Boroboro no Elf-san wo Shiawase ni Suru Kusuriuri-san (Webcomic)

[Shitty]

I greatly enjoyed this manga then I read the comments. Thank you guys, idk why ppl make that kind of art

 

[marksefuentes]

One of my best read and the ending was great 10/10 never thought the ending was this good happy for both of them, i may be greedy but i want another season following this 🥹

 

[gadnihasj]

Only the last chapter really ruined the story somewhat. Proposing while they're still in positions of savior and damsel in distress is the only slightly bad part here. I'd have an easier time accepting them getting together if she had taken some time to meet other people and create new bonds before coming back to him.

The beginning of the story is great. Showing the consequences of abuse, and hope for healing is not bad. It's a good thing that what ruined her is only very strongly hinted at, but never used in amy other ways. Some would have treated her as damaged goods, or even said that she should have just died, but instead she's surrounded by people who strongly relay that they solely wish to see her back in good health. No signs of exploiting her for anything is also a good thing with this story.

i think another detail that went unmentioned (aside from the "the apothecary buys himself a project car" comment, which is as funny as it is accurate"), is that the protagonist who is supposedly helping her in order to atone for his past atrocities purchased her with money despite clearly seeing the degree of suffering she experienced as a slave.

She was sold as an ingredient, not a slave. It's more comparable to buying a half dead dog sold as slightly low quality food, in a society that allows animal cruelty. Which even makes it more problematic than a society where you'd buy slaves just to save them from bad owners. At the same time, it really should make us think about how we treat other people in our own societies. There are too many groups of people who are treated exactly like the victims in these types of stories, even in societies that think of themseves as developed.

 

[Figger]

Nice read. The proposal is quite out of nowhere tho. I didn't see him falling in love with the elf, it's just the elf catching feelings.

Just realized at the end that this is the autobiography of the MC.

 

[Lewd_Beast]

@gladiatorua

@G-P

@CrusadeDan


I'm not here to hate on The Apothecary. Giba-chan's art is gorgeous, and I enjoyed the story. The poor, ragged elf is as alluring as she is pitiful, and only the most hardened sadist would be unmoved by her plight. But this series is creepy as fuck.

It belongs to a niche genre of helplessness fetish romance aimed at male readers. In such stories, the female lead is reduced to the most pathetic state possible. This enhances her dependence on and, consequently, her devotion to the male lead - a situation from which love eventually grows.

The question, then, is this: To what horrors do we, as male readers, want to imagine the female love/lust-object has been subjected in bringing her to the desired state of dependent helplessness?

Here, we get to imagine that her body and spirit have been all but annihilated by years of sexual abuse. Elf-chan has no memory or sense of independent self. Sustained trauma has left her blind, quadriplegic, and near-catatonic at death's door. To drive the point home, we are told and reminded that she was raped and tortured to the point that her genitals were literally destroyed.

Personally, I found that this story provided more helplessness and origin trauma than I typically need or want in a romantic fantasy. It's great that the apothecary found and healed the elf. It's great that they can now live happily ever after. But the shadow of what the author (fictionally) put the character through - in order to enhance our (the reader's) romantic investment - hangs a dark cloud over the tale, undermining its superficially "wholesome" charm.

8/10 despite the creep factor. The art's wonderful, the story's short but feels complete (if a bit rushed at the end), and I always appreciate a happy ending.

Yeah, this is a standout review @beep_repair I had not looked into the fetish aspect of the underlying set-up, so thanks for opening my eyes to that, it makes a lot of uncomfortable sense. I can (barely) handle the initial level of trauma, but the ongoing setbacks are just disturbing. I was thinking the creator was manic depressive to be plumbing these depths, but your theory is even worse.

The contrast with the sickly saccharin all wrapped up with a big bow ending is also disturbing. But nothing is as bad as the bikini portrait at the very end.

 

[SLeM9999]

The whole bit about the attack on the elf camp and reawakening high magic, was uncomfortably rushed.

 

[Gigikiki]

Yes, I second the notion so floridly described by the previous reviewers. Like them I also believe that art should never contain themes that personally make me feel bad or uncomfortable. So thank you, your comments opened my eyes and made me rethink the entire story as I was unable to form my own thoughts beforehand.

