Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. It’s August which means it’s time for an arc, so welcome to the Reincarnation Arc. Throughout the month of August we’re going to be reviewing anime that centers around reincarnation. When it comes to isekai animes there are two ways to do it. One is having the character teleported to the other world via magic. The other is having said character die and get reincarnated into a different body while still maintaining the memories from their past lives. Most isekai authors prefer the reincarnation route for their characters. It’s effective and a good way to build sympathy around your character who is either overworked, underappreciated, and longing for a better life. Let’s start the arc off with Parallel World Pharmacy. Released in 2015 and written by Liz Takayama, Parallel World Pharmacy was one of those series that took their isekai in a different direction and gave us a relatively good story. In 2022 Diomedea (Campione) turned the series into a short 12-episode anime where it was mostly overlooked during its run. Was there anything good during this anime or is it just your run of the mill uninteresting isekai? Well, the reviewer will see you now. This is Parallel World Pharmacy.
Opening and Ending Theme
The opening is “Muso-teki Chronicle” by Kaori Ishihara. It’s a nice opening. I really like Kaori’s voice and the lyrics do a job of reflecting the main character, his journey, and why he does what he does.
For the ending we have “Hakuu” by Little Black Dress. It’s an okay song. I like the emotions the singer is pouring into the song. You can tell this was a song they were passionate about and wanted to convey that emotion. I just didn’t really care for it all that much.
Episodes 1-4
The anime starts by introducing us to our main character Kanji voiced by Aki Toyosaki (Momo from To Love-Ru), a famous medical researcher who wants to create a cure for every illness out there. We find out that as a kid his little sister died from illness (hinted to be cancer) and he was both sad and angry (as anyone should be at the death of a sibling). Kanji vowed then and there that he would dedicate his life to inventing new medicines and helping people. While he enjoys his work, he misses the days he interacted with patients. One day while working he dies from overworking himself (karoshi claims another victim). He wakes up in a medieval world and in the body of a 10-year-old named Farma (or Falma. For the sake of this review I’m calling him Farma) who was struck by lightning (and now Kanji is in his body meaning that boy is dead). He gets reborn into a noble family and in a world filled with references to medicine (no seriously, his last name is Médicis, his name sounds like pharma which is short for pharmacist, and the god of medicine is Panactheos). With the help of his maid Lotte voiced by Kaede Hondo, he finds out more about himself and the world he’s in such as his dad being the president of a pharmacy school, his family being archdukes, he has an older brother and younger sister, and he can perform divine arts of water which he learns how to do by using science (he’s gonna thrive in this world). He figures out that as long as he knows the chemical compounds of something he can create it (just like in FMA). As for his medical knowledge, he’s able to combine the knowledge from his past life with that of Farma to impress his father and family. The next day, he meets his tutor Ellen voiced by Reina Ueda (Mira from Dimension W) who can tell something is off about him (which I like and is totally justified. The kid was struck by lightning of course something is going to be off about him). She teaches him the basics of divine arts and then discovers that his powers are off the scale (scene here: https://youtu.be/9So2TtSZr8A). Not only can his powers not be measured, but he can see what medical issues are plaguing people just like Panactheos. He also doesn’t have a shadow (okay, he’s either the devil or a god). Ellen freaks out and runs away (scene here: https://youtu.be/pkNekh-nu4A. Again, totally justified and something that I like. She has every right to be freaked out by this. A kid she’s known probably her whole life is doing these amazing things he couldn’t do before. While it’s amazing she doesn’t understand why this is happening and as humans we naturally fear the unknown).
