Mashle: Magic and Muscleshas been gaining a lot of attention as of late, and certainly much more due to the recent episode. While at first portraying itself as an action-comedy fantasy anime, with a protagonist whose feats and amazing skills border on comedic to the absurd, it doesn’t fail to portray itself in a way that is appealing to the general audience as a Shonen. Part of this appeal would have to be its character Mash and his group of friends, however, its antagonists have ranged from episodic or only lasting two episodes to be never mentioned again. That is until the latest episode, episode 7, season 1. We have been introduced to the Lang Dorm’s Magia Lupus, a group of students eager to take something of Mash’s importance that will dictate the first of many battle arcs and shonen-focused displays of power.
Earlier inMashle: Magic and Muscles,Mash had been informed by the great grandmaster about the importance of becoming a Divine Visionary, a magician that has accrued multiple gold coins in the schools reward system, and manages to succeed a Divine Visionary process examination. However, before heading over to the examination, Mash is encouraged to work on his grades and feats in extracurricular activities to gain more gold coins. In one of the previous episodes, Mash had come into contact against someone who tried to steal his gold coin. Eventually, it is revealed that this same student is working with one of the three major dorms of Easton Magic Academy; and that the dorms top students are looking to monopolize these gold coins for the purpose of becoming a divine visionary. One of these antagonists has immense power, and is amore focused singular antagonistover the course of an arc. The puppet master of the Lang Dorm, Abel Walker, certainly fits the bill as a whole.
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Abel Walker’s Goal And Methods
Mashle: Magic and Musclesso far has focused a lot on singular antagonists over the course of episodic arcs, but Abel Walker is the first antagonist who poses a real threat to Mash’s goal of becoming the Divine Visionary. After all, Abel Walker isn’t a rogue student trying to put Mash down, or even a teacher looking to fail Mash. Instead, he’s after the gold coin which Mash earned in the last episode; and therefore is a direct threat to Mash as a result. Abel Walker as anantagonist is simple, if fitting for the purposesof fighting against mash’s ideology. Especially since Abel believes that humanity as a whole is evil and thrives off of the strong weeding out the weak.
Abel’s goal is of course to become the divine visionary, and to do that he needs to amass multiple gold coins in order to be eligible for the Divine Visionary Exam. However, his methods make him a threat not just to Mash and his group, but also to the other dorms involved in Easton Magic Academy. The Magia Lupus have been implied to individually be targeting students with gold coins and taking them through either under-handed means or fair duels. Either way, the Magia Lupus seem toconsist of powerful sorcerersthat can get away with this sort of behavior due to them following the rules of the system. Immediately, this cements Abel as a real potential threat to the story’s progression, as well as cementing himself as an antagonist to Mash.
His Powers And Potential Backstory
So far, with what little we’ve seen of Abel Walker’s abilities, his magical abilities revolve around being able to use puppets or turn other students to puppets themselves with magic strings. This makes him a formidable threat considering that if Mash gets caught by these threads, it is likely he will be transformed into a puppet without any resistance. Of course, with the absurd amount of luck and strength that Mash has at his disposal, it is most likely that Mash will findsome way to counteract the opponent.However, the interest of Abel Walker vs. Mash Burnedead is that it is a complete turnaround of the concept that Mash will face opponents even he will have difficulty with. This warning by the headmaster of Easton Magic Academy comes around in the form of Abel Walker.
Despite all that,Mashle: Magic and Musclesisn’t a Shonen that would make an entire arc based on one antagonist that wouldn’t have a backstory for why he is the way he is, and especially due to his philosophy of life. With what little we know about him, something must have reinforced his belief in humanities evil and the inherent superiority of two-liners or three-line magicians in the world ofMashle: Magic and Muscles.It is most likely that near the end of season 1, we may learn more about Abel’s backstory and how it relates to the world at large. Whetherhe’s a sympathetic villain, or a purely antagonistic forcefor the entire series remains to be seen. However, this doesn’t mean that the show hasn’t provided the audience a first taste into its worlds greater problems or issues. Hinting at a possible darkness behind it that could threaten the world ofMashle. For now, it’s a matter of waiting and seeing what happens with Abel first, and whether Mash can stand up to the plate against this new challenge.
