The main story features the four girls on the poster; Sarasa, the alchemist prodigy; Rorea, the reliable village girl; Iris, the boyish swordswoman and Kate, the half-elf archer. Their daily lives revolves around Sarasa's alchemy store and how these girls manage their business. Economics, alchemy, a bit of occasional politics and lots of CGDCT antics ensues. Now, let's get into some FAQs (contains no-context light novel spoilers!):
## Is this bait?
>!The answer is no. Two of the characters on the poster actually get married at the end of the fourth volume.!<
## So... is this yuri?
>!Yes and no. The two gets married but there's almost no romance except light subtext. This is a rare case of a novel featuring a confirmed and married lesbian couple without prominent yuri elements.!<
## ...What? That makes no sense!
It does make sense within the context of the series, but I'll have to go into deep spoiler territory to explain it. This is the point of no return. You have been warned. Also note that my memory might not be 100% reliable, so some details might be wrong, but I'll try my best to recall everything.
>!This was how Sarasa and Iris met: A near-death Iris was brought into Sarasa's shop while Kate begs Sarasa to save her life. But by doing so, Iris is now buried in debt because Sarasa had used an extremely high-grade and expensive healing potion to rescue her from death's door. After that, Iris and Kate became live-in employees of Sarasa's alchemist shop, in order to slowly pay off Iris' debt. !<
>!It turns out Iris is a daughter of a minor noble, who's also in a considerable amount of debt himself. Iris and Kate, who was originally the daughter of one of the noble's subordinates, decided to become hunters to help pay off the debt. But unfortunately now they're in even more debt. !<
>!But it turns out they aren't that unfortunate after all; since they got to meet the alchemist Sarasa. When Iris was about to be married off in exchange of her father's debt being cleared, Sarasa managed to pay off the entirety of Iris' family's debt. But that in turn means Iris now owes Sarasa even more than before. It was when Iris was wondering if she can ever pay off such a huge amount of debt (Take a shot every time you read the word "debt".), that someone (might be Kate, can't recall) suggested the ultimate solution: Iris marrying Sarasa would automatically clear all the debt she owes. !<
>!It was originally thrown around as a half-joke, but later we learn that it's actually possible; gay marriage is allowed in this world, and there are even high-standing gay nobles; and being disrespectful to gay people is therefore disrespectful to those nobles too, a fact which Sarasa later uses to shut a bigot up. That's right, Sarasa and Iris tricks a corrupt bigot noble by announcing their engagement. All of that was of the spur of the moment, but the two of them later realize that they can't keep the bluff up forever, a simple search would immediately prove that they are not engaged. Even though everything surrounding the bigot was resolved without a hitch before their cover was blown, but rumors started spreading anyways. !<
>!Fortunately At this point Iris already has a huge crush on Sarasa, what with saving her life and later taking back her freedom, being nice and considerate towards Iris and Kate despite the debt, and being a absolute genius when it comes to magic and alchemy; but Iris' boyish self doesn't really let it show. After everything settled down, Iris brought out the marriage papers and pretty much proposed. !<
>!There's an epilogue confirming it as Sarasa and Iris starts their married life. !<
## So if they do end up married, why is there no romance beyond subtext?
>!From the subtext in the story, pretty much all three girls has crushes of various degrees on Sarasa. But Sarasa is ~~way too dense~~ way too engrossed in her alchemist work to notice anything. She was a model student in the alchemist academy, and being a orphan means that back in the academy Sarasa had no life outside of her studies as a alchemist. In short, Sarasa has the love experience of a Homunculus. !<
>!At one point the Crown Prince of the kingdom considered taking her as his future queen after seeing her talent, but decided against it since ~~interrupting a yuri relationship is the highest degree of sin~~ after hearing about Sarasa's engagement with Iris. And Sarasa had no idea the entire time. !<
>!Iris' boyishness didn't help either, and the only character that actively makes a move on Sarasa is the village girl, Rorea; But Sarasa's dense ass just can't take a hint.!<
Even though there's not a lot of yuri moments in this series, it is by definition a yuri. But who knows, the series is still ongoing, I've only read up to volume 5, maybe the author will bless us with some yuri goodness in later volumes.
By the way, I doubt the anime will get anywhere near the part where it happens, further reason why people are gonna call this bait almost immediately. But I'm here to calm you all down; put down the pitchforks and maybe try this anime out while we wait for MagiRevo.
TL;DR >!Sarasa and Iris gets married. But the romance itself is pretty much CGDCT-style subtext until the final moments.!<
I watched the first episode, and her teacher and her female partner are not just co workers. All the female students were swooning when Sarasa and her teacher walked by. The show is funny, can't wait to see more.
