Oct 23, 2022
*This review contains spoilers*
Most fans might know this, but the english translations stopped at around chapter 193 which made readers either dropped or used other languages to access the chapters beyond that mark. Being one of the few people who actually read the story from start to finish, I wanted to make this review especially for people who never got to know what happened or what the ending was.
idk if others know this, but the author separates this story into different parts which I have listed:
part 1: chapter 1-63 which covers to the end of the new year tournament
part 2: ch63-146 which focuses on building
...
5 and Enki
part 3: ch147-222, which refocuses the story back to the original comedy/sol vibes yet still including action and mini arcs
part 4: ch223-338, where we get more details on the major villains in their own arcs
part 5: ch338-423, the final arc, where a second new year tournament was held
story: 6/10
the story starts off with a group of prisoners and their life there, shown in a comedic and wholesome way. This vibe is still present in later chapters, but all while the story gets deeper and darker every coming arc. The problem I have with this is that the author seems to be forcefully putting some sort of plot into this story, even though it would have been absolutely fine to just keep it a simple sol of prisoners and their funny adventures instead of giving me pain and depression for weeks (if you think Enki's death was the saddest the story could get, oh boy are you wrong). the whole storyline feels pretty average, which I would have originally gave a 7/10 if not for the ending. This hurts me a lot considering I absolutely loved nanbaka, but the ending was probably one of the worst I have seen in all of manga and anime. It felt like each and every chapter was pretty much the same quality, until the author just decided to end the whole series in the span of 1 chapter without any warning beforehand. Many questions are left answered, and everything good about the story was destroyed. By ruining the story, I mean that it ended with a completely messed up tragedy (none of the important cast died dont worry) where Jyugo ruined the whole friendship he had with cell 13 which was the main reason people love the manga, without any given explanation. if you want to read nanbaka for nothing more than the funny/wholesome moments, then I would say to just read until the end of part 4.
art: 9/10
the author of nanbaka is one of those types of manga artists whose art evolves a lot by the end of the story (examples of this would be aot, jjba or kny), but I think the art reached its peak near the end of part 3. maybe because I do not read colored comics often, but I was absolutely in love with the art style from the crazy sparkles, colorful designs, and eerie expressions during darker scenes. I wouldn't say the art is masterpiece material, but it does well to express the exact vibes of the series with good enough quality.
character: 8/10
probably the only reason I loved nanbaka, were the characters. The designs were complete eye candy and their personalities are clearly distinguished between one and the other. Some character development is shown, and we also get to explore deeper into their personalities, motive and so on. However, sometimes I feel like here are too many new characters introduced with barely any importance to the actual story, when the author could have just spent more time polishing her already existing characters. there are other mangas I have read with extremely large casts, but they do a much better job at making their importance to the series clear enough that they don't just feel like background fillers. Again, there is not anything extremely amazing with how they are written for me to give it a 10/10, but it is something you can't help but love. If we were going by nothing but the characters' personalities, I would have given it a 7/10, but adding with their appearance and designs this would be a overall 8/10 for me.
enjoyment: 9/10
Considering I have read the whole story from start to finish, you can guess that I am absolutely obsessed with this series (I literally coughed blood trying to find other languages to read the complete story in) XD. Sometimes, you either enjoy a story for how well they are written, but during other times, it could be for nothing more than being some weird comfort show or guilty pleasure. Everything about nanbaka is pretty average (what people would call "mid" usually) yet theres just something about the manga that made me absolutely obsessed over it. I watched both seasons of the anime, reread the manga twice, and although the fights scenes, storyline, and presentation was not mind-blowing like other shonen mangas out there, I still felt nanbaka was criminally underrated. Maybe sometimes, a manga, or book as a whole, does not have to be masterpiece content for you to enjoy. Of course, that was how I felt about nanbaka before the absolute mess it made me feel with how the story ended. If it were not for the bad conclusion, this would be a 10/10 experience for me.
overall: 7/10
I would love to give nanbaka a 8/10 score, but I still want to rate it fairly with comparison to other similar mangas instead of just out of personal opinions. This manga might not be for everyone, so if you are looking for amazing fight scenes or plot twists, then this manga is probably not for you. However, if you just want to have some good laughs from time to time without any crazy mind/boggling moments, then please give nanbaka a chance. :)
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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