Manga / Magic Artisan Dahlia Wilts No More

Necessity is the mother of invention!

I'll work hard... go where I want to go... drink what I want to drink. I'll light my own path... and never hang my head. I'll live my new life how I want to live it!

—Dahlia's Promise, Volume I

Magic Artisan Dahlia Wilts No More (originally 魔導具師ダリヤはうつむかない～Dahliya Wilts No More) is a fantasy manga adaptation of the Light Novel series Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start with Magical Tools by writer Hisaya Amagishi with art by Megumi Sumikawa and character design by KEI. It follows the adventures of Dahlia, a woman reincarnated in a fantasy world who immerses herself in the art of crafting magical items. The Light Novel series began in 2018 and the manga's first volume was published in 2019. An English translation of the Light Novel was published by J-Novel Club in 2021 and the English translation of the manga published by Seven Seas Entertainment in 2022.

In her past life on modern-day Earth, Dahlia's dream job in the development department of an electronics corporation turned into a nightmare when she was transferred to claims. Instead of spending her days building new technology, she hung her head as her bosses and clients heaped abuse on her. Stress and overwork caused her to suffer a fatal heart attack. But Dahlia finds herself reincarnated in a fantasy world filled with Magitek and wonder.

Born as the sole heir to famous Magic Artisan Carlo Rossetti, Dahlia gets the opportunity to create magical contraptions that will help make the world a better place. With knowledge from her old life and the skills her adoring father taught her, she dedicates herself to researching magic and building specialized tools. It won't be easy to forge her own path in this new life, but Dahlia is determined to make the best of her second chance!

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Tropes in Magic Artisan Dahlia Wilts No More:

The Series As a Whole

• The Apprentice:
  • Dahlia is her father's unofficial apprentice, working under his tutelage to carry on the family business.
  • Tobias Orlando is Carlo Rossetti's official apprentice. He is the second son of the head of the Orlando Trading Company, a corporation that supplies Mr. Rossetti with raw material for his magical crafting business. Having Tobias become Carlo's apprentice is an attempt to deepen the ties between the two businesses, as is the engagement planned between Tobias and Dahlia.
• Extraordinary World, Ordinary Problems: Dahlia's job as a Magic Artisan is to invent tools and material imbued with magic, and her specialty is recreating appliances and modern conveniences she remembers from Earth. One of her earliest successes is a method of waterproofing fabrics using distilled slime essence — all because she wanted a better rain coat. Her invention proves immensely popular with merchants (who use the fabric like a tarp to protect their goods while shipping) and soldiers (who appreciate the dry, comfy tents made with waterproof fabric).
• Giving Radio to the Romans: Dahlia uses her knowledge from her previous life on modern-day Earth as the basis of her Magitek inventions in the magical world of Ordine. As a child she prompts her father to create more efficient water heaters and they worked together to build a hair dryer. She goes on to "invent" waterproof fabrics (imbued with magical ingredients like dried slime and dragon scales) based on her memory of rain coats and portable burners (powered by magically charged stones) based on counter cooktops.
• Magitek: The world of Ordine has artifacts powered by magical components that serve much the same purpose as modern day appliances. As a Magic Artisan, Dahlia spends her days inventing new artifacts:
  • Portable Lights powered by Fire Stones are on of the first artifacts seen in the series.
  • Air Conditioners made up of Wind Stones that push a breeze over Water Stones or Ice Stones. In Volume 2, Dahlia meets the inventor of the magical air conditioner and learns that he was an old friend of her father's
  • Water Heaters powered by magic are shown, but their inner workings aren't described in detail.
  • Hair Dryers are the first appliance that young Dahlia replicated from Earth, creating a devices that uses a Wind Stone to propel air heated by a Fire Stone through an adjustable nozzle. Her first draft was more of a flamethrower than a hair dryer, and it took several rounds of refining the design with her father to figure out where they needed to throttle the magical output before it was safe to use.
  • Portable Burners are Dahlia's next big project after perfecting waterproof fabrics. Magically powered cooking elements already existed, but she shrunk them down and made them portable.
  • Security Systems aren't widespread, but Dahlia's grandfather invented a magic gate that functions like a basic access control system. Authorized personnel can be programmed into a control panel and granted access at any time, and all others who wish to pass through the gate need clearance.
  • Magically-powered Refrigerators, Irons, and Vacuum Cleaners are all sold at the "Right Eye of the Goddess," an exclusive magical items shop for nobility.
• Monster Organ Trafficking: The world of Ordine is home to many supranormal creatures like krakens, gryphons, and slime monsters. Those creatures often have magical properties that make them useful in crafting Magitek items, or they're just plain tasty:
  • One of Dahlia's first major inventions is waterproof fabric, which she created by imbuing fabric with a solution containing concentrated blue slime essence. She spends months researching the formula, even turning her father's Green Tower into a temporary slime-processing facility to produce enough blue slime essence for her experiments.
  • When proposing that Dahlia set up her own Trading Company, it's pointed out that with her family name and status as the inventor of waterproof fabric she could get her hands on exceptionally rare material like gryphon corpses.
  • Gabriela takes Dahlia to a makeup store and they both get excited over the newest products: lipstick made with dye harvested from red slime and lip gloss made with kraken skin.
  • Kraken meat is also described as a cheap and very tasty component of seafood dishes.
  • Dahlia creates a set of illusion-imbued glasses for Volfred using a precious powder that comes from fairies.
• New Life in Another World Bonus: Dahlia retains her memories of Earth, which gives her an edge up in terms of inventing Magitek appliances. Flashbacks to her childhood showed that she was very bright as a young girl, engaging in study and research from the time she was old enough to hold a book.
• Slow Life Fantasy: After dying young of a heart attack on modern-day Earth, Dahlia is reborn in a fantasy world full of monsters and adventure. Her greatest goal is to become a successful magical artisan, bringing the comforts of 21st century Earth (like water heaters, blow-dryers, and portable cooktops) to the fantasy realm.
• Reincarnate in Another World: After suffering a fatal heart attack at her desk job on modern-day Earth, Dahlia is reincarnated as a baby in the magical world of Ordine.
• Unequal Rites: There are many types of magic users in the world of Ordine, but the type of magic each can perform is restricted based on their title. Magic Artisans, Wizards, and Sorcerers all practice different expressions of magic.

