Sometimes you just want to focus on the business.
What They Say:
Orphaned Sarasa Feed just graduated from the Royal Alchemist Academy and is now a full-fledged alchemist! She longs for a life of luxury, but there’s only one place Sarasa can afford to set up shop – and her dilapidated new digs are way out in the sticks! Stuck in the middle of nowhere with a business to run and supplies to gather from a very dangerous natural world, Sarasa has her work cut out for her as she transmutes this bad location into a golden opportunity.
The Review:
Audio:
The audio presentation for this series is fairly standard material here as we get the original Japanese language track in stereo as well as the new English language dub, both of which are encoded using the DTS-HD MA lossless codec. The show is a fairly straightforward piece with a few outlandish moments that push up the sound effects a bit, but mostly it’s a lot of dialogue thrown across the forward soundstage well where it keeps things hopping. Placement is fairly important at times as characters in multiple locations talk at each other and it comes across clearly with a good feeling and no noticeable issues. The sound effects play well across the show and the incidental sounds at times are one of the highlights. Dialogue is clean and clear throughout and we didn’t have any problems with dropouts or distortions during regular playback.
Video:
Originally airing in 2022, the transfer for this series is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 in 1080p using the AVC codec. The twelve episodes are spread across two discs in a pretty standard layout that allows for some good encoding with the look and flow of the show accounted for. Animated by Studio ENGIi, the series has a good look to it where it’s a good sense of design about the characters and setting with things like background details and costume design, which makes it look like a lived-in world. The show is not one with a lot of bright pop or vibrancy outside of a couple of flashes here and there, but it’s not a dull flat world either. The transfer captures the look of the show pretty well and outside of a few areas of line noise during slow panning sequences, there’s little to complain about here overall.
Packaging:
The packaging for this release comes in a standard-sized Blu-ray where we get we get the familiar key visual for it. This one has a lot of good earth-tone colors and an illustration feel about it with the design but it shows off the four main characters well while keeping to the natural browns and greens of the setting. The edges show a bit more that helps it to expand and I like the way the logo is of a decent size but it’s not done with something that’s too colorful or flowery with its font. The back keeps to these kinds of light colors to it and sprinkles a bit of character artwork around it along with a few other tidbits from the show to add character. The premise is run through the middle in a very small font done in black on white which reads cleanly and we get a few hots from the show just above it as they add a little more color to things. The remainder of the cover is made up of the familiar production credits and technical grid, both of which cover things cleanly and clearly. No show-related inserts are included nor is there a reversible cover.
Extras:
The extras included in this release are the clean versions of the opening and closing sequences as the main pieces but we also get a few more. The individual web previews for the episodes are included as well as the bonus web shorts which add a bit more color to the series.
Based on the light novel series originally known as Shinmai Renkinjutsushi no Tenpo Keiei, this TV series arrived in the fall 2022 season and ran for twelve episodes. The original novels began in 2019 with their print release and have seven volumes out so far which are being released in English by J-Novel Club. The anime adaptation brought in studio ENGI to handle the production and that saw Hiroshi Ikehata directing it from the scripts by Shigeru Murakoshi. The show, from what I can see, adapts the style and mood of the light novels well going by the illustration work, and has that proper kind of natural approach that works well in creating a mood that readers of the original work come away from with. A manga adaptation is also underway which has three volumes out so far but hasn’t been licensed for English release yet.
A series like Management of a Novice Alchemist is going to appeal to a pretty particular audience. One that anime has a good number of. When I first started playing some online MUDs in the 90s, my favorite was Legends of Future Past where there was given a lot of time and consideration to players who wanted to craft and make things. Not engage in combat, PVP, or exploration of the realms, but rather character who imbued some real life and personality into the city center and provided for connections for players that traveled to and fro. They were, to me, the heart of the game because they were constants in the city. This series feels a lot like that in a way because it is very much a slow piece that’s a kind of fantasy slice-of-life project involving building a trade and working to establish yourself in the city. Imagine Kiki’s Delivery Service but a bit older and having to explore it on a much longer and drawn-out design. That may not be for everyone but for those that do, and enjoy watching negotiations take place, it’s easy to be drawn into this.
Coming from a dark background, Sarasa Feed has found her path in life by enrolling int he alchemist academy and then upon graduation goes and sets up shop in a remote village. It’s simple establishing material that lets us discover everything right alongside her because no matter how good an academy education is, the real world is going to be its own thing. And this kind of approach allows us to see all sorts of what’s involved in pursuing this path, from dealing with setting up shop itself, experimenting in alchemy, engaging with the local folk, and creating new things. And, on occasion, dealing with some interlopers as well. You can easily imagine this being in any number of crafting-related games out there but the main difference here is that there really is no plot to it.
It’s slice-of-life in a way that reminded me of a number of shows that focused on coffee and tea shops with how it was more about the characters themselves. And we do get a few here beyond Sarasa such as Lorea, the local who who helps a lot in getting things going, and another alchemist named Iris that ends up becoming part of things. There’s also an elf named Kate who spends time there as part of a debt repayment to Sarasa that comes from one of the story points. They’re able to provide some of the comedy that comes from the series and the character interactions and it works well to lighten things in unexpected ways from time to time. Sarasa’s a bit darker in some of how she handles things which feels weird at times but the other characters provide a nice balance, especially with Lorea in a complete support mode. It’s not exactly a firing on all cylinders kind of ensemble piece since it’s more about Sarasa but as a whole, they’re pretty decent to watch interact with each other.
In Summary:
With a series that’s focused on dialogue and character interactions, I’m glad that this one got a dub and from a casual checking of it they seemed to have captured the gist of it well. The show is overall pretty relaxed and mellow when it’s not dealing with problematic monsters and I like that it’s more of a slice-of-life piece than a big adventure story. We get a lot of shows with serious plot and while I do think this could have been tightened up with more purpose in that area to help it come together, this is the kind of project that I’ve seen often in other forms and they’re enjoyable with the right cast. I don’t think the characters here quite get to that – though Sarasa has some surprising moments along the way – but it still hits a certain sweet spot that fans of this type of work will enjoy. It’s not something that would be a huge mainstream success because that’s not its intent. It just wants to quietly craft in its corner and deliver some delights for the locals that know and love it.
Features:
Japanese DTS-HD MA 2.0 Language, English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Language, English Subtitles, Clean Opening, Clean Closing, Shorts, Episode Previews
Content Grade: B
Audio Grade: B
Video Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: B+
Menu Grade: B
Extras Grade: B-
Released By: Sentai Filmworks
Release Date: November 28th, 2023
MSRP: $69.98
Running Time: 300 Minutes
Video Encoding: 1080p AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
