Madougushi Dahliya wa Utsumukanai

Just finished the final episode, and I was unfortunately very disappointed. The premise of the show was interesting, the slowly budding romance was natural and sweet, and the drama and business ventures were engaging. But as the episodes continued, the animation quality declined drastically and the plot slammed on the brakes.

Firstly, the animation was never incredible, but it started out decent. However, with each episode, characters looked more off-model than not, and still-shots slowly increased. The last episode was the worst, with more than half of the episode being still-shots of some sort. Absolutely unacceptable quality.
The next drawback was the plot's pacing. The ... first three episodes had good drama (though it was a bit quick in my opinion) but it helped get me hooked. However, once Dahlia's first large hurdle was cleared, there were no other hurdles in the race. I would've preferred if Dahlia built up her business without her father's favors. As of now, it feels like everyone is just helping her because she's so-and-so's daughter and they like her. Watching that isn't very interesting plot-wise. The season had 12 episodes to build to something up, either artifacts-related, business-related, or romance, but it really didn't. I'm sure with another season, this would be solved easily, but with such poor animation, I don't think anyone would want to.
Overall, I really wanted to be immersed in Dahlia's journey, but I'm so distracted by the poor animation quality that I couldn't. If this somehow gets another season, I'll watch it since the show was decent, but let us all pray for a higher animation budget.

Woman dies from overwork and gets reborn into a magical world, where people invent and build modern tools reimagined to work with magic related systems: Magic stones, magical circuits, etc.

And then you can forget it all because it turns out none of that is the actual main focus of the series, but just the protagonist's personal relationship with the people around her, followed by a lot of gossip, shoulder sharing, drama, love, betrayal, and several other romance related things, while only around 10% of it being actually about the exploration of modern tools and gadgets reimagined to work in a magical world.

If you like ... soft romance and drama things, go for it, if you expect it to be any deeper or to actually explore the themes it starts us with, you will probably be disappointed

I feel that some of the reviews are misleading, and they directly contributed to me avoiding this anime initially. I just watched seven episodes in one sitting because I had some free time, and feel inclined to throw in my own two cents here.

I can best describe this show as a Bildungsroman. The pacing is slow, and roughly three episodes are dedicated to the formative years of the heroine before the isekai elements kick in. That, admittedly, is where this anime fails, because shows should be gripping from the get-go to keep you coming back every week. If you're reading this review to gauge whether ... or not you should watch, however, just know that this is not a problem at all if you're binge-watching. This is one of those heart-warming, slow-burn shows that really do pay off.

One of the biggest criticisms I've seen is that this is *not* isekai, or not isekai enough. I don't fully believe that this is a loose interpretation of the isekai genre - the protagonist explicitly refers to her previous life once (well, her death, actually) but it's implied from the first episode that her "genius" stems from her memories of the previous world. She "invents" a hair dryer, for goodness sake. The development of magical artifacts really is at the heart of this show, and as Dahlia and Wolf create magical artifacts together, their friendship likewise develops. Yes, for what is supposedly a romance anime, there is very little romance thus far. Dahlia explicitly says that she wants to focus on her craft due to the experiences in the first three episodes, and she does, with Wolf acting as her inspiration. I wouldn't watch this if you're looking for bouts of dokidoki. Their relationship grows organically, and although I'm pretty sure romance in on the horizon for them, they mostly eat, drink, talk and infuse glasses or swords with magic. It's far closer to what actual adult relationships look like, which is quite refreshing.

I say all this as a diehard fan of shoujo/josei anime and manga. It's a much calmer, laidback interpretation of the isekai genre (compared to the others this season, anyway) and has slice-of-life elements. I highly recommend you give it a try if you're looking for something to wind-down with. Avoid like the plague if you have issues with alcohol though, everyone drinks all the time.

It not a bad anime at all, good writting and a litle abolve average animation.
But ohhhhh boy let me tell you something... this studio DOES NOT know how shadows work!!!

Jesus christ, the overuse of shadows in the animation was crazy, overused to the point when it didnt even need to be there, its actually pissed me off, cause the story and animation aint bad, but the SHADOWS would take me out of the world.

I was giving it a 7/10 but the shadowrealm dropped it to a 6
If you are not focussed into details you might enjoy it, its a nice chill slice of ... life isekai using knowlege of the previous world type beat

Cheap, uninspired and excruciatingly boring. It's just poorly animated off-model people sitting and having baby's first attempt at dialogue over and over and over again. I did exhale through my nose one or two times in the first few episodes while heroine was dealing with the divorce proceedings, but it all just kept going downhill from there.