Volume 1

• All Take and No Give: The relationship between Tobias and Dahlia was never romantic to begin with, what with their Arranged Marriage being a Marriage of Convenience/ business deal between their families. But what might have been a promising partnership between two bright young Artisans is ruined by Tobias' controlling behavior, sense of entitlement, and refusal to see Dahlia as an equal:
  • On the day Carlo finalizes their engagement and announces to Dahlia that Tobias is now her fiancé, Tobias makes a comment about the extra inch of height Dahlia gets from wearing sensible walking boots. From then on she only wears flats around him to soothe his ego. Over the course of their engagement Tobias exerts ever more control over Dahlia under the guise of making sure they look like a happy couple — he tells her not to drink in public or draw attention with her clothes, to cover up her natural hair color so as not to stand out and not to wear makeup because he doesn't like it.
  • When Tobias breaks off their engagement, he says he wants to keep the house that they bought together and move in with his mistress. He then proceeds to ask Dahlia to front him the money he owes her for her share of the property.
  • Dahlia later learns that Tobias had patented her latest invention under his name and has been collecting profits from her work since the paperwork was filed. She's less upset that he put his name on the invention (since they were about to be married and share all their assets) than she is that he neglected to include her name anywhere in the documentation. All the reports on the invention's use and and issues that crop up would have only been sent to him. Dahlia only ever cared about creating and improving magic items, and without those reports she would have had no idea how her inventions were performing.
• Amicable Exes: Subverted — Dahlia tries very had to keep things civil with Tobias after he calls off their engagement. The Rossettis had been partners with the Orlando Trading Company for years, and Dahlia doesn't want to turn her back on that business relationship just because their engagement fell through. She also wants to preserve Tobias' reputation as her father's apprentice; after all, any bad publicity surrounding him would reflect poorly on her father's legacy. But Tobias' awful behavior in both their personal and profession lives ultimately drives her to sever ties with him and his family business:
  • Tobias waits to break off their engagement until literally the last second — as Dahlia is picking up a pen to sign their marriage contract — and he does so by declaring he's fallen in love with his secretary Emilia.
  • When dividing their joint assets, Tobias asks to maintain residency in the house they bought together. Dahlia's share of the house amounts to fifty gold coins that Tobias would need to pay her in order buy out her portion of the ownership contract, and Tobias doesn't have that kind of money. He asks to borrow money from Dahlia to pay his debt to her in the same breath that he admits he promised his mistress they could move in together immediately.
  • Dahlia agrees to let Tobias live in the house with his mistress and pay off his debt in installments as long as she can have her furniture back. But by the time she gets the Courier Guild to pick up her things, she finds that Tobias and Emilia have already broken the brand new bedframe Dahlia bought. Emilia has also helped herself to Dahlia's dresser and wardrobe (which Tobias knew were the only possessions left to Dahlia by her late mother).
  • When Dahlia goes to the Guild to collect proceeds from the Magitek portable burners she designed, she learns that Tobias had patented the burners under his name and has been collecting all the profits they generated while Dahlia sorted out their broken engagement. When she explains her situation to the Guild they immediately understand the gravity infraction, changing the patent to her name (since Dahlia could prove she had been solely responsible for the research and development of the burners) and offering to punish Tobias. Dahlia asks them not to punish him in order to preserve her father's reputation, and asks for one last chance to see if Tobias will do the right thing.
  • Dahlia confronts Tobias about filing the patent for her invention under his name and collecting profits from it. He shows no remorse for his actions, and becomes defiant when she tells him he can avoid punishment from the Guild if he voluntarily withdraws his claim. Tobias then asks if he can just buy the rights to the invention out from under her, and when she refuses to sell he tells her his family will no longer supply materials to the Rossetti Magic Artisans.
• Arranged Marriage: Dahlia's father Carlo arranges for her to marry his apprentice Tobias Orlando. Carlo reasons that the two are already on good terms after working together, and even if they don't love each other they can still have a happy partnership based on their mutual interests. Carlo is deeply concerned for Dahlia's happiness and wants to make sure she won't end up alone or destitute if anything ever happened to him.

