Summer 2022 First Impressions – Parallel World Pharmacy

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Light Novel

Episode Summary: A pharmacology researcher works obsessive hours as a response to the loss of his sister from cancer in their childhood. Unfortunately the endless work and little rest catch up to him one night and he collapses in his office. When he awakens, he finds himself not only in another world, but in the body of young Farma – a noble whose family is well-renowned for their talent in the medical arts. Farma was recently struck by lightning, and his maid Charlotte notices some strange marks on his arms which she believes indicate that he was saved from certain death by the god of pharmacology.

Farma soon begins to understand the implications of the situation he’s been dropped into, and starts attempting to re-learn the skills that he knew prior to being struck by lightning. As he becomes reacquainted with his abilities, it becomes apparent that he has the potential to wield a great deal of power. When his tutor Elen begins to sense something different in Farma, including the fact that he has access to powers that, as a human, he probably shouldn’t, she becomes terrified of him. Could Farma possibly be a god incarnate – or might he be a demon?

Impressions: As someone who consumes a decent amount of anime, I definitely have my complaints about certain popular genres. It’s difficult not to when you encounter so many that adhere to popular trends. The best I can do is try to temper my expectations and try my hardest to accept these pieces on their own merits rather than let my own prejudices go out of control.

One of the more common isekai fantasy tropes I’ve seen repeated lately is one in which the individual who’s transported to another world does so after dealing with extreme overwork in their “real life.” The popularity of this concept is easy to rationalize; while working conditions in Japan are slowly improving, there are still companies that expect extensive overtime from their workers. Likewise, there will always be workers who, in spite of the realities of their working conditions, will work themselves to exhaustion out of a sense of duty to their employer or some other outside force. The appeal of being lifted off into a world where the workload isn’t so extreme and one’s talents are greatly appreciated is obvious, considering the circumstances.

The other big trope that tends to stick out in my mind is that of the overpowered protagonist. In many cases, their knowledge of video gaming or some other otaku pursuit gives them an upper hand in an environment that’s clearly inspired by that kind of media. A lot of times this feels undeserved and more a spiteful power fantasy than anything that adds depth to an isekai fantasy story.

The biggest question in my mind, though, is generally “did this have to be an isekai?” Many times the story would have worked just as well had the “other world” aspect been dropped in favor of better world-building and character creation from the get-go.

Parallel World Pharmacy, at least from what I can tell from this first episode, is an example of the type of story that embraces these ideas and makes a solid attempt to justify their existence. The pharmacist who dies on the couch in his office isn’t some otaku douche who feels like the world has done him wrong, he’s a person driven by a past tragedy who’s sacrificed his health so that he can find a way to keep others from suffering the way that he did. He becomes overpowered in his new role, not because of the whims of some kooky goddess, but because his knowledge of modern molecular science helps with the expression of what this other world defines as elemental magic. It feels like the type of story that could only truly exist because of the interplay of the character’s old and new lives – something that is unique to isekai stories.

This episode manages to do enough with its opening episode to build some stakes and create a sense of unease, which I appreciate. I’m still wary of the genre as a whole, but I had some positive feelings about this episode.

Pros: This episode does a good job of establishing some early stakes for Farma without resorting to “game-ification” of his circumstances. There’s no talk of numerical stats or levels, no low-level enemies that need defeating, and no floating menus in this world – just the challenges of a new life and a family with high expectations. I also like that Farma’s family situation appears to offer him a chance of having a relationship with a sister – something he wasn’t able to have due to his real-life circumstances.

Cons: The writing attempts to disguise its info-dumping with Farma’s partial amnesia, which is only partially successful. It makes sense that he’d need to be reminded of the things he’d already learned, but the dialog still has a little bit of “as you know…” stink on it.

Content Warnings: Extreme overwork, mild fantasy violence.

Would I Watch More? – I was pleasantly surprised by this episode, because it managed to avoid a lot of the pitfalls I associate with this specific fantasy sub-genre. I might check out a couple more episodes to see how things roll out once the protagonist gets his bearings.