That’s exactly what happened to me when I read “Arifureta.” It's worth mentioning that both the manga and the anime are adaptations of the light novel, but since the light novel is completed and even apparently got a pretty substantial epilogue, I assumed that the manga would at least go a bit further than the anime.
Surprise – no, it doesn’t. It ends right where episode 11/12 of the second anime season begins. Additionally, it offers very few extra details; at least I didn’t notice anything significant. Consequently, the manga closely resembles the anime, except that the anime also has moving pictures and sound. So, I can’t really recommend the manga, at least not if you’ve seen or can watch the anime.
However, if you’re thinking that you’d still like a bit more of a review than “it’s like the anime, just shorter and without sound and moving pictures,” here is a revised version of my reviews for seasons 1 and 2 of the anime:
The biggest criticism of the story is probably that the introduction is completely different from the rest. It’s almost like two different stories are being told, but many stories do this. A story has to start somehow; it would be difficult to jump straight into the main events when nothing about the world or the characters has been explained yet. While the difference between the introduction and the main story is immense, in my opinion, it’s manageable because the transition is well done. What bothers me more is that very little is explained. Background stories, in particular, are mentioned but never thoroughly explored – take Yue’s story, for example.
I also want to mention that Arifureta is often criticized for being quite different from its source material. The original is said to be much more mature; for example, I’ve heard about frequent sex scenes that aren’t present in the anime or manga, though there were significantly more hints in the manga.
I like the characters. They’re not particularly deep or complex, but that doesn’t bother me at all. In my opinion, this is because the story doesn’t even try to make them deep. They’re supposed to be funny and entertaining, which they are. The focus is simply on the strengths of the characters, which is definitely pure entertainment. One could criticize that Arifureta started off dark and deep, but as I already criticized, the introduction is too different from the actual story.
While I was critical of the second anime season, mainly because I didn’t like the rather gentle Kaori, I didn’t have this issue with the manga. This could have various reasons – I didn’t have a break between the arcs, I’ve changed since the anime was released in 2022, or the manga simply does it better – but I want to highlight this as a positive here.
Conclusion: I would stick with my rating of the anime and give the manga 7 out of 10 stars. Even though it’s objectively worse—whether because of the medium, like the fact that it has no sound and you have to read it, or because it’s not as long—I only had problems with Kaori in the anime, which is why I want to give it the same rating as the first anime season.
