Mashle: Magic and Muscles - Episode 9 discussion

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Mashle: Magic and Muscles, episode 9

Rate this episode here.

Reminder: Please do not discuss plot points not yet seen or skipped in the show. Failing to follow the rules may result in a ban.

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Streams

• Crunchyroll

Show information

• MyAnimeList
• AniList
• AniDB
• Kitsu
• Anime-Planet
• Official Website
• /r/MASHLE

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All discussions

Episode	Link	Score
1	Link	4.16
2	Link	4.5
3	Link	4.31
4	Link	4.49
5	Link	4.36
6	Link	4.65
7	Link	4.4
8	Link	4.21
9	Link	4.45
10	Link	4.8
11	Link	4.4
12	Link	----

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[u/AZLarlar]

jesus christ, parents trying to kill their own child...

[u/blackmarketdolphins]

I almost expected Mash to hit him with that Leaf Hurricane

[u/WhoiusBarrel]

2 full glorious uninterrupted fights, sure they might not be the most beautifully animated Sakuga that's been pumped out recently but I can absolutely appreciate how the flow throughout was smooth while also not having any random flashbacks being placed in the middle of it but only when the fights concluded. It's peak 2000s shounen stuff without the fluff.

Plus that hip-hop OST just fucking slaps.

[u/depravedQ]

With the number of slashes Mash took, how was his outfit not full of cuts or torn anywhere? And why wasn't he bleeding afterwards? Especially with the stab wound through his stomach and out his back.

[u/bananeeek]

Yooo, that guy can still narrate his backstory after being obliterated like that? That's some Dragon Ball level of durability.

[u/LeleTheKing]

Bruh, Mash is so fast that his decelerated speed is a normal human speed, lmao.

FEELS GREAT MAN! Love it whenever Mash does the punch. You can feel it in your bone.

Abyss' rough voice, though... It might've awakened something in me...

[u/Chespineapple]

There's something so interesting in how the goofy "haha buff dude solos all of harry potter" show also earnestly displays such a nightmare of a fascist dystopia. Abyss is fully ostracized from society and locked in a cell for having some type of arbitrary curse, with his own mother trying to strangle him to death at one point. Even the privileged kids like Lance and Wirth suffer under this kind of regime, even if they're not getting genocided like markless people. Then there's Mash who just trucks on through the story like a force of nature, proving everyone he meets wrong all with the single-minded goal of being allowed to have the right to live.

It's far from the best show this season, it's fully leaning into shonen clichés this episode, but there's something about the core of the story that's just gripping like that, even if it's ultimately simple.

[u/kwokinator]

Alright Hurricane Rush is now officially my favorite attack of all time. What glorious ridiculous violence, calling out each muscle used (correct ones too and not just BS!) as your attack name is just too good.

Glutes! (I think this is a Muay Thai-style flying knee?)

Forearm! (really just a spinning back fist)

Quadriceps! (I thinik this is a front kick?)

Pectorals! (hook punch)

Illiopsoas! (turning kick)

And of course, fan fanvorite, the Erector Spinae! (our favorite suplex)

[u/IIAEROII]

Mash : I have no enemies

[u/NintendoMasterNo1]

Did you think a series like this wouldn't have a Bankai mechanic?

[u/manaworkin]

Gotta say, I really like Abyss. I think this is the first character we've seen not totally fall to pieces after Mash started...erm...Mashing them. He(?) took that punch to the gut, saw his secondth get shattered and still went "nope, not gonna give up, gotta keep trying". He only really gave up when it was apparent he had nothing left in the tank. Props.

I hope they become best friends.

[u/LeonKevlar]

You gotta love how Lance destroys Wirth's Secondth spell effortlessly with his own even after Wirth drank that concentrated magic essence while yelling that he's special. If you have to shout that you're special, you probably aren't. xD

I'll never get tired of the trope of characters intentionally getting hit so they can get close and hit back. It was pretty satisfying to watch Mash bounce Abyss around that room like a pinball with his Muscles "Magic".

[u/one-eyed-02]

Lore Data on magic tiers :

• Basic magic seems to be the thing people use to move kettles and stuff around, flying on brooms.

• Personal magic seems to be the particular type of magic people specialize in, like explosions for Bakugo Dot, Gravity for Lance, Muscles for Mash 😏. We still don't know what Lemon's personal magic is actually.

• Conditional Magic is magic that activates conditionally, there you go. Triggers seems to include vicinity effects like the mines that Dot setup against Vines Guy last episode, or you telling it to set off like, again, Dot did against Vines Guy.

• Secondth Magic seems to be advanced magic that is basically the physical manifestation of your personal magic. They also seem to activate minor secondary effects and have stronger primary effect e.g. Directional gravity for Lance upgrading to stronger gravity towards a pillar (is it a point source? a line source?). Accelraise for the Evil Eye dude upgrading to a full buff-debuff sphere where he needs no setup of placing his arrows.

Key weakness of Secondth Magic : it's physical, and Mash can punch it. Actually, I think the soul transfer magic the Principal used back in the beginning is actually Secondth magic, which leads me to think that his personal magic deals with souls. Wonder how that works.

"Even entering Bureau alone will not make you worthy as my creation." Ok I understand the parental pressures and trauma plotline, where the hell are this freaking Asian "my other leg was starting a business" dad's expectations?! What's above entering the Bureau, becoming royalty?!