In episode 2 Ellen has a fever and writes a letter saying she quits (I can’t imagine why). Farma gets tasked by his father to deliver a potion and letter to her. Naturally, she’s still scared of him and thinks the medicine is poison (good God woman, if he wanted to kill you he could do it in a less conspicuous way). Farma promises that’s not the case. He just wanted to apologize for scaring her, wants her to still be his tutor, gives her some flowers, and even made a stronger medicine to help cure her fever (scene here: https://youtu.be/FQS2fZZZeL4). He takes his leave and at first it looks like Ellen is going to toss the medicine out but then she remembers seeing how kind he was and realizes that she’s been acting a little ridiculous (somewhat, but understandable). She takes the medicine feeling much better and returns to the mansion saying that she’ll continue being Farma’s tutor. The teaching begins where she helps him learn to control his arts and as time goes on she stops being scared of him completely. Farma also starts to diagnose the illnesses plaguing the servants in his mansion and creates medicines for them (scene here: https://youtu.be/cT4guWy_-gE). This makes the servants happy as despite being considered part of the family they don’t get medicines (it’s a luxury to them). Farma’s family are aristocrats and aristocrats don’t examine commoners. They have to go see a doctor of their class and even then that doctor has limited medical knowledge and supplies compared to an aristocrat. Later on, Farma finds out his sister has the chickenpox (they exist in this world too and they have the same name? What a coincidence). He does give her some medicine to ease the fever which helps her recover a lot quicker than his father expected (scene here: https://youtu.be/dh33B08OYxc). At the end of the episode, his father calls him to get ready as there’s been an emergency at the palace.
Episode 3 starts with Farma and his father going to the palace where the patient is the empress herself, Elisabeth II. Farma figures out that she’s suffering from tuberculosis aka the white death/plague. With the lack of injection devices, Farma’s only option is the oral route (https://youtu.be/7N4vhRiJwFg). Taking a risk, Farma steps up to the empress and says he has a new medicine that can save her. Sensing that he’s the only one in the room who hasn’t given up, Elisabeth trusts him to make the medicine that can cure her. As Farma gets to work creating the medicine, his father busts in demanding to know what he’s making. We find out that he already knew Elisabeth’s condition, but unfortunately in this world they haven’t created antibiotics to fight this illness and was just doing his best to ease her suffering so that she could have a peaceful death. Now that Farma is talking about a cure, he has every right to be suspicious and skeptical of it. This forces Farma to reveal his powers and shock his father where he’s at a loss for words (if it’s any consolation your reaction is better than a certain woman I know). He decides to trust Farma with the medicine, but before leaving he asks if he’s really his son to which Farma replies he likes to think he is. After he finishes the medicine he returns to the palace where he blows everyone’s mind. First off, he shows everyone bacteria (oh God) something they were unable to do. He then has the empress take his medicine. It’ll be a long process of recovery but it will work (scene here: https://youtu.be/mVeWn0Th8LQ). As Farma and his father ride back to their mansion we find out that he wasn’t the best father to Farma (that is not surprising). Once they arrive home Farma also gives him the medicine as he too is suffering from tuberculosis (the good news is his symptoms are minor compared to the empress) and asks him to keep on teaching him about medicine as he still has a lot to learn.
In episode 4 three months have passed since Farma started administering the medicine to Elisabeth and her condition has improved. Several months pass and she makes a full recovery (hallelujah! Banzai tree!). As a reward, Elisabeth gives Bruno (Farma’s dad) the Marseirre territory a large area known for its medicinal herbs (perfect for a pharmacist). Farma gets promoted from apprentice to royal pharmaceutist and is allowed to open up a pharmacy in the capital. The pharmacy gets built with Farma naming it the Parallel World Pharmacy (scene here: https://youtu.be/IRdIHQag0aM, this sure beats out your local Walgreen’s). He hires Ellen and Lotte (who I just found out is 9 years old, what the heck? I thought she was at least 13). Bruno also gives his son a chest of gold and Cedric to handle the pharmacy’s finances.
