Cheat Kusushi no Slow Life: Isekai ni Tsukurou Drugstore Episodes 1 & 2 [First Impression]

*waves*  Hi everyone! Join me as I review what I think is my first-ever  second-ever isekai anime on AAB! ^_^v
(Stupid Endride ruining that claim for me… /pout )

 

Episode 1

The opening minutes give us a quick introduction to what I’m assuming will be our main trio: lead character Reiji Kirio, wolf girl Noela, and housekeeper/assistant (who’s also a ghost) Mina Fleuret. Reiji is opening his own personal pharmacy, Kirio Drugstore.

I think it’ll be interesting to see how many potions and other magical creations overlap with real life. For example, the description for the energy potion is ” A potion that cures exhaustion and causes alertness. Effects very from person to person.”  They also taste fantastic. Sooo… An energy drink? xD  A Monster or Rockstar in a pretty blue diamond-shaped bottle?

The series opens with Reiji agreeing to help out his friend, Mr. Alf, who owns the local general store. Contraception may not exist in Kalta because this guy’s about to have his fifth kid but apparently can’t afford it without Reiji’s generously offering to allow him to sell his bestselling energy potion in his store. But Reiji’s a nice guy who wouldn’t have his own storefront without Mr. Alf’s help, so Reiji agrees to the deal. As a result, dozens of customers sign up at both stores to have a chance to buy one of these amazing drinks. Win-win!

We learn a bit more about Noela too. She’s pledged herself to remain by Reiji’s side because he saved her life at some point. However despite her cute and playful personality, her mentality seems to be very similar to a child’s. For example, she sneaks off to do something she knows she’s not supposed to do (drink the energy potions) and Reiji has to reprimand her for it.

We also learn that Noela can change into a wolf form, and in fact that was how she first met Reiji: as an injured wolf.

Reiji and Noela take a walk to go shopping for some things that Mina needs, but are accosted on the way by a random screaming stranger and a crying girl pointing a short knife at his back. When the man hides behind Reiji and Noela in defense, the knife gets pointed at Reiji instead. What gives?!

When the young woman, Feris, finally calms down from her tantrum, the young man explains the situation to Reiji. His name is Zeral and Feris is his girlfriend. It turns out Feris is experiencing repeated episode of excessive paranoia where she becomes convinced that any interaction Zeral has with another woman, whether it be a shopkeeper or a random stranger he bumps into on the street, means he’s cheating on her. I’ll be honest, this is not a good start to get me liking Feris. She’s so loud. O_o  [ turns down hearing aids ]

Reiji is a Good Guy so he agrees to help Zeral try to figure out wtf is going on with Feris. Reiji has an idea for a medicine and tells Zeral to come by his shop later that night.

When he does, Reiji’s worked his pharmaceutical magic Sailor Moon-transformation-montage-style and has a (hopefully working) remedy for Zeral, who zooms off into the night with this mysterious medicine to give it to Feris asap.

Sure enough, the drink has worked. Reiji reveals it’s called Landenflower Tea. (I imagine the name comes from the real world opiod tincture laudanum.) It’s just meant to calm Feris down so she doesn’t get so anxious and upset. Reiji explains to Zeral that he got the idea after Zeral mentioned that Feris wasn’t sleeping at night, and was very irritable and anxious during the day. Reiji goes on to say that lack of sleep can make a person irritable or emotionally unstable.

With Feris cured, the lovebirds are able to go on their planned date. Reiji has some tea too (thanks Mina!) and later goes on a walk with Noela.

Side note: we’ve never seen Mina leave the shop yet. Maybe she can’t leave the grounds, like it’s some ghost rule that she can’t leave the grounds because she died there? I’ll have to watch for that as the series progresses!

I hope it’s explained where Reiji gets all of his medicinal and pharmaceutical knowledge from. Like, how did he think to make a botanical deodorant? Is he using knowledge he gained in the human world prior to being isekai’d to this fantasy land? If that ends up being the case, that’s rather clever of him.

I think the sign off for the episode was cute, what with Reiji, Noela and Mina breaking the fourthth wall to thank the viewer for watching the episode and “visiting.”  :3   Neat!

 

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Episode 2

Some other thoughts: will this series be episodic or develop an overarching plot? Hmm… Well, so far it seems that each episode is divided up into 2 or 3 different “mini stories” that chain together. 

