Mashle

Mashle is a manga created by Hajime Kōmot.The series arrived at a critical moment for the Magazine, because several of the great titles that were at that time were very close to its completion, such as Guardians of the Night, The Promised Neverland or Haikyû !!.

Since Mashle arrived in the magazine, there are many who started enjoying her.The story knew how to make a foothold quickly among Japanese readers and international licenses did not wait, including the Spanish.Editorial Norma surprised us with its license last October during the Barcelona Limited Edition manga.

Mashle is a risky bet, not only because it takes 6 volumes in the Japanese market, but because it is a story with a humor that not everyone will know how to understand.In France, its publication also started very recently and is sweeping sales, but success in the neighboring country is not always synonymous with it here and only time will tell us how Mashle's reception in Spain has been.Meanwhile, in Ramen for two we break down the keys to this first volume with which you can already make yourself since last May 14, 2021.

Magia vs fuerza física

Mashle is set in a magical world in which the status of magicians depend exclusively on their level of power.Mash Burdead is a young man who does not have a magic apex.He lives in a remote forest, next to his father, who cannot leave and in which he trains hard every day, which has led him to possess a superhuman force.However, one day disobeys his father's order to remain in the forest and venture into the city to buy a good handful of his beloved Proferoles.As a result, its nature is discovered and is persecuted by some police officers, but it manages to dodge their attacks without any effort.

Unfortunately, Mash is forced to make a tough decision: either the respect of society is won by registering in the prestigious Easton Magic School or will be persecuted continuously as a couple.This is because in the world of Mash to those who are not able to use magic are not allowed to be free and are eradicated to prevent more people from without magic.Although he accepts these conditions, Mash does not take the threat lightly and promises to become the best student of the school, that is, a "divine visionary", despite not having any kind of power.

MASH must meet this objective by obtaining coins.At school, there is a system of coins of different value in which students can get one when completing certain tasks.The student with the highest number of coins or with coins that have more value at the end of the course obtains the highest position of the school.This allows us from the first chapter to see how Mashy thinks and what is your vision of the world, something that seems very refreshing, since many sleeves take some chapters to present the reader its central theme.

Given this synopsis, it is impossible not to compare Mashle with Harry Potter.From the house of houses to a director very similar to Dumbledore, through spells, a school practically like Hogwarts in design, broom classes or duel (a magical sport with many similarities to the quidditch) ... the characteristics and greatpart of the fantasy world created by J.K.Rowling impregnate each and every one of the vignettes of Hajime Komoto's work.

The beginning of Mashle uses comedy to ridicule this universe with clear inspiration in Rowling's, so our knowledge of the famous youth novel (or his films) influences our feeling and our ability to reaction to the GAGS.Proof of this is the foreseeable nature of certain moments in which we can guess what the resolution will be.For example, it is not necessary to be a genius of writing to know how mash will come out of a maze: going straight in line destroying its walls.

However, if something good has Mashle is that in this first volume it is already possible to guess that the work can perfectly find its long -term identity if it moves away from the parody of Harry Potter.And those who follow the manga a day through manga plus, like me, will prove me right.In fact, if we go further, Mashle is much more than absurd comedy.

The magical society is very hierarchical and, the more outstanding you are at the magical level, the more on the cusp of the social pyramid you are.Mash begins at the base of that pyramid, at the lowest of society.Although it does not have what is considered most important, magic, Mash will have to overcome obstacles thanks to its impressive strength.Thus it will be how it fights against the system and wins friends and powerful allies who join their cause.But the author remains to continue perfecting his humor to turn Mashle into a good fantasy and humor manga in his own right.

El arte y la comedia van de la mano

The premise and atmosphere in a story are not everything.Another important aspect of Mashle is humor, mainly derived from the ease with which Mash defeats her opponents.It is in this aspect of the work that it is impossible not to find a similarity with One Punch Man.Like Saitama, Mash uses her overwhelming physical force to break the "rules" of the world in which the story is set.

In a much broader sense, there are also clear parallels between the visual style of Hajime Komoto and that of One, as both use a rather rudimentary art to sell a joke or reaction to the reader.In fact, most comedy comes from Mash.Being someone without magic in a magician school, he is forced to pretend all spell.

