Arch like/lite? Sure. But without the ability to use the Aur safely you’re missing nearly half or more of what Arch has to offer. I’ve waited a long time for a really good Linux distribution that had an easier usage curve than Gentoo while having a semi decent portage/ports system like the BSD do.
It can still definitely work for a quick and easy Linux gaming system. If your priority is Steam and Nvidia Graphics drivers installed no fuss. Then again so can nobara or the steamos variants.
I’m not going to lie or hate though. I absolutely ran manjaro first before moving on to proper Arch. It was just easy and painless until it got to things like ports and the Aur.
You aren’t wrong about the aur. Similar could be said about flat packs snaps Etc however. We should always audit our systems regularly.
That said, Manjaro is different enough that even enabling the Aur is a bad idea. I know from experience as I’ve done several reinstalls Etc. Because of Manjaro issues with the aur. They really shouldn’t even ship access to it. Because Manjaro does so many Breaking changes. It’s one of many bad decisions on the part of Manjaros maintainers. Ubuntu may be Debian and based. But it’s not Debian. Manjaro is the same.
The rest of them basically are Arch just with a few tweaks, themes, base install, and installer.