Don't judge by the cover or the art, this is not a generic slice-of-life comedy/romance. This is a psychological battle manga, with unclear motivations for many of its participants. The hook is a simple but effective twist on the "group of people chosen to save the world" cliché, but it gets more complicated than that. The core of this story is about the growth of the characters as they fight the golems of the wizard. Despite the exterior, this is in truth a coming-of-age story but not just for the main characters. The other beast knights get plenty of focus as well, with character development plentiful for the other characters. We see the growth of the main character from 18 year old teenager into a real adult, as well as the growth of the younger knights. There are some serious emotional moments that have long term consequences for the characters and story yet there is a surprisingly large amount of slice-of-life. This levity is critical for the very character driven story as it allows us to get more attached to the characters. It's also helps to lend the emotional story beats weight.
The ending was perfect, bringing all the threads together and being a great emotional payoff.
Art: 5/10
Remember when I said not to judge by the cover art? Well the problem is that this manga does have art that looks like it belongs to a slice of life 4-koma. I actually think this improves the manga, the SOL art (I really can't come up with a better description of it, you know the style) keeps the simple style of normal people, just living there lives like in a SOL manga. This fits with one of the themes of the manga, growing up and not getting held back by the past. I honestly think this manga would not hit as hard if the art were more realistic.
The constant imagery of the hammer, looming in the sky, makes sure that the stakes are never lost on the reader or the characters, even if rather crudely drawn.
However, there are points where the art just doesn't work. There is a fair amount of crying in this manga, during quite emotional scenes, which is hampered by the cartoony drawing of tears, like streams of slime almost. It really undercuts the drama. There are also some really weird panels, that just do not work with the dramatic, epic battles they're in the middle of. For example, in one scene in a battle, Amamyia is drawn with a square mouth with zig-zag sharp teeth. It's very stupid.
Characters: 10/10
The characters are also more complicated than would first appear. Each character makes a contribution to the story, no one ever feels brushed to the side or just a background character. The author also avoids archetypes (such as the seemingly obligatory tsundere), each character has a unique personality without being beholden to tropes. Each character is given time in the spotlight and a story arc to give them some development.
Of course, the main character is the real strand out here. He has to be one of my favourite chracters from any media, receiving a great amount of development over the course of the manga. But we don’t just change overnight, he changes gradually over all the volumes due to many different events, each with a lesson to learn, maturing little by little. I (and many others, I'm sure) can see themselves in Amamiya and perhaps could learn the lessons the manga is trying to impart. This is not to say he's a blank slate for the reader to project themselves onto however, he's abound with personality.
Overall: 10/10
This is really an underrated diamond-in-the-rough. I really did not expect this of all things would become one of my favourite mangas, with my favourite protagonist. This is one of the biggest reviews I've written and that's because there's simply so much for me to gush about. I wholeheartedly recommend this manga, there is so much more than the simple exterior.
And yes, this is a 10/10 overall even though the art is mediocre, the actual substance of this manga more than makes up for it
Good
• Amamiya also has a foil in a certain other character that helps illustrate his development
• Even better on the reread. the author is a master of Chekhov's gun, sprinkling hints to the future that only make sense on the second read through
• Shouting the name of your special attack canonically makes it stronger
• Has a fun epilogue
Bad
• There are some funny ecchi scenes in the manga but there are also a lot of random underwear shots of the princess in the middle of fights and it’s rather distracting (not like that you pervert!), it kind of detracts from the tension.
Extra Subjective
• As previously mentioned, the story changes pace from frantic action to slice-of-life comedy. This can certainly be a turn off for some people
