3ET: Escha & Logy no Atelier: Tasogare no Sora no Renkinjutsushi

"This book would be really interesting if I knew how to read!"

Studio: Studio Gokumi

Director: Iwasaki Yoshiaki (Love Hina, Zero no Tsukaima)

Writer: Urahata Tatsuhiko (Cardcaptor Sakura, Saki)

Main Cast:

Murakawa Rie as Escha Malier

Ishikawa Kaito as Logix Ficsario

Character Design: Nakano Keiya

Music: Kazuki Yanagawa and Asano Hayato

When I played more videogames, I played several JRPGs. So, I'm familiar with the first act of the type of story they like to tell. In the case of Escha & Logy no Atelier (...), we meet the main characters, a pair of alchemists in the backwater town of Colseit. Escha grew up the town and Logy is from the capital, with both having been hired at the research and development department of the local government. The plot follow them as they help the surrounding area with problems that have alchemical solutions. This could still work if there is something about the characters or the world to keep my interest, but that does not seem to be the case here.

The first major flaw has to do with how transparent it is that this is a JRPG adaptation. There are moments that scream at me "this is where we taught the player how to use alchemy" or "this is where we taught the player how to use magic". While these are necessary for the player to learn basic mechanics in the game, in an anime it's just watching a girl put things in a pot or start chanting to fire off a spell. This is time that could be used to explore the world, and as I've said before; wasting time is the worst sin an anime can commit. There are also a lot of characters who are introduced in a short period of time. None of them are given any real personality, or more accurately, there isn't time to learn about their personality. There is always some minor crisis like a broken axle in a windmill or a village's water supply not being pristine. Sure, these are problems, but I don't care enough to watch people fix them.

Alchemy is much more interesting to do than to watch.

The other major flaw is the usual suspect of poor characters. Neither main character has much of a reason for the audience to care about them. Escha's goal was to become an alchemist. She has achieved that goal in the first episode, and now we're just watching her go around and do mundane alchemist things. There is nothing driving her forward to make me care about what happens to her. As for Logy, there are a few seconds suggesting a violent past, probably something to do with military if I had to guess. I mean, he does look like a reject from Full Metal Alchemist's central casting for state alchemists. The rest of the time, he is just a serious faced guy who pretty much lacks any personality. And the poor dialogue between the two does nothing to build their relationship. Here's an idea, instead of dull expository conversations about the world, how about some banter between the two of them. That would at least breathe some life into this affair.

Escha & Logy no Atelier (...) is a fail because it does not execute its premise well at all.  This failure is due to the flaws I talked about, but also because of something more fundamental. This is a JRPG that was not adapted well for film. When there are moments in an anime adaptation that I can see where the alchemy tutorial was ripped straight from the game, that's a failure. The same goes for any other game mechanic moment. All of the video game elements should be scrubbed away from an adaptation. I don't care what the source material for an anime happens to be, I want it to be the best anime it can be, not a cheap cash grab commercial for an existing product.