Episodes 5-8
Things aren’t going well for Farma in episode 5. A month has gone by since the pharmacy opened and business isn’t going so well. People are still hesitant to go into a pharmacy run by a noble (especially one run by a child. Who presented the cure for tuberculosis! What is wrong with you people!?). Thankfully, Lotte did a survey with people to find out what they think about the pharmacy and here’s what they said: it’s too intimidating, they’re afraid of being impolite, it’s run by a child (again, who discovered the cure for tuberculosis!), worried about prices, and some are illiterate. While talking to his parents about adding cosmetics to the lineup of merchandise a man comes rushing in asking for help. A noble lady named Chloe has fallen ill and needs medical attention. Farma rushes out and examines the girl where she has no medical illness, she’s just suffering too much blood loss (scene here: https://youtu.be/bKZzRVKGdbM). She’s been doing bloodletting, a common practice done back in the day to extract blood in order to cure or prevent illnesses (it’s also done by ladies to whiten the skin more). The problem is she’s done it too many times endangering her life. Farma gives her medicine and tells her to stop doing bloodletting but she refuses as she wants fair white skin (lady, if you were any more white you’d be a neon sign of Vanilla Ice). Farma tells her to come back within a week’s time and he’ll present to her a new cosmetic product devoid of lead and mercury (scenes here: https://youtu.be/ORLKkqqFKrE and https://youtu.be/ozi57ttZWFE). She loves the product and soon word spreads about the product to all the women of the kingdom (the quickest way to earn money is to get women talking). The only problem, Farma can’t keep up with the demand, so Chloe offers to be his financial partner in opening a shop that specializes in cosmetics. Thus, Farma opens a second store called Medique and gets female pharmacists to run it. On the next survey the feedback is a lot more positive as people are praising the shop and Farma.
In episode 6 Farma finds himself in Marseille with his family. While at the sea it brings up bad memories of his sister as he always used to go to the beach with her. He gets knocked out of his thoughts when Blanche gets caught by a wave and dragged out to see. Farma goes to rescue her where in an act of desperation he erases an area of the sea to save Blanche (like no joke, it’s completely gone) and Ellen as well Lotte are scared because if he makes one mistake he could easily erase an entire person (scene here: https://youtu.be/O6vRUcNliXw). News of Farma’s ocean erasing reaches the ears of The Temple who have declared him a heretic and have sent the inquisition after him (https://youtu.be/yKQ_sQKBASM). They spy on him in his pharmacy and even damage the place with a wild carriage carrying dirt (it’s the medicine of the devil!). Luckily, his customers pitch in to help him out. He then gets tricked by a noble lady to treat her ill father and arrives in a field where the inquisitors surround him.
Episode 7 starts with Farma willingly giving himself up to avoid violence (he’s a doctor not a savage). They try to bind him but that doesn’t work and then openly attack with the intention to kill him (man, you guys went from 1 to 100 in the snap of a finger). This forces Farma to fight back where once they see the marking on his arm they believe that he’s the god Panactheos in human form (Chibi: And the no shadow? (Nitsuj): He is pure light. Therefore, he has no shadow. Scenes here: https://youtu.be/vnUhZF–Mqc and https://youtu.be/jWYTCBKxoGc). The commander apologizes for his actions and offers his life as atonement for their actions, but Farma stops him. Not that it matters, as he has an open fracture on his leg after he fell off his horse and will most likely die from the wound. The fracture is treatable but it’ll have to be a reduction procedure (a surgical procedure to repair a fracture or dislocation to the correct alignment. Footnote, I had to get reduction surgery on my right arm when I broke it as a child falling off the monkey bars). The question is who can perform the surgery? This isn’t Farma’s forte (he’s a pharmacist, it’s in his name) and even if he did find a surgeon do they have the skills and technology necessary to perform this operation? Seeing no other options, Farma performs the emergency surgery himself and succeeds. Several months later the commander returns to the shop where we see he’s a bishop now (you went from inquisitor to bishop in a couple of months? Man, I need your work ethic). He reported to The Temple that Farma is not a heretic nor is he missing a shadow and plans to use his position to protect Farma. He gives Farma a divine wand that only he can touch and a talisman that will suppress his divine power. While his issues with The Temple are taken care of he doesn’t know who sent the carriage crashing into his pharmacy as The Temple had nothing to do with that. Farma also thinks it’s time to hire new employees to handle the workload and even thinks about putting his products in other shops. Sadly, he’s not a part of the guild that seems to restrain other shops from selling his products.