Besides, this damsel in distress dynamic is entirely problematic in the 21st century. The scenario itself is wholly fetishized and unrealistic, crafted purposefully only to fuel the perversions of patriarchal male gaze who famously enjoy seeing women close to them being broken and degraded beyond belief (am I right, FELLOW males?). SA victims don't exist anyway, especially if I close my eyes. Even if they did exist, they don't deserve any kind of positive male companionship. I would find this story much more realistic if for example, the elf lady would pick herself up from her predicament by her own will and then spent next 20 year going to elf therapy to still be afraid of man after it ended, like a real strong woman would do. Nothing that a magi-Prozac can't fix though.
Overall a very bad 0/10 story.

For more reviews of manga I hate but read intentionally, visit my reddit dot com profile section

 

[HaveABanana]

Clearly everyone is going to fall into one of two camps here, but the first couple of chapters in and I think the 'car project' side is most accurate. It really isn't helped when she actually regains some semblance of awareness of the world around her. To be sure, the discussion of what she endured and the healing process on their own are praiseworthy, but the actual relationship this man has with her and her own reaction to being treated by him reek of a white-knight savior complex.

At the very least, this shouldn't be treated as some sort of role model for how a functional relationship develops nor how a patient (no matter how derelict or neglected) should react upon being treated, even if it's the one and only person who would ever bother helping them. Some might say this sounds like encouraging an ungrateful attitude but if so, I think that calls for an examination of the motives here.

When treating this patient, who is it for? Is he truly being altruistic and noble just doing the right thing? And this point is important because this sort of thing is exactly what leads to behaviors in real life where people act like 'nice guys' or do things that on their own would be generous favors - if they weren't followed up by expectations that the other person owes them something that was never discussed beforehand. Stories like this may not actually be promoting that sort of transactional behavior, but it nevertheless does impact the audience to imply transactional rewards for otherwise altruistic behavior. It might not be fair to blame the author if they had good intentions but what makes this sort of thing creepy and inappropriate is that it does end up linked to those real life behaviors.

It may be that the later developments are genuinely more wholesome, I haven't seen those yet. But even if they end up being 10/10 I don't see them undoing the problematic start itself. I could hold out hope that the MC himself addresses it but what I've seen so far indicates a complete plunge into a 'guy gets praised /rewarded for Nice Guy behavior while girl has no agency or role other than appreciating him for being Nice Guy' plot.

TLDR: i think the key point to determine who is right between 'wholesome' vs 'creepy' comes down to whether the intent was a simple desire to do the right thing vs a broader attempt to frame patronizing behaviors as more important to praise and reward than the ability of the patronized to be able to exist and live fulfilling lives without needing to be helped in the first place.

TLDR PS:
The people who dedicate themselves to helping the abused and disenfranchised, that work is absolutely deserving of praise but I put a much bigger focus on the fact that the real goal here is to eliminate that suffering for its own sake. Expecting the downtrodden to adopt the role of livestock with no agency who can only be thankful toward their saviors is dangerous and risks becoming part of the problem.

Edit: Story was more bingeable than I expected so my final verdict is that I'll give the author some credit for at least having the MC say the 'right' things in regard to many of the concerns I've mentioned. But the more meta problem still exists where the plot itself is framed in that manner of 'transactional reward for acting noble' so I will still call it problematic. The character itself is.... fine but human nature sucks and this sort of thing very much lends itself to unhealthy relationship expectations in real life. I think it's important that people understand that most cases of helping the needy do not lead to romance, nevermind the happily ever after ending. It should still be done but without the surprise if the other person doesn't dedicate their lives to paying you back or spending their every waking moment making you happy in return.

 

[axelf4056]

@gladiatorua

@G-P

@CrusadeDan


I'm not here to hate on The Apothecary. Giba-chan's art is gorgeous, and I enjoyed the story. The poor, ragged elf is as alluring as she is pitiful, and only the most hardened sadist would be unmoved by her plight. But this series is creepy as fuck.