• Didn't Think This Through: Tobias patents Dahlia's portable burners under his own name before breaking off their engagement and ending their partnership as Magic Artisans. He then proceeds to collect the first month of profits generated by the sale of those burners, all while living in the house Dahlia still owns half of with the Mistress he dumped Dahlia for (even using the new bed frame Dahlia bought to have sex with his mistress while she was out, even outright breaking it much to the Courier Guild's disgust). When Dahlia discovers his deception and reveals it to the Commerce Guild, their reaction is immediate: they offer to put Tobias on probation while they connect her with a legal aid fund that will help her sue for Contract Fraud — and if she wins, Tobias would be disbarred from ever working with the Guild again. Dahlia asks them to refrain and give Tobias a chance to voluntarily withdraw his claim, if only to preserve her father's reputation as Tobias' mentor. When Dahlia confronts Tobias over stealing her intellectual property and the profits from its distribution, he dismisses her concerns and tries to make the problem go away by buying the rights out from under her. Tobias spent years working with Dahlia and he should know how much pride she takes in her work. To assume that by taking credit for her invention, stealing the profits from it after breaking their engagement (and thereby opening himself up to legal action and possible disbarment from the Commerce Guild), and then trying to buy her silence was going to go any way but badly speaks to how shortsighted and selfish he truly is.
• Disguised in Drag: Dahlia first meets Volfred while she is disguised as a man. She wanted to take a foraging trip without anyone recognizing her, so she tied her hair back under a hat, put on her dad's old clothes, and used a voice-changing necklace to sound more masculine.
• Love Martyr: Subverted. Dahlia's father set up the engagement between her and his apprentice Tobias, and while Dahlia never fell in love with Tobias she was willing to marry him (and put up with his controlling behavior) in order to carry on her father's legacy of magical item crafting. When Tobias breaks off their engagement to move in with his mistress, Dahlia wants to keep things civil between them because Tobias was her father's only official apprentice — any bad publicity about him will reflect poorly on her late father. It's only when Dahlia discovers that Tobias took credit for her inventions that she stops making excuses for his behavior and protecting him from the consequences of his actions.
• Returning the Wedding Ring: Zig-Zagged — Tobias asks Dahlia to give back the engagement bracelet he'd gifted her because he can't afford to purchase one for his mistress.
• Sexy Secretary: Downplayed — Tobias' secretary Emilia only shows up in a few panels, but he starts a clandestine relationship with her and breaks off an engagement with his mentor's daughter to pursue her.
• Sleeping with the Boss: Tobias broke off his engagement with Dahlia because he started a relationship with his secretary Emilia.
• Stealing the Credit: Tobias patents the improved portable burners that Dahlia invented under his own name. Dahlia is able to prove that she was solely responsible for the research and development of the burners (since all the notes and diagrams submitted with the patent are in her handwriting) and get the paperwork amended, but Tobias makes it perfectly clear he knew what he was doing when he filed the paperwork under his own name. He had no intention to ever give Dahlia credit for her invention and intended to collect profits from the sale of the burner for as long as possible.