We start episode 8 with Veron the leader of the guild condemning Farma and his pharmacy (damn you to Hell). It’s hinted that he’s the one who sent the carriage crashing into the pharmacy (jealousy looks terrible on people) and says that anyone caught associating with the pharmacy will be kicked out of the guild and lose their licenses. We then cut to a commoner seeking a doctor for his daughter Marie who has gone ill. Farma comes across them and agrees to treat the girl. At first, the commoner feels out of place and even thinks Farma is looking down on him, but nope, he makes the commoner feel welcome, educates him on medicine, and is thorough with his examination (this is what we call good service. Something lacking in the world today). In the end Marie has influenza and Farma gives her medicine to fight it and lays her down to rest. When nighttime comes the commoner and Marie leave where she’s feeling better and Farma doesn’t charge them anything (scene here: https://youtu.be/qKb_fWb10Zo). We then find out that the commoner named Pierre is a member of the guild and a pharmacist himself (a sorely uneducated one). He tells his wife how blown away he was and curses himself for being so unknowledgeable in the ways of medicine (it’s a pretty painful scene as you can tell he wants to help people, but without the proper knowledge there’s not much he can do to help others and his family. Scene here: https://youtu.be/zpRdkVfh54c). The next day we see members of the guild continue to suffer losses in sales to Farma and Pierre the man who is losing the most sales to Farma speaks up and tells the members of the guild to visit the shop that they bash so much to see why everyone loves it just like he did (and he just committed career suicide). Veron goes ballistic and we find out why he’s so hostile towards Farma. We find out that his child got sick and he went to the nobles for help only to be turned down because he couldn’t pay their prices. In the end he was forced to bury his own child (something a father should never have to do). In Veron’s mind, Farma is just playing around with the commoners, and if he closed his shop they would be fucked. While we the audience know Farma wouldn’t do that, Veron is too blinded by his hatred to see that Farma truly does want to help others and is willing to share his knowledge with them. To Veron, Farma is a foreign menace setting up shop in his yard and using his name and the empress to fool the people to get what he wants. Pierre suggests they learn from the shop instead of trying to excise it but Veron refuses to listen (like I said, blinded by anger) and kicks him out of the guild. He loses his license and his shop gets destroyed (damn, if they’re doing this to their own I hate to see what they’d do to their enemies). Farma finds out what happened and invites him to join his new guild which will provide medicine at a reasonable price to commoners and nobles (and hopefully educate other guild members in the ways of medicine). Pierre accepts and becomes the first pharmacy to partner with Farma where he has a crowd on opening day (scene here: https://youtu.be/jGh2bRxJDis?t=134).
Episodes 9-12
In episode 9 Farma hears about a mysterious illness that wiped out an island’s population (an epidemic). Doctors took samples back in the hopes of figuring out what this fatal illness is, but the researchers each died from the illness and the research was stopped. To make the situation more dangerous, cargo from the epidemic will be arriving in the kingdom for a festival and it’s too late to stop it (oh no it’s not. Burn it! Burn it with fire! Hell, throw it into the ocean for all I care). After receiving a sketch from his big brother Palle, Farma is able to discover what caused the epidemic, Yersinia pestis (scene here: https://youtu.be/xazzHKQJ_Mk. Better known as the Black Death or Plague. The same disease that almost wiped out all of Europe centuries ago). Farma manages to create an antibiotic for people who get infected and warns his father and the empress on what they need to do to save the citizens (put up inspection points, check every sailor and citizen that comes through, and kill every rat and flea you see. Use magic if you have to. Because if even one person gets infected then the kingdom is screwed. All this because of a fucking flee on a rat).
The inspection for the Plague begins in episode 10. Farma and Ellen begin inspecting the ships and cargo one by one with the sailors not happy with the wait time (scene here: https://youtu.be/lnBiO4wgwrc). One vessel decides to ignore protocol and sneak their cargo into a village that happened to be carrying the Plague (you impatient dumbasses. People’s lives are in danger. You are like the dumbasses at the start of the pandemic). Farma rushes to the village just in time to stop some people from leaving and even uses his magic to separate the infected (you know it’s serious when Farma is using magic. Scene here: https://youtu.be/20WxAAOCNbE). As for the ship that dropped the cargo off, their whole crew is dead (all because they didn’t follow a fucking inspection).
