Review The Alchemist Prince #1 by juju

How to make people happy

The little alchemist is the story of Hiro. Hiro Cartarossa, formerly an office worker in Japan, a boring job and here he is reincarnated in the body of a prince from an otherworldly country. 3rd Prince of the Kingdom of Cartarossa. But this country which is plunged into hopeless misery makes him sad. His daily life is to make the lands of his kingdom larger and more fertile. To avoid starvation, the inhabitants managed to grow a potato from another country, a potato that grows even on poor soil. But to have this potato, Mary, her sister had to marry by force to a rich prince who mistreats her on a daily basis. The visit of his sister will cause a change in Hiro’s behavior, he will start waiting for a way, his universal guide usable once every 30 days which allows the magician to obtain the information he wants. The guide will then lead him to alchemy, this discipline banned by the Church, witchcraft prohibited.

Here we are again plunged into an isekai, but this time no monster at the end of the road, but a quest to seek happiness for the people through agriculture, a much more human adventure in the end. And for that, Hiro will mix his life before, and his knowledge of programming, with alchemy. Hiro spends his time between sword training in the morning, governance lessons in the afternoon, and land clearing in between. For this Hiro has his “universal guide” but above all two friends. First Heath Krulford, the fencing master. He has been training Hiro for 2 years. Hibana Krulford, the granddaughter of Heath, who is part of the order of Kinar knights (and not of the zodiac, although with the bronze, silver and gold knights, we are almost there). It will become Hiro’s sword. We then vaguely discover the; Hiro’s two brothers, Agatar and Takumu. Both struggle to be the head of the kingdom.

Very few characters in this first volume and above all we know almost nothing about them, nor their intention. They always accept very easily what falls on them. I’m a little disappointed with the character development at the moment, I hope that future volumes will teach me more about them.

On the other hand, the kingdom and the alchemy are extremely detailed. We learn a lot of things, the authors are not stingy with dialogues and other explanations. For once, I found it very useful and interesting. But it is quite dense!

I also found a few lengths precisely, especially when Hiro makes the swords or when he dubs Hibana. I found it unnecessarily long, it adds nothing to the story.

Finally, the manga takes off in its plot only towards the end with the two brothers precisely and the visit to the forest.

In the end, the little alchemist is a rather original isekai in his approach. A few lengths and a plot that is struggling to take off. Characters for the moment not very endearing for lack of elements. A universe on the other hand rather rich in terms of the kingdom and alchemy. And very nice designs. An introductory volume, we will have to wait for the next ones for a more definitive opinion. Isekai fan no hesitation, for others wait a bit.