Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records
Akashic Records of Bastard Magical Instructor

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This is a manga adaptation of a light novel that also has an anime adaptation. The anime adapted only the up to volume 5, while the manga adapts up to volume 10, though it skips volume 8. So the manga does get significantly further into the story. However, the light novel is twenty-four volumes and still ongoing so the manga still adapts less than half of the full story. Still, this manga in and of itself is still pretty good.

The story is centered around Glen being forced into becoming the teacher at a magic school despite hating magic. This hatred of magic is due to ... him essentially serving as a magic assassin in the past and ending up traumatized as a result. Over the course of the manga he has a pretty solid character arc where he forms closer bonds with his students and overcomes his trauma and his past in order to protect them. He’s also an incredibly lazy good for nothing most of the time which is hilarious and makes him a really likable protagonist.

The rest of the main cast is also fleshed out well and overall are pretty likable. Sistine is a girl that’s working really hard towards her dream and though she starts off book smart she gets absolutely terrified in actual battle. Over the course of the manga she gets stronger in terms of combat abilities and mental fortitude, though she definitely still has a ways to go. This might not seem like that great of a character arc, but the manga manages capture her fear really well so her making progress on that has a lot of impact. She’s also a pretty fun tsundere.

Rumia is an incredibly kind girl that has a complex past which makes her wonder at times if everyone around her would be better off without her. Thus, she struggles with if she has the right to work towards her own happiness in such circumstances. Her character arc involves her becoming more selfish, which also results in her putting more effort towards her relationship with Glen.

Re=l is a girl that somewhat lacks emotion and simply works for the sake of whoever she’s dedicated herself to, but over the course of the manga becomes more human in terms of having emotions. She’s a pretty generic kuudere but she’s written decently well so she’s a solid enough character. Though the manga skips volume 8, which is an arc focused on her, so she gets less development than she deserves.

The side characters are also pretty solid. The most important is Celica, who is a sort of step-mom to Glen. She’s somewhat similar to Rumia in that she has a complicated past that makes her wonder if she deserves to have family, and her arc involves accepting her bonds with Glen. She’s a fun character because she’s a doting mother than can get really extreme when Glen pushes her too far. There’s also Eve, Glen’s former boss when he was a soldier, who has the beginning of a really solid character arc in that she starts off incredibly arrogant, but her pride gets completely and utterly crushed so now she has to build herself back up, though the manga doesn’t get that far yet. A lot of the rest of the cast also have hints about their pasts and motivations, though it doesn’t do all that much with them yet.

The world building isn’t that expansive and the magic systems of the world aren’t fleshed out all that well long term. Despite that, the writing does a good job of building things up within the scope of each individual arc. In each arc, there will usually be minor events where aspects of the world or mechanics to the magic system will be shown and explained and then in the climax one of these will generally be critical to resolving things. This results in the story flowing well. This combined with the great action results in the manga overall being pretty exciting. And add in that there’s also a lot of good light hearted parts with great comedy and it results in a really well paced manga.

The final arc ended up pretty rushed though, despite it being the longest in the manga. It’s an arc that definitely takes thing up a notch so it’s a pretty epic way to end the manga. Though at the same time the ending isn’t anywhere near a proper ending, so ending right after it’s raised the stakes considerably results in an ending that feels considerably more incomplete than the anime ending. Still, the parts that took place after the anime’s ending are pretty great so I don’t regret reading the manga.

The art is decent but not amazing. The style and quality are fine but not particularly noteworthy. The character designs in general are really good though. The school uniforms especially make absolutely no sense but I love them. There’s also a good amount of color pages.

tl;dr: A manga with a great cast and great action that flows well, though it only adapts part of the story.