It's funny, I know some people have expressed worries about atelier going 'edgy' with Yumia but honestly my dearest hope is that we're FINALLY returning to adjacency with the themes expressed in the Dusk trilogy which was a basically post-nuclear take on atelier, very literally alchemy as metaphor for unchecked scientific progress and very deeply focused on the idea that research carries with it specific ethical responsibilities
I don't NECESSARILY expect the series to go right back to that serious of a topic in that specific way - those games are kind of infamous for being narratively glacial - but the fact that they're willing to explore it at all after something like 8 consecutive entries where the main point of alchemy was about lighthearted personal expression, character and career growth, is like. yes please. Let's go somewhere serious again. I would love it if they can pull that off tbh