Shinmai Renkinjutsushi no Tenpo Keiei (Management of Novice Alchemist)

[Chosen_Hero]

So the parents visiting was pointless and only exists to showcase how smart Sarasa is (again) by making them stupid and incompetent.

This is then followed by showcasing how much stronger she is than everyone else (again) by making her solo all the lizards to save the others that might as well not have been there.

And that's without mentioning how somehow those gatherers never seem to know anything about how to do their jobs and need Sarasa to always explain everything to them... this is starting to feel like the writers really loves the alchemy class in rpgs and wants to make it look like the best thing ever just like how the Tamer show really want you to think that Tamers are the hottest shit ever.

At this point this show has just become background noise for me while I do something else.

[Rasty]

^ Not gonna argue that this is an extremely deep and thoroughly thought-through masterpiece, but it's not as bad as you seem to think.

Parents visiting seem to be partially a foreshadowing of future events as well as throwing in the girls' background.

The gatherers aren't exactly stupid. Sarasa is taking them out of their comfort zones and going after new things in deeper and more dangerous places. They might not be too strong or academics in rare plants, but as long as they aren't greedy they can make a decent profit with little danger even without her (her advices are to make a greater profit and not increase the danger by doing it).

It's not that the alchemist job is OP, but Sarasa is. She is a student of a legendary figure who has inhuman mana capacity and has been studying extremely dedicatedly since an early age. She also has a couple of items/artifacts that likely cost more than the whole village. It would be ridiculous if a bunch of ex-farmers with shabby equipment and learned-on-the-fly knowledge were better than her.

[Liddo-kun]

@Rasty

this is just my speculation.. knowledge on the creatures and plants are mostly exclusive to students in the alchemist school. So the gatherers are ignorant on many creatures and the prices.. I remember the episode where they said a gatherer was tricked by the sleazy alchemist guy in South Straug, the frost fang prices were dumbed down, so the gatherers believed the bats are worthless.

the danger is greatly decreased if Sarasa is with them. On this latest ep, one of those guys would have walked into toxic fumes if he had not been warned.

[candyflip]

Originally Posted by Liddo-kun

@Rasty

this is just my speculation.. knowledge on the creatures and plants are mostly exclusive to students in the alchemist school. So the gatherers are ignorant on many creatures and the prices..

Wouldn't the gatherers just look at the prices offered by the alchemists and go for the highest cost/benefit thing? Seems like a basic requirement for the job.

[Chosen_Hero]

Originally Posted by Rasty

^ Not gonna argue that this is an extremely deep and thoroughly thought-through masterpiece, but it's not as bad as you seem to think.

No, it's worse.

Originally Posted by Rasty

Parents visiting seem to be partially a foreshadowing of future events as well as throwing in the girls' background.

It can foreshadow as much as it wants, doesn't change the fact that the father is pretty stupid to get himself into that kind of predicament and not realize such a simple solution or at least band aid to the situation to which Sarasa just hears and deduces the problem and solution within seconds.

Originally Posted by Rasty

The gatherers aren't exactly stupid. Sarasa is taking them out of their comfort zones and going after new things in deeper and more dangerous places. They might not be too strong or academics in rare plants, but as long as they aren't greedy they can make a decent profit with little danger even without her (her advices are to make a greater profit and not increase the danger by doing it).

The diarrhea episode begs to differ, besides, why would you not want your gatherers to be equally adept at recognizing ingredients as your alchemists? If I wanted to hire someone to gather ingredients for me I would expect them to know or at least have some knowledge of what the hell they are looking for without me having to tell them especially in a line of work that seems to have existed for quite a long time... unless you are telling me that the gatherer job is a new job that was just created and people still haven't figured out how to do said job.

Originally Posted by Rasty

It's not that the alchemist job is OP, but Sarasa is. She is a student of a legendary figure who has inhuman mana capacity and has been studying extremely dedicatedly since an early age. She also has a couple of items/artifacts that likely cost more than the whole village. It would be ridiculous if a bunch of ex-farmers with shabby equipment and learned-on-the-fly knowledge were better than her.

