The wizarding world of Harry Potter has inspired countless works of fiction, but none quite as delightfully whimsical and irreverent asMashle: Magic and Muscles. This anime series tosses out all notions of wand-waving and Latin incantations in favor of good old-fashioned fists and physical comedy. Many are even comparing the protagonist Mash Burnedead toSaitamagoing to Hogwarts.
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While Mashle parodies most familiar Harry Potter tropes, it does so with obvious affection for the source material, packing in references and Easter eggs that will delight any Potter fan. Expelliarmus? More like “Expel-lee-ahhh!” as Mash tries his darndest not to get expelled, hiding his lack of magic in a school full of wizards. Thus, here are some best Harry Potter references from the anime!
10Easton Magic Academy & Hogwarts
Like his celebrity wizard contemporary,Harry Potter, Mash found himself whisked away to the prestigious Easton Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry to learn magical skills, potions, spells, and wand work. Yet, while Potter proved himself with a wand, Mash much preferred using his fists.
Easton Magic Academy looks as if it’s been lifted straight from the movies of Harry Potter. Medieval castles, grand dining halls, dormitories, and a forbidden forest that held untold dangers (though the most fearsome beast within is probably a hungry Mash denied his muffin fix) all feel eerily familiar.
9House Similarities
In Mashle’s Easton Magic Academy and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, fledgling magicians are sorted into houses to hone their magical minds and manners. In Potter, the houses are represented by animals: lion, badger, eagle, and snake.
The houses in Mashle takeinspirationfrom the animal kingdom, too: Adler for eagle, Orca for killer whale, and Lang for wolf. No matter the house, both sets of students are stuck with signature Harry Potter robes adorned with house crests, so everyone knows who to sabotage in potions class.
8A Magical Government
The magical governments in Mashle and Harry Potter share one common goal: keep the non-magical riffraff out of their elite clubhouses. While the Ministry of Magic prefers to accomplish this through sheer incompetence and bureaucratic buffoonery, the Bureau of Magic takes a more proactive zero-tolerance stance on any muggle foolish enough to discover real magic.
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Though at times misguided or manipulative, the Ministry operates based on principles of justice, equality, and human rights – at least in theory, if not always in practice. You might get wrongly thrown into Azkaban prison without trial, but it’s probably better than the ethical bankruptcy of Mashle’s Bureau.
7Mashle The Muggle’s Sorting
The Sorting Bone Unicorn in Mashle and the Sorting Hat in Harry Potter are both supposedly mystical knickknacks used to assign Houses to the new students. The Sorting Hat is literally a talking hat, while the Sorting Bone Unicorn appears as a unicorn skeleton but can speak and move.
However, unlike the perceptive Sorting Hat, the Sorting Bone Unicorn learned the hard way that not every mind is worth reading. Some students’ heads are filled with muffins and white noise instead of dreams and ambition. But a muffin-fueled education is better than none, or so the Sorting Bone Unicorn convinced itself.
6Mentor Figures
For Mash and Harry, the wise Headmasters Wahlberg and Dumbledore are steadfast anchors in realms where the rules of reality no longer apply. With extraordinarily long beards, pointy hats, and other close similarities, these bearded men share an uncanny resemblance, though decades and fictional universes apart.
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The resemblances don’t end there. There’s McGonagall’s doppelganger, Professor Snape’s, and even Lockhart’s. While amusing, the professors of the Institution of Magic are more absurd and exaggerated. Yet underneath the silliness, they care for students in their peculiar way, much like Hogwarts staff.
5The Daily Prophet
The unnamed newspaper in Mashle: Magic & Muscles serves as an homage to the iconic Daily Prophet from the Harry Potter series. At first glance, the layout and aesthetic of the papers are quite similar, with black and white moving pictures and a focus on news related to students and magic.
While the Daily Prophet was a commentary on the role of media and the spread of misinformation, the Mashle newspaper serves more as world-building and comedic relief. Mashle never takes itself too seriously, and neither does its choice of media. If this farcical paper is their source for news, it’s no wonder most of the student body hasn’t a clue about the hero in their midst.
4The Broomstick Calisthenics Class
In Episode 3, Mash and his fellow students must participate in a broom riding lesson reminiscent of Madam Hooch’s flying lesson in the Harry Potter series. However, sinceMash lacks superpowers, he cannot make the broom fly.
Instead, he uses his extraordinary muscle power to propel himself into the air and fly by holding onto the broom and flexing his leg muscle. Though magical broomsticks are a common trope in many fantasy series, Mashle parodies Harry Potter in a funny and memorable way through Mash’s muscle-powered broom flight.
3Quidditch & Duelo
Magic andsportsgo hand in hand, especially if you’re Harry Potter or Mash Burnedead. Both Mashle and HP feature magical sports that involve broomsticks. In Harry Potter, players zip through the air, lobbing balls through hoops to score.
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Meanwhile, Mashle presents the same red uniforms for players and a similar sport called Duelo with just a touch of name-swapping mischief. Even an overly eager and enthusiastic captain (Tom Knowles) like Oliver Woods is also present. After all, every star player needs an obsessive team captain to get knocked out at a pivotal moment, paving the way for our heroes to grab destiny by the broomstick and soar.
2Death Eaters & Innocent Zero
With so many parallels between these stories, you might wonder if their authors shared a spell book! Even the evil organizations of HP and Mashle seem to be cut from the same black cloak. Both the minions of Death Eaters & Innocent Zero are dead set on helping their Dark Lords cheat death through some highly questionable means.
The leaders, Voldemort and Innocent Zero themselves, are alumni of their respective magic schools. However, their Horcruxes (Harry & Mash) are the thorn in their way. One thing is clear: both their organizations hate the non-magic muggles!
1Mash’s Scar
Now if only Mash got a cool scar and a pair of round specs, the imitation would be complete! Not sure about the specs, but he’s got the scar sticker on his face! Thishumorous twistpokes fun at the trope of a protagonist bearing a special mark that signifies their importance. The sticker is more of an amusing quirk than a destiny-defining symbol.
While Harry’s scar links him to his destiny (Voldemort), in Mash’s case, his scar sticker is a symbol of how he chose his own destiny – his journey to dismantle the hierarchy within the world of magic. No prophecy or magic chose him – he chose to smack that sparkler on each day through sheer force of will.
