The Fall 2023 Manga Guide

Alpi the Soul Sender

What's It About? 

In the magical world of Alpi, divine spirits are the source of all life, communities living in harmony under their protection. However, when their lives end, a terrible curse drives them to evil, and these malign spirits must be sent to the afterlife by the Soul Senders. Alpi is one such girl, talented despite her young age, and assisted by her familiar Perenai!

Alpi the Soul Sender has a story and art by Rona. English adaptation is by Motoko Tamamuso and Jonathan Clements. Lettering by Jonathan Stevenson. Published by Titan Manga (October 3, 2023).

Is It Worth Reading?

Rebecca Silverman

Rating:

Titan Comics' promotional material for this series calls it “perfect for fans of magical girls.” I'm not sure I'd agree with that, but I can see where they're coming from: Alpi the Soul Sender follows a young teen girl as she carries out her duties as a Soul Sender, saving both the spirits and people around her. She doesn't transform, so she's more a magic-using girl than a magical one, but her mission isn't that far off. I'd say the better draw here is to appeal to fans of gentle journey manga – Somali and the Forest Spirit or maybe even The Skull Dragon's Precious Daughter, because while Alpi has a job and a goal, it's more about the road she takes to get there.

The world-building is a major draw as well. In this realm, spirits take on animal forms and bless the land, but their souls are trapped within the corpses when they die. These rotting bodies begin to poison the land, water, and people, and only those born with a special resistance to “the blackening” can safely send the spirits on. Alpi is one of them, and we quickly see that this is not an easy job for a child – even though she's resistant to the curse, that doesn't mean that it can't affect her at all, and this poor girl goes through a lot in her work. Even worse, the curse lurks within her body like a disease in remission, and in chapter three, we see that she has to go to special temples to be purified every so often, which looks as painful as being cursed in the first place. What happens if she doesn't get purified? I'd say that the implication is that she'll die, like the land where a trapped spirit decomposes, and that raises a very alarming possibility about the parents she's out searching for. This story has a serious, dark undercurrent, even though it tries (at least at first) to hide that behind Alpi's perky personality and the care she receives from Perenai, her caretaker/manservant. By the fourth chapter, creator Rona seems to have tossed that out the window, and honestly, it's a better story when they do.

The two-parter that closes out the volume is probably the strongest in the book, and that bodes well for the series going forward. It explores who Alpi owes allegiance to, the humans who hire her, or the spirits she gives valediction to. (“Valediction” is a formal farewell, whereas the more familiar “benediction” is a blessing, an important distinction here.) The actions of the young Mido who hires her force Alpi to really think about her role in the world, and for whom she's carrying out her dangerous work. It isn't particularly subtle, but it is well done, delving more deeply into the symbiotic relationship between spirits, the land, and humans. This could easily turn into an environmental fairy tale if it isn't already.

With nicely detailed art that never gets too overwhelming and a story that gets better as the book goes on,Alpi the Soul Sender has a lot of potential. This first book doesn't always live up to it, but it's definitely worth giving the two-volume test.