Hybrid x Heart Magias Academy Ataraxia

tl;dr: A solid though short and clearly cut off adaptation. This manga is an adaptation of a much longer light novel series that was serialized at about the same time as the anime aired. I should note that this review is from the perspective of someone who has already seen the anime, and thus ultimately ends up involving a lot of comparison to it. Ultimately, the core elements are the same, and really the main attraction point is the fanservice. However, there are a number of differences that I think have a pretty major effect. For one, a significant amount of explanation, scenes, and events were removedin this manga as compared to the anime. However, though this may just be because I'd already seen the anime, but it didn't feel like the loss of these made it any more difficult to understand what was going on or as if things that were important were skipped over, which I suppose goes to show how simple the plot is, at least as far as the manga got. Furthermore, the anime felt like it had pretty slow pacing so it being sped up considerably is a major improvement. The plot in the anime gets a lot more intense and interesting as it approaches its end, but the manga ends before entering that phase with an ending that's even more rushed and clearly cut off as compared to the anime. Thus, the plot of the manga itself is simply some decent world building and an interesting premise that serves well for more character focused stories. As for characters themselves, similarly to the anime and as is standard in the genre, the girls are the focus and fortunately manage to come through quite well in the stories focused on them, even if they are pretty generic. I should note that the focus on the girls in the manga was higher as compared to the anime with less focus on the protagonist. However, that actually helps considerably because most of what was taken out compared to the anime is scenes with the protagonist being awkward, lame, or overtly melodramatic, but the parts that remain are of him actually being competent. As a result, he seems more useful overall and overall a much better character, though that still only puts him into decent protagonist territory. The comedy and action are both decent but not exceptional. The art is good in all aspects and not just fanservice like the anime and keeps the same great character and other designs. So all in all, I'd have to say it edges out to being better than the anime for what it does adapt.