Manga Review

Mania Grade: B

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Story and art by: Yoshihiko Ochi
Publisher: TOKYOPOP
Rating: Teen (13+)
Price: $9.99

ATELIER MARIE AND ELIE - ZARLBURG ALCHEMIST, Volume One

By Nadia Oxford August 31, 2007

ATELIER MARIE AND ELIE - ZARLBURG ALCHEMIST, Volume One by Yoshihiko Ochi.
© TOKYOPOP

There are two ways to adapt a video game into a manga. The first way is reminiscent of the Kingdom Hearts manga, which relays the game's story almost exactly and bores the reader to tears as a result. The second way is to allow the writer to present the game's world by him or herself. Give the surrounding towns and locales some life and a real population. Talk about its economy, its protectors and its surrounding species. Zalburg Alchemist does the latter, and while it's not the most original manga on the shelf, it's still a fun and humourous read.

Marie the alchemist returns to the Zalburg Royal Magic Academy after traveling around the world. She quickly becomes bored with the quiet life and hits up the bars frequently until she meets fellow alchemist Ellie. Fascinated (and perhaps a little smitten) by Marie's free spirit, Elie gets a little tipsy herself and suckers Marie into opening an alchemy shoppe. Adventure follows its opening as surely as a tail follows a dragon; there are ingredients to gather, customers to serve and giant jelly-creatures to bomb--all to be done while training the three little elves who have somehow wormed their way into apprenticeship.

Zalburg Alchemist's strongest point is Ochi's art. Clean, cute and very detailed, the characters are expressive and the elves are downright adorable. There's character to be found in almost every panel, from custom flying brooms to the docile, bright eyes of the knight's horses. Even the giant and almost-featureless Puni-Puni monster (the aforementioned jelly creature) is endearing despite its destructive obliviousness. It smashes down forests and consumes towns while taking a simple walk, but it's not evil; just very careless. Marie notes the monster is not of their world, but she says nothing more about the matter. Most game-related manga can't resist rambling info-dumps as a means of describing the characters' settings, making the more subtle route that much more interesting and worthy of follow-up.

Fantasy manga usually either takes itself too seriously or swings to the opposite end of the spectrum and gets completely silly. Zalburg Alchemist is a nice in-between; the characters are light-hearted and fun times ensue (including a mishap with an elf and a magic basket), but it's still possible to worry about them getting into dangerous situations. Zalburg Alchemist retails for $9.99.

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