Mashe gets a rude introduction to his classmates in Mashle Episode 3. However, not much fazes him, as the muscles in his brain aren’t as strong as the ones in his body!
Mashle Episode 3 Overview
Mashle is an action, adventure, and comedy anime produced as a part of the Spring 2023 season of anime. The show is based on a Shounen Jump manga written and drawn by Hajime Koumoto. The show is being directed by Tomoya Tanaka, whose previous contributions to the industry include directing episodes of Hunter x Hunter and helming Engage Kiss.
The show is being produced and animated by studio A-1 Pictures, a prolific studio in the industry known for titles like Sword Art Online, Kaguya-sama: Love Is War and Fairy Tail. The show is also called Mashle Magic and Muscles, and thus, this episode is also called Mashle Magic And Muscles Episode 3. Click here to read the review of the previous episode of the show!
– Mashle Magic And Muscles Episode 3 Review does not contain spoilers –
Mashle Episode 3 Review- Now, Where Have I Seen This Before
I know we made a mention of the Harry Potter series in one of the previous write-ups about this, and I meant to let it go there as that media property deserves to be forgotten as much as anything that has ever been created. However, the similarities to the world of Hogwarts in this show can not be overstated. The first scene of this particular episode saw the students hover their hands over a broom and say “up”, which then led to a broom-based competition that our protagonist won.
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That is not it. The teacher taking the class bore a striking resemblance to Minerva McGonagall and is apparently the charms and the broom teacher. Now, I get that the Harry Potter series is the most popular work of fiction ever written that features wizards, and there are bound to be some similarities and comparisons to anything that comes after it, but come on. However, that is not even a valid complaint to make here as Mashle Episode 3 was trying to parody that particular scene from the first Harry Potter movie, so it was supposed to be similar.
So what were the last two paragraphs about if there is nothing to complain about? Well, here is the thing- parodies are supposed to be either smart, funny, or both, and this was neither. The show did the barest minimum it could do to introduce the villain/rival characters and build up the world that it desperately needs to at the moment. I know judging a comedy show to the highest of standards isn’t exactly fair, but we live in an age where supposedly comedy shows like Kaguya-Sama and Bocchi have raised the bar for the genre very high.
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This was an extremely mediocre episode. The story of it relied upon Mash being naive enough to fall for the newly introduced villain, Lloyd’s tricks and fells into doing menial work for him. There was also a half-hearted bit included about Mash’s roommate Finn being forced to do something similar, but that went by so quickly and had so little impact that one wonders what the point of it was. The situation ended just as you would expect, with a new rivalry being born and Mash doing something physical to get out of things.
Just being physical wasn’t enough this time around, however, as Mash just physically beat the hell out of several people here. One of them didn’t even deserve it yet. It is safe to say that despite it only being Mashle Episode 3, I am already getting sick of the show’s formula. There needs to be a shake-up really soon that makes the show start telling a real story instead of just parodying what came before because it is obvious that the show isn’t good at parodies.
Verdict
Mashle Episode 3 wasn’t very good. All the things that it tried, whether it be parody, comedy, or action, did not work at all, and it is apparent that the show needs a new direction.
Click here to read the review of the next episode!