So that’s a wrap: Tobias and Dahlia just aren’t a thing anymore. Now Dahlia begins the process of moving forward with her life by…getting her vision corrected. Going to buy clothes. Putting on makeup.
Wait a minute, where’s the magical apparatus work?!?
This volume begins with Gabriella telling Dahlia that if she’s going to be backing her, she’s got to look good. So that means dressing for success, for which Dahlia paid little whit to (due to Tobias and due to magical apparatus making). After that, Dahlia thinks it’s all good while she’s eating at a restaurant, and then Tobias and Emilia show up. To make things even more awkward, Emilia preemptively apologies as loud as possible with customers now watching this scene. Can it get any worse?
Well, if a Scalfarotto shows up it’s possible…just maybe worse for Tobias and Emilia though!
As a source reader, it was funny when getting to the part where Volf shows up and essentially saves Dahlia. Only funny because I’m like, “This feels like I’ve seen this before,” and of course, it’s because of I have; it’s just now in visual form. Anywho, Volf ends up finding Dahlia and, realizing that she was the one who saved him back in the forest, repays his debt by taking her out to eat and drink. They then end up discussing, amongst a whole bunch of things, to commit to hanging out as friends. Seems frustrating since they have good romantic chemistry, but refreshing in saying men and woman can co-exist as friends.
After all, this series is also about making stuff, which happens when Dahlia ends up using her knowledge to make Volf a pair of glasses that hide his beauty. The process was pretty extensive (and dangerous looking), and it’s stuff like that that surprisingly endears me to this series. You have someone who has modern world sensibilities using a bit of that knowledge and what this fantasy world has given her to make a bunch of magical apparatuses. This makes it fun, but it also means there’s no grand story here. For now, it’s all about establishing The Rosetti Company and the continued friendship of Volf and Dahlia.
That said, this volume also made clear how important Carlo, who passed away too soon, was to not just Dahlia, but everyone he knew. In volume 1, that turned out to be a crutch — despite being miserable, she felt obligated to try and still marry Tobias. In volume 2, Gabriella ends up revealing how much Carlo had helped her in her life. Then on a trip with Volf to an magical apparatus store on the expensive side of town, she meets Oswald, who reveals Carlo likely saved his life and his business after a fractured relationship between his wife and one of his employees occurred. Despite knowing how it was in the light novel, the manga did a credible job of building up this scene thanks to the art and how it was paced.
I will only mention this one last time since it was a sticking point for me in volume 1: the use of apparatus is a mistake. It’s not a total dealbreaker for me or anything, but it really just continues to come across as unnecessary. Reading volume 2 ended up sealing it for me. There’s one part where they go over the types of apparatuses she sees and I’m like, “We sure we couldn’t have found a shorter, more convenient saying?”
Well, I’ll just have to suck it up since this will likely continue moving forward, as despite all of that, Magic Artisan Dahlia is still a really enjoyable and comforting manga. We still need to see how Dahlia continues to create apparatuses that end up affecting a number of people in society and how her company will grow in standing moving forward. Also is this finally farewell to Tobias? Well, probably not since there’s one light novel event that involves him, but I’m curious to see that in manga form, alongside a few others!