It belongs to a niche genre of helplessness fetish romance aimed at male readers. In such stories, the female lead is reduced to the most pathetic state possible. This enhances her dependence on and, consequently, her devotion to the male lead - a situation from which love eventually grows.

The question, then, is this: To what horrors do we, as male readers, want to imagine the female love/lust-object has been subjected in bringing her to the desired state of dependent helplessness?

Here, we get to imagine that her body and spirit have been all but annihilated by years of sexual abuse. Elf-chan has no memory or sense of independent self. Sustained trauma has left her blind, quadriplegic, and near-catatonic at death's door. To drive the point home, we are told and reminded that she was raped and tortured to the point that her genitals were literally destroyed.

Personally, I found that this story provided more helplessness and origin trauma than I typically need or want in a romantic fantasy. It's great that the apothecary found and healed the elf. It's great that they can now live happily ever after. But the shadow of what the author (fictionally) put the character through - in order to enhance our (the reader's) romantic investment - hangs a dark cloud over the tale, undermining its superficially "wholesome" charm.

8/10 despite the creep factor. The art's wonderful, the story's short but feels complete (if a bit rushed at the end), and I always appreciate a happy ending.

I personally disagree.

I think you are just overthinking I overanalyzing the story by calling it creepy. I think it is a wholesome story of redemption for both of the characters.

And honestly, the female lead isn't the only poor person in this story. So is the guy - he was an orphan found by this demon, did anyone think of what happened before he was found? He was possibly used by his savior. If he was that strong, then he probably went harsh training, he was probably even a child soldier. He also has some form of PTSD from killing all those people from the coup. Just because his wounds are not physical doesn't mean he isn't hurting. They were both traumatized by violence all the same.

I would've have been more inclined to agree with you if she stayed helpless, but it was explicitly shown that she also worked hard to get well. She practiced whole day everyday while he was out working. She wasn't broken in the beginning - just out of it - like being unconscious if you will. The moment she was finally conscious she was pretty much positive thinking the entire time. Watching her recover gave him hope and motivation, she pretty much saved him as much as he saved her. She was not dependent on him, they were codependent on each other. The girl to the guy physically and the guy to the girl emotionally.

People can fetishize even the most mundane thing, for example there is such a thing as sock fetish, but does that mean socks were aimed for this specific group of people? No offense, but if you focused on imagining whatever happened to her before this instead of focusing on the main focus of the story which is his and her redemption, then maybe that's on you and not the story. You only saw it that way because you were already exposed to a lot of such things already, kind of like how kids wouldn't understand dirty jokes because they're still innocent but adults can see even the most innocent thing as a dirty jokes because they know things kids wouldn't.

9.5/10 because there's a lot of backstory that wasn't fleshed out which is understandable since it's a short story, skipped scenes, and also because there's always room for improvement somewhere.

Peace.

 

[sirkolgate]

I'm bipolar and as such have been committed involuntarily. In once such instance I was detained at an absolutely horrible mental hospital and after a period of time that left me feeling like I had been literally sent to hell I was allowed to transfer and this elf's earliest responses to her savior reminded me of that. A light that suddenly appeared as people who GAF appeared.

I get it... its fake so the artist/author can make up whatever they want and since anime/manga in general is so male MC/harem centered that exploitation of females is just a given.

I may not have crawled out from the hole Rezurre crawled out of I was instantly reminded of something that happened to me 15 years ago so I'd say that any story written is allowed to be valued for the story it tells not for the one you want to SJW about.

Just as the author/artist could be more sensitive in their story creation and treatment of characters you could also alter your perception to allow the story to not creep you out. Intention is the key and I don't think anyone can argue that this was intended to be a story about someone trying to do something nice for someone in a horrible spot at great personal cost and from my perspective... a person who has been through hell getting a chance to be reminded that useless evil cruelty isn't the only thing that exists.

It all ended great and in my own life and experiences I didn't do half bad either. Can the folks who want to complain about this story also complain on my behalf to whatever entity decided to pen mine?

 

[sirkolgate]

The whole bit about the attack on the elf camp and reawakening high magic, was uncomfortably rushed.

