I’m always on the lookout for new manga to read, especially now with a blog to run. Lately, I’ve been on a fantasy/romance binge, mainly trying to fill it with webcomics and webtoons. Just recently, however, I discovered a new manga that holds a lot of the aspects that I love and does them really well. The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent is an isekai story that is on par with some of the webcomics I read and some other fantasy/romance/slice-of-life manga that I have read before. In general, the story reminds me a bit of a combination between Snow White with the Red Hair and The Alchemist Who Survived. Concepts of being transported to another world, given powerful skills, trying to find your place in a new world, studying the medicinal qualities of herbs, and coming to care for the people around you are all presented in an interesting way that also differentiates itself from other more standard isekai.
The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent follows the newfound life of workaholic, Sei, who after coming home from a long day of work finds herself transported to a fantasy world. However, she finds that she is one of two women summoned from Japan, and is completely ignored by the Prince who summoned her in favor of the other, younger woman. With newly granted abilities and nothing really to do, she joins the nation’s Research Institute where she begins to learn how to craft potions. As she tends to the hurt and dying, she slowly comes to discover the extent of her abilities.
This manga originally came from a light novel, with art by Fujiazuki, who did a great job translating Yuka Tachibana’s story into manga form. I think the art turned out really well, and I love how the characters and overall feel of the pages is throughout the volume. For manga like these that take place in a fantasy world or the Victorian/Regency era, I like to look at the character designs and see how much thought the author has put into the clothing styles and details. And while the clothing here was not super detailed, it seems as though Fujiazuki and the character designer, Yasuyuki Syuri, had some fairly creative ideas for uniforms and everyday clothes for all the characters in this volume. Having some detailed clothing styles can add quite a bit to the feel of the manga and the world the author is trying to build.
Our main character, Sei, has a fairly every-woman appeal that is typical for isekai works. It allows the reader to overlay themselves with the character as they both learn more about the world. She is designed to be a fairly typical Japanese adult woman, with her long black hair and glasses. In comparison, the other woman who was summoned is designed to look more cute like a typical high-school, shoujo main character. It plays well into part of the main story where she literally gets ignored by the Prince in favor of the other woman, making it seem as though part of the reason is her looks and the Prince’s vanity. But as the manga progresses, I think Sei gets a sort of elegance about her as she dons the Research Institute uniform and begins improving her craft.
Stories like these are always some of my favorites. I seem to be always starved for more slice-of-life fantasy stories, and if they contain romance elements, even better! The Saint’s Magic Power is all of those things, as well as combining my love of herbs and medicine stories. I think one of the main points this story has going for it is the way that it starts and introduces us to the world. In a typical female-centered isekai, the protagonist might be hit by a truck, killed violently, or die from overwork. In this one, she is just casually summoned into this world, but finds out she was only the back-up choice if their first-choice summon didn’t work. She finds herself ignored, stowed away in a room in the palace and forgotten for hours while the Prince makes it known that he favors the other woman over her. It’s a very different start to a fairy typical isekai concept. I love how even from the beginning, when she’s awed and confused, she makes her annoyance at the treatment of her known, practically threatening one of the Prince’s aids for information. We get to see her spunk and sass from the get-go, which just makes me like her character more.
I also like how, even though she is gifted with fairly powerful abilities, she wants to keep them a secret and try to live a normal life. She devotes her study to making potions and learning about herbs, improving small things in the kingdom that the people there may not have thought about. For example, the people of this world relegate herbs only to healing, and don’t use them for cooking. In fact, they wouldn’t have even thought about it if it wasn’t for Sei introducing them to some recipes from Japan. It just so happens that her meals also help boost the stats of anyone who eats them, a very nice added benefit to the overall improvement of taste and enjoyment of the food. While the other summoned hero is off training with the Prince to try and become the savior of the realm, Sei is making small improvements at the palace and winning the hearts (and stomachs) of the people.
Her compassion is another check in her favor as well, tempered by her past in Japan where she was accustomed to overworking herself. She has the passion to dedicate herself to learning more about her abilities, but can still be weighed down by that ingrained cultural mentality about work-life balance from Japan. Many of the characters even force her to take a break after she begins to fill their storerooms to bursting with potions. But she is willing to risk herself for the safety of the friends and knights she meets while living at the Palace, especially one of the Knight Commanders, who soon becomes her love interest.
The romance in this series seems like it will be really sweet. It starts off fairly slow, as the readers are given the chance to get to know our character and their new home world. But one of the first people Sei saves with her potions is a commander of one of the Knight squadrons, who quickly becomes infatuated with her. I really like him and their romance in general, mainly because he doesn’t come on too strong with his personality and doesn’t push her for more romance. He comes off very sweet, slightly protective, and cute. Overall, I think a good match for Sei. The fact that she still has fairly low confidence in her attractiveness as a woman also makes his level of advances fitting. Pushing too fast or too hard probably would not have worked for the story’s overall goal of getting Sei to improve her self-confidence.
The Saint’s Magic Power in Omnipotent is a great manga for anyone wanting more stories like Snow White with the Red Hair or The Alchemist Who Survived. It’s a great fantasy, slice-of-life, romance that so far has a lot of potential to be a great female-led isekai story. If you’ve had a chance to read the manga or the light novel, I’d love to know what you thought in the comments below!
~~Thanks for Reading!~~
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