Moving forward from the divorce it's more or less the same scenario repeating every few episodes. Someone says "I've got a problem", Dahliya replies "I've got the solution for it right here, give me a minute to craft it". She slaps together a prototype thing, it becomes immediately ... successful, everybody claps and takes the rest of the work off her hands to do it behind the scenes while she indulges her drinking problem with her not-yet-boyfriend.

It isn't (at least not in any meaningful sense) an anime about her career path as an artificer. The creative process behind the profession is basically "make an outline of a thing from our world and slap a matchy elemental stone/colored slime paste onto it". It also isn't about her business career — each time she needs to handle a business related issue, one of the supporting characters appears, gazes longingly into a window, says "you know, I owe a lot to your father, so I'm gonna deal with this for you, also here's a cookie, share it with your boyfriend", aaaand that's it, she's free to go develop an alcohol addiction.

Oh, so it's mainly a love story? A business lady meets an aristocrat guy, they eat local food, drink local alcohol, chat and learn more about the world? Go on dates to see local attractions? Well... Kind of. Like if you fed thirty bargain bin romance story books to ChatGPT and asked it to make you one of those set in an isekai.
It will spew out something moderately coherent, but since it can't actually understand what it writes, it will forget the prior episode's introduction of ice stones as an existing method of refrigeration and will have characters lose their minds about heroine's next unbelievable magical tool — "the fridge".

Everything about this anime is just a thoughtless amalgamation of fantasy-ish buzzwords slapped together to serve as a backdrop for 12 episodes of compliments heroine will receive from everyone around her about what a genius she is. If the genders were reversed I'd think this is just Elon Mask's isekai self-insert fanfiction.

tl;dr
"Dahlia in Bloom" is a low-budget anime with average art and animation, though the character's eyes and emotional expressions stand out. The isekai aspect feels unnecessary, as it doesn't impact the plot at all. The world-building and the magic system, particularly the creation of magical tools, are well-executed. The characters are nice but underdeveloped, especially the side characters. The story starts strong but loses momentum after episode six. If you enjoy shows like "Ascendance of a Bookworm," you might like this one.

The review:
This anime has a low budget, and despite that, they managed to create something enjoyable.

The art is a low-mid tier, the eyes of ... the characters are the only part of the art that is really good and noticeable especially how the emotions are shown through their eyes; and also maybe some foods and the background, it's not bad and not good either, it's just in the middle and sometimes lower. The overall animation feels average at best, and I didn't like that they reused some scenes over and over again, like the leaf on the window, but it's not a big deal so I don't really care. The OST is sometimes noticeable, but not so often, so I can't say good things about it.

The setting especially the isekai part feels unnecessary and useless, I don't understand why they make it as Isekai when it doesn't have any influence on the show at all. Dahlia's past life in Japan is mentioned so briefly that it barely influences the story. The world-building, however, is done well. The magic system is shown in interesting ways, especially the creation of magical tools, which is a strong point of the series.

The characters are slightly above average. While they aren’t fully developed, their personalities are distinct enough to understand and feel them a little. However, I felt that they didn't do just to the side characters as some of them play a really big role in Dahlia's life. The show barely touches on their life and personalities while the characters themselves impact Dahlia a lot.

The story begins strong, steadily building intrigue in the first half of the show. Unfortunately, by episode six, the pacing slows down, and the plot feels like it loses momentum. While the show remains interesting, it lacks the same drive that made the earlier episodes entertaining.

Overall, I enjoyed the show, it's interesting and I didn't feel bored by it. However, some people might get bored by what I find enjoyable. The show focuses mostly on the creation of magical tools and is similar to "Bookworm" by the vibes it gives, which is something some people find boring. If you watched "Bookworm" and didn't like it, there is a high chance you will not like this show either.

Dahliya in bloom is the latest in a recent trend of female led isekai about magical inventions. Honzuki, Tenten Kakumei etc., were all great for me and Dahliya’s no different. While the story isn’t anything to write home about, I really fell in love with Dahliya as a character and enjoyed her personal journey. A cute, smart, independent and badass female lead is my weakness and Dahliya had it all for me.