Yeah... I agree, but there were a few panels where the artist seemed to be struggling with pushing the story out. I'll take the quickly capped story with a little happy slide-show epilogue over the one where the artist dips cause they're stressed/tired/burned out/etc and there it sits... great for the folks who like to have ChatGPT finish it up, but not so great for those who want canon. I am still waiting on the next installment of "Name of the Wind" and whatever is going to follow "Dance of the Dragons" and I highly doubt either of those will get beyond the fanfic writers who will carry the torch... guess there can be some appeal there... kinda like choose your own adventure. If you don't like how it ends just find another fanfic.

 

[nicepostinguwu]

Peak. Absolute Cinema

 

[cypherplayingnow]

OMAAGAA I LOVE THIS SO MUCHH, BUT I WANT TO SEE THE KIND OF TORTURE THE SLAVE BUYERS THAT BOUGHT RESZURRE AND TORTURED HER🤣, BUT NICE MANGA 10/10

 

[Chai_Fruhling]

Yes, I second the notion so floridly described by the previous reviewers. Like them I also believe that art should never contain themes that personally make me feel bad or uncomfortable. So thank you, your comments opened my eyes and made me rethink the entire story as I was unable to form my own thoughts beforehand.

Besides, this damsel in distress dynamic is entirely problematic in the 21st century. The scenario itself is wholly fetishized and unrealistic, crafted purposefully only to fuel the perversions of patriarchal male gaze who famously enjoy seeing women close to them being broken and degraded beyond belief (am I right, FELLOW males?). SA victims don't exist anyway, especially if I close my eyes. Even if they did exist, they don't deserve any kind of positive male companionship. I would find this story much more realistic if for example, the elf lady would pick herself up from her predicament by her own will and then spent next 20 year going to elf therapy to still be afraid of man after it ended, like a real strong woman would do. Nothing that a magi-Prozac can't fix though.
Overall a very bad 0/10 story.

For more reviews of manga I hate but read intentionally, visit my reddit dot com profile section

I have to disagree, art should ALWAYS contain themes that make us feel bad and uncomfortable. Art is provocative, it has to shake something, make us reflect on life.

We are too comfortable with comfort, to the point that it is preferably to turn our face away from the shitty state of the world than face it, and deem creepy something that is actually dark.

It is dark at too many levels. It show dehumanization of people based on racial status, dehumanization of women, mercantilization of human beings, it appeals to the male fantasy of earning someones love from a position of saviour. The scenario of damsel in distress dynamic is realistic, it is not far from how the stockholm syndrome works, which does not rest authenticity to the love feelings as there is no such thing as pure love. But it surely is easy and tempting to wish to save someone and be loved for that, feel good with yourself by doing so, and being rewarded with endless devotion. It shows the weakness of masculity, this is a normal fantasy, easier than earning love from an equal. Still it's good, this exists in real life, and the shittiest situation is that it does exist, and that it is romantisized. In the end, it is warming to see how things unfold, because of the contrast of what could have happened instead. But it happened, and it is showed as male saves female, rarely the other way.

Also, so many people saying that scenes like the swimsuit ones are wrong. There's nothing wrong with showing a beautyful body from a perspective of body positivy. There's nothing wrong with sexualization in art. Arousal is normal, and as long as we shame sex and, even worst, keep labeling the female body as something that is wrong to be shown, we are contributing to an unhealthy relationship with sex, the human body and sexist dynamics. On the contrary, I'd like to see more male bodies getting these treatment. Let's sexualize every gender the same. Within some limits, ofc, but that's too big of an issue to address here, it requires its own debate.

Don't attack the work or the artist because it reflects shitty things about society and toxic love fantasies, it is not creepy, it is even brave to show this. It is also not creepy to enjoy this, even hold that fantasy, it is normal to hold this kinda things inside. Creepy is to actually desire to happen irl.

Art is exteriorizing and expressing feelings, and doing so with dark ones has always been an important part of culture. Nowadays, we just want to be comfortably numb, and only interact with things that give us guilt free non problematic pleasure. That aint it.

