Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Parallel World Pharmacy
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GhostD
Posts: 1018 |
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Unfortunately your guess was wrong. They skipped a LOT of stuff |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18265 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Had to figure that a show about a reincarnated pharmacist was going to eventually encounter the Black Death, as one can't aim higher than that in terms of death count, societal impact, or dramatic potential. I am a little disappointed to see suggestions that a supernatural force may be behind it, as the plague is intimidating enough on its own, but we'll see how things play out.
And to add to what Farma said in the episode, the septicemic (i.e., blood-borne) version of the plague is also nearly always fatal if left untreated for more than 24 hours. There are even some historical accounts of some people dying form it the same day that they started to manifest symptoms. Even to this day, treatments aren't foolproof, either, so no matter how well-prepared the Empire is, there will still be some deaths. |
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Seraph89
Posts: 26 |
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Yeah, unfortunately a shit load of context for what Farma does during this arc is lost thanks to the sheer volume of cut content. At this point I HIGHLY recommend everyone go read the manga up until this point or else you're going to be confused.
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GhostD
Posts: 1018 |
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Seeing the part about skipping health protocols hit pretty close to home. Im glad that they're taking their time with this arc as this is arguably the longest arc in the story with so many things happening in such a short span of time
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Cryten
 Posts: 1042 |
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I am glad this episode took time to address some if not all the fears people can have being cooped up with a very deadly disease and its effects on both trade and peoples mental condition. Was a bit cheesy having the old guy be the commander of a fleet sent to help Farma but I suspect the show quite enjoys those feel good moments and I can say despite the cheese I did smile.
I like how Farma did not try and convince the disturbed villagers about preventing spread of illness. When people are desperate and looking to their own survival they, most of the time, do not accept pleas to consider others, after all its their lives on the line. Instead he addresses their fears without lying. Confronting people being self serving but not evil is a very real threat that I think most isekai can skip. Of course a good resolution is very rare in those circumstances, as people can be quite irrational. I guess that justifies Farma's show of power as a shock factor. About the only complaint I have for the series (and its a small one compared to the shows level of good writing) is its penchant for its people to have no clue on some matters which they should have working levels of understanding. Such as quarantine and inspections which any port with a dominant naval power would regularly implement, even if only to impose tarrifs and isolate sick people from coming ashore. Infact imposed isolation on parts of towns was used a ton more in times before anti virals and anti bacterials as a way to control infections. Though they famously didn't work with the most deadly of diseases including the black death. I remember another isekai called Spirit Chronicles where the main character taught Farmers about irrigation and creating furrows because he was Japanese and loved rice. Despite these same farmers growing rice for a while (which requires a lot of water) and windmills (IE water wheels and pumping) being in use across the world. Compared to that though Parallel Pharmacy has far more world building that I have a lot of respect for. It is really quite obvious that a good amount of story has happened which we didn't see this episode. |
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Thesarum
Posts: 428 |
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Hah, yes, indeed. That reminds me of Realist Hero explaining basic forest management to the Wood Elves too. Parallel World Pharmacy isn't nearly as bad as either of our examples I think. Though I did wonder what their safety goggles were manufactured from. Glass would be super heavy on your face at that size (if it were thick enough to have sufficient strength), and I gotta assume they've not invented plastic yet in this world. Farma can presumably just magic some up (it's not a particularly complex molecular structure) but he's got other things to be doing beyond being a walking BASF. (And on a related topic to both these things - if the villagers thought Farma dressed funny, they should try real plague doctors. Those guys really went to town on the facemasks). |
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GhostD
Posts: 1018 |
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This is what happens when an anime adaptation skips content. As for the plague doctors spoiler[give it a week]. |
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zztop
Posts: 647 |
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This is true, this story arc was originally written back in 2015, and published in LN format within the same year too. |
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DRosencraft
Posts: 667 |
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It's an overall decent series, but it has a lot of little missteps along the way where it's almost as if they are rushing to get to a big scene that isn't really that big or necessary to begin with. Like Farma's arrival to the village this latest episode. He just shows up and starts throwing out demands to these people without identifying himself or explaining anything, and it just seems like it was an excuse to show him with his big ice dome spell. Realistically, yes, a bunch of villagers trying to leave their town full of sick and dying people are going to be resistant to you telling them no. You know what helps? Stating your name and purpose off the bat before you tell them get back in your death hole because I said so. Even a, "wait, let me talk to you" would have felt more natural. Or start by flashing his royal badge before the extreme ice magic that is far more likely to scare and start a panic than calm them down. That it all worked out as smoothly as it did just felt very forced and, as I said, like they just wanted an excuse for Farma to show off his giant ice magic without full consideration for the basics of getting to that point.
