Mashle: Magic and Muscles – Divine Visionary Candidate Exam Arc (マッシュル-MASHLE- 神覚者候補選抜試験編, MASHLE: Shinkakusha Kōho Senbatsu Shiken Hen) is a 2024 television anime series based on Hajime Kōmoto’s manga series of the same name and a continuation to the 2023 anime series. The series was directed by Tomoya Tanaka and produced by studio A-1 Pictures, with script composition writer Yōsuke Kuroda, character designer Hisashi Higashijima and music composer Masaru Yokoyama. The series first aired in Japan on April 2023.
Background:
“This is a world of magic. This is a world in which magic is casually used by everyone. In this world of magic, Mash Burnedead attends Magic School. To protect this quiet life with his family, he sets his sights on becoming a Divine Visionary, the elite of the elite, while hiding the fact that he can’t use magic. He surpasses the best and brightest of the wizarding world with his ripped muscles and faces the Divine Visionary Candidate Exam. The second cour curtain rises on this off-kilter magical fantasy in which the power of being jacked crushes any spell!”
Plot Synopsis via Aniplex of America, January 2025.
The adventures of Mash and his crew continues in the second season of Mashle: Magic and Muscles, which adapts the Divine Visionary Candidate Exam Arc, the third story arc in the manga series (chapters 44-74 aka Volumes 6 through to mid-way through Volume 9), pretty much the half-way point of the story. This is where the story escalates and introduces more antics for Mash and his crew to face including a few main villains. I liked this season as much as I did with the first season but I do think it felt too fast-paced perhaps. Granted it’s been a while since I watched the series (which was during simulcast) but there’s plenty of time to refresh what’s been covered in preparation for the third season that adapts the next story arc.
As a recap, Mashle serialised in Weekly Shonen Jump, the same magazine that gave us Bleach, Chainsaw Man, My Hero Academia and One Piece, for 18 volumes total with Aniplex and A-1 Pictures adapting the manga into anime for multiple seasons until the story is done. The same staff that worked on the first season also returned for this season also.
Also worth mentioning that this particular season went viral – not for the actual episodes themselves but for the opening theme which not only has a choregraphed dance that became a meme of sorts, but also has music sung by Creepy Nuts, the same folks who also did the theme songs for Call of the Night and Dan Da Dan. It is very catching and helped the music duo become more popular internationally which is neat to see.
Aniplex of America secured the streaming and home video rights for the second season of Mashle in the United States & Canada as well as the United Kingdom & Ireland. The former of which they have released on home video whilst the latter is for streaming, with an English dub also produced for simulcast. A UK distributor has yet to sub-license the home video rights from Aniplex as of the time of this write-up.
Limited Edition Contents:
Aniplex of America are random with their packaging and once again they switched it up for Mashle: Magic and Muscles – Divine Visionary Candidate Exam Arc but it’s still fairly consistent on the shelf at least.
The limited edition Blu-ray release is presented with a DVD-sized o-card slipcase, a DVD case housing the discs including the original soundtrack CD, four Mini Character Stickers and a 50-page special booklet featuring episode information, character designs, art board designs and special illustrations.
There’s also a J-card type wraparound from the side for the information and specs which can also fit inside the set for safe-keeping. This packaging is more in-line with a few of their recent sets like Lycoris Recoil and Rurouni Kenshin, likely due to production costs on why they switched it up. The booklet itself is back to the traditional format compared to the first season. The limited edition Blu-ray set was released for an SRP of $134.98.
Mashle: Magic and Muscles – Divine Visionary Candidate Exam Arc was ordered together with its first season as well as the Lord El-Melloi series from the Crunchyroll Store during its final sale before the store locked out most consumers to be exclusive to their Mega Fan & Ultimate Fan tiers. Price for both seasons were $97.18 each.
Physical Contents:
- O-card slipcase with clean artwork
- DVD case packaging
- J-Card wraparound includes specification and details of the set
- Original Soundtrack CD
- 50-page Special Booklet
- 4 Mini Character Stickers
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Aniplex of America
Released: 21st January 2025
The limited edition Blu-ray release for Mashle: Magic and Muscles – Divine Visionary Candidate Exam Arc contains all 12 episodes across three Blu-ray discs, with the encode and authoring done by Aniplex.
The set includes the original Japanese audio with English subtitles and the Bang Zoom! English dub commissioned by Aniplex of America with optional English subtitles for the on-screen text.
The white subtitles are unlockable during playback, and the Blu-ray discs are region accessible to players set to A & B.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | Japanese, English |
| Audio | Japanese Linear PCM 2.0 English Linear PCM 2.0 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Native format 1.78:1 aspect ratio |
| Region | A B |
| Subtitles | English, English (On-Screen Text) |
| Locked Subtitles | No |
| Discs | 3 BD-50s |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
Disc 1:
- Textless Opening “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born”
- Textless Ending “Tokyo’s Way”
- Web Trailer Episode 13 (01:41 runtime)
- Web Trailer Episode 14 (01:21 runtime)
- Web Trailer Episode 15 (01:06 runtime)
- Web Trailer Episode 16 (01:03 runtime)
Disc 2:
- PVs (04:46 runtime)
- Web Trailer Episode 17 (00:56 runtime)
- Web Trailer Episode 18 (01:14 runtime)
- Web Trailer Episode 19 (01:09 runtime)
- Web Trailer Episode 20 (00:40 runtime)
Disc 3:
- Web Trailer Episode 21 (01:17 runtime)
- Web Trailer Episode 22 (00:57 runtime)
- Web Trailer Episode 23 (01:17 runtime)
- Web Trailer Episode 24 (00:57 runtime)
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
Mashle: Magic and Muscles – Divine Visionary Candidate Exam Arc is available to purchase on Blu-ray by Aniplex of America for the United States & Canada.
The limited edition Blu-ray set is available exclusively through the Crunchyroll Store (currently for $107.98) which is now locked exclusively to members who are on the Mega Fan tier (£6.99/m or $13.99/m) or Ultimate Fan tier ($17.99/m). That said, you can get around this by ordering at Robert’s Anime Corner Store (currently for $124.87).
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