REVIEW: ‘Mashle: Magic And Muscles,’ Episode 7 — “Mash Burnedead And The Puppet Master”

After overcoming the dangers that confronted him in the forest, Mash accidentally stumbled into the home of the scheming students who sought to claim all the gold coins for themselves, the Magia Lupis. With Mash in their clutches, will our hero be able to escape with his gold coin in Mashle: Magic And Muscles Episode 7? What am I talking about? Of course, he is.

My struggles with this series continue as we see more apparent obstacles placed in Mash’s way, only for them to be effortlessly cast aside. From the opening challenge to the closing moments, this episode delivers little that viewers won’t see coming. This amplifies the show’s biggest shortcoming, as there is a moment where it sets up a challenge for its protagonist to be at a genuine disadvantage, only to bail on the idea at the last moment.

Mashle: Magic And Muscles Episode 7 picks up right where last week left off. Mash’s opening confrontation is largely disjointed, as his verbal exchange with the Magia Lupis leader, Abel Walker, consists of two entirely different conversations happening, as Mash fails to understand anything Abel tells him. The physical confrontation that pits Mash’s muscles against Abel’s magic for the former’s gold coin almost becomes interesting till Mash’s plot armor sucks all the potential from the moment. Props for coming up with an interesting explanation for how Mash manages to get out of this tight predicament, but that creativity doesn’t overcome the reinforcement that Mash is simply unstoppable, and no one should even bother to attempt to beat him.

Bringing a bit of good to the narrative is a moment taken to shine another light on Mash’s quality as a person. His kindness to others has always been his most endearing trait, and the fact that he extends it to all gives the character something to like about him. Getting to see his kindness impact those around him is also a lovely sentiment. I wish kindness in the real world could yield such swift and fruitful results.

Following these events, Mashle: Magic And Muscles Episode 7 jumps back to Mash and Finn’s dorm room, where an impromptu meeting is forming as some of his classmates attempt to come together to discuss their current situation. Of course, rather than being productive, this scene simply boils back down to each character repeating the same quirks and focuses they have leaned on since their introduction. Dot expresses his dislike for Lance due to his perceived superiority, Lance condescends to Dot, and Finn acts nervous as he does. Despite these characters not even being in that many episodes, these routines already feel tired and worn.

Once the meeting breaks up, the series moves to its last scene, where Mash and Lance are confronted by two of the Magia Lupis. The ensuing battle is the closest the episode ever comes to good, and it still falls short. Due to the environment in which the battle takes place, Lance is initially at a distinct disadvantage against his opponent. How he overcomes this hurdle delivers a moment of clever fun that I genuinely appreciate.

But, while this side of the confrontation does its job, Mash’s battle is once again a failure. As his fight opens, the show makes a point of establishing that Mash is in a position that his physical training has not prepared him for. This led me to hope that maybe this would be an interesting predicament for our hero to overcome. But no. Rather than test him in any meaningful way, Mash simply realizes that he can do what he needs to, despite never doing it before, and proceeds to run roughshod over his foe.

So, while Mashle: Magic And Muscles Episode 7 does produce a few brief glimmers of creativity and kindness, they are swallowed whole by what feels like the series’ overall lazy and predictable writing.

Mashle: Magic And Muscles Episode 7 is streaming on Crunchyroll.