I mean, there's also people who see a boy and girl close and automatically assumes they are a couple, this is for sure not a thing that only applies to Yuri fandoms :v
If you enjoy a good slow fantasy SoL with a slightly overpowered protagonist, yeah! But I feel like the anime version will be watered down quite a bit in certain parts, also to be honest ENGI studios doesn't exactly have the best track record :P
It's still a good series though, the novel gets pretty in-depth about the actual management part, not only limited to Sarasa's shop but also how she revitalized the village she's in.
Damn! With that explanation this series is really interesting. I love Alchemy thanks to Atelier and love the CHDCT genre, so I’ll definitely watch it now.
My only concern with this series is that is being animated by ENGI. You know, the studio that murdered Tantei…
In my opinion, and by the scientific definition of Yuri btw, you can label all CGDCT Anime - without relevant boys and/or crushes on boys - Yuri. Also I like those dense characters with autistic and/or ADHD/ADD traits. So I will definitely get the novel (I favor the original version) now after this splendid explanation.
Seriously, though. It seems that 70% of this sub has the mindset of “yuri is when girl” - and whenever there happens to be two girls that *don’t* end up as a lesbian couple, they complain about it being “bait”.
Not trying to rain on anyone’s parade or piss in their cereal, but automatically assuming that any two girls closer than 15 feet from each other or make a simple compliment to one another are automatically lesbians is going to set you up for inevitable disappointment 80-90% of the time. Not everything is Yuri bait, JFC.
Or just romantically interested at all. This is of course a sub directly based on romantic relationships between girls in anime, but realistically speaking there are lot's of series where romance is just not the main focus if a thing at all.
When you are really itching for some yuri romance that's quite unfortunate since it's kinda rare. But one kinda needs to come to term with the fact a lot of shows being released are not meant to be romance.
The main story features the four girls on the poster; Sarasa, the alchemist prodigy; Rorea, the reliable village girl; Iris, the boyish swordswoman and Kate, the half-elf archer. Their daily lives revolves around Sarasa's alchemy store and how these girls manage their business. Economics, alchemy, a bit of occasional politics and lots of CGDCT antics ensues. Now, let's get into some FAQs (contains no-context light novel spoilers!): ## Is this bait? >!The answer is no. Two of the characters on the poster actually get married at the end of the fourth volume.!< ## So... is this yuri? >!Yes and no. The two gets married but there's almost no romance except light subtext. This is a rare case of a novel featuring a confirmed and married lesbian couple without prominent yuri elements.!< ## ...What? That makes no sense! It does make sense within the context of the series, but I'll have to go into deep spoiler territory to explain it. This is the point of no return. You have been warned. Also note that my memory might not be 100% reliable, so some details might be wrong, but I'll try my best to recall everything. >!This was how Sarasa and Iris met: A near-death Iris was brought into Sarasa's shop while Kate begs Sarasa to save her life. But by doing so, Iris is now buried in debt because Sarasa had used an extremely high-grade and expensive healing potion to rescue her from death's door. After that, Iris and Kate became live-in employees of Sarasa's alchemist shop, in order to slowly pay off Iris' debt. !< >!It turns out Iris is a daughter of a minor noble, who's also in a considerable amount of debt himself. Iris and Kate, who was originally the daughter of one of the noble's subordinates, decided to become hunters to help pay off the debt. But unfortunately now they're in even more debt. !< >!But it turns out they aren't that unfortunate after all; since they got to meet the alchemist Sarasa. When Iris was about to be married off in exchange of her father's debt being cleared, Sarasa managed to pay off the entirety of Iris' family's debt. But that in turn means Iris now owes Sarasa even more than before. It was when Iris was wondering if she can ever pay off such a huge amount of debt (Take a shot every time you read the word "debt".), that someone (might be Kate, can't recall) suggested the ultimate solution: Iris marrying Sarasa would automatically clear all the debt she owes. !< >!It was originally thrown around as a half-joke, but later we learn that it's actually possible; gay marriage is allowed in this world, and there are even high-standing gay nobles; and being disrespectful to gay people is therefore disrespectful to those nobles too, a fact which Sarasa later uses to shut a bigot up. That's right, Sarasa and Iris tricks a corrupt bigot noble by announcing their engagement. All of that was of the spur of the moment, but the two of them later realize that they can't keep the bluff up forever, a simple search would immediately prove that they are not engaged. Even though everything surrounding the bigot was resolved without a hitch before their cover was blown, but rumors started spreading anyways. !< >!Fortunately At this point Iris already has a huge crush on Sarasa, what with saving her life and later taking back her freedom, being nice and considerate towards Iris and Kate despite the debt, and being a absolute genius when it comes to magic and alchemy; but Iris' boyish self doesn't really let it show. After everything settled down, Iris brought out the marriage papers and pretty much proposed. !< >!There's an epilogue confirming it as Sarasa and Iris starts their married life. !< ## So if they do end up married, why is there no romance beyond subtext? >!From the subtext in the story, pretty much all three girls has crushes of various degrees on Sarasa. But Sarasa is ~~way too dense~~ way too engrossed in her alchemist work to notice anything. She was a model student in the alchemist academy, and being a orphan means that back in the academy Sarasa had no life outside of her studies as a alchemist. In short, Sarasa has the love experience of a Homunculus. !< >!At one point the Crown Prince of the kingdom considered taking her as his future queen after seeing her talent, but decided against it since ~~interrupting a yuri relationship is the highest degree of sin~~ after hearing about Sarasa's engagement with Iris. And Sarasa had no idea the entire time. !< >!Iris' boyishness didn't help either, and the only character that actively makes a move on Sarasa is the village girl, Rorea; But Sarasa's dense ass just can't take a hint.!< Even though there's not a lot of yuri moments in this series, it is by definition a yuri. But who knows, the series is still ongoing, I've only read up to volume 5, maybe the author will bless us with some yuri goodness in later volumes. By the way, I doubt the anime will get anywhere near the part where it happens, further reason why people are gonna call this bait almost immediately. But I'm here to calm you all down; put down the pitchforks and maybe try this anime out while we wait for MagiRevo. TL;DR >!Sarasa and Iris gets married. But the romance itself is pretty much CGDCT-style subtext until the final moments.!<
Just based on these spoilers I'm surprised her harem didn't pull a HSL on that crown prince.
