Isekai Kaeri no Arafour Riiman, 17-sai no Koro ni Modotte Musou suru - Vol. 5 Ch. 31

[Kaarme]

I disagree, partially.

• The part that I disagree with is how he wouldn't be able to win against a demon king.

Basically, he has a single trump card, which is a purely physical attack at lightspeed. This roughly means he attacks as if his opponent is in stopped time and the energy of his attacks is nearing infinity. This can make short work of any physical entity, no matter how powerful. If the demon king of the other world is just a big powerful demon without spiritual existence that can be killed through a sword slash, that's fine and dandy.

The hero/singularity was supposed to be trained in the alternate fantasy world, to correct the "real" world. If the demon king/god is a total pushover, the training is if not irrelevant, then at least somewhat meaningless. It's like Country A training its soldiers to face a cavalry charge, but Country B attacks by using tanks and airplanes.

Let's also not forget that Nabma light speed also works for a really short time and it damages his own body. It's not his trump card, it's just a desperate life saving hack with dire consequences.

• However, I definitely agree that he seems pretty weak for "the strongest singularity ever".

First, as you mention, his character is lacking in so many ways.
And second, the problem is how every single enemy he has now is a god with physics-defying powers, if not straight-up reality warping abilities. "God's Domain" basically allows his opponents to control an aspect of reality to a level that makes even lightspeed attacks irrelevant, and they can't even be killed conclusively but only sent back to their native plane of existence.

In light of this, he might or might not be "the strongest singularity ever" in terms of raw power... but if "the singularity" is supposed to fight gods, he's the greatest failure ever as a singularity. Except against that one god who wanted to enjoy a sword fight because that's his character, he is simply not playing on the same field. And this makes this whole "singularity" concept totally stupid.

This is a case where the words of the characters simply do not match the facts of the manga. Everyone is impressed by him and his strength, even though he's totally useless. His only salvation so far was his sister who hosts a divine power of her own, and this barely evens the playing field. It's inconsistent and it's getting boring.

(note: I don't mind that the MC is not invincible god-slayer on his own. I'm just tired of the disjunction between what he can do and what the other characters are saying about him. I feel like I'm not reading the same story they are talking about.)

I don't disagree with your analysis here. I wouldn't have criticised the series at all, or let's say not criticised it seriously, if Namba hadn't been depicted as a hero and singularity by the setting. If he was just a dude who got sent back from the fantasy world (which didn't really had any deep connection with reality), but found out the real world is facing an even greater threat he's finding increasingly difficult to deal with, then everything would have been fine, right? Maybe facing the initial attacks by weaker variants he would have felt himself powerful, but then quickly realised he's inadequate. Maybe the other Japanese (and foreigners), who knew much about what's going on, had remarked Namba has potential and is worth cooperating with, but they wouldn't have called him by using stupendous titles and expected miracles from him. But they (and the story) did and it created this whole idiotic situation.

 

[Wyrm]

Let's also not forget that Nabma light speed also works for a really short time and it damages his own body. It's not his trump card, it's just a desperate life saving hack with dire consequences.

It's still a trump card, with a cost on his body.
Nobody said that trump cards are absolute winning moves without consequence.
This is simply his best move, and it can take care of nearly any physical enemy, like apparently all the ones he faced in "the other world" up to "demon gods".

I wouldn't have criticised the series at all, or let's say not criticised it seriously, if Namba hadn't been depicted as a hero and singularity by the setting. If he was just a dude who got sent back from the fantasy world (which didn't really had any deep connection with reality), but found out the real world is facing an even greater threat he's finding increasingly difficult to deal with, then everything would have been fine, right?

I agree there. This would have been fine. MC became strong in an isekai, comes back, faces a different threat that his strength doesn't adequately respond to. That wouldn't make him weak, just inadequate for the new threat. He would have to adapt his existing strength or train a different type of power entirely to face this new threat. Fine story.

The problem that the author created by themselves is when they introduced the concept that "the other world" is a training ground for "the singularity" to fight the variants in "the real world". Since Namba cleared "the training" only to be useless against the really dangerous enemies, the god variants, the whole concept fell apart.

And yet, this could still be salvaged if the characters in the story treated him as a failure who cleared the tutorial the wrong way, but instead they comment on how exceptional he is. "The strongest ever". Just as every enemy he faces wipes the floor with him, except for basic variants and a single god who was just messing around.

 

[Kaarme]

It's still a trump card, with a cost on his body.
Nobody said that trump cards are absolute winning moves without consequence.
This is simply his best move, and it can take care of nearly any physical enemy, like apparently all the ones he faced in "the other world" up to "demon gods".

Certainly it's technically his trump card as it's his only power worth anything in a real fight. Mysteriously it was enough against the demon god. But do the variants have such a problem? Namba is basically just redlining his body to raise his one and only talent to the absolute maximum. So, it's not a high level skill, it's an average overclocked beyond any reasonable limits to look like a high level skill. Variants, however, use genuine high level skills. I'm not sure what should be said about the Vatican little girl's power. She could beat both Namba and Yui. That being said, is Sistina even supposed to be that strong? She's what is supposed to be a hack to fight the variants, same as Yui, whereas Namba is the singularity, the actual weapon.

Yet the singularity hero's ultimate power couldn't beat the hack. That's why I find it hard to really consider Namba's power to be that much. It is what it is: a mediocre power raised above the usable limits. Like if you took a rifle cartridge, loaded it with double the amount of powder, and thought you have thus doubled the power of your rifle. Is it a trump card or a madness card?

 

[tekkenshu7]

Usano Waifu version looks so comfy 💕

 

[23wowflip]

The fact that Mimi knew him and told him to leave means that they actually meet often. Make no mistake, this is an NTR route.

 

[dkuro]

A delusion where Yui doesn't exist ?
Or
It was the original timeline and Yui only exist in the current timeline ?