The Apothecary Is Gonna Make This Ragged Elf Happy

[MangaDex]

 

[gladiatorua]

It's so uncomfortably horny.

 

[s-vhs]

I like this.

 

[G-P]

This is pretty nice. Just don't look into the authors pixiv/patreon/whatever, if you don't want to see how exactly the elf ended up in that terrible, initial state.

 

[CrusadeDan]

God bless the english translation. All the NTR, Rape and mind break fetish bs ive skimmed through were worth it just to find this gem. An anime adaptation of this with a more fleshed out story would be bliss on earth.

 

[PPL123]

This masterpiece need movie adaption

 

[crdavud]

Pretty wholesome. 9.2/10 would read again

 

[beep_repair]

@gladiatorua

It's so uncomfortably horny.

@G-P

Just don't look into the authors pixiv/patreon/whatever, if you don't want to see how exactly the elf ended up in that terrible, initial state.

@CrusadeDan

All the NTR, Rape and mind break fetish bs ive skimmed through were worth it just to find this gem.

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.

 

[HoangDinh]

@gladiatorua

@G-P

@CrusadeDan


I'm not here to hate on The Apothecary. Giba-chan's art is gorgeous, and I quite 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, laying a fertile bed for the flowers of romance.

The question, then, is this:
What horrors do we, as male readers, wish to imagine that the female love/lust-object has been subjected to in bringing her to the desired state of perfect, abject, and completely dependent helplessness?

Here, we get to imagine that her body and spirit have been all but annihilated by years of hideous sexual abuse. She 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 really need or want in a romantic fantasy. It's great that the nice apothecary found and healed the elf. It's great that they can now live happily ever after. But the nauseating shadow of what the author has subjected the character to - in order to enhance the reader's romantic investment in her plight - hangs over the whole story, corrupting its superficially "wholesome" charm.

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

what a time to be alive

 

[zoklev]

@gladiatorua

@G-P

@CrusadeDan


I'm not here to hate on The Apothecary. Giba-chan's art is gorgeous, and I quite 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, laying a fertile bed for the flowers of romance.

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

Here, we get to imagine that her body and spirit have been all but annihilated by years of hideous 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 a good deal 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 nauseating shadow of what the author has put the character through - in order to enhance our (the reader's) romantic investment - hangs a dark cloud over the tale, corrupting 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.

eloquently articulated the neglected elephant in the story, even if a bit pretentious in prose; I rate your review a 10/10

 

[beep_repair]

eloquently articulated the neglected elephant in the story, even if a bit pretentious in prose; I rate your review a 10/10

Thanks, zoklev. I'd like to write less pretentiously, but it seems to be built-in ¯\(ツ)/¯

Fwiw, the Zyugoya series I commented on (Divorced Crybaby Neighbor and Broken Childhood Friend) belong to the same niche subgenre, but are less creepy, esp the former. Perhaps because the mangaka is a woman?

 

[HoangDinh]

Thanks, zoklev. I'd like to write less pretentiously, but it seems to be built-in ¯\(ツ)/¯

Fwiw, the Zyugoya series I commented on (Divorced Crybaby Neighbor and Broken Childhood Friend) belong to the same niche subgenre, but are less creepy, esp the former. Perhaps because the mangaka is a woman?

perhaps...

 

[HoangDinh]

Broken Childhood Friend

reminds me of this title

 

[beep_repair]

reminds me of this title

Lol thank you for that. Now reading...

 

[HQ]

The ending wasn't exactly rushed, but was pretty fast paced compared to normal. I wish there were a few more chapters before it ended.
Good read though.
Never really noticed any "creepiness" factor or believe there to be even when someone pointed it out to me. Guess that makes me a scum, but really, that kind of abuse is pretty normal in a dark fantasy. I just see this as turning a random victim of it into a main character and giving her as much love as possible, so it's nothing but wholesomeness to me.
Authors in many, many other stories put their characters through much worse. They just don't bother to tell you a story about it.

 

[Braylovsky]

@gladiatorua

@G-P

@CrusadeDan


I'm not here to hate on The Apothecary. Giba-chan's art is gorgeous, and I quite 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, laying a fertile bed for the flowers of romance.

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

Here, we get to imagine that her body and spirit have been all but annihilated by years of hideous 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 a good deal 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 nauseating shadow of what the author has put the character through - in order to enhance our (the reader's) romantic investment - hangs a dark cloud over the tale, corrupting 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.

Bro wrote an entire essay about some japanese drawings to try making me feel bad for reading it.

And know Im here thinking if I'm a creep for liking this story.

 

[IdanaHamz]

I laughed all the way reading this lol something about how it's wholesome and disgustingly creepy at the same time.

 

[varcertez]

"The Apothecary Buys Himself A Project Car"

Nice artwork though.

 

[ReaderH]

Could've been executed better, that's for sure, but still it was a great story with a good happy ending so I'm glad I could reach the end

 

[imperialweeblet]

wholseome asf, pretty art and great story 10/10