kiss you. doesn't hold your hand. and doesn't call you anything other than your name or sponge(and brands). he seems like a traditional man to me, and premaritally hand holding is a big no-no for him. although it is just a joke.

loves his mother to pieces. so if you don't treat his mother well he's gonna dump you. furthermore if you treat your parents poorly he's not gonna give you a second look. Although his standards are impossible to fulfill he doesn't care about the other stuff if you treat his mother well. he's hearing wedding bells the moment he sees you treating your parents well.

loves you a lot, but is kind of like a second mother. he's very quiet, and might be domineering but that's just bc he's the real main character not isagi. 8/10 experience tbh, but the side eye he gives is something that would haunt me forever tbh.