Parallel World Pharmacy (Japanese: 異世界薬局, Hepburn: Isekai Yakkyoku; lit. 'Alternate World Pharmacy') is a Japanese light novel series written by Liz Takayama and illustrated by keepout. It was serialized online from July 2015 to September 2023 on the user-generated novel publishing website Shōsetsuka ni Narō. It was later acquired by Media Factory, who published ten volumes from January 2016 to January 2024 under their MF Books imprint. A manga adaptation with art by Sei Takano has been serialized online via Kadokawa Shoten's ComicWalker website since November 2016. It has been collected in eight tankōbon volumes. One Peace Books licensed the manga adaption for English release in North America, with the first volume released in May 2023. An anime television series adaptation by Diomedéa aired from July to September 2022.
Synopsis In his life-long obsession to develop new medicines to help people, Kanji Yakutani, a Japanese medical researcher, dies from overwork. To his immense surprise, he finds himself reborn in another world with a medieval culture, in which proper medical treatments are a privilege affordable only to the wealthy. In his new life as Farma de Médicis, he discovers that he has been granted a divine blessing from Panactheos, the God of Medicine. With his divine blessing and his retained knowledge of modern medicine, Farma decides to revolutionize the other world's medical advancements and make proper treatments affordable for the common folk. But as one medical emergency follows another, Farma also has to learn what it means to really live in his new life.
Characters Farma de Médicis (ファルマ・ド・メディシス, Faruma do Medishisu) Voiced by: Aki Toyosaki (Japanese); Morgan Lea (English) A 10-year-old boy who is the otherworldly reincarnation of Kanji Yakutani, a world-famous medical researcher at T University who created countless medical advances and medicines to counter any sickness. After losing his younger sister Chi to an incurable brain tumor during his childhood, Yakutani became obsessed with pharmaceutical research and development of new medicines, which he did exemplary. This drive caused him to die from heart attack due to overwork and fatigue at the age of 31, but he is reincarnated into a medieval world into the renowned de Médicis noble family in the San Fleuve Empire. When he awakens in his reincarnated self, he was told he was previously in a coma due to being struck by lightning and is now acting differently than how he used to be prior to the incident. The Divine Art bestowed upon him allows Farma to create water and, thanks to his knowledge in chemistry, other basic elements, and to perceive medical anomalies, but he was given Elementless ability, which is quite rare, unlike the original Farma who used only Water based spells and skills. He bears a scar on his shoulder as a visible sign of his blessing by Panactheos, and he no longer casts a shadow, which was solved when the Church's bishop gave him an artifact to produce a shadow, alongside the church's hidden staff that only usable by the person blessed and made Apostle by the Medicine God. Eléonore "Ellen" Bonnefoi (エレオノール･ボヌフォワ, Ereonōru Bonufowa) Voiced by: Reina Ueda (Japanese); Trisha Mellon (English) Farma's personal tutor and a talented pharmacist who passed her first-grade exam at the age of fifteen. Has so many glasses to replace those she lost. She joins her student in building his dreams. Charlotte "Lotte" Soller (シャルロット･ソレル, Sharurotto Soreru) Voiced by: Kaede Hondo (Japanese); Lindsay Seidel (English) A 9-year-old maid servant of the de Médicis family and Farma's childhood friend. Later on, she joins her master as a pharmacy clerk. Her natural talent at painting later gets her a royal sponsorship by Empress Elizabeth as an artist. Empress Elisabeth II (エリザベート二世, Erizabēto Nisei) Voiced by: Shizuka Itō (Japanese); Marti Etheridge (English) Ruler of the San Fleuve Empire. After Farma saves her from the - previously believed incurable - "white sickness", she gives the de Médicis honors and allows Farma to build his dream pharmacy. Her Divine Art is Fire, but her divine mark is incomplete, giving her less power. Bruno de Médicis (ブリュノ・ド・メディシス, Buryuno do Medishisu) Voiced by: Kenji Nomura (Japanese); Chris Ryan (English) The patriarch of the de Médicis family, an archduke, and Farma's father. He is also the president of the Sain Fleuve's Imperial School of Pharmacy, and later the governor of the port of Marseirre. At first, he does not trust the reborn Farma until the latter shows his worth by healing the Empress with his unusual medical knowledge. Like Farma, his Divine Skill is with Water. A brilliant pharmacist in his own right, he is, however, hobbled by the limitations of his world's medical knowledge. Blanche de Médicis (ブランシュ・ド・メディシス, Buranshu do Medishisu) Voiced by: Maria Naganawa (Japanese); Ariel Graham (English) Farma's 4-year-old younger sister, whom Farma healed from her chickenpox. Salomon (サロモン, Saromon) Voiced by: Hiroshi Tsuchida (Japanese); Bradley Gareth (English) A high-ranking inquisitor, and later archbishop, of the Diocese of Panactheos, the leading religious order of the San Fleuve Empire. Initially antagonistic towards Farma, believing him to be a demon, he has since become a close ally after Farma has proven his worth. Camus de Sade (カミュ・ド・サド, Kamyu do Sado) Voiced by: Kazuya Nakai A former pharmacist and member of the Imperial School of Pharmacy, and a former friend of Bruno de Médicis. While a genius in the field of infectious diseases, he is amoral and twisted. For conducting abominable experiments on live human subjects, he was branded by the Diocese, which sealed his Divine Art away, and banished from San Fleuve. Veron (ベロン, Beron) Voiced by: Yasuhiro Mamiya The master of the Saint Fleuve Pharmaceutist Guild, the only institution in the empire for licensing pharmacists in the empire until Farma succeeds in winning Empress Elizabeth's favor. Mostly out of jealousy, he begins sabotaging Farma's efforts to open apothecaries for the common people, resorting to even outright vicious methods. During the Black Death incident, he and the other guild leaders stubbornly refuse to accept Farma's cures and therefore all die from the disease; this and the ineffectiveness of their traditional remedies causes the lower guild ranks to flock to Farma for assistance, which is readily given.
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