Nejimaki Seirei Senki: Tenkyou no Alderamin

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This review is meant as a companion piece to my long review on the anime of the same name.
For details refer to that review, this review is to point out the differences between the mediums.

The manga has one small positive compared to the anime and that is more time spend on a few side scenes that enhance the characters, but also a few that give less characterization.
One example is an older woman fleeing Iktas room after Yatori knocks, something the anime tells us is happening, but never really takes the time to show us. Unfortunately these positive examples are far and few between and don't ... really compare to the negatives the manga version of this story brings with it. In the end the characterization is similar to the anime, but gets dragged lower by the other problems.

So to the big question, what makes this manga a failure compared to the anime (or probably LN as well, not read yet, review coming at a later date)?
First of all, the artstyle is problematic. The story portrays a dark and heavy epic about war and the effects it has and the artstyle, while not bad, is a bad fit for this kind of story. The character designs are more fit for a high school romantic drama than a dark and sometimes action packed war story.
Especially in the spectacular fight scenes of the anime the manga can't keep up with the action and visualization of what's happening.

Second the structure undergoes some changes, but all these changes fail to be effective and even diminish the effect, compared to the structure of the anime (here it would be interesting to have the context of the LN, so I will maybe complement this part at a later date).
Big reveals are losing the gravitas, the anime build up through the direction, and have their impact lessened in manga panels that feel unimportant.

The third point might hurt the most, because here I expected the strength of the manga over the anime, in the world building itself. Regrettably even here the manga stumbles and somehow the anime managed to pick more small world building details and spread them throughout the runtime, while the manga not even managed to build something more through the backgrounds. The backgrounds feel like standard issue pictures that could fit with many other stories and worlds.

The manga not just loses in the depiction of action and lessens the impact of decisions with far-reaching consequences, but it also adds nothing to the world and characters.
By no means is the anime the most beautiful anime, the characters look bland and the animation is only slightly above average with some exceptions, but it still manages to capture the atmosphere more effectively than the manga.

This manga was a letdown, especially compared to manga like Ascendance of a Bookworm that is in my opinion the best way to enjoy the story (compared to anime and light novel), because it makes perfect use of the medium. I expected this manga to, at least, be on par with the anime and was let down.
So far the anime is the better way to enjoy this story (my judgment to the LN will come later).

Story: 6
I found the concept of the story, "lazy military genius out smarts his opponents" to be an interesting and fun idea. I really enjoyed seeing how the main character out-thought his opponents. However, there was at no time that I felt like the protagonists had a chance at failure with I think you need to have in a war story. The biggest and most unfortunate flaw with the story is that it is unfinished. Because of the series was cancelled I was left feeling unfulfilled at seeing what what happens next. Probably best to pick up the light novel, if you want the full ... story.

Art: 7
Compared to the light novel art the art tends to lean in a more realistic looking direction, but yet not as realistic as the anime's art. So it appears very middle of the road but, is not bad by any means. The shading does heavy a little on the darker side of things, which while not extreme esthetically pleasing, does mesh well will the military theme. The characters are well drawn and are consistent and look good, and only become flawed when seen in the color pages where the colors chosen for the characters don't seem to watch the realistic designs of the characters. Specially noted is that Ikta design is kind of odd, and almost make him look far more deranged than his appearance in the other mediums. Background art is minimal and has not great detail when is does appear, but this is understandable as the artist is trying to draw attention to the characters

Characters: 6
The character seem to fill the roles you might expect to see in a military story, the leader, the second in command, the medic, the sniper, etc rather well. Of the six main protagonists, Ikta, Chime and Yatorishino are more complex in terms of emotions compared to the other remaining three (Matthew, Torway, Haroma). However all six have a distinct lack of development, which I attribute to the series' short run. As for side characters the it felt like the author was taking a "Game of Thrones" approach where a introduced character that was unique or memorable was specifically put there to be killed of later for drama.

Enjoyment: 6
Overall I enjoyed the manga. This made it all the more disappointing the series ended after 32 chapters. It was that disappointment that really brought down my enjoyment and appreciation for the series since this my introduction into it.

Overall: 6
With 6s in Story, Character, and Enjoyment and a 7 in Art. This series averages out to a 6 for me. I really wanted to give this manga a higher score, but the fact of it's premature end just leaves everything unfulfilling. My recommendation for this series is gonna be pick up the light novel instead and then read this manga if you enjoyed it.

I picked this up because the main characters seems interesting after 3 chapters and I like the artist, and while there were a few decent moments plus good military stuff, it is ultimately underwhelming. It's not bad but it's not good either, usually I wouldn't have a problem with stories like that as long as the hook or premise is something that can make one read it regardless of it's flaws (especially if you have high tolerance for poor quality as long as it clicks with you in one aspect), but this manga doesn't have such a thing.

I've never read the novel nor watched ... the anime so I don't really know what to expect, after some chapters in it promised some grand plot about "losing the war, but not be left devastated in the aftermath" or something along that line. That doesn't happen. The manga just abruptly ends with a time skip, and not even close to the anticipated premise it set up. In summation the story feels like a prologue to what should have been the real plot, and it ends just before that plot could begin.

It's not all bad however. As mentioned earlier the military related stuff (it's mostly just tactics and less strategical in nature) are for the most part enjoyable, the characters are bland and very stereotypical but Ikta the main character carries the whole thing; in other words, if you don't like him there's really no reason to read this whatsoever. There is one, admittedly cheap, scenario that tugged my heartstring, but one decent moment isn't worth reading what felt like 30 chapters of filler content.