Considering that alchemists can just create modern conveniences (something not limited to Sarasa all her power does is let her do it more easily than others) that clearly don't exist in that world, I have to disagree.

Also, so far the only people that seem able to do any magic are alchemists, heck, it's the only magical job we have seen so far, that alone puts alchemists (even mediocre ones) on a whole other level to most of the population that seems to be ignorant of magical knowledge outside of "it exists and alchemists can do it".

Sarasa being OP doesnt help, because she's made to showcase how OP an "ideal" alchemist should be from the writers point of view.

If we ever see any other magical job do anything of the same sort as alchemists (I don't care much to check if there has been any mention of any other magic related job), then at that point I will change my mind on this stance, but so far nothing else has been shown to disprove it.

[Rasty]

Originally Posted by candyflip

Wouldn't the gatherers just look at the prices offered by the alchemists and go for the highest cost/benefit thing? Seems like a basic requirement for the job.

That's what they did (and why they avoided the fangs), but it's not like the alchemists publicize a list of ingredients and their buying prices, they only evaluate the things when brought to them.

Originally Posted by Chosen_Hero

No, it's worse.

It can foreshadow as much as it wants, doesn't change the fact that the father is pretty stupid to get himself into that kind of predicament and not realize such a simple solution or at least band aid to the situation to which Sarasa just hears and deduces the problem and solution within seconds.

He was cornered and had no reason to suspect the merchant of wanting anything else than his title. Sarasa had the benefit of looking from outside and mistrust to the merchant to begin with. And it doesn't change that he still doesn't have a way to pay the debt.

Originally Posted by Chosen_Hero

The diarrhea episode begs to differ,

No, that's exactly proof of my reasoning. They would never go for the honey if Sarasa did not introduce it to them. They would keep doing what they know how to do safely and with a reasonable profit.

Originally Posted by Chosen_Hero

besides, why would you not want your gatherers to be equally adept at recognizing ingredients as your alchemists?

For the same reason as not every farmer or lumberjack is a professor of biology and not every miner is a geologist. It's a low-qualification job and they just know what they need to know and what they picked up from others on the way. Especially in medieval society, not everyone has the money to study and neither talent/perseverance.

Originally Posted by Chosen_Hero

If I wanted to hire someone to gather ingredients for me I would expect them to know or at least have some knowledge of what the hell they are looking for without me having to tell them especially in a line of work that seems to have existed for quite a long time... unless you are telling me that the gatherer job is a new job that was just created and people still haven't figured out how to do said job.

I would also like every construction worker to know architecture and material science, but it's not reasonable. Telling them how the thing looks, where it tends to be and what are major dangers is enough if you need something specific. Though they are mostly independent (so no one cares if they fail) and alchemists just buy the things that they manage to find (of those that survive).

Originally Posted by Chosen_Hero

Considering that alchemists can just create modern conveniences (something not limited to Sarasa all her power does is let her do it more easily than others) that clearly don't exist in that world, I have to disagree.

Are blacksmiths OP for being able to create things that no one else than blacksmiths can create? Or farmers? Since alchemists can create the things they clearly exist in that world. It's just that the things Sarasa creates are far beyond normal alchemist abilities and especially far beyond what normal people could buy if she had the success rate of other alchemist and set the price accordingly.

Originally Posted by Chosen_Hero

Also, so far the only people that seem able to do any magic are alchemists, heck, it's the only magical job we have seen so far, that alone puts alchemists (even mediocre ones) on a whole other level to most of the population that seems to be ignorant of magical knowledge outside of "it exists and alchemists can do it".

Sarasa being OP doesnt help, because she's made to showcase how OP an "ideal" alchemist should be from the writers point of view.

If we ever see any other magical job do anything of the same sort as alchemists (I don't care much to check if there has been any mention of any other magic related job), then at that point I will change my mind on this stance, but so far nothing else has been shown to disprove it.

The whole plot takes place in a small village in the middle of nowhere, what great magicians do you expect there? Sarasa can do business and learn things, but no normal mage would have a reason to go there. Don't forget those are skilled professionals and just learning magic is a no small investment in time and money.

