Streaming: Crunchyroll
Episodes: 12
Source: Light Novel
Episode Summary: Reiji Kirio was formerly a salaryman, but now he lives a quiet life as a pharmacist in a fantasy world alongside a friendly ghost and a werewolf. His claim to fame is his ability to create potions and medicines that actually taste good in addition to being effective. Once a local shop starts selling his energy potion, his fame spreads far and wide and things aren’t quite so quiet any longer.
This fame sometimes leads to Reiji getting involved in situations for which he might not be entirely qualified, as assumptions about his expertise mean that, to many folks, he’s the man with all the (medicinal) answers. He accepts a request from a young man whose girlfriend has been reacting in an extreme way every time he interacts with other women. Though relationship counseling is outside his purview, Reiji identifies that her paranoia is likely due to a lack of sleep, so brews a special tea that allows those who imbibe it to feel calm and sleep better. There’s never a truly dull day at this pharmacy, though it’s leaps and bounds more chill than the rat race ever was.
Impressions: I have a convention coming up this weekend, so I’m writing these reviews and scheduling them out ahead of time so I don’t have to worry about it while I’m away. I was joking to my husband that I’m currently stuck deep in the isekai swamp; several of those series happened to end up right in a row on my schedule. The lucky thing is that they’ve all, thus far, been fairly different from one-another; there’s no confusing this one with Seirei Gensouki, for example. Yet, as a writer, I have noticed that it gets more and more difficult to frame each of these posts as time goes on. There’s just only so much you can say about the concept of characters living in another world before you start repeating yourself.
Cheat Pharmacist may as well just be a straight fantasy series, however, because it pays very little lip service to the fact that its protagonist is formerly of our world. He’s given only the briefest of introductions, and yet, honestly? I feel like that’s more than enough in this case. The charm in these kind of “slow life” style stories is that the conflicts are minor and easily resolved without anyone exerting themselves too much. It’s the fantasy of those of us in the workforce who find ourselves spread too thin to find peace and happiness (though I’ve made due as well as can be expected, luckily). All I really need to know is that now he’s doing what he wants to do. While it might be nice to get a little more backstory, I think what you need to know is already there.
This episode (and it appears, future episodes as well) are broken up into smaller vignettes, which is a format that I feel suits this kind of story well. The protagonist sees a problem, does a little bit of deduction, and finds a creative solution, all the while being hailed as an expert. I have to admit, there are times where I wouldn’t mind getting that kind of appreciation for solving problems in a way that’s easy for me (that’s kind of how my job can be, though often the problems aren’t so simple). It’s frothy entertainment that doesn’t really demand much of the viewer; not everyone’s cup of tea to be sure, but I find it pleasant.
Pros: One of my pet ponderings lately has been focused around cutesy characters and how we as anime fans perceive them. This kind of goes back to the concept of moé and how we define and interact with that feeling, and the discourse around that still tends to be fraught. I’ve spent some time just considering my own reactions to characters, the reality of those feelings, and other more cultural things, and I don’t know that I’ve come to any conclusions yet. But I do know that I find Noela, this series’ resident wolf girl to be really cute, and I don’t feel ashamed about that.
The characters and animation in this episode are probably best described as “soft,” which is another factor that adds to the show’s overall pleasantness. It doesn’t move too quickly and it’s nice to look at.
Cons: This episode isn’t exciting and not a lot happens. That’s perhaps the biggest issue with iyashikei (healing) series – while there are some that are drawn to this lack of conflict, it’s a total snore-fest for others. For me, this isn’t a problem for the most part, but I will admit that, despite not caring about the lack of conflict and Reiji’s easy solutions to what would typically be more involved issues, it would have been at least nice to know that his knowledge is the product of his modern, real-world experiences.
Noela also speaks in a mildly-irritating baby talk voice, which despite my affection for her still kind of made me grit my teeth.
Content Warnings: Extremely mild fanservice.
Would I Watch More? – I’ve put this on pause, but I think I might pick it up later on if I can manage to catch up on some other shows. It’s cute and inconsequential, which is a great kind of junk food viewing for me.