For me the big selling point is Dahliya’s magic device business which usually revolves around implementing common things we have on earth in a fantasy world. She and her father tinkering around ... in a lab for half the season before bringing products to market, and then her doing it on her own later in the series. Seeing a female character whose motivation isn’t romance or chasing after a guy, but building herself up as a businesswoman and exec while growing as a person is so cool. There is a story surrounding Dahliya expanding her business and meeting new business partners, but honestly it’s not that strong. It’s very much a slow burn character story and your enjoyment of the show will hinge on how much you like Dahliya.

I’m also a huge fan of the relationship between the two leads in this one. Instead of it being romantic off rip, Wolf and Dahliya get to know each other, start as friends and continue to deepen their bond over the course of the show. One of the things I hate the most in anime is how characters fall in love with people just because they’re nice to them once or because they smile at them, it’s so cliche and boring honestly. People meet, get to know each other and then take things from there IRL and so seeing that in an anime is always a plus. Additionally, for some plot related reasons Dahliya gets in a toxic situation and seeing her get out of that and start living life on her own terms is way more satisfying than another romance story. I’m sure it’ll come, but when it does it’ll feel earned rather than forced.

The show admittedly doesn’t have the best production values, animation is a little wonky and the character designs range from ok to solid. But it has a cozy charm that’s hard to describe and that drew me in. Dahliya looks cute in most scenes so that’s good enough for me.

Overall this was a great watch for me. I’m biased towards any well written female lead and this was another one of those. It’s a nice recent trend to have and I hope we get more of it. The light novels are doing very well in Japan and since this felt like just the tip of the iceberg for Dahliya’s story I look forward to a season 2 one day.

Dahliya in bloom gets 8 out of 10.

My narrow knowledge responds that ale is usually drunk at room temperature or slightly colder.
Dahlia said of her late father, Carlo, that he was a sucker for icy-chilled ale in the summer.

A hint of romance is getting stronger since episode 4. However, the atmosphere is still not overly sweet yet. The protagonist is neither a hysteric screamer, fearing for strangers extremely, nor overpowering like Mary Sue. Her emotional stability is not bad for me.

But I'm getting uneasy about the lack of research and idealization that is common in original works by female authors is evident in certain aspects, like the military, social systems or daily ... life of ordinary people. Cups of black tea and triangular BLT sandwiches...

The topic of ale is probably refers the original line in the novel.
Almost all beer consumed in Japan in large quantities is pilsner (lager). I suppose that the author has a book-learned concept of ale as "an exotic beer that pre-modern Europeans and people in the fantasy world drink" and wrote with little doubt, that it was served keenly chilled as the same as lager beer (if this anime were a comedy, the creators could have labeled the drink "shuwa-shuwa.")

Although I have not read the original writing, the theme of it could be like this: "a story of a female office worker who has collapsed and been LOOKING DOWN on her desktop and died from overwork. In the isekai, where she is reincarnated, she faces difficulties, including the breakup of her engagement. However, she receives support and respect from those around her and lives undauntablly, achieving success as an independent woman."
In Japan, there is a half-century-long tradition of serial TV dramas that run for 15 minutes every morning at 8:00 a.m. and last for six months. Consistently, these themes are a woman's life story (the famous "Oshin" is one of such). This anime is something similar to these.

I noticed the anime's English title, "Dahlia in Bloom," from an underrated review. I don't tune to the criticism, but I'd agree with that this title is terrible. The English title of the light novel is "Magic Artisan Dahlia Wilts No More". Yes, this translation is literally the same as the Japanese version. The once-blighted flower must raise her face for the other sunshine and pursue to bloom into her true colors.

It's not an anime particularly distinguished. Some details are a bit flat. But the total tone is natural and leaves an impression of honesty. The story has a tip of a variety of matureness -- bitter and sweet like a pair of weighty mugs of ale. The interior design of the inventors' workshop and residence is appealing.
Among this work, I love the grounded topics such as paperwork procedures or establishing a company, and Dahlia's moderate geekiness. I hope that these will not get buried beneath fluffy stuff. What will prevail inside her heart - affection, curiosity or other?
Such a heroine with unruly red hair and glasses is bound to be alchemized.

Why is the rating of this anime so low?? This is one of the most refreshing shows I've seen in a while, the characters actually act normal and in a realistic way, there's no forced romance or weird tropes, only good vibes. If you're put off by the reincarnation thing, it's not brought up at all during the show, so I do agree it could've been omitted to begin with but maybe the author wanted more traction for it, who am I to judge. I think this deserves at least a 7.3, there's not a single bad thing about it in my eyes, and if ... you like shoujo it does go in that direction but no romance as of ep 6. It's super cute and fun imo, I love waiting for new episodes and getting cozy with a drink and snack while watching this. Total hidden gem of this summer.

