In contrast, some of the “underdogs who could” characters in naruto were written that way too, but it didn't work out. Rock Lee, the taijutsu expert, was supposed to be Naruto Uzumaki without the jutsu and become someone great through hard work, only to be left out and have his character stagnate.

Rock Lee had nothing to prove and didn't change the world. Instead, Mash Burnedead managed to change his world - pulling off the underdog-turned-savior storyline that naruto I never did it with Rock Lee.

Rock Lee's character arc was doomed from the start

Rock Lee was a supporting character in naruto while Mash Burnedad is the main character of mashle, but even without the benefit of being the protagonist, Rock Lee could and should have been written as such.

Rock Lee and Mash Burnedead started out in a similar position, being born unable to use their respective combat systems and being an oppressed outcast as a result. Rock Lee could not perform ninjutsu or genjutsu, and he feared that taijutsu was a dead end, especially with the deterministic Neji Hyuga telling him so.

Then, Might Guy, the taijutsu master, took Rock Lee under his wing and molded him into a proud and confident martial artist who believes that hard work can always beat talent.

Rock Lee almost felt like the protagonist of a sports manga like Ashita no Joe or Hajime no Ippo but his bow soon stopped.

Naruto became hypocritical with its main theme of hard work trumping talent because Rock Lee's journey of hard work hit a wall while Naruto Uzumaki's didn't.

Naruto had a similar narrative at the beginning, but had the benefit of Kurama's massive chakra and was even the reincarnation of Asura Otsutsuki, meaning he had immense talent as a half-other and child of destiny.

After all, Naruto was born for greatness, which is why he defeated all the villains and became Hokage, while Rock Lee was nothing. Even though Naruto is the protagonist and needs to win the final battle for narrative reasons, it still feels backward, and Rock Lee paid for it.

Rock Lee wanted so badly to prove that hard work could overcome any lack of innate talent, and in the Chunin Exam arc, he seemed to succeed. Rock Lee nearly brought down the entire shinobi world by proving that jutsu is overrated, which could have been a game-changer.

Instead, Rock Lee was abandoned as naruto leaned further into explosive jutsu and tailed beast antics, using power creep until he resembled a reskin Dragon Ball Z. The world proved Rock Lee wrong, not the other way around, a total betrayal of Rock Lee's character while conveying a strangely cynical message.

No matter how hard Rock Lee tried as an underdog – the world moved on with its own talent-driven powers, suggesting that Rock Lee was a fool for trying to fight the system. However, the Mashle: Magic and Muscles anime is set to do what naruto could not, and make hard manual labor glamorous once again.

Mash Burnedad will change the world

Mash Burnedead's character arc in Mashle: Magic and Muscles shows what would happen if a Saitama/Rock Lee mix was placed in the Harry Potter world where Lord Voldemort made the rules.

In this cruel world, might makes right, and everyone's worth is measured by their magical abilities, which in turn are marked with one or more black lines on people's cheeks. This tradition-bound world deeply despises non-magical people, to the point where some antagonists suggest that Muggles should simply be put out of their misery.

It is into this cruel world that Mash Burnedead was born without a line on his face or any magic, and he only had his adoptive father to protect him. Like Rock Lee, Mash only had muscle and willpower on his side to face a world that expected him to use magic/jutsu to get ahead.

Unlike Rock Lee, Mash Burnedead is on the path to succeeding in his goals and truly proving a point to the world. He has the benefit of being an anime protagonist while Rock Lee is not, but even so, Rock Lee was written to be a simplified parallel to Naruto Uzumaki and could have a great story arc.

While the naruto world proved Rock Lee wrong about hard work alone trumping talent, Mash Burnedead refuted her world's Voldemort efforts to destroy it and thrived where she should have failed.

Mash has personal reasons for emphasizing that hard work trumps magical talent, which has set his character in motion, and he's making more progress than Rock Lee ever did in 720 episodes of naruto. Mash has won many upset victories over the most talented magicians in her world, and she is convincing people that her message is true, that the power of friendship and hard work means more than a complacent arcane talent.

Not only is Mash on his way to changing the world with his resonant message, he's also more confident in himself than Rock Lee ever was, which further fuels his growth.

Rock Lee had boundless enthusiasm and energy in naruto, but he never escaped his personal demons. No one can blame Rock Lee for having his insecurities, but more critically, Rock Lee was never seen dealing with these demons in any meaningful way.

On the other hand, Mash Burnedead only had mild insecurities as a non-magical person, mostly just fearing being caught as a Muggle rather than feeling bad about himself. Mashle knows the odds are against him and he has very little, but this only motivates him even more.

Finally, Mash is a better Rock Lee because, while he strongly identifies with martial arts, it is not his entire life. Rock Lee merely imitated Might Guy, right down to Guy's haircut and outfit, seemingly lacking the confidence to create his own identity.

Mash Burnedead's identity may be simple, but at least it's his, and he has it even without martial arts. Mash values the power of friendship more than Rock Lee does, and enjoys having a circle of friends, and he also loves custard tarts. It may be a minor hobby, but it's still an identity outside of muscles and combat, which counts for a lot.

Mash is a quiet, goofy himbo who enjoys his day-to-day life, without needing to prove anything to himself to feel validated. Instead, he's out to prove something profound to the world, something Rock Lee never could.