Magic and muscle maker Hajime Komoto
The ending of the Mashle: Magic and Muscles manga has been pushed further over the horizon by Mashle manga creator Hajime Komoto. The Harry Potter parody of Shonen Jump was once thought to be nearing its final arc and chapter, but now Komoto says there’s more to Mash Burnedead’s story.
In August 2021, the author’s notes in the Afterword section of Mashle Volume 7 claimed the entire story was about halfway through. That part ended with chapter 72, which would have meant that Mashle’s last chapter would have been around chapters 140 to 150 of Mashle part 14.
Fast-forward to March 2022, and Mashle Volume 10’s Afterword retracted that claim. Komoto even apologized for “lying” about the series being so short.
Is a Mashle anime announcement possible?
The series, serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine since January 2020, was from March 4, 2022 until Mashle: Magic and Muscles Volume 10. VIZ Media is publishing the English translation of the Mashle manga in North America and against November 2022 it will be recorded up with part 9.
In 2021, the Mashle manga was 11 out of 50 for manga series nominated for the Next Manga Awards. It was also nominated for the shonen category of the 67th Shogakukan Manga Award and was featured on Nationwide Bookstore Employees’ 2021 Featured Comics.
From the end of February 2022, the Mashle manga Reportedly had more than 3 million copies in circulation. By comparison, the Spy x Family manga reached that milestone in Volume 4, but that level of popularity is highly unusual for manga series that didn’t already have an anime adaptation.
Speaking of which, a Mashle anime seems very likely. At Jump Festa 2022, Shueisha celebrated the Mashle manga series by releasing a promotional video trailer (PV) for Mashle Volume 9.
The Mashle trailer has animated certain manga scenes with art from the comic. The theme song was “Even If The World Turns Against Us”, performed by Tenipuri All Stars.
It even seemed to tease the possibility of a Mashle: Magic and Muscles anime, as it featured Japanese voice actors Natsuki Hanae as Mash Burnedead and Yuki Kaida as Abyss. Hanae is known for voicing Tanjiro Kamado in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Ken Kaneki in Tokyo Ghoul, Vanitas in The Case Study of Vanitas, and Falco in Attack On Titan: Final Season. Kaida was Shuusuke Fuji in Prince of Tennis and Kurapika in Hunter x Hunter.
Hajime Komoto Changing Your Mind Isn’t So Unusual
Mashle is Komoto’s first series, so unsurprisingly, he originally planned it to end relatively soon, but then the story realized was popular need more to finish well. It’s also not that uncommon for manga creators to drastically change their plans.
Yuki Tabata, the creator of Black Clover mangas, had initially talked about making his series as long as Naruto’s 700 chapters. But then, in April 2022, he announced that the march to the… The end of Black Clover manga is said to kick off with a final arc starting in the summer of 2022.
It is intended that Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece will end “within the next 5 years” for the past 20 years. The end of the Chainsaw Man manga would fall within 100 chapters, but the release date of Chainsaw Man Part 2 was in the summer of 2022. The end of the My Hero Academia manga would be in Volume 30 (and not multiple MHA movies contain), but instead that series went into the final arc/saga.
Why the story of the Mashle manga should be longer
In Japanese stories, there is a four-company structure known as Kishōtenketsu.
- Ki: Introduction
- Shō: Development
- Ten: Twist (complication)
- Ketsu : Conclusion (reconciliation)
During the Twist phase, the story takes an unexpected turn and contains the yama, or climax, of the story. For long-running manga series, the story may go through the development and spin phases multiple times, especially if the plot is designed around multiple sagas.
The story of the Mashle manga is apparently still in the development phase. It started out as a prank comedic twist on the Harry Potter premise where Mash beat up wizards with overwhelming One Punch Man-esque power and obsessed with cream buffs.
But the premise also contains a core for an epic Shonen adventure. In order to survive in a magical world, despite being born without magic, the beginning of the manga states that Mash must become a Divine Visionary at Easton Magic Academy. This is a necessity for survival, not just a life dream or goal like many Shonen protagonists.
In Harry Potter, the wizarding world largely looks down on Muggles, but few were like Grindelwald or Voldemort. Likewise, Asta’s lack of magic at the beginning of Black Clover initially held him back, but he was not banned from society.
In the world of Mashle, the ruling magical society literally deems it necessary to exterminate those born without magic. Considered a blot on the world, Mash just wants to live in peace with his family, but he is forced to fight to keep his simple life.
The Mashle plot can be developed much further now that he has risen up against the elite society and the system they support by forging a magical sign and infiltrating the school. He has already avoided execution by the Bureau of Magic and the Divine Visionary Selection Exam Arc ended in Chapter 74.
Despite the revelation about Mash’s father, Mashle manga readers have yet to see Mash’s other siblings and more of the Divine Visionaries. The gods have been summoned, but they can play a greater role as they bestow magic on humans. It would be a cheap move, but the manga could also introduce Four-Liners.
The ultimate goal of the Mashle series could be the restoration of today’s magical society, as Adam Jobs envisioned. He was the teacher of Wahlberg and Innocent Zero and the founder of the Bureau of Magic. Before his death, Adam urged the public help of those who could not use magic so that Mash could fight this corrupt society and even the gods themselves to restore what was lost.
We’ll just have to wait and see where the ending of the Mashle manga takes readers. Let’s also hope a Mashle anime release date is just around the corner. Stay tuned!
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