I’m quite a big fan of the Atelier series, so a title like Management of Novice Alchemist (Shinmai Renkinjutsushi no Tenpo Keiei) caught my attention right away. I enjoyed the anime back in 2022, so I was happy to see J-Novel Club announce they’d be releasing the light novel in English.
Volume one of the light novel covers most but not all of the same content as episodes 1-4 of the anime.
Social Mobility
Alchemists are the elite. It’s a highly competitive field with only one school in the country where our protagonist lives. Most of those who do get accepted to it fail before graduation. But if you make it, you can be set for life, with high pay and fairly cushy jobs after some experience. An alchemist can make all sorts of miracles from teleporters to bug repellent to healing potions that restore missing body parts, which are understandably in demand.
It is also the one well-known profession that anyone can join with hard work…in theory. The nobility and those well-off may be able to hire tutors and buy themselves an advantage, but if you get in, the tuition and dorms are free. There are even monetary rewards for doing well on exams.
The New Challenge
Sarasa Feed has just graduated and has officially become an alchemist. With an incredible amount of hard work along with some good fortune, she made it through with high scores, even as an orphan. Management of Novice Alchemist starts with the end of one journey and the start of a new one.
While most alchemists start by apprenticing to a master, Sarasa has been doing so part-time while studying. Her master, a brusque but kind woman, sets her on the path to something different. She’s sent off to reopen a new alchemy shop that an old alchemist used to run.
Unfortunately, what she finds is a store in complete disrepair, in a village so small that it isn’t even on maps. Getting it running as a profitable business is a challenge she has to face.
Much of volume one revolves around worldbuilding and shows how Sarasa establishes herself in this village. She gets to know a variety of people, most of whom are very welcoming. It’s no surprise. While the villagers seem genuinely kind and becoming closer to them is an important part of the story, having an alchemist nearby can be the difference between life and death and no one wants to set up in the middle of nowhere.
Cute Characters
While Sarasa spent most of her school days in study and doesn’t have many friends, she does build up a good network of friends and acquaintances.
Her master Ophelia has dropped her in the deep end, but it’s made clear that she deeply cares for Sarasa and is always looking out for her. Hints of an incident that brought them together are dropped, but not explored in this volume. I enjoyed the interactions between them, with the master trying hard to hide how much she cares and Sarasa reluctant to depend on her. Ophelia gives a near-parental feeling of a child leaving the nest and Sarasa is shown to want to imitate her in ways, as much as she wants to spread her wings.
Sarasa soon becomes close to a village girl named Lorea, the daughter of the family running the general store. She’s a supportive outgoing girl enamored with the idea of the big city. Making friends with her works as a way to show off Sarasa’s lack of experience in the area, helping to establish her personality further. It also leads to some of the more lighthearted moments, including some of the genre-typical jokes about how Sarasa’s chest is notably smaller than Lorea’s, despite Sarasa being older.
Quite a few other characters are introduced too, such as local villagers, hunters to work with for ingredients, fellow alchemists, and a couple of characters who don’t get explored too deeply in this volume but become important later on. It’s a fairly wide cast of characters, though most don’t make frequent appearances.
The dialogue between the characters feels well-written and natural, which is a credit both to the original author Mizuho Itsuki and translator Sean McCann, along with the editor Thalia Sutton.
Building a World
Throughout Management of Novice Alchemist, it does a great job of building up how the world works. It gives thought to the systems of alchemy, both as part of society as well as how it works as part of a system of magic. Interestingly in this setting, alchemy requires all sorts of skills from carpentry to glassblowing. It has a lot of little details, like how water created by magic can only be used for certain purposes, what apprentice alchemists usually spend their time on, and why alchemists are well regarded, even by those who might resent the wealthy.
What fits in nicely here is how realistic Sarasa can be at times. As a poor orphan, she’s very aware of the realities of money and it’s often part of her thought process. There’s not only a very real feeling of reluctance to spend or waste as someone who grew up without much, but a wider understanding of the realities of business and how she can’t help everyone, as kind as she might be. Sarasa knows how money makes the world go round and this often fits into her view of how things work.
While the tone of Management of Novice Alchemist is fairly relaxed for the most part, it does have some serious moments that relate to this. It shows Sarasa as quite sweet most of the time, but later events allow her colder, rational side to shine. Alongside this, it shows a sense of community that’s built up in the first half, which feels like a nice payoff.
Art
The art by Fuumi (who also illustrated From Toxic Classmate to Girlfriend Goals) looks wonderful, highlighting the cuteness of the characters. It fits the relaxed tone of the story well too.
It shows quite a few key points of the story, putting Sarasa’s determination or excitement on display in some illustrations, along with moments of closeness with Lorea and the occasional fanservice shot.
Verdict
Volume one of Management of Novice Alchemist is a great start to what feels like a mix of a slow life series, with some surprisingly good worldbuilding and the occasional serious situation. It has a nice group of characters, fun interactions, and a setting that I enjoy.
MANAGEMENT OF NOVICE ALCHEMIST VOL.1 IS RECOMMENDED
Purchase: J-Novel Club
Want to read something else? How about checking out I Kissed My Girlfriend’s Little Sister?! Or our other light novel reviews? And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter to stay up to date.
Support High-Quality And Detailed Coverage
Want to support the cost of us bringing you these articles or just buy us a coffee for a job well done? Click the Ko-fi button below. You can even find some digital goodies in our shop~!
Thomas Knight
A gamer since the days of Amstrad and DOS and someone who has dabbled in a variety of professions. He enjoys a wide variety of genres, but has been focusing on visual novels and virtual reality in recent years. Head Editor of NookGaming. Follow him and the website on @NookSite.