Enjoy everything that is bad about the content of art and its beauty. Then, turn to the slavery conditions of undocumented migrants, sexual slave exploitation of abducted women in the sex trafic networks, crimes of hate based on race, sexual abuse, romantization of toxic dynamics, all of this that happens irl, and get disgusted by this. Not at the art that portrait that, be it intentional or not by the author.

Otherwise, it seems as you don't really have any problem with the fact that this shit exist in the world, but what bothers you if that they show it to you. If you could just live your life in blissful ignorance, you wouldn't feel the discomfort of having to do something about it. So, it is easier to just blame the messenger. And like that, world keeps being shit. It pains us to see so much suffering, so, let's avoid the sight of it or dismiss it as creepy! And we can sleep with ease at night.

Also we don't challenge all the unjust social and economic structures that make our groceries affordable thanks to that slave work made for some little dollars that are barely enough to eat, and those workers can even consider themselves lucky to be given something at all. That exist, in the very 1st world countries even! Let's not talk on those 1st world companies factories in the poorest of the contries.

Our sweret dreams are built on top of other people's nightmares.

 

[Lydron]

Clearly everyone is going to fall into one of two camps here, but the first couple of chapters in and I think the 'car project' side is most accurate. It really isn't helped when she actually regains some semblance of awareness of the world around her. To be sure, the discussion of what she endured and the healing process on their own are praiseworthy, but the actual relationship this man has with her and her own reaction to being treated by him reek of a white-knight savior complex.

At the very least, this shouldn't be treated as some sort of role model for how a functional relationship develops nor how a patient (no matter how derelict or neglected) should react upon being treated, even if it's the one and only person who would ever bother helping them. Some might say this sounds like encouraging an ungrateful attitude but if so, I think that calls for an examination of the motives here.

When treating this patient, who is it for? Is he truly being altruistic and noble just doing the right thing? And this point is important because this sort of thing is exactly what leads to behaviors in real life where people act like 'nice guys' or do things that on their own would be generous favors - if they weren't followed up by expectations that the other person owes them something that was never discussed beforehand. Stories like this may not actually be promoting that sort of transactional behavior, but it nevertheless does impact the audience to imply transactional rewards for otherwise altruistic behavior. It might not be fair to blame the author if they had good intentions but what makes this sort of thing creepy and inappropriate is that it does end up linked to those real life behaviors.

It may be that the later developments are genuinely more wholesome, I haven't seen those yet. But even if they end up being 10/10 I don't see them undoing the problematic start itself. I could hold out hope that the MC himself addresses it but what I've seen so far indicates a complete plunge into a 'guy gets praised /rewarded for Nice Guy behavior while girl has no agency or role other than appreciating him for being Nice Guy' plot.

TLDR: i think the key point to determine who is right between 'wholesome' vs 'creepy' comes down to whether the intent was a simple desire to do the right thing vs a broader attempt to frame patronizing behaviors as more important to praise and reward than the ability of the patronized to be able to exist and live fulfilling lives without needing to be helped in the first place.

TLDR PS:
The people who dedicate themselves to helping the abused and disenfranchised, that work is absolutely deserving of praise but I put a much bigger focus on the fact that the real goal here is to eliminate that suffering for its own sake. Expecting the downtrodden to adopt the role of livestock with no agency who can only be thankful toward their saviors is dangerous and risks becoming part of the problem.

Edit: Story was more bingeable than I expected so my final verdict is that I'll give the author some credit for at least having the MC say the 'right' things in regard to many of the concerns I've mentioned. But the more meta problem still exists where the plot itself is framed in that manner of 'transactional reward for acting noble' so I will still call it problematic. The character itself is.... fine but human nature sucks and this sort of thing very much lends itself to unhealthy relationship expectations in real life. I think it's important that people understand that most cases of helping the needy do not lead to romance, nevermind the happily ever after ending. It should still be done but without the surprise if the other person doesn't dedicate their lives to paying you back or spending their every waking moment making you happy in return.

my man, please reread chapters 48, 49, and 50. if you still don’t get it after that, idk what to say. the mc is flawed and seeking atonement, not just playing a “nice guy.” the female lead fights to heal and regain agency, and their relationship is mutual, not transactional. missing that means you’re ignoring the story’s core and the mc’s traumatic past.