Uglymug, Epicfighter

There is an anime that premiered recently (July 6, 2025). I caught up with the first two episodes available, and it has a main character with the looks of an ugly bastard archetype from an NTR manga, but with a heart of gold. He is the eponymous Busaman Gachi Fighter, or Ugly Mug Epic Fighter. The anime is based on a one-volume light novel of the same name, which also had a manga adaptation. I have not read the light novel, but I finished the manga. Thus, I could see that anime and manga have different approaches in the sequencing of events when it comesto storytelling decisions. This review focuses on the manga, but the anime provided impetus for reading it. The story is an isekai, and the main character took advantage of the starting screen prior to his transfer to the other world by sacrificing several traits, the bigger the sacrifice, the larger the bonus to stats and skills. This gives Shigeru some overwhelming stats and skills, but at the cost of being damaged by 10% of health per second from the touch of a female. The ugly bastard looks comes from this sacrifice as well. This is actually a refreshing take on an isekai. Instead of another high school kid who got overpowered skills from the plot, it is a former salaryman aware of his current circumstances and takes care not to display his abilities or upset the common sense of this new world. He’s a main character with a good head on his shoulders; unlike the other three people he partied with who are irritatingly naive. There’s a development that reveals that the other people he partied with are not unrelated people. Shigeru, because of his actions in his prior life, has significantly impacted these people. There is actual character development. Now, Shigeru’s party mates are still annoying and insufferably naive, but the reader gets some backstory that explains why they are that way. Then there’s Seika. She’s one of Shigeru’s party members and she’s the most annoying one. She has this supreme confidence that borders on arrogance, but it comes from a place of naivete and curiosity. She gets tolerable a bit later on, due mostly to Shigeru's efforts in teaching her the ways of the world by taking her under his wing. In a nutshell, the story is interesting. It ticks several boxes for me in what I look for in a manga: a mature protagonist, an underdog story, and a unique take on the isekai genre. It is mostly an adventure story with comedic bits, but that is just to balance the dark backstories of the characters. However, the manga adaptation is lacking. It ends at the end of an arc, but not quite the end of the story. It feels like it got axed. Therefore, I would recommend this manga as a supplementary to the anime. Read this first and get your closure from the anime.