Welcome to This Week in Shonen Jump, our weekly check in on Viz’s various Shonen Jump series. Viz has recently changed their release format, but our format will mostly remain the same. We will still review the newest chapters of one title a week, now with even more options at our disposal. The big change for our readers is that, even without a Shonen Jump subscription, you can read these most recent chapters for free at Viz.com or using their app.
This week, Brian checks in with “Mashle: Magic and Muscles.” If you have thoughts on this or any other current Shonen Jump titles, please let us know in the comments!
Mashle: Magic and Muscles, Chapter 162: The Final Chapter – Mash Burnedead and the Generally Happy Ending
Written and Illustrated by Hajime Komoto
Translated by Nova Skipper
Lettered by Phil Christie
Reviewed by Brian Salvatore
Full disclosure: I have not read “Mashle” since the tenth chapter, or somewhere thereabouts, and decided to pop in 150 or so chapters later and review the finale. What was striking about the story, almost three years later, is just how much of that early spirit is still here. Are there large swaths of this that I don’t necessarily understand the nuances of? Absolutely, but this feels very much like the same “Mashle” I left in 2020, and that’s a great thing.
Mainly, what I was relieved to see still there is the humor; in my review of the first chapter, I commented on the laugh out loud humor, and chapter 162 has a bit of that as well. It also doesn’t back off the ideas of purpose and destiny, and allow Mash to follow his own path – as a baker of cream puffs – instead of going with what everyone wants from him. And, because this sort of message is key to any story about destiny, he still gets to be a Divine Visionary, but does so his own way.
The most impressive part of this chapter is Hajime Komoto’s artwork, which has to span scenes of intense emotion expressed in small moments to grand settings of formal pageantry, and must circle back on a lot of references to the past three years of story. There is so much visual and emotional ground to cover in this chapter, and Komoto does so with aplomb. The final two pages manage to take all of those pieces and synthesize them into something that looks both grand and intimate, allowing Mash’s story to stay with the reader while it simultaneously becomes historical record. Ending the series on a framed photo, fully committing it to the past, is a bold and appreciated move. This is the end of Mash’s story, for better or worse.
Overall, the final chapter feels apt for the character, and gives a real sense of closure to Mash. Impressively, it doesn’t do so by closing the door on future tales, or miring the character in tragedy. That said, there’s no indication that Mash’s story will continue on. This type of an ending allows the reader to have their own version of Mash’s later years, without expecting to ever read them.
Final Verdict: 9.0 – A poetic and touching ending to a really good manga. It’ll be missed.