But this resource does not always work.While an exaggerated expression or a simplified reaction operates in isolation, Hajime Komoto has the tendency to repeat the same illustrations several times throughout the same chapter.This makes the joke lose its effect, which is a penalty since mangaka clearly has artistic talent.The designs of Mashle's characters are quite unique, since they move away from usual realism and enter the absurd with their exaggerated proportions and their narrow limbs.

The worst part in this aspect is taken by the secondary characters, at least in this first volume.Most of them are quite uniform and usually fall into two categories: they hate Mash or love it, and those who start in the first category usually end in the second.Therefore, all Mashle's fights are based precisely on this, that many challenge Mash as a result of the resentment they feel towards him.

Un autor con poca experiencia

Mashle is the first Hajime Komoto series and it shows in the first bars of the work, especially in this first volume.The author is not known, but fortunately it is possible to know him more through Mashle's first volume.Mangaka takes advantage of the extra content between chapters to tell how it ended up drawing this story.

Hajime Komoto reveals that he started drawing at the institute.He presented himself to several awards at that time, but the fact of not winning any and seeing that around him there were people who had more talent made him consider his aspirations as a cartoonist when he was in Baccalaureate.After graduating and doing numerous interviews, he got work, but ended up leaving him to return to his original idea, draw manga.This is how he finally got Shueisha to give him a chance.In fact, he published two One-Shot at the Jump Giga, one in 2018, Liberal Fuuki Iin Yamada Tarou, and another in 2019, Hakaishin Shivasaki-Kun.

Given their inexperience, many drafts and many attempts had to come until the most or less uniform idea of Mashle was born.At that time, they were going to begin to serialize at the same time at the Shônen Jump four more sleeves (including Undead Unluck), so no assistants were assigned.But, finally, despite everything and based on trial and error, Mashle ended up.

Komoto says that he will continue to strive to satisfy fans.And what if you are getting it.The series captured the attention of Japanese readers very quickly.He survived the harsh demands of Shueisha editors with sleeves that begin to be published in the Shônen Jump and currently has 6 volumes in the Japanese market and remains open.And it would not be surprised that sooner or later it ends up announcing its animated adaptation.

La edición

Editorial Norma presents a tankoubon edition of rustic with dust jacket, equal to that of other works by Shueisha that has in its catalog, as is the case of Jujutsu Kaisen, guardians of the night or Tokyo Ghoul.To make its launch more appealing, the publisher has put on sale the first edition of this first volume at a special price of € 4.A candy to encourage Spanish readers to learn about Mashle.

With regard to translation, he is in charge of Daruma.Personally I have found it quite successful, with a very careless language that, especially, is very consistent with Mash's personality.On the other hand, I find the way that Mash's father, more own almost of a teenager in some vignettes.But I am convinced that this is no longer a matter of translation, but that it adapts faithfully to the original.

On the other hand, I have loved the extras, all of them from the Japanese original.One thing that I have not seen much lately in the compilation volumes of a manga are the questions of the readers and I think it is something that should be included more often.Those who, for example, continue One Piece will understand the amount of curiosities and extra information that contributes the known as SBS to the history of Eiichiro Oda.And, fortunately, Mashle also has this section on his last pages that allows us to know, for example, if the brands of the magicians are always on the face or what happened to the head of studies after Mash buried him.

Conclusión

Although Mashle is a comedy and is full of clichés of the genre, it has an interesting premise that can give for much more.The story presents a variety, in the sense that it shows a dark and defective social system, but to which its author introduces numerous elements of humor.However, I think that Editorial Norma has made a very risky bet for Mashle, since its comedy is not for everyone.Although he is triumphing in other markets, that does not guarantee its success in Spain, so it will be necessary to see what evolution the sale of its volumes in the coming months.

For my part, I am interested in knowing where Hajime Komoto will lead this story, either in the form of a comedy full of extravagances of its protagonist, a more serious story or a perfect mix of both.It will be curious, the less, see how Mash continues to deal with your problems in a magical world without making any use of magic.

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