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Minos_Kurumada
Posts: 1096 |
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Shouldn't villagers freeze being under that huge wall of ice?
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DRosencraft
Posts: 667 |
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Not necessarily. Think about igloos. The ice is a protective wall and can actually function to trap heat. Wouldn't necessarily be terribly warm, but it shouldn't be all that cold either. |
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GhostD
Posts: 1018 |
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With 1 episode left I just hope they give the arc a proper conclusion instead of rushing it to hell.
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Covnam
 Posts: 3730 |
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lol, that was my first thought as well. "Aren't they going to freeze with all that sudden ice?" Especially with all that cold air they were showing. Regarding igloos, I double checked when they showed it, and the top of the dome is open, so presumably there would be heat loss to that. I got curious and further looked in to igloos briefly and it turns out that they actually have different levels. You sleep on the highest level where it's warmest and the coldest level is the floor. I can't say how sudden ice + warm environment + magic would effect things, but I imagine it would get quite cold, especially for the time of year. All that cold air from the dome would go down and be trapped on the ground while the warm air escaped from the top! |
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Cryten
Posts: 1042 |
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A curious kind of contradiction occurs this episode with the lady whose story takes up a 3rd of the episode. In that the study of molds for many years before Farma in combination with heavy glasses and academic research into the field would seem to run counter to Farma introducing the idea of microbiology to the world. Especially with the lady immediately recognising specific mold strains from a drawing of the microscopic organism. You would think that within the academic institution that they would of tested possible applications of molds, meaning they should already be aware of the poultice application of these specific strains as well.
I also find the concept of academic grants feels to modern to gel with the pharmacy guilds relying on passed down knowledge and unknown treatments. Modern business style research sitting alongside medieval isolation of knowledge. Additionally I cannot help but laugh whenever I see someone in an anime naruto run. Such in unbalanced and hazardous way to dash forwards. It feels like we now have the enemy of the show approaching captain planet levels of motivation for its antagonist. "I want to destroy the empire because I am the personification of disease to counter your personification of medicine!". At least it feels so with the way they acted and no current point of view being offered to the antagonists besides zombie face. There is a sense, that I get from many anime, that we are not getting enough time to establish story and are instead running through plot points. IE we dont learn about people and characters they just do their required action and react to circumstances. In other words the pacing has really picked up this story arc. |
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 18265 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Not necessarily. Scattered records of the medicinal use of mold date back well into antiquity, but all such references are in the category of folk remedies. Academic study of molds for medicinal purposes does not appear to predate Alexander Fleming's serendipitous discovery of penicillin in 1928, so trained academics pooh-poohing the study of molds in a late Renaissance-era setting is hardly strange.
Actually not that far-fetched. Patronage in the field of science was absolutely a thing in Europe through the end of the 17th century (see Galileo for a prominent example) and colleges had existed for centuries at that point, so formal academic grants is well within the realm of believability. If anything seems out of line with history here, it's the presence of a woman (and an elderly one at that) in such an institution. On another matter, the bird masks worn by the plague workers are based on actual illustrations from the time of the Black Death in Europe. So they're true to history as well. |
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