The Apothecary Is Gonna Make This Ragged Elf Happy

[Mo_ody]

Awful. It's very unhealthy to find this good

 

[dasfre121]

I loved the story, and especially the wholesome progress. It had me tearing up and I appreciate it.
Having looked at the other comments, I agree the premise of love through dependence or salvation can be messy, and looking back, I agree that it's kinda messed up. As to comments about the sexual nature of her abuse, I just kinda brush that off. I acknowledge that it's horrible and one of the worst crimes ever, but if I thought about it too much or too deeply, then I would traumatize myself. If the author included that in the story, I would have dropped it because I can't handle it and live normally.
All that said, the story was smooth, naturally progressing(except the ending, was a bit rushed for me), and made sense(as much as a random fantasy world can). It's great to see someone practically dead inside and out, turn into someone full of life and joy, and that journey is what makes the story beautiful. She felt warmth and kindness for the first time since the trauma, and had to work up to trusting that warmth. If the story would have painted our mc, kurosuke, as just a kind dude who never does wrong, I would find the story less enjoyable. It's because he's selfish at times that he is appealing, because we can relate to him, maybe not in the way the story says he's selfish, but he is human and makes mistakes.
Overall great story that I loved.

 

[AngelFlash]

even after reading that long review comment idk how any of you that read this ended up with a bad taste.

 

[goldencircle]

This is a must-read.

 

[Pedro_Alcantara]

As wholesome and great as the second half of this series is
The first half is clearly made for a disgusting breed of fatherless fetishist that should be in a jailcell rather than reading mango

 

[SnowMexican1]

Binged this in one day, must say. Not a bad read. I gave it a 9/10, but if I am gonna be honest, it's probably an 8/10. Its good but there are two issues I have with it. The first is that chapters are normally a single page. Which really restricts and prevents world building. That is the biggest weakpoint in my opinion, by the fact that I binged 60 some chapters in a single day should say enough.
Spoilers

The second problem comes near the end of the story.
Where they make this miracle drug and it cures her completely. Its a happy ending yes, but I think it detracts from the whole purpose of the story. About recovery and discovery. It just feels like a cheap cop-out.

Aside from that, good read. Would recommend.

 

[NotGary]

even I as someone who has a perfectly normal level of distateste relating to elves, can't help but feel at least siemthing.

 

[DebuKaleng]

Binged this in one day, must say. Not a bad read. I gave it a 9/10, but if I am gonna be honest, it's probably an 8/10. Its good but there are two issues I have with it. The first is that chapters are normally a single page. Which really restricts and prevents world building. That is the biggest weakpoint in my opinion, by the fact that I binged 60 some chapters in a single day should say enough.
Spoilers

The second problem comes near the end of the story.
Where they make this miracle drug and it cures her completely. Its a happy ending yes, but I think it detracts from the whole purpose of the story. About recovery and discovery. It just feels like a cheap cop-out.

Aside from that, good read. Would recommend.

This. Ending really undercuts the entire story.



Others have pointed out that this story kind of appeals to the basic damsel-in-distress theme which is not automatically a bad thing but the presentation of these kinds of stories and in particular this one leaves us uneasy on what to feel. I would add that it is exarcebated by the fact author made one-paged chapters where almost in every page, they simply showcases the elf's body, cleavage, skin and the rest.

Basic premise isnt that awful even if it is wholly unoriginal. Presentation really impacts it negatively and in general, typical one-paged manga with girls plastered on the entire page are only going to amount to so much. Maybe with a really unique concept or rarely explored ones, otherwise it really is just like reading unfiltered spamming of fanarts and horny-inducing postergirls in plotless settings.

 

[Uk2897]

As wholesome and great as the second half of this series is
The first half is clearly made for a disgusting breed of fatherless fetishist that should be in a jailcell rather than reading mango

Honestly hate authors who write such stuff

 

[DailyReader21]

10/10 Very Wholesome

 

[Appropriate_Radio_53]

bro will have some crazy "before i met your mothers" dad stories for his kids

 

[Miqella]

I don't understand why they always do the same thing. The progress between the protagonists escalates well at the beginning, absolutely stagnates in a horrible stalemate for most of the story and in the end if we're lucky they end up together. It would have been much better if instead of chapters that went nowhere we could have seen the first time they woke up together, that they held hands, etc. etc.

Still, I enjoyed it a lot.

 

[Tyarrk]

@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.