[Liddo-kun]

episode 11:

scary how fast the Salamander can move. Sarasa manage to defeat it just barely.

I'm worried that the ingredients might get stolen, since they have to leave it there. Why not just camp in the place for the night?

[Rasty]

^ Sarasa is completely out and the girls are kind of beat up too. They are unsure whether the salamander is really dead and if it wasn't (or some other danger appeared) they would get obliterated, so it's better for them to retreat to a safer place.

Anyway, her master is there, I doubt anyone can steal under her nose.

[Ghostfriendly]

Originally Posted by Rasty

It's not that the alchemist job is OP, but Sarasa is. She is a student of a legendary figure who has inhuman mana capacity and has been studying extremely dedicatedly since an early age. She also has a couple of items/artifacts that likely cost more than the whole village. It would be ridiculous if a bunch of ex-farmers with shabby equipment and learned-on-the-fly knowledge were better than her.

And the writer who made Sarasa excessively stronger than most of her friends and adversaries has set her up as the overpowered protagonist of a story that consequently makes a poor adventure; I'm only watching for the cute happy galpals eating sweets, and unwanted engagements that get resolved with particularly welcome speed. The more challenge, the more adventure, and it isn't apparent that Sarasa has been greatly challenged since leaving school; nor have her friends, whether they have Sarasa or are overwhelmed rather than challenged. Fran, the talking sword Isekai catgirl, was more evidently challenged by some of her battles than Sarasa, and Fran was definitively a boring overpowered protagonist.

At the eleventh hour, or episode, the show did considerably bump up the challenge and animation, although it would be rather daft not to.

Iris' past as a noble lady who fairly recently took up adventuring explains her competence level (though, again, explaining power levels doesn't solve the problem with an OP character. If Iris had some obscure useful skill or contacts Sarasa didn't, or the latter had a glaring weakness others could fill in, the problem would be mitigated).

Also puzzled that Sarasa, on meeting Kate's mother, said she had never seen a non-human before. Is Kate possibly a half-elf with a human father?

[Liddo-kun]

@Rasty

I guess Ophelia being there does keep the Salamander safe from thieves.

well, and this show has got positive comments on episode 11 from many people on mal. Just a few negative (any show has haters anyway), most are positive.

https://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=2063296

hopefully, it sells well. So we get a season 2.

[Alchemist007]

Stops the earthquakes by beating Groudon .

[Liddo-kun]

episode 12:

Satisfied at the ending. Although it felt a bit rushed with how the debt of Iris family had been solved.

Sarasa get invited to run the family business again, but she decline because she already have a business of her own.

hoping this could get a season 2.

[serenade_beta]

Spoiler for final thoughts:

It was just really... flat out boring. A lackluster story, which really cumulated into the last episode, where no one can run the store without the protagonist.
There is just... so little to say. It doesn't even have the "I'm a braindead Kirara so it is okay if I don't have a story" excuse, since it kinda tries to have a story... probably. The protagonist is amazing, she has a few girl friends with her because eyecandy, and... okay, I give up trying to say anything

5/10
Very forgettable to say the least

[Alchemist007]

Cute little show with your side of murdering animals/beasts for ingredients.

7/10

[Ghostfriendly]

While the Salamander battle was more challenging and involved than anything that came before, as befits the final battle, not knowing whether it was really dead or Sarasa would have to come after it with more firepower in ep 12 weakened the conclusion. Ep 1 also gave the impression that the Feed company had been taken over by unscrupulous relatives or employees who dumped Sarasa in the orphanage; contrived contradiction without confrontation is certainly cheating. Revealing the strange colour of Maria's eyes in not-especially fraught circumstances didn't contribute much.

Still, Lorea's unspoken worry and coping efforts over the chance of Sarasa leaving was very sweet. An inoffensive, cute and positive series like this doesn't need much plot to be very acceptable.

[alex_drian]

Well, I liked it very much. If something the anime accomplish their actual goal. I will now read your LN.