LogFAQs > #970320296

BONUS. Management of a Novice Alchemist
https://myanimelist.net/anime/49849/Shinmai_Renkinjutsushi_no_Tenpo_Keiei
Fall 2022 (12 episodes)
My Score: TBA, MAL Score: 6.60/10
Best Character: Sarasa Feed

(I couldn't find the OP for this one either)

Premise: Sarasa Feed has trained to become an alchemist in the hopes of having a successful business someday. However, due to a lack of funds, she must start with a run-down shop in a small town.

The Good: Management of a Novice Alchemist is a fantasy anime about a girl who starts an alchemy shop. It had a similar feel to the Atelier video games (though I've only finished one of those so I'm hardly an expert). Sarasa needs to balance her income and expenses, gather ingredients, craft new products, and battle monsters. She also has to get to know everyone in town, and she quickly befriends a girl named Lorea to help run the shop and two gatherers named Iris and Kate. Some parts of this are close to cute girls slice-of-life, but it also has serious monster battles and business dealings. I enjoyed the overall vibe of this anime. Each episode ended with a screen tallying her cashflow, and it was fun following along with her successes and failures.

The Bad: Personally, I felt that Sarasa was too overpowered. I'm a big fan of characters having different strengths and contributing in their own way, but Sarasa was a one-woman army. In addition to her alchemy skills, she also had infinite magic, business acumen, and she's an expert swordsman. Iris and Kate should've been the warriors of the group, and it would've been nice if Lorea was the more business-minded one. Instead, Sarasa was the one doing everything. It didn't ruin the anime or anything, but it was definitely disappointing for me.

Overall: Management of a Novice Alchemist was fun and a nice anime to watch. Still, for me it'll end up being either a high 4/10 or low 5/10, meaning it was solidly below average. I enjoyed seeing Sarasa run a business, and the characters were all decent. She was just too overpowered for my tastes, which undercut a lot of the tension and made Iris and Kate especially feel superfluous. It was a nice anime, but definitely not anywhere near my favorite of the season.