Hiro Mashima's Playground


Hiro Mashima's Playground is a Japanese anthology of manga written and illustrated by Hiro Mashima. It collects eight one-shots originally published in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine between 1998 and 2003. The anthology was released as two volumes in Japan in December 2003, and as one volume in North America in 2018.

Overview

;Magician
;Fairy Tale
;Cocona
;Plue's Adventure II
;Bad Boys Song
;Magic Party
;Xmas Hearts
;''Combo Squad Mixture''

Publication

The anthology contains eight one-shots by Hiro Mashima originally published in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine between 1998 and 2003. The first volume contains Magician, Fairy Tale, Cocona, and Plue's Adventure II; the second contains Bad Boys Song, MP , Xmas Hearts, and Fighting Force Mixture. Both tankōbon volumes were released on December 16, 2003.
At Anime Expo 2018, Kodansha USA announced they licensed the anthology for English publication. They released both Japanese volumes in one volume on October 30, 2018.

Reception

Ian Wolf from Anime UK News praised Mashima's artwork, though also stated that reading all the stories in the anthology at once can make them feel predictable. As part of Anime News Network's fall 2018 manga guide, Amy McNulty, Faye Hopper, Rebecca Silverman, and Teresa Navarro reviewed the anthology for the website. McNulty and Silverman praised the artwork and plot of the stories, while Hopper and Navarro were more critical of Mashima's stories. Takato from Manga News concurred with Wolf, McNulty, and Silverman, praising both the plot and artwork of the various one-shots. Nicholas Demay from Planete BD concurred with previous critics, calling the plot of the various stories "very entertaining".