I've been holding off on writing this review, because I kept fearing this might end up in the weeds. But after the season end, I have to admit I've really enjoyed how the season progressed, and appreciated most of the decisions for the direction the producers took this. I was a little leery with ep 1 and the isekai angle. I saw no real reason for it. It does come into play slightly, but not like your usual trash isekais. They could have fairly easily made this a fantasy type SoL which is really what it turns out to be.

I liked the art overall. ... It's not knock your socks off, but it is very sweet, colorful and well rendered. Nice background work. I thought the animation was a touch above average for this type of series. There were some shortcuts, but nothing blantantly distracting.

The characters were going to make or break this series, and it all comes out in the wash as very good, indeed. Dahlia is so well written and believable in her conception and portrayal. So well rounded and fleshed out. Other studios should take note on how it's done. It was excellent she didn't descend into some wishy-washy lovelorn schoolgirl once Wolf was debuted. One of the highlights of the writing in this series is neither MC turns into a romantic simp. A realistic platonic relationship grows naturally between the two. So well done, kudos to the writers. While there is some hint at romance. especially in ep 12, it's not what drives this narrative.

Even the side characters were well written and portrayed as beyond mere props. And I have to hand it to the entire VA cast for making this series so calm and not unnecessarily dramatic. It's laid back, but with enough activity to keep the narrative moving along at a nice pace. All aspects for a fine job done by the director.

While I wasn't super impressed at first, this series blossumed into a very satisfying experience. If I was grading, this would get a 87/100 for a B+. If you are into chill character development this is highly recommended. I'd be happy to see this get another season, for sure.

Unfortunately, I don't recommend this anime for one simple reason: the characters are very poorly constructed, the plot doesn't explore the hero's journey well and the romance is weak and confusing.
This anime had a good promise, with the heroine in a new world full of magic and challenges. The only problem is... the magic isn't explored, the challenges hardly appear, and the animation isn't the best.
The feelings of the characters aren't taken to heart, there's a lack of emotion and poetry for what each one is really feeling. I have the feeling that they wanted to cram the whole story into 12 episodes, ... and it was all very superfluous.
I also expected the heroine to have more personality.
The story of the heroine's father was handled well at the beginning of the plot, but in the middle to the end not so much (I can't comment too much so as not to give away spoilers).
Unfortunately, I didn't approve of this anime

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

This is a breath of fresh air.

I'm 9 episodes in. I don't generally have the energy to write a whole review. But I'll provide my summary points.

Positives:
+ A focus on collaboration and the value of integrity.
+ Not overtly powerful objects or magic (thus far).
+ Interesting approach to magical device design, much more interesting than 99% of other fantasy shows regardless of whether it's isekai or not.
+ A sensible approach on what it means to start off as friends and move towards romance with boundaries in place.
+ Consistent animation quality.
... + A very respectful tone in general.
+ The business of being a magical device inventor is given a respectable level of consideration.
+ A lot of focus on inventing, design considerations and the business side of things.

Negatives:
- Average animation style.
- The dialogue can feel stale at times.
- More focus on romance than I'd hoped, though not as much as one might fear.

Mix:
+- Interesting enough to make you wish for an anime where they go even more in-depth on magical devices.
+- Though there's definitely a lot of magical device design and talk, some might wish for even more magical devices. I personally prefer it the wayit is, perhaps going more in-depth on each device but it's a tricky line to walk. Some might like it, some might not.