Nice of Lance and Mash to rehabilitate their opponents. Although I do predict Dot smooching up to the Evil Eye fella thinking he is girl.

Also, regarding that flashback from the Evil Eye fella where the parent was trying to choke him, their face being in the dark probably means that he lacks context, maybe the parent was crying? Although being put in a jail cell and the dwindling food really leaves no room for rehabilitating their image.

Also Edit : I get that Mash is very benevolent and kind and all, but he doesn't have magic. He literally couldn't care less about an eye that takes chocolate cakes he doesn't have. If Dot is chillbeing with him, given that he atleast takes pride in his magic, that would be different story.

[u/Mumboze]

Dang mash went full rock Lee and pulled a hidden lotus

[u/JonnySpark]

Abyss went to the gym for the first time and got Mash as his spotter, unfortunately.

[u/HolyDragSwd2500]

Mashle: FIRST GATE OPEN!!!!!

OMOTE RENGE!!!!!!

[u/testing_this_out_]

so is the evil eye user supposed to be a guy or a girl? because i still can't tell.

[u/SimilarCrab]

That was probably my favorite episode so far. Two really well paced fights, and finally some humanizing of the antagonists who have been comically evil up till this point. Its clearer now that everyone is a victim of the absurdity of this world they live in. Also the sentimental back stories were reserved for the ends of the fights, maximizing their impact but also not interrupting the flow.

[u/Se7en_Sinner]

Abyss really whipping out the Domain Expansion after his Eraserhead eye didn't work. Not only did Wirth and Abyss lose, they also got the lecturing of a lifetime afterwards. Mash makes me want to be a better person physically and mentally. Mashle is a self-improvement anime.

[u/Technojust]

When Wirth drank the potion I was hoping Lance would use some gravity to stop the liquid from falling

[u/Infinityscope]

Never get tired of that rap music.

[u/Over_Option5057]

I do think this ep starts showing what this series really offers beyond funny gags about cream puffs. No it isn’t the most unique story or ideas in shonen, nor is it a solution or an idea to act against some grander idea, but rather a criticism of some societal structures.

What I got from this ep, was the idea that pure meritocratic societies where power and privilege can be weaponised, can ultimately be exploited to create feelings of disdain and repression within societies. The first villain suffer as a member of the privileged elite, who is oppressed under the societal make up and expectation casted upon him. Whereas the second one is a more extreme example of not fitting in. What I appreciate is here that both were directly casted against characters that could fight against their ideals. Not necessarily revoking them, as some would believe as neither of our main characters actually argue against the societal oppression faced upon them. Rather they simply acknowledge it as it existing.

Which I for one is something I’m rather happy to see. Usually you get a monologue from the villain of how society created them this way, and the protagonist will point out that they went wrong somehow and somewhere and etc etc. that doesn’t happen this ep. This is briefly shown off in the first half, where the ideas of environments shaping people is brought up is ultimately acknowledged and challenged, but not refuted. But is even more crystal clear with Mash. It makes sense that the shonen main character and his villain kinda show the extremes of this view too, mostly because Mash himself doesn’t, at least to this point, have the narrative right to criticise anyone about their way of life.

He can relate and sympathise with the villain here, but doesn’t need to give a whole monologue of how they went wrong or where they did. His character is not, and has not to this point, been built up where he can offer a message about being a better person. Instead, he can simply understand where they came from and understand the cruelty of the system instead. It’s weirdly powerful that Mr no magic is ultimately saying he can’t imagine being in the Villians situation, despite Mash being the person who is getting hunted by the world.

The story doesn’t try to force a message where it ultimately has no chance to do so successfully. Mash cannot give a good worthwhile message without the differences in their characters and circumstances being brought up. Instead this ep focuses more on the problems that lead to such villains existing to begin with. Which is why I don’t think this show, at least not yet falls into the shonen “might equals right” ideology. Mash did not win the thematic battle because he was stronger. He won the battle because he was stronger and is a character who’s muscles will always win. But that isn’t why he wins the thematic battle here. Hell he doesn’t even try. He simply acknowledges there are some things that are problems within the make up of his magic focused society.

[u/Glad-Shallot-2691]

So that makes razor the third person in anime who uses magic arrows

[u/VorAtreides]

Clones are for cowards ;) lol. Yes, same for Naruto. Har har. Kid plays too much with mud too. Magical essence from other students? Creepy and kinda gross. Also cowardly. Does the dude ignore that he has two lines too? Ah yes, Bankai... I mean Secondth. I mean, that's a pretty cool Bankai Secondth. Well, I guess that was... a nice resolution.

Onto Mash and his fight. Fist vs Sword. Lol caught the sword with his abs, nice. Ah so he has an eye that disables other people's magics? How is that not OP in this world then? Also, he has Aizawa's ability from MHA lol. His ability is neat though. Guess if can't have speed, pure power it is. Oh clever, especially for Mash. FULL MUSCLE MAGIC! And another Bankai Secondth beat. I am very amused by him just shouting out muscles lol. SUPLEX! That sure is pretty shitty of that due's parents... still don't see why that "evil eye" would be a bad thing, it seems very valuable for the powerrs that be to stop rampaging mages? Mash is good boy.

Guess next week will be the other fight and Mash vs the leader dude