Drug Store in Another World: The Slow Life of a Cheat Pharmacist

So there's isekai trash, and then we have isekai GARBAGE. Like there are so many shows out there that follow your general isekai formulas with a little twist or something, but atleast they do it some what well. You would assume that a pharmacist isekai would follow the formula at the very least. To keep it short and sweet, here is what the show has: Your typical child-like character (I mean the whole show seems so childish but whatever) who really cares for MC, your typical servant like character who cares for MC, tsundere strong girl who cares for MC, little noble girl who cares for theMC, etc. In addition to all this repetitiveness, pretty much each episode is the same, and it is so boring. I definitely wouldn't recommend this anime, it isn't bad enough that I had to drop it (I almost did though, stopped watching after episode 4 and then came back for the hell of it), but it isn't good enough for you to go out of your way to start it. Just leave this show in it's own little corner and move on, unless you want to show this to like your 7 year old siblings or whatever, then maybe it’s fine.

I call this kind of anime "trash anime" because it's easier for others to understand it's all right to like "trash anime" but it's a lie to call them that. See, I don't think no one here expected a crazy plot twist from an anime that was hinting at a demon lord character since the very beginning. This anime knew very well what it was, it didn't try to sell you anything else nor did it try to pretend it was something else, they give you lovely characters with lovely voices, soft comedy, good OST, high standard animation and designs knowing very well a shonentype of plot is not necessary for the formula for making us feel good and mofu mofu inside. This anime, shares the same formula as several others that vary in success or number of seasons, but all share a common passion to deliver a feeling to the viewer. They don't care about making a second season, they just give you something nice, in hope that you'll have an iyashikei type response. If you're ever sick of all the "Exciting", popular and prepackaged anime around, just try one of these and indulge yourself with this treat of an anime.

Late 2019, at Comiket #97: "Wow, another isekai anime announced. But... A pharmacist? Is that reliable?" - That was the question I asked when I found out about the show. The only thing I had of information was the synopsis, the magazine the manga was published by (Web Comic Gamma Plus) and that the source material was a Light Novel. It is a path that many works take and with Cheat Kusushi it was no different. The biggest fear of the adaptation is that the magazine itself is new to the manga market and this anime was the first from this new publisher. Now withthe show already closed, I would like to say that they did a satisfying first job. Well, when they announced an adaptation of Cheat Kusushi no Slow Life, I was anxious about what would be presented. A show bringing an intriguing idea, where the isekai this time is... in a pharmacy. In fact, Reiji without much reason is inserted into this world, where he becomes a pharmacist (often mistaken for an alchemist). He, Noera and Mina live together in this universe, without much pretension or contextualization about how they met, but what was important for the anime was not this, but the casual, relaxing and... some boring. In fact, Cheat Kusushi is a show that oscillates in its ideas, as what used to be a scenario of discovering new medicines turns into a heap of things that are easily mistaken for alchemy. Not that I'm complaining about this proposition, but when the anime idealizes Reiji as just a simple medicine maker to a creator of things capable of making a journal create a visual hologram of one of the characters' mother, the verisimilitude built during the show is limited and at the same time significantly undermines the expected experience. It's a trivial theme within the show, but one that doesn't sit well with the series, no matter what argument is used to defend it. But the anime shouldn't be criticized for that alone. In fact, what really made the anime silly was the studio itself. EMT Squared is not very well known, except for having made a few anime such as Kuma Kuma Bear and Assassins Pride. The former was a recent project that didn't get that popular. To this day it is not a show that has interested many people. Assassins Pride was a waste of time, because besides being a generic story and very bad in the basic aspects, it got the status of one of the worst animes of 2019 (and rightly so). So a weak adaptation that would not improve its reading materials was already expected. That's what happened. As much as the anime has the charisma and comics with Reiji, Mina, Noera and all the rest of the group, the show evidently fails to be more than sudden moments. It's a synergy that doesn't bring anything new and even if it manages to spark interest during its story, it's not something that manages to convince. The production is tokenistic. It doesn't have that many serious problems, except for the totally IRRITANT AND ACCELERATED beginning, which I'm sure made many people give up on the anime right at the beginning. The story? Well, if you want to focus on the clash between the culture of a human being living in this new universe, that's not what Cheat Kusushi really does. As much as I don't want to give that example, it is necessary for comparison. Mushoku Tensei is one of the anime in which the focus of the isekai is not to feed into the idea that Rudy has trouble living in the fantasy that is the new world. Mushoku's purpose relies on what Rudy learns in the world. Reiji, in Cheat Kusushi, as much as he also does this, does not actually learn something new. His insertion into the anime is already cemented and the only times he's really had that reminder that he's in a different world are in the last two episodes, which really isn't a good way to do it. Things like what led to Reiji and Noera meeting and Mina being a ghost who only became better acquainted with Reiji after a while are not explored. They are overlooked and the anime didn't really care about that. It would be more appealing to experience a relationship that is developed over time, unlike the very mechanized episodes where even the order of the episodes doesn't really matter. Seriously, the only changes the show has made is to add about four characters, some problems between them, and more and more things that don't add to the show. It is a factor that varies from person to person. Some admire this unconventional pace, others just find it okay and acceptable, just like me. It's not bad, but it wasn't good. Finally, Cheat Kusushi was a quick show, but it drained my energy as it was tiring to watch. What is positively marked is the fact that it is a show that managed to adapt a story coming from the Gamma Plus Web Comic, even though the Light Novel is published on other sharing networks. All in all, it was only a symbolic experience. No big deal. There was nothing that made it a remarkable anime, but it didn't cause any compromising feelings either. Maybe I'm asking too much of a show like this.... Now it's just hoping that if it has a sequel, the cool stuff will hold up, if not the joke with the word "Cheat" for "S**t" would make sense.

If this was an anime original and wasn't based on a manga, this would have gotten a higher score. It's very obvious that the anime toned down the manga, despite the manga being fairly tame itself. They trimmed some overly silly parts (which sucked because Noela's reaction to the OG potion was great in the manga) and heavily toned down a overtly homosexual character. They also cut the first few chapters of the manga entirely other than a flashback in the final episode which could lead people to not knowing who some of these characters are or why they're around. I really love the mangaand just really was unfulfilled by the anime adaptation. It isn't -bad-, it's just..not as good. It would have been an 8 if it had stayed closer to the manga, to me.