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NT = Ninkyou Tensei

Story: 9

This is proof that an isekai can be well written without being a satire.

As soon as something gets the isekai tag these days, there are certain assumptions that one might make before reading a single page. Obviously, this story involves a character being transported from one world--our own--to another, and focuses on how that character's difference in outlook allows them to solve problems plaguing their new environment. Unlike the majority of isekai, however, NT uses this setup as an extra layer of flavor rather than a crutch. More importantly (to me at least), NT completely dumps all nonsense about "stats" or ... "levels". It does have a concept of magic that could be compared to a skill system, but the way it's written and presented is natural enough that it wouldn't feel out of place in any fantasy setting.

Evaluating this story on it's own is a bit tricky; more on that in my comments on the art. In the context of this specific work, however, it has a lot going for it. The individual arcs cover some cool ideas. The pacing is efficient, but not rushed. While there currently is only a couple loose threads that connect the different arcs together, given that this manga is only 19 chapters in that's to be expected.

Art: 10 at minimum
Miyashita Hiroki is flexing with this art.

First, a follow up from what I said in the story review. A lot of this story would not work at all if the art weren't this good. When a story covers an introduction, 2.5 complete arcs *and* some time on how characters get from one location to another in 19 chapters, generally it does so at the cost of any details not essential to the plot. NT mostly gets away with it because it can *show* those details without needing to spend any time discussing them. This is a fundamental part of what sets a manga/comics apart from a novel, but the art of NT really pushes this idea to another level.

The extent to which this art adds to the storytelling would already get it a 10 from me, but Hiroki doesn't stop there. The number one thing that blew me away while reading NT was, well... people/things getting blown away. Whether it's buildings being obliterated by falling demons or people literally getting their faces punched in, you can really feel the amount of passion and effort Hiroki put into capturing these incredibly violent, chaotic moments.

Characters: 7
The point of this manga definitely is more about Ryuu beating up bad guys and being a badass than trying to present super deep, emotionally relatable side characters. Some of the people they encounter along their travels do have real personality, but the characters in the main party other than Ryuu are pretty generic.

Enjoyment: 10
All the fun of a traditional action manga focused around a badass MC, but with more sophisticated ideas and exceptional artwork.

Overall: 10

I actually just made this account for the express purpose of writing this review. More than any other anime, I have a lot to say about this one and I really felt like I needed to share this.

The way I see it, there are actually two separate shows to review here, NGE without the last two episodes and NGE as an entirety. The first 24 episodes get an EASY 10/10 from me. The world building is fantastic. Visually everything looks phenomenal at any given moment, even if the animation is pretty sloppy. I'll be honest, I didn't really care for all of the characters, in ... particular the main protagonist Shinji just felt bland to me, but the amount of effort that went into fleshing out the supporting characters actually let me pretty much ignore Shinji's whining throughout most of the series. It was pretty refreshing to see just how unique each character and their personality were constructed. So to recap, leading up to the ending you have a phenomenal story that would already get at least a 9/10 from me. The only things really holding back what I consider one of the best fleshed out anime story lines I've ever seen were the main character and animation (as I mentioned), as well as a sort of weird habit of introducing what look like potentially interesting side characters and then having them just kind of vanish.
But.
That.
Sound track.
Whoo I still get pumped just thinking about it. Seriously, if nothing else at least just google the theme song and listen to it. So, all in all, I will give everything up to the ending a 10/10.

Unfortunately, there are also episodes 25 and 26.

I think the only ending of anything that can rival these two episodes in sheer disappointment is the ending of Histories Strongest Disciple Kenichi. If you haven't experienced that, it's going to be hard for me to express just how bad this is. I'm actually going to completely ignore the fact that there basically is no animation in these episodes, and just focus on the story. Keep in mind, virtually the ONLY character that I don't care about going into this ending is the main guy Shinji. So, when I realized that the ending is JUST his story, and leaves every other character completely hanging, I was needless to say not happy. It doesn't even resolve Shinji in an interesting way either. I would go more in depth into that statement, but I don't want to spoil anything. I understand that they ran out of budget, but they could have easily just spent a few minutes wrapping up Shinji along with all of the other characters instead of devoting two full episodes to analyzing ONLY Shinji's psyche.

Overall, I still recommend watching this. There is too much good stuff for me to ignore just because the ending was so bad. Just be prepared to be let down.