Overview (Spoilers Below): It is decided that Mash will participate in “Duelo”, a popular sport in the Magic Realm that uses brooms, to represent Adler Dorm. During the match, a player of the opposing team from Lang Dorm begins to widen the gap between the scores with cowardly acts such as striking last year’s MVP, Tom. As Adler Dorm finds themselves in a clutch, will Mash be able to use his muscles to lead them to victory…?! Later, Mash is suddenly approached by the top exam student with two marks, the handsome Lance…!
Our Take: Mash has now gotten into two types of trouble in this episode, and he’s only been at the academy for a few days. First, Mash is chosen by Tom Knowles to join his Duelo team. The only problem is that Mash can’t use magic to fly, although Tom doesn’t know that yet. Luckily, his profound strength helped him out of this troubling predicament by using his muscular legs to take flight and a miraculous curveball throw to guide his team to victory. Unfortunately, after all the effort he put in, Mash is rewarded with a silver medal instead of the gold one he wanted. On the bright side, his immense throw is impressive enough to score the team’s incredible record-breaking feat. The second half of the episode then sees Mash confronting another student at Easton Academy, Lance Crown (Stephen Fu). However, this student is far more particular than the others. Lance is a top-ranked student with two marks instead of one, making him one of the few to receive it. Of course, this also means that Lance has significant amounts of magic compared to those with only one mark, including his gravity spell. When Lance traps Tom, Finn, and Lemon inside his bottle, Mash is forced to duel him to rescue them. Even though Lance seems like another bully who underestimates Mash’s physical strength and selfless acts, he’s not as big an asshole as Lloyd in the previous episode. Lance aims to become the Divine Visionary to save her young sister Anna from a disease eating away her magic. He strives to do anything to accomplish his goal, even if it means taking other people’s coins. However, Lance later changes his perspective on Mash when he realizes Mash cares about helping his friends, like how Lance values Anna. So it’s possible that Mash has gained a friend with something in common: helping others. The episode continues to provide the show’s amusing humor amid its Harry Potter-like elements, including the Duelo sport referencing Quidditch from the popular fantasy series. Although, I’m still not convinced that I’ll like Tom as much as Mash and the others regarding his loud and overwhelming personality despite his supportive intentions. Hopefully, that’ll change in later episodes before he makes me wish Mash would punch him already. There’s also another moment where Mash mistakes Lance for a pervert after encountering a picture of Anna on Lance’s necklace, which was honestly one of the best parts of the episode, in my opinion. In short, it’s a solid continuation of Mash’s bizarre journey featuring a new student having something in common with the muscle-bound, mushroom-headed, magic-less human.