Episode 11 starts by introducing us to Casper, a professor at a medical school who specializes in the taxonomy of molds and microorganisms. A field that’s looked down upon by everyone else because it has no connection to medicine. She’s on the cusp of turning 60 years old and the funding for her research will be stopped and she’ll be forced to retire. Back with Farma, he gets to work treating the ill in the village. It takes him a while but he manages to succeed in saving as many lives as he can and finds out that some cargo being led by holy knights are making their way to the capital where they intend to unleash the Plaque on everyone (why? Just. . .why?!). The next day the infected cargo reaches the capital and white squirrels get unleashed upon the city (scene here: https://youtu.be/ypt-05qIWEs. Oh fuck it’s biological warfare).
In the final episode, Bruno suspects this attack was led by Camus de Sade. Bruno and Camus were former schoolmates with Camus making great headways in the medical field. However, his practices were considered inhumane as he performed experiments on humans. He was brought to justice by the inquisitors who sealed his divine arts, revoked his noble ranking, and banished him from the empire (why you didn’t kill him is beyond me. A pharmacist who lacks compassion for the living has no right to live). However, before he was banished, he was studying poisons and how they could be moved from person to person (in other words, biological warfare). We find out that Camus is holding a neighboring kingdom hostage and forced them to unleash the Plaque on the empire in order to save their own citizens. Farma arrives in the empire to see that people are already getting infected and meets up with Bruno where they go to his pharmacy to prepare more medicine. Once they arrive they see Lotte and Cedric on the floor and Camus in the pharmacy. While Bruno fights against his former friend, Farma saves Lotte and Cedric’s life who were poisoned by Camus with a knife (poison dagger. Classic move). Once Farma gets done treating them, he turns his attention to Camus and takes him out quick and easy (scene here: https://youtu.be/Mt-XejtAgvA, Hippocratic oath on full display here). After this, everyone gets to work saving as many lives as they can. While some people couldn’t be saved, they managed to save a majority of the people and after two months the epidemic is over and Parallel World Pharmacy reopens to the public.
Final Thoughts
This was an enjoyable isekai anime that presents something new to the genre. At first, you think it’s not gonna work or be all that engaging, but it surprisingly works out here. It’s intriguing, interesting, and makes you respect all the work that goes into creating medicine and the people who have knowledge of it. The author clearly has an understanding of medical knowledge and presents it in a way that’s easy for everyone to understand. The character of Farma is pretty by the books. He’s your standard nice guy. He’s experienced the pain of loss and wants to save as many people as possible so they don’t go through what he went through. In the end, there’s nothing seriously all that interesting about him or supporting cast members for that matter. I did like how everyone reacts to his powers. It’s not something they all just immediately accept. They’re afraid, they’re skeptical, and don’t know if the person in front of them is a god sent to help them or a devil in disguise who will bring them doom. You understand where they’re coming from and the fact that they listen to Farma and he has to show them that he only wants to help people lets you see that they haven’t completely lost their rationality and eventually come to trust him. While the anime leaves a few things out from the novel and manga, the stuff they add in and choose to skip over worked out well in the end from what I’ve been told from readers. I think my main complaint is that I wanted to see more of the battle between Farma and Veron. That was the one part that I liked the most. It was great seeing this man controlled by his prejudice for nobles and declaring war on Farma and anyone who sided with him. He has a good backstory that doesn’t make what he’s doing right, but makes you understand why he’s doing what he’s doing. I wanted to see more of him and Farma’s guild going at each other. Will other pharmacists jump ship, can these two guilds coexist, and will Veron learn to let go of his anger or will it ultimately lead to his downfall? While the stuff with the Plague wasn’t bad it was a little anti-climactic.
The animation is nice. I do like the character designs. Especially their eyes. They express so much emotion with them. The music is heavily orchestra, which was nice, but no songs really stood out. If you’re looking for action you won’t be getting that here. Instead, you’ll be learning about medicine and the different procedures that go into treating others. At first, it doesn’t sound all that interesting, but the way they talk about it and describe it, you find yourself getting interested in it.
Final Score
The final score for Parallel World Pharmacy is 6.5/10. Not the best isekai but an interesting one that’s good and worth checking out. Especially if you’re considering a career in the medical field or already in the medical field. I don’t know if this series will get a second season. I know the novel/manga is ongoing so chances are we might get a second season, but I doubt it’ll come out any time soon. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj as the Reincarnation arc continues.