Considering i didn´t even realize the romance part until the confession, instead seeing this as some kind of Dr. House episode, i have a hard time agreeing with your fetish theory. A woman does not need to be helpless for me to want to protect her, but maybe that´s just me.

 

[miatkiftd]

Hope this get anime adaptation someday, maybe there won't be a time jump or the story will be more details if it get anime, and stop Isekai/fantasy trash adaptation anymore

 

[Tyarrk]

Awful. It's very unhealthy to find this good

I fail to see how appreciating the depiction of a healing process is unhealthy.

 

[Tyarrk]

As wholesome and great as the second half of this series is
The first half is clearly made for a disgusting breed of fatherless fetishist that should be in a jailcell rather than reading mango

if that is unironically your read on it ... that might be a you problem.

 

[xawro]

is it supposed to be one page per chapter?

 

[DragonPanties]

IMAGINE calling this wholesome sweet as frick story creepy in any way.

Genuinely, this manga gets a 10 from me and I pray for an anime adaptation.

 

[zephyrnepres]

@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.

this comment is pretty spot on. 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. he is quite literally allowing them to profit off of her suffering without the barest hint of realisation to that fact, perpetuating the cycle through supply and demand. every single series that does this "buying a slave because you feel bad for it but treating them really nicely because you're a NICE slave owner" that doesn't condemn the action as unconscionable causes me to resent both the character making the purchase and the author for not thinking through the ramifications of that act. if you want to have a moral character who buys a slave for whatever reason, the only way that is ever going to land is if the mc realises their misdeed, apologises to the victim and shuts down or interferes with the slave trade. using the premise for shock value alone when it is about such a sensitive and loaded subject matter pertaining to real world suffering is exploitative and gross

rising of a shield hero, as much as this doesn't apply past the opening few arcs and as awful in both a moral and narrative sense as the series is, actually DOES condemn the mc's decision to use slaves to a degree through him violating his own moral compass due to his back being up against the wall, but he feels gradually intensifying guilt over the act and it isn't treated like he made the "correct" decision. that is until the author throws that into the garbage, makes his slave remain his slave through her own choice (gagging), has him buy and enslave more girls, on top of having them fall in love with him despite the fact that he is also their parental figure and the majority of whom are minors when he is a grown adult. it ended up disgusting but it actually started with the barest hint of promise in the treatment of the subject matter which this series does not share

 

[lordmadara777]

this comment is pretty spot on. 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. he is quite literally allowing them to profit off of her suffering without the barest hint of realisation to that fact, perpetuating the cycle through supply and demand. every single series that does this "buying a slave because you feel bad for it but treating them really nicely because you're a NICE slave owner" that doesn't condemn the action as unconscionable causes me to resent both the character making the purchase and the author for not thinking through the ramifications of that act. if you want to have a moral character who buys a slave for whatever reason, the only way that is ever going to land is if the mc realises their misdeed, apologises to the victim and shuts down or interferes with the slave trade. using the premise for shock value alone when it is about such a sensitive and loaded subject matter pertaining to real world suffering is exploitative and gross

rising of a shield hero, as much as this doesn't apply past the opening few arcs and as awful in both a moral and narrative sense as the series is, actually DOES condemn the mc's decision to use slaves to a degree through him violating his own moral compass due to his back being up against the wall, but he feels gradually intensifying guilt over the act and it isn't treated like he made the "correct" decision. that is until the author throws that into the garbage, makes his slave remain his slave through her own choice (gagging), has him buy and enslave more girls, on top of having them fall in love with him despite the fact that he is also their parental figure and the majority of whom are minors when he is a grown adult. it ended up disgusting but it actually started with the barest hint of promise in the treatment of the subject matter which this series does not share

I would have agreed with you if the mc has any kind of political influence or staggering wealth to stand up to a system (yes, since owning slave seems to be "the norm" in this universe then it's not one slave trader he would be dealing with ,but a systemic matrix of slavers). But the apothecary is literally a guilt-ridden man with an ironic ptsd-fueled hatred for blood (ironic given the fact he is a doctor). His fighting skills can barely promote him to be some midtier assassin and we can assume he lost his battle senses since he transitioned to the medical work. If i was particularly in his shoes i would do exactly the same thing he did.
Let alone he actually has shown his disgust to the concept of slavery and how much he values life (third or fourth page when he couldn't believe he paid less for that of a livestock)