Parallel World Pharmacy: The Complete Season Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

Parallel World Pharmacy: The Complete Season Blu-ray Movie Review

Parallel World Pharmacy is a comedy-drama with fantasy elements in the mix. The series features animation production by diomedéa (Domestic Girlfriend, The Saint's Magic Power is Omnipotent). Created by Liz Takayama, Parallel World Pharmacy features original character designs by keepout. Parallel World Pharmacy music production is by Pony Canyon. Theme music is performed by Kaori Ishihara (opening) and Little Black Dress (ending). Featuring the voices of Aki Toyosaki, Kaede Hondo, and Reina Ueda.

Expert pharmacologist Kanji Yakutani passes on. Despite Kanji Yakutani dying, Kanji’s journey isn’t quite over. Kanji is unexpectedly reincarnated as Farma de Médicis (Aki Toyosaki) in a medieval world. Kanji now takes on a new role as a boy with a vast knowledge on medical issues and solutions. The young 10-year-old is now encountering new obstacles and problems to solve as he uses his knowledge base in a medieval environment – utilizing a large threshold of medical abilities partly due to Farma de Médicis being given the gift of harnessing water – and creating water.

With the rare Elementless ability now bestowed to Farma, Farma sets forth on new medical journeys as a kid determined to change the scale and put an end to medicine that is only available to the upper-class and wealthy elite. Now Farma will do whatever he can to bring forth medical knowledge and treatments to the common people of the medieval age – so that the common folk – the commoners of the medieval land – can get the proper medical treatments so desperately needed. Can Farma change the rules of the game and tip the scale in favor of a socialist medical approach for the everyman?

The character designs by Mayuko Matsumoto (Handa-kun, Chio's School Road) are impressive and add to the series sense of style. The designs by Matsumoto are certainly creative and enhance the series aesthetic. These designs are above-average and look quite good with the character art being more engaging than expected. The character art is distinctive for the genre, too. The designs add an impressive sense of charm to the production and that is something that counts.

The animation is an essential highlight of Parallel World Pharmacy. Parallel World Pharmacy features art direction by Tomoyasu Hosoi (Cooking With Valkyries, The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess). A beautiful aesthetic is achieved with the series art direction.

Parallel World Pharmacy also features chief animation direction by Masakazu Ishikawa (Ron Kamonohashi's Forbidden Deductions, The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess), Mayuko Matsumoto (The Saint's Magic Power is Omnipotent, Sky Wizards Academy), Kyōsuke Maeda, and Naomi Ide (Domestic Girlfriend, Riddle Story of Devil). The animation style is laidback and serene. The animators provide a suitably charming style for the production.

The aesthetic achieved is one with a calming energy and sense of warmth – providing animation that is suitably inviting for fans of the slice-of-life and drama genres. The animators did an impressive job with regards to the series aesthetic. The aesthetic helps to highlight the imaginative world of the anime production in spades.

The cinematography by Yasuyuki Itou (Domestic Girlfriend, The Saint's Magic Power is Omnipotent) helps to highlight the artistry of the animation, too. The cinematography provides lush and bright visuals. The cinematography adds a sense of charm to the series with crisp and engaging visuals. Wonderful cinematographic work by Itou.

The score composed by Satoshi Hōno (Love After World Domination, Yusei High School Astronomy Club) and Tatsuya Katō (Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere, The Qwaser of Stigmata) is delightfully charming and serene. The music helps the series to achieve its inviting and laidback atmosphere as a slice of life series. Hōno and Katō are gifted composers and add something special to the anime with the music.

Written by Wataru Watari (The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess, The Saint's Magic Power is Omnipotent), Parallel World Pharmacy is a series with a fun cast of characters. There is considerable charm in the dialogue and the calm tone of the production. Fans of drama anime productions with an emphasis on characters and drama will find something to enjoy.

