Alpi: The Soul Sender Vol. 01 by Rona is a unique and interesting take on the fantasy genre. On one hand, it’s a calm and relaxing slice-of-life fantasy story about a wandering exorcist girl and her guardian/father figure traveling a land full of spirits. On the other hand, the story does explicitly star an exorcist. Thus, it dips into dark fantasy territory when the girl is performing her job. It’s this combination of happy slice of life and dark fantasy exorcism (combined with gorgeous artwork) that makes this one of the best new fantasy manga series out there from Titan Manga.

Alpi: The Soul Sender Vol. 01 ~ Details

Alpi: The Soul Sender Vol. 01 NA cover art.
Something about this reminds me of Princess Mononoke crossed with Somali and the Forest Spirit.

Alpi: The Soul Sender Vol. 01 is the first volume of this new fantasy slice-of-life magical girl manga series by just as new mangaka Rona. In fact, this manga was originally a webtoon before it made it into print. Titan Comics is the publisher of this manga under their Titan Manga imprint.

Alpi: The Soul Sender Vol. 01 will go on sale on October 10, 2023 for a retail price of $12.99. You can preorder it right now on Amazon, B&N, Books-A-Million, Indigo, Local Comic Shop, and Forbidden Planet (UK).

Alpi: The Soul Sender Vol. 01 ~ Synopsis

Normally, this would be part of my review of this manga, where I give you a spoiler-filled summary of the plot. However, this is the pre-release version of one of my reviews, and thus it will be spoiler-free. As a result, you will all be getting a synopsis of Alpi: The Soul Sender Vol. 01 from Titan Manga. You can check it out below:

TAKEN FROM THE HIT WEBTOON BY MANGA CREATOR RONA!

FOR FANS OF THE MAGICAL GIRL MANGA — A COMING- OF-AGE STORY ABOUT YOUNG ‘SOUL SENDER’, ALPI!

In Alpi’s magical world, 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 Sender. Alpi is one such girl, talented despite her young age, and assisted by her familiar Pelenai!

Alpi: The Soul Sender Vol. 01 ~ The Good

Alpi: The Soul Sender Vol. 01 sample page 1.
You can practically hear the wind chimes playing.

What Alpi: The Soul Sender Vol. 01 succeeds the most in is its setting and worldbuilding. Rona has created a lavishly depicted world where humans live alongside animalistic spirits, and what happens when humans and spirits interact and sometimes collide with each other. Honestly, this is one of the most well-thought-out fantasy story I’ve read in a while. When you have a creator who explores how their magic system interacts with their world and influences human society, that’s when you have some of the best fantasy stories. And indeed, Rona has created that kind of a fantasy world here.

That’s not to say that everything else about Alpi: The Soul Sender Vol. 01 is bad. On the contrary, they’re just as good as the worldbuilding. First, let’s talk about the characterization, because any good stories needs compelling characters to be good. Rona has succeeded wildly in their manga here too. The titular Alpi is a wonderfully lovable main character, full of compassion and love for the world and the people around her. It’s this compassion and love that drives her to perform these exorcisms on the dead spirits, despite the toll it takes on her. I won’t go into details, but the injuries she sustains makes you wince in sympathy, and admire her strength of will to be able to keep doing her job in spite of that.

On top of that, Alpi has a wonderful daughter-father relationship with her “familiar” Pelenai. It’s pretty clear that Pelenai sees Alpi as a daughter figure, and that gives them a wonderfully lovable relationship with each other. The story doesn’t get into why he’s her familiar yet, but I can already tell that it’s going to be fascinating and possibly a tearjerker too.

Even the narrative of Alpi: The Soul Sender Vol. 01 is just as great, if a bit underdeveloped. There’s a mystery plot going on revolving around Alpi searching for her missing parents, but this volume hasn’t developed it that much. Yet. I’ll be eagerly awaiting the next volume to see what Rona does with that narrative.

Alpi: The Soul Sender Vol. 01 ~ The Bad

Alpi: The Soul Sender Vol. 01 sample page 2.
That does not look like a healthy spirit.

I would say that the one thing Alpi: The Soul Sender Vol. 01 is lacking in is action. If you’re fond of the action of Bleach and the action only (while completely ignoring the Bangsian fantasy and philosophical elements of the story), then this isn’t the manga for you, What this manga does well on is story, characterization, and worldbuilding. An action-packed shonen story, this is not. If you want this kind of a story but with action in it, then I would recommend The Ancient Magus’ Bride by Kore Yamazaki. Otherwise, sit back and enjoy this trip into a fantasy world.