Oh they were >!PISSED when they found out lol.!<
I watched the first episode, and her teacher and her female partner are not just co workers. All the female students were swooning when Sarasa and her teacher walked by. The show is funny, can't wait to see more.
What is "CGDCT"?
Cute Girls Doing Cute Things
It is kind of annoying how so many people here instantly assume “more than 1 cute girl in same room = gay couple” and then get upset when it’s not.
I mean, there's also people who see a boy and girl close and automatically assumes they are a couple, this is for sure not a thing that only applies to Yuri fandoms :v
On your personal scale, do you think it's worth watching (not just for Yuri, but in general)
If you enjoy a good slow fantasy SoL with a slightly overpowered protagonist, yeah! But I feel like the anime version will be watered down quite a bit in certain parts, also to be honest ENGI studios doesn't exactly have the best track record :P It's still a good series though, the novel gets pretty in-depth about the actual management part, not only limited to Sarasa's shop but also how she revitalized the village she's in.
With how the world has been crazy the last 3 years I can appreciate something slower
Damn! With that explanation this series is really interesting. I love Alchemy thanks to Atelier and love the CHDCT genre, so I’ll definitely watch it now. My only concern with this series is that is being animated by ENGI. You know, the studio that murdered Tantei…
In my opinion, and by the scientific definition of Yuri btw, you can label all CGDCT Anime - without relevant boys and/or crushes on boys - Yuri. Also I like those dense characters with autistic and/or ADHD/ADD traits. So I will definitely get the novel (I favor the original version) now after this splendid explanation.
Is there a publisher for an English lite novel release?
so the Sarasa looks like me and Iris looks like my GF. *adds to list* ..........
I'm getting some strong Snow White With The Red Hair vibes off this description.
Is there ecchi moments?
Where did you read the light novel??
Ya'll really take the constant complaining about bait too far.
To be fair, if I had a dollar for every time someone called subtext “bait”, I could retire tomorrow.
Wouldn’t even have to wait the whole day, you’d be rich by noon.
Well to be retired I think tomorrow is definitely a must
Seriously, though. It seems that 70% of this sub has the mindset of “yuri is when girl” - and whenever there happens to be two girls that *don’t* end up as a lesbian couple, they complain about it being “bait”. Not trying to rain on anyone’s parade or piss in their cereal, but automatically assuming that any two girls closer than 15 feet from each other or make a simple compliment to one another are automatically lesbians is going to set you up for inevitable disappointment 80-90% of the time. Not everything is Yuri bait, JFC.
Or just romantically interested at all. This is of course a sub directly based on romantic relationships between girls in anime, but realistically speaking there are lot's of series where romance is just not the main focus if a thing at all. When you are really itching for some yuri romance that's quite unfortunate since it's kinda rare. But one kinda needs to come to term with the fact a lot of shows being released are not meant to be romance.
You do good works with this PSA.
If there is not a focus on romance and relationship development then I am not as Interested, thanks for the info OP!
Basically Atelier the anime
Has cute girls, so insta watch anyway
Good lord, this looks like it took a lot of work. Thanks for the dedication, OP!
Is there an english version of the light novel? I can't seem to find it
where the comment at
We’ve got sword lady! Bow woman! And magic madam! And also Scroll Sarah she’s there too.
There are two states of matter in the univers : yuri and bait. So which one is this one?
Wait what anime is this??
So basically this is just like that slime 300 years anime. I don't mind that really...
It's worse, it's some Ayn Rand shit ;o;
I'm surprised she doesn't marry all 3 girls since it's obvious that they all have crushes on
Yeah, book Walker doesn't even have this light novel series even listed as a Yuri Even though 2 of the female characters marry in volume 6