Directed by Keizō Kusakawa (Riddle Story of Devil, Action Heroine Cheer Fruits), Parallel World Pharmacy is a different type of drama and slice-of-life anime production – the series infuses together fantasy and ordinariness in an interesting way. Parallel World Pharmacy will appeal to fans of period drama anime series and anime productions more focused on drama than on action-packed episodes full of battles. Audiences looking for a laidback drama to enjoy on a rainy-day Sunday afternoon may wish to check out Parallel World Pharmacy.

Parallel World Pharmacy: The Complete Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Released on Blu-ray by Crunchyroll, Parallel World Pharmacy is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high-definition in the original television broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The release provides a native high-definition presentation of the series and its animation. The series has fantastic video quality and the animation looks splendid on the release. The animation looks crisp and colorful. The aesthetic achieved on Parallel World Pharmacy is top-notch and the presentation highlights the color reproduction quite well. The background animation and line art are crisp and the presentation looks all the more robust as a result.

The video presentation showcases the benefits of the physical media format. Blu-ray disc provides a superior video presentation compared to streaming video services. Streaming video services offer a more compressed video presentation with lower video bit-rates compared to physical media. For enthusiasts with nice home theater equipment seeking to get the absolute best-of-the-best video presentation possible, physical media rewards with superior encoding and a crisper image. Though differences are sometimes subtle, physical media continues to impress with a more engaging video presentation and it continues to highlight the superiority of physical media.

Parallel World Pharmacy: The Complete Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release includes a selection of lossless audio options: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround sound and Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 (with English subtitles). The release capably reproduces the sound direction by Yayoi Tateishi (The Saint's Magic Power is Omnipotent, The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess). The sound design is well reproduced and the audio clarity on the release is well worthwhile. Dialogue sounds crisp and clear. The score composed by Satoshi Hōno and Tatsuya Katō is a terrific highlight of the presentation and the music sounds well reproduced on the release. The English dub presentation does offer a slightly more expansive surround sound track with 5.1 surrounds and the surround channels are utilized to create a wider soundstage. The original Japanese language audio presentation is limited to 2.0 but purists will still prefer experiencing the series with the original language version and the release still capably highlights the benefits of the quality encoding.

The Blu-ray disc format provides lossless audio encoding – offering audiophiles and enthusiasts a more rewarding audio experience. Streaming video services only provide lossy (non-lossless) audio quality compared to the lossless audio quality available with physical media. This is one of the greatest advantages of physical media and the Blu-ray disc format – an essential part of the format before streaming even became a thing and something that continues to reward audiences in the age of streaming. The presentation quality provided by lossless audio is a joy and a major highlight for enthusiasts.

Parallel World Pharmacy: The Complete Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Blu-ray release includes a nicely designed o-card slipcover with fantastic artwork. The artwork selection for the slipcover adds to the package design. The inner-sleeve artwork highlighted underneath the artwork is also impressive and provides a different and unique illustration compared to the artwork highlighted on the outer slipcover. These design touches add an extra element of collectability to the package design and the art helps the set to stand out nicely on the shelf and in hand. The release also provides nice disc art and this adds more value to the packaging design.

The release includes the following on-disc supplements:

Textless Opening Song (HD, 1:32)

Textless Closing Songs (HD, 3:26)

The one area of the release that could be improved is the supplemental package. The box-set could have benefited by having a more robust supplemental package. The extras would have been more notable and well-rounded if audio commentaries, behind-the-scenes featurettes, making-of documentaries, interviews, photo galleries, and other supplements had been provided. Extras fans won't be thrilled, considering the average quality of the extras on the set – the lone inclusions on the set being textless opening/closing credits.

Parallel World Pharmacy: The Complete Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Parallel World Pharmacy is a cute and charming anime series. The animation on Parallel World Pharmacy is impressive and the aesthetic is something that adds to the series charms. This is a noteworthy production with nice elements at play for anime fans.

The Blu-ray release of Parallel World Pharmacy provides an impressive high-definition video presentation and lossless audio encode. The box-set doesn't have any substantial extras and the extras could have been more well-rounded as a package. The first print run of the release includes a nicely designed o-card slipcover with unique art different from key art on the inner art sleeve. Fans of the series looking to own a permanent physical copy for their collection may want to consider a pickup.