The first half of the episode centers around Reiji both realizing he is overworking poor Mina, and the creation of his new “medicine” – dish detergent. He goes to the Bunny Tavern to pick up bento lunches he ordered for himself, Noela and Mina, but bumps into the Red Cat Brigade and their leader there.

The leader of the Red Cat Brigade, Annabelle, has a secret addiction to Reiji’s potions. Her minions, Doz and Moz, want Reiji to sell them 5 potions at half-price every day so Annabelle can feed her addiction without having to hide it.

Reiji suggests a compromise: he’ll give the potions to the Red Cat Brigade for free if they use his new “medicine” (the dish soap) and tell others about how effective it is. To prove how well it works, Annabelle and Rena (employee at the Bunny Cafe) wash dishes together and sure enough, the dishes are clean in no time at all. Reiji’s marketing skills from his time as a corporate drone have come to good use in this new fantasy world he’s discovered!

In the middle third of the episode, Reiji needs to find a new source for his herbs because he’s apparently picked most of the herbs around his drugstore! He finds some seeds and thankfully, Zeral (who is the son of the rich landowning Alonzo family in town) allows him to plant some seeds for free on his family’s land. However, there’s a catch…

Reiji must now come up with a way to prevent the Alonzo family’s crops from being ravaged by animals. His seeds are now at risk of being destroyed too after all. It doesn’t take him long to come up with a repellant spray (“Beast-Be-Gone”) made with extracts of the Utsubo flower mentioned at the end of the previous episode. When applied to fences and gates, animals and beasts won’t come near them! So this is how Reiji saves the Alonzo family’s crops, and his seeds too!

Each mini-story seems to have its own theme. In this episode it’s that Reiji stinks due to the Utsubo flower’s extracts getting on his skin, and in the previous episode it was that Noela’s tail and ears were so fluffy that they would calm down any agitated person who played with them. Unfortunately poor Noela doesn’t like anyone but Reiji touching her, so this made her really uncomfortable and Reiji would feel sympathy for her. ^^;;

Lastly, Annabelle comes to Reiji asking for an increase in her daily amount of free energy potions. Bandits have been coming to Kalta and causing trouble, so she’s been giving away some of her potions to the injured townspeople.

I like Annabelle and her two thickheaded minions. They do their best to protect her, even when she doesn’t want to be protected, but they’re also quick to roll over and give her up if she’s withholding information or not being truthful to protect her image. She pretends to be tough, but she’s more gentle than she lets on. Doz and Moz provide good comedic relief too. They don’t hesitate to call out their Captain when they think it’s needed. They also defer to Reiji because of the strengths of his potions and medicines, at first calling him “Medicine God” and then later on “Brother Reiji.”  xD

Ah, it looks like the little montage of Reiji making his different potions might be in every episode after all. I don’t mind! The scene changes slightly with each episode, as far as I can tell, so that will help it from becoming repetitive or stale.

 

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My Impression

First of all, just to get it out of the way, I really like the animation! It’s bright, cute, and lively. :3   Perfect for a comedic fantasy title. The opening theme (“Kokoro Hayaru” by Akane Kumada) gets the viewer pumped and the ending theme (“Mainichi Kashimashi Pharmacy” by Jun Fukushima, Risae Matsuda and Akane Kumada) is more on the relaxing end of the musical spectrum. 

If there’s anything I don’t like about the show, it’s that Noela can be a little annoying at times. Her character has a higher-pitched voice, like a child’s, and she makes her “Woof!” noise a lot. But she’s cute and occasionally helpful so that helps to balance her out a little.

I also have mixed feelings about each episode having multiple stories instead of focusing on just one. I like titles that have an overall plot or something plot-related that ties all the episodes together. Having one theme or plot point per episode also helps with character development, and gives more opportunities to learn more about the cast’s back stories. Like in the first episode, I would’ve liked to know more about how Reiji came to Kalta, and more about how Reiji and Noela met. Perhaps that information will be revealed in a later episode, maybe not. However I am enjoying Cheat Kusushi no Slow Life: Isekai ni Tsukurou Drugstore enough though that I’m willing to give it a good try!

Aside from those minor aforementioned issues, I feel like this title has a strong cast with a good mix of comedy and fantasy. As long as that combination doesn’t change, I will happily cover this title. 😀

 

Possibility of Watching: High
Possibility of Blogging: High, as long as I don’t get too annoyed with Noela.