MASHLE SC VOL 01

Harry Potter with punching. Okay, we’re done here.

Oh, all right. In a year which saw an already buoyant manga market go absolutely insane, this little manga that could really stood out from the pack. Filled with the best mix of action, humour and high concept silliness we’ve seen since the debut of One Punch Man, Mashle takes us to a world where everyone can do magic, and those without the ability are scorned, and often killed. Enter Mash, a magicless boy who was rescued from abandonment by a man who raised him in secret in the middle of the woods. To compensate, he has trained his body into a finely muscled fighting machine, capable of ridiculous feats of strength. Seriously, he’s even individually named all of his muscles. He winds up enrolled in a prestigious magical school where, in order to preserve his dark secret, he uses his strength to fake out the magical tests he must undertake. Tolstoy this is not, but its gag-packed pages are irresistible, especially for fans of a certain bespectacled wizard.