Volume 2

• Acquired Poison Immunity: Zig-Zagged — In Volume 2, Volfred describes how nobles generally have their children build up immunity to poison by imbibing small amounts. He doesn't have that same immunity because he grew up estranged from his noble house.
• Blaming the Victim: Even after cutting business ties with her, Tobias once again tries to blame Dahlia for various things when they meet up again, including "upsetting Emilia" when she was trying to make a public apology for the whole engagement affair (even outright saying, "Dahlia, can you stop blaming Emilia?" when he has more of his fair share of blame in being disrespectful and Stealing the Credit for Dahlia's magic burner) and even coming up to Dahlia's door to ask for Emilia's necklace that Dahlia "might have" taken with her in a dresser drawer when moving out. It takes Dahlia giving him a smile and telling him outright on the latter occasion that the new bed frame Tobias and Emilia shared would not be needed and instead serve as her "engagement gift" to the duo that makes it clear Tobias is no longer allowed in her life.
• Ignorant of Their Own Ignorance: The few times Emilia has a speaking role since Volume 1 suggests a general unawareness of how her actions contributed to Tobias and Dahlia's engagement falling apart. From using Dahlia's dresser for her own belongings and even having sex with Tobias in Dahlia's new bedframe, it takes Emilia attempting a Heartfelt Apology, tears and all, to Dahlia in public in Volume 2 to imply she's at least trying to be a good person, but Tobias twisting her tears into a Blame Game against Dahlia with his usual tactics could mean anything from her legitimately falling in love with Tobias and the "kind" image he set for her to the point of not being aware of anything else, or her being strung along with Tobias's Control Freak, All Take and No Give tendencies with no one else around to help her get out it.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: For essentially treating Dahlia like dirt for a majority of Volume 1 (controlling her living habits, taking the house she bought with him to use with his mistress after annulling their engagement last minute, and even Stealing the Credit for Dahlia's portable burners), once Tobias and Emilia stumble on Dahlia meeting up with Wolfred Scalfarotto, who himself is a high-ranking noble, the duo can do nothing but bow their heads and run once Wolfred escorts Dahlia elsewhere. That's not even getting into how the Commerce Guild and its various other branches have taken Dahlia's side in spite of Tobias having admitted to the contract fraud behind the portable burners, showing outright disgust at the mention of him and even putting all their money and benefactors into Dahlia herself (essentially cutting Tobias off of any future support in all but written word). It's made even more satisfying when Dahlia outright points a lost Tobias to a notary for finding Emilia's lost necklace during the move-out, not taking back her broken bedframe from Volume 1 and instead "gifting" it to the newly engaged couple because she doesn't need it anymore.
• The Glasses Gotta Go: Dahlia spent the first Volume wearing glasses, but when Volume 2 starts she's had her eyes fixed at at temple (where the healers use magic spells to re-shape her cornea) and no longer needs them.
• The Makeover: Overlaps with Retail Therapy — Gabriela takes Dahlia on a shopping trip to celebrate the opening of her own trading company. After accompanying Dahlia to the temple to get her eyes fixed, Gabriela buys Dahlia some new suits and takes her to a makeup counter where they can both geek out over fabulous new cosmetics made with slime pigments and kraken scales.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Surprisingly, the few appearances Emilia, Tobias's mistress, has in the volume shows her extremely regretful and even teary towards Dahlia, considering it her fault for Tobias and Dahlia's engagement (and by extension their business relationship) having fallen apart. At the end of Volume 1, Tobias tries to reassure her, saying it was all about the magic devices between them, but considering Tobias's own selfishness in handling the engagement annulment and everything afterwards, Emilia's not entirely wrong. Emilia even tries to apologize loudly to Dahlia in public when they stumble across each other at a nearby cafe, only for Tobias to make her tears into what appears to be Dahlia's fault for holding a grudge to the nearby onlookers.
• Retail Therapy: Overlaps with The Makeover — In Volume 2, Guild Mistress Gabriela takes Dahlia on a shopping trip. She claims it's to help spruce up her image as a new trading company owner, but it's clear Gabriela is trying to cheer Dahlia up after how things ended with Tobias and the Orlando Trading Company.

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