Management of a Novice Alchemist is a fantasy anime series making its debut in the Fall 2022 anime lineup, starring the cheerful young alchemist Sarasa Feed, who traveled to a faraway town to set up her own alchemy shop and run a business. Sarasa’s main challenge is not combat or alchemy recipes, but cold hard cash.
Sarasa is already pretty handy with a sword, and she is a highly advanced alchemist for her age, so she needs a different kind of challenge. Sarasa’s main problem is a financial one, as she hardly has two coins to rub together and doesn’t have many regular customers yet. In some ways, she knows how Naofumi Iwatani feels about money, but there is a key difference between them.
The Practical Necessity of Money & Profits in Novice Alchemist & Shield Hero
On the face of it, the charming teenage alchemist Sarasa Feed and the notoriously gritty isekai hero Naofumi Iwatani don’t have much in common, and for the most part, they truly don’t. In fact, Sarasa isn’t even an isekai character, though her journey to this remote town to start her life over is functionally somewhat similar to isekai. That bridges the gap between Sarasa and Naofumi in a few ways. Most of all, these two protagonists understand that being a successful adventurer means having the cold, hard cash to keep themselves in business, and they will gladly send invoices or bills to anyone and everyone who asks for their help. In these anime series, getting a potion or being saved from monsters means paying up, even if it means Sarasa’s and Naofumi’s customers might go into debt.
Naofumi’s motive is sheer survival during his “shield devil” days because he received very little aid, financial or otherwise, from Melromarc’s royal court, and nobody was going to do him any favors. To pay for his equipment and other overhead costs, Naofumi had to charge everyone whom he saved. He was the one who’d save a town from monsters, only to tell those impoverished townsfolk to hand over the cash or they’d never get his aid again. Naofumi might even ask for payment upfront, no matter how much the impoverished townsfolk protested.
Similarly, Sarasa knows that as a business owner, she needs to keep her finances in good shape, and she won’t just hand out potions for fun. She urgently needs a revenue stream, and Episode 3 of Novice Alchemist showed Sarasa kindly but firmly charging Iris and Kate a massive bill for the potions and medical attention that Sarasa provided for the battle-injured Iris. Kate and Iris know that they’ll have to work hard to pay this off, and Sarasa won’t just forgive the debt, either. She badly needs that money to fund her alchemy shop, and she will almost certainly charge a hefty price for her other potions, too. Many anime heroes are seen interacting with shopkeepers, but in this case, Sarasa is the shopkeeper, and this time, anime fans can understand why shopkeepers set their prices so high. They have their own expenses, and money is the only answer. If Sarasa’s shop went bankrupt, she’d go out of business, and then no one could receive her aid.
What Sets Sarara & Naofumi Apart as Money-Loving Anime Heroes
On one hand, Sarasa and Naofumi the shield hero would see eye-to-eye if they crossed paths, agreeing that money is vital for adventurers like them who have their own expenses to worry about. The power of friendship doesn’t pay the bills. However, even so, Sarasa and Naofumi are almost entirely different otherwise, and they don’t even pursue money the same way or for exactly the same reasons. In fact, Sarasa would object to Naofumi’s methods if they met.
Sarasa knows she needs to run a business and will gladly hand out huge bills to customers, but as she explained in Novice Alchemist’s third episode, she also believes strongly in altruism, and she would have healed Iris whether or not Iris’ party could have paid for it. This means that while Sarasa’s shop isn’t exactly a charity, Sarasa has some flexibility, and she won’t turn her back on anyone in need, whatever the money might say. Fortunately for Sarasa, Kate and Iris can and will pay that stiff bill over time, and Sarasa plans to collect. Whenever possible, Sarasa will act with profits in mind, but to her, money is not worth more than a new friend’s life. In this way, Sarasa is inspiring and likable as a budding entrepreneur — a hardworking girl who takes business seriously but has a heart. All this is sure to boost her cash flow and earn her some deeply loyal customers. Sarasa thinks with her cash register and her humanity in mind.
Meanwhile, Naofumi has valid in-universe reasons to charge everyone for his help, but he’s hardly inspiring about it. In fact, everyone objected to it, including Naofumi’s tanuki-girl ally, Raphtalia. Naofumi’s actions were understandable, but his cold, abrasive attitude and his self-centered needs did not inspire any fans or endear Naofumi to his viewers. It was simply another example of how desperate he was, and that wasn’t terribly relatable. It was a far cry from Sarasa’s tough but fair and inspiring business model, and Naofumi lacked the entrepreneurial spirit. He was just a cash-strapped outcast hero and little more.
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