apopoi's manga / #without magic(1)

Mashle: Magic and Muscles

Ongoing | Hajime komoto | 2019 released

Aaahh! I thoroughly enjoyed this. If we were to rank mangas on the level of enjoyment it gave us, it would be a 10/10. The plot itself is not the forefront of the story, it's the characters, the gags, the side tangents, the impossible physics of it all. Everything is illogical, it is not realistic at all. The mass absurdity of everything is at such a level that u kind of leave all your apprehension behind and just enjoy it. The MC is 'One punch man' and 'Mob Psycho' mixed into one. The former because of the physical strength and the latter because of the character design. I am certain the author heavily draws inspiration from the two. The MC is OP as hell and grows at an unprecedented level, like he just powers up without any apparent reason. Even God is shocked at Mash for his strength. Cream buns are his lifeline and his subtle shade gives me life. Poking fun at other shounen mangas while at it is also another element that I appreciate. It is a parody afterall. Sister complex on steroids is essentially Lance. Like that bro breathes in air from his little sister, Anna. He has pins of his sister all over his body and gets literal whiplash when seeing her face. I do think Mash comes second to him with maybe the hot-blooded Dot following suit. Ah! Dot and his dynamic is worth exploring. At first I think Lance just puts up with him because of Mash so they always butt-heads with eo but when they fought the third brother, it was the moment Lance actually acknowledged him. "I will fight for your sister's sake as well", he said. The brothers are also interesting though they are one-dimensional. The first is the most interesting to me because he has a principle he follows, the second is just a nut-job with a bit of an inferiority complex (?), The third who btw looks the oldest, he looks like a typical middle-aged Japanese business man, is arguably the most insane one to me, he believes in Puddingology, creates potions sucking life and magic energy from people. Which is why Lance lost his cool since Anna suffered from that. The fourth..hmmm..who was it again? He escapes me..I guess he was the least memorable. Oh! He fought against the siblings..Raynes and Finn. The Fifth..Dominas was born in the same year as Mash and possess the most magic energy out of all the siblings...it doesn't mean he is the most powerful (just in terms of magic). What else? He has a bit of a redemption scene..he craved his father's love and would do anything to obtain it. So he was unsettled when he came across the kind of love that Mash and his pops had for eo. He envied them. He used his last magic energy he had left to stall for time for Mash's recovery. The pops isn't that interesting..did it say he is 75 years old now? Mash is only fifteen as of now so that's a big gap. Maybe that's also the reason he is so doting towards him, he scolds him but then easily forgives him when Mash seems like he regrets his actions. Mash never learns from it tho. He doesn't know if the door should be pulled or pushed up until now. If it were grounded in reality, I would worry that Mash would've had to see his pops die. Considering that he spends most of his time in the academy and only goes home during holidays, he doesn't have a lot of time together with his pops. The one who made Mash attend the academy coming to truly care for Mash was heartwarming indeed.