“Mashle: Muscles and Magic” Has a Much More Powerful Message Than You Thought

Mash as a neurodivergent character

We see Mash struggle with many of these issues even in the first few episodes. From the very beginning, we are introduced to Mash as a person without marks, which makes him stand out as a person without magical abilities in a world where almost anyone can do magic. Instead of magic, he relies on strength, and through exercise, he has become strong enough to mimic magic with his physical abilities. This is our first neurodivergence metaphor in the series, where magic users replace neurotypical people and non-magic users replace neurodivergent people.

This comparison is only supported by Masha as a character. He exhibits many of the typical traits that people associate with autism, including a lack of expression, a strong sense of fairness and honesty, special interests (particularly workouts and cream puffs), and a lack of understanding of humor and abstract riddles. We often see him solve problems in ways that make sense to him, such as simply breaking a lock instead of using a spell and making his way through the maze and the Sphinx, but this draws ridicule from his teachers and classmates who say it’s not the right way. do something, and that he is a “fraud”. We also see several examples of how he doesn’t fully understand social cues, such as when Lloyd (Yuusuke Shirai) gets upset that Mash didn’t greet him like he was supposed to, and Mash simply says that he made cream puffs and forgot, seemingly oblivious to Lloyd’s anger. These things cause difficulties between Mash and the people around him, though he manages to find friendship with a group of people who seem to understand him (except they don’t know that he can’t use magic) and have similar traits to him.

In a sense, the series asks Masha to “disguise” - a term often used to describe when neurodivergent people hide their traits in order to appear neurotypical so that they can better fit into society. Mash poses as a magic user at Easton Academy and is asked to do what magic users do, despite not having the conditions to do so and a fundamental understanding of the rules he has to play by other than “trying to be like a magician”. “. magic user. Lacking the tools he needs and not being given the help he needs to succeed, Mash is forced to fight his scientists to reach his goal because he understands, perceives and does things in a way that which is fundamentally different from the usual. his “normal” peers. This is an interesting metaphor for how neurodivergent people are often denied the resources and accommodations they need to thrive, especially when they are a minority in space or if they appear to be neurotypical, as Mash does on the show as a covert non-magician.

There is also the fact that Mash is bullied and ridiculed by his peers for his seemingly odd behavior. People often accuse him of cheating and breaking the rules due to his manner of doing business, and his sense of justice often irritates his peers and mentors, as seen in his fights with Lloyd and Kregos (Yutaka Aoyama). However, we have also seen that once Masha’s abilities do something good for the people around him, they change their tune quite quickly. A good example is the duelo match when Mash is still on the ground and the game is in full swing due to his inability to fly on the broomstick. He gets booed, things are thrown at him, and people generally mistreat him. Only after TomWataru Komada) cheers him up and gets hurt by the opposing player, which Mash starts to play with, again using his pure power for his abilities. He ends up winning the match and suddenly the crowd is cheering for him! This is another great analogy for how society treats neurodivergent people—they are seen as odd and their interests unimportant, useless, or annoying until they do something that neurotypicals consider good, important, or productive.

Anna Crown and “becoming” a neurodivergent

In addition to our main character, there is a minor character who also supports Machelet an allegory of the neurodivergent experience, and this is Anna, Lance Crown’s younger sister (Kaito Ishikawa). Anna was born a magician with only one mark and, unlike her brother, has exceptionally weak magical abilities. Due to her illness, she begins to lose her magic completely and her mark begins to fade. Her parents become rather cold towards her and say that once her mark is gone, they will turn her over to the Bureau of Magic to be “dealt with”.

It is important to note here that neurodivergence is often congenital; this is one thing born With. However, there are cases that can cause neurodivergence later in life, such as traumatic brain injuries and injuries that lead to post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, or depression. However, in Anna’s case, she represents what some people experience when diagnosed later in life: the phenomenon of “neurodivergence.”

I don’t call it that because that’s how it happens; I call it this because the people around a neurodivergent person often make them feel when they are diagnosed later in life. Some people may not be diagnosed with autism or ADHD in childhood because their traits show up differently, their support system doesn’t want to be tested as a child, or because of their gender as women are often diagnosed with these discrepancies. much less frequently than men. This can often lead neurotypical people to think that someone can “become” neurodivergent, when the reality is that the person has been neurodivergent all along and has not been diagnosed or has masked their traits for their own safety and may now express them freely.

Anna is a good metaphor for this. Although people believe that she was born with magic, external stress began to show that she was unable to withstand magic, and her ability mask literally vanished. She is also the younger sister of an extremely powerful wizard whom their parents love, as evidenced by the way they tell Lance that Anna will be handed over to the Bureau of Magic for him. It’s reasonable to expect that she felt pressured to match her brother’s abilities and therefore her parents’ expectations, and that was what kept her magic - her mask - in place. Of course her loss of magic is caused by a greater evil that will be revealed later, but this does not detract from her as a representative of people who were diagnosed at a later age, especially due to her gender and family relationships.

Machelet All in all, it’s just a stupid anime. It’s fun to watch, it’s not overwhelming, and it’s perfect for a Friday night getaway. Regardless, it has a lot to say about social issues, especially when you sift through the obvious and get to the things that you can actually think about and theorize about. That’s what makes a series good, isn’t it?