The review for this anime in general looks flat. It can be understood because it is a slice of life genre which is usually a boring genre if the author cannot provide a magical touch that can make it interesting. I try to explain what I think is lacking in this anime story, namely the concept of a story about a magical tool craftsman, from what can be observed the main character does not have an ambitious goal or create a revolutionary tool that can have a big impact on the storyline, what's more the background of the main character's story is a Reincarnation from ... another world who should be able to get better knowledge and discovery references as a comparison from the two worlds he has ever passed through. The focus of the story concept about this magical tool should be more considered or prioritized to be more interesting and unexpected according to the title of this anime, such as the discovery of socks and Raincoat which I think is very ordinary and even for the Raincoat which is made with a mixture of slime, it imitates the anime story "Kami-tachi ni Hirowareta otoko" this is quite disappointing for me. Next, the shortcomings of this anime story are in the unfulfilled romantic relationship and minimal or inappropriate conflicts, I explain about inappropriate conflicts referring to the romantic conflict at the beginning of the story about the cancellation of the main character's matchmaking does not match the concept of the story about magical tools or even the genre of the anime. I can give an example of a conflict that fits the concept of the story about magical tools, it could be a copyright competition/sabotage between tool creators or exploitation by the authorities against tool creators, something like my example above might make the story more interesting. For the element of romance in this story is very lacking even though throughout the story it leads to romance rather than becoming a magical tool craftsman, it can be understood because this anime does not include the romance genre but this actually looks ambiguous to me as a viewer, this point should be made clear, aka not vague, so that it can give added value to the story. So the conclusion for this story is flat like a failed slice of life anime. Failed in the sense that supporting elements such as romance, comedy, innovation and story goals (story concepts) are not executed well.

For the animation, it is quite good in my opinion in terms of background detail and character visualization looks good.

For the soundtrack, voice actors and sound effects are standard in my opinion, nothing impressive looks ordinary in general.

So the overall conclusion of this anime is standard/ordinary, nothing stands out to be a plus point so it's quite boring for some viewers, so I can't recommend or say this anime is bad depending on the taste of each viewer. Thank you

It boils down to a slice-of-life anime in a world where magic is real, but is essentially technology. It's used to imbue items with various effects. Wind and fire magic makes a flamethrower or hair dryer. Ice magic makes a cooler. Fire magic makes a boiler. That type of thing. Dahlia is isekaied after dropping at a young age from overwork - it says something about Japanese culture that so many Manga and Anime share this trope. Her pops is a well known "artificer" who has invented numerous magical devices and she's raised by him in a house that's also a workshop and lab, where ... her memories from the previous life are inspiration for new devices.

The eisodes cover several months of her life, her friends, and her building relationships. It's an anime anyone can watch.

The animation is average, the voice acting and music are excellent. 90% of the anime is nothing special, then there will be scenes that are incredible - for a few seconds. Usually cut-scenes with unusual angles, different artistic style and so on - the things that made Anime in general so popular in the first place.

I would recommend it for a relaxing watch. There's not much fighting, and seriously - more time is spent discussing foot fungus than actual battles. The relationships are bizarre - almost everyone has commitment issues. You're not going to have all your questions answered. You're just dropping in for a bit to see what's going on.

Madougushi Dahliya wa Utsumukanai was such a refreshing watch! 🌸 It’s incredibly light-hearted and calm, with absolutely no drama, no action, no intense fighting scenes, and zero anxiety-inducing moments. This anime stands out as a breath of fresh air in a season full of action-packed shows, and I loved it for that.

The story unfolds at a comfortable pace, making it a perfect choice to finish in one day without feeling like you’ve wasted any time. It’s truly the kind of anime that leaves you with a warm, peaceful feeling after watching it. 💖 I really, really hope there’s a season 2 in the works, and ... I can’t wait for it to arrive!

Characters are a 1/3 - None of them are annoying but no one notable either. Aside from her love for her father and magical devices and that she's kind, is there anything notable about her? Interesting? Not really. This is what is expected from any anime that at most only has 12 episodes in a season. With so little time, you're never going to get fully fleshed-out characters you can truly feel for. This applies to the FL as well as the ML. Show, don't tell. That's the rule in films and animation. Glimpses of their pain are not enough. You have to immerse your ... audience, a 10-second flashback or a 5-second scene of being ogled at isn't sufficient enough for the audience to connect to the characters. Being told "My friendships keep failing because I'm too handsome" will never be as impactful as a scene where we can SEE his friendships failing or being ostracized for his looks.

The story is a 1/3 - I have said in previous reviews I like it when it's Romance & Plot, not Romance = Plot but for this anime? There isn't even romance so what was the point? Don't get me wrong, I like how it's a slow-burn romance where it isn't love at first sight but there was no progress in the magical devices department and the story with her father was about for only four episodes or so. There is no climax. 1 season, sure it's just the beginning of the story but it's still a mini-story on its own and every story has a beginning, climax, and end. Here, it's just beginning. It feels like you got half of the episodes of a full season one then never got the other half.

Art is a 1/3 - Hey at least the ML is hot (in the panels when the art isn't wonky)

Personal Taster is 0/1.