One Piece’s Mackenyu to Star in Live-Action Mashle Movie
Image by James RichardsonOne Piece star Mackenyu has officially been cast as Mash Burnedead in the upcoming live-action movie adaptation of Mashle: Magic and Muscles.
The actor, best known internationally for playing Roronoa Zoro in Netflix’s live-action One Piece series, will lead “Mashle” under director and screenwriter Yuichi Fukuda when the movie arrives in Japanese theaters next year.
A newly revealed teaser visual provides the first proper look at Mackenyu as Mash in his Easton Magic Academy uniform, complete with the character’s signature black hair and facial mark.
Mashle: Magic and Muscles is based on Hajime Komoto’s Weekly Shonen Jump manga, which follows Mash Burnedead, a young man born without magic in a world where magical ability determines a person’s status.
Unable to cast even the simplest spell, Mash instead relies on the extraordinary physical strength developed through relentless training as he enters Easton Magic Academy and attempts to become a Divine Visionary.
The manga ran from 2020 until 2023 and concluded across 18 collected volumes, with more than 12 million copies now in circulation worldwide.
It was subsequently adapted into an anime by A-1 Pictures, with two seasons airing between 2023 and 2024 and a third season already confirmed to begin in January 2027.
Mackenyu’s casting brings another major manga adaptation to an acting career already closely associated with live-action versions of Japanese franchises, including Rurouni Kenshin, Fullmetal Alchemist, Knights of the Zodiac and One Piece.
He has played swordsman Roronoa Zoro since Netflix’s One Piece debuted in 2023 and is already confirmed to return for the live-action series’ third season, The Battle of Alabasta, which is also scheduled to arrive in 2027.
Fukuda revealed that Mackenyu was in his mind almost immediately after the Mashle movie project was approved, even asking when the actor would finish filming as Zoro before offering him the role of Mash.
The casting has been several years in the making, with Mackenyu saying he began preparing his body from the day he received the offer around three years ago so that his physique would be convincing enough for fans of the original series.
The first teaser shows Mackenyu’s Mash performing high-speed bench presses with an enormous barbell, while another shot reveals the false facial mark used to disguise the fact that he cannot use magic
Mackenyu said portraying Mash also presented a different acting challenge because the character rarely displays strong emotion, forcing him to communicate much of Mash’s personality through his overwhelming physical power.
Fukuda is already closely associated with live-action manga adaptations through movies including Gintama and Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku, and more recently wrote and directed the live-action Sakamoto Days movie starring Snow Man member Ren Meguro.
Warner Bros. Pictures and Fuji Television are overseeing the Mashle movie, with CREDEUS handling production and Toho distributing the film in Japan.
The live-action “Mashle” movie will open in Japanese theaters on March 19, 2027.
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