English Dub Review: Parallel World Pharmacy “Daily Life at Parallel World Pharmacy and Cosmetics”

Overview:

Farma is struggling to get a steady flow of customers, so his mother suggests he branches out into cosmetics as well.

Our Take:

Parallel World Pharmacy has been open for a month, but business is slow. Lotte surveys 100 people and most commoners feel intimidated by the noble stature of Farma and his business. Farma’s mother suggests that he ventures into cosmetics to ease customers in. Bruno warns Farma to stay away from white face powder and tells him about bloodletting as well. These are options women use to make their skin look more pale, but it’s harmful to their health.

Farma sees this for himself when he is requested to treat Chloe de Châtillon. She has been undergoing bloodletting treatments to make herself more appealing towards a guy she’s into. Farma helps her, but tells her to stop bloodletting and to stay away from white face powder. Lady Chloe refuses, so Farma makes his own makeup as a substitute.

Lady Chloe loves it and Farma releases it to the public. He can’t keep the new product in stock, so Lady Chloe offers to finance a subsidiary that focuses on cosmetics. She also hires women pharmaceutists who were let go after having children.

Farma warns the Empress of how harmful the old cosmetics are, so she puts an edict on them. However, she’s not happy about the potential effects it will have on the market and other manufacturers. She’s also not happy about Farma releasing products without her approval. Finally, she insists that Farma raises his prices. Farma promises solutions for all of these concerns.

It’s nice to see Farma’s business starting off so well. They have a regular customer early on and now, they already have a cosmetics subsidiary. I’m intrigued to see what Farma about the price change since the low cost is one of the pharmacy’s biggest selling points.

All of the characters are a delight in this episode. From Farma to his parents to Lotte, just about everyone puts a smile on my face at one point or another. The Empress seems a little out of character to me in the episode, but that might just be because I’m used to seeing her be nice. I forget that she’s also in charge of making important decisions and needs to be tough sometimes.

I’m also enjoying the way the show goes into detail with points that may fly under the radar. I like that this episode spends some time on how dangerous cosmetics made with lead and mercury are. The fact that women pharmaceutists never find work again after having children. That fact is depressing, but the fact that they’re getting opportunities now is just another reason to support this venture.