Haven’t decided if I’ll cover the whole anime adaptation but I’ll give blogging about it another whirl or two. In case I am here for the whole cour and in case anyone is curious, I’ll jot down where I currently am in the game. I was somewhere around “Everybody’s Changing” Pt. 3 before I saw the anime’s premiere. Right now, I’m at “The Panicking Boy” Pt. 3. I haven’t found the time to progress further than that.
I normally don’t pay much attention to episode titles in anime though I did notice that this episode is titled “Taking the First Step”, which is the same name as the second main questline in the game. Mind you, this episode isn’t a direct adaptation of that. In fact, I’d argue that honor goes more towards the first episode, which covers a couple cutscenes from “Taking the First Step”. This episode kind of follows its own story beats. To be fair, I recall “Taking the First Step” to be light on plot, with the game still going over some tutorials, so it’s not like there’s a whole lot to adapt.
The plot of this episode is that Empel tasks Ryza to gather materials to create a Blessing Ointment, one of the items found in the game. Ryza does have to craft one of those towards the end of the questline in the game though she does so for something else. She doesn’t use the item to heal a couple of kids like she does at the end of this episode. Ryza manages to find all of the items though she does need Klaudia’s assistance in locating the last one, the Serenity Flower. Gathering items is a major mechanic in the game so I get having scenes where Ryza does so in the anime. These are missing Ryza running around the village repeating the same animations and voice clips but I suppose that’d be non-diegetic for an anime. Klaudia giving Ryza hints is an interesting choice. I haven’t run into that in the game so it might be a liberty taken for the anime. It makes sense given that Klaudia has traveled around; she’d have some idea where certain things are. Plus, it gives her something to do during this early phase of the story.
Somehow, the synthesizing looks goofier this time around. Here, Ryza imagines herself jumping and floating in an underwater void, touching a vine that causes a bunch of magical effects before the Blessing Ointment somehow manifests in the real world. I don’t really get it. About the only thing that makes sense is the bubbles. At least that’s in the game.
Parallel to Ryza’s task, Empel has Tao find a certain book for his studies and Lila tasks Lent with drawing a map of the island. So far in the game, Tao and Lent usually tells Ryza how they’re doing with their studying/training. The anime could do that and it may very well do that later but that would come across as lazy (more so in the game) so I appreciate that the staff are actually depicting what these two are up to. At first, I didn’t really get why Lent is drawing a map. I haven’t run into that in the game and this isn’t Etrian Odyssey where map drawing is a gameplay mechanic. Later in the episode, Lent displays some quick thinking and an awareness of his surroundings. I guess that’s thanks to Lent’s map making? Maybe it’s a Mr. Miyagi sort of moment where the task somehow correlates to what you’re actually training for.
Another thing regarding Lent that’s established in this episode is his strained relationship with his father Samuel (Takashi Matsuyama), who is a heavy drinker and a violent drunk. In this episode, we see Lent telling his father to piss off. In another scene, and this does happen in the game, we see Bos (Yohei Azakami), the son of the island’s de facto leader, tell Lent that he needs keep his father in check. It’s a bit silly that the villagers don’t send one of their guards to apprehend Samuel and leave it in charge to his kid but the point the show is trying to make is clear. Barely anyone tolerates the guy and Lent wants nothing to do with him. Funnily enough, the show puts Samuel in the shadows and refrains from showing his actual appearance. I find this funny because the game doesn’t give him this kind of fanfare. He basically just walks into the frame when he’s introduced in the game.
One last thing to bring up: there’s this one scene where Empel and Lila discuss how the townsfolk are reacting to them. There is some dialogue in the game where Empel and Lila are seen as weirdos, moreso with Empel since not many people on the island know about alchemy. Empel and Lila worrying that it’ll impeded their investigation is new to me, however. I haven’t run into that in the game. Another reason why this scene stands out is the inclusion of Romy (Yuki Nagaku). Romy is one of the game’s NPCs that you have Ryza interact with for sidequests. In this scene, Empel agrees to sell his craftables to Romy in exchange for money for good PR. This is actually the second time Romy has appeared in the show. She got a formal introduction in the first episode. I haven’t thought much of Romy as I play the game so I’m curious about her getting scenes in the anime over other NPCs. Maybe she’s a fan favorite or maybe the anime’s writing team just having something in store for her. I’m really not sure at the moment.
Watch Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness and the Secret Hideout The Animation on Crunchyroll.
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