Parallel World Pharmacy

Episodes 1-2

Like I said when I covered the premiere for this Summer's Preview Guide, Parallel World Pharmacy is a great example of how even the most played-out cliches can still make for good storytelling when they're handled with enough skill and effort. For anyone that isn't familiar with my particular anime takes, I do not typically enjoy modern isekai anime. Though there are obviously notable exceptions (Re:Zero, KONOSUBA, etc), the anime industry is literally drowning in lazy and derivative imitators. This is not a shocking or original opinion, but I wanted to establish the perspective I had when I first approached PWP, which didn't just seem like another cheap cash grab, it's also one of those strange examples of the “Reincarnated in Another World to Perform a Highly Niche and Not Especially Interesting Job” sub-genre. In short, the bar going into this one was so low that it may as well have been buried six feet underground.

Then, the funniest thing happened: Parallel World Pharmacy turned out to be pretty good! None of the tropes or archetypes present in these first two episodes are especially original or subversive on their own merits, but PWP still manages to produce a good product using tried-and-true ingredients. It's like the difference between having a solid homemade cheeseburger for lunch over one of those frozen burgers you can buy in bulk at the warehouse stores. Sure, they both technically consist of the same materials, but one will leave you feeling satisfied after a nice meal, and the other is likely to give you a brain tumor if you consume too much of it over a single lifetime.

The first thing that PWP does right is that our hero, the appropriately named “Farma”, is actually an interesting character. Sure, he's still a fairly anonymous Japanese dude who died of overwork at his Big Pharma job, but in the first episode we're given just enough of his personality and inner conflict to make him relatable. The guy wants to go back to working one-on-one with patients again, but instead he's stuck crunching the numbers for a soulless corporation that literally doesn't give a shit if he dies getting the job done. It's genuinely sad, which helps us care about him as a distinct character instead of a simple audience insert. It also makes his transition to life as young Farma in the fantasy world he gets reincarnated into a lot easier to get excited about.

Once Farma finally arrives in his new life/world, the story continues to impress by refusing to rest on its laurels and merely exist as either a shallow power fantasy or a meandering slice-of-life story. Yes, Farma discovers that he possesses the incredibly powerful Creation Magic of the Panactheos, but that doesn't mean that his life is suddenly devoid of conflict. While his magical eye makes it easy to suss out the medical issues that his family and the servants of Médicis have—and it sure is handy that he can whisk nearly any obscure substance or ingredient that he needs into existence—none of that allows Farma to breeze through these stories. As it turns out, it can be stressful to suddenly wake up in the body of a strange child with godlike powers, living in a world you barely understand, and surrounded by complete strangers who know a version of you that is dead and gone.

The mild crisis that comes from Elen discovering (and being absolutely terrified by) Farma's powers is the perfect amount of “plot” that a show like this needs in its early stages. Of course Elen is going to come around—she's got candy-colored hair and she's in the OP, for goodness' sake—but it's so much more satisfying when the show takes the time to show the audience how Farma is able to use his pharmaceutical skills and genuine kindness to win Elen's friendship and mentorship. That deliberate and careful storytelling is also what makes the issue of little sister Blanche's chickenpox a worthwhile detour in the episode. While I'm still not the type to get super invested in the detailed breakdowns of medicine ingredients, I love small beats like when Farma wonders whether this world's version of chickenpox is different from Earth's, or when he realizes that this society hasn't caught on with germ theory yet, which could make practicing medicine in the long term a bit more complicated.

So yeah, Parallel World Pharmacy is off to a good start. It has solid production values, great pacing, and a level of earnestness and confidence that makes it a fun watch, even when most of the show is Farma monologuing to himself. I'm interested to see how Lotte and Elen develop as characters, and how Farma's father's obvious illness is going to impact things during the upcoming visit to the Empress. If the show can keep up this momentum, it might end up being The Little Isekai That Could for the summer season.

Rating:

Odds and Ends

• The montage of Farma making medicine for the small ailments that his house staff are suffering from is great. While I think Farma constantly prying on the physical health of everyone around him without consent is a little iffy, he's such a well-meaning kid that it's easy enough to go along with. Even better, he has clear principles regarding how he won't ever let social status or economic hierarchies affect who he treats. With any luck, that means that we'll be able to avoid the entire concept of slavery altogether!

• The OP features glimpses of Farma in a kind of superhero-looking getup, complete with a face mask and safety goggles. It's pretty adorable, though I'd be lying if I said that it didn't hit a bit different in 2022.

Parallel World Pharmacy is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop-culture, which can also be found on Twitter, his blog, and his podcast.