Tropes with Well Done Twists

The cover and title of "I Shall Survive Using Potions!" do not inspire thoughts of an enjoyable anime. They give the impression of a too-light-hearted anime about an isekai protagonist with overpowered abilities running some cringe magic pharmacy where the craziest plot point is someone gets stabbed but then is quickly healed. Suffice it to say, going into this, I didn't have high hopes. My impression of the show started to turn around when I clicked the first episode, and the characters were dubbed in English. Having a sub or dub won't make or break a show for me, but I'm less likely to get upset over nitpicks if I don't have to spend brain power reading subtitles. The show was dragging its feet to Isekai the protagonist, but something interesting happened when it finally did. Usually, it's, "Ah, you're dead; here, pick your overpowered abilities and stats." In this show, the character was bargaining with the gods to a downright devious degree.
Then, when it was finally time to get reincarnated, the MC said goodbye to her loved ones in a couple of dreams. Usually, the MC doesn't have family, or the family was abusive, or the family just isn't mentioned. That's something that often bothers me. There are smart reasons not to give a character family. Particularly to pay off with real connections later on or make it easier to write them as a sociopath. However, the writer's choice to give the MC family and friends to say goodbye to had me liking her more. She felt like someone who was loved and who loved others enough to think about them in death. This is excellent writing. By the time the setup concluded, I liked the character for being devious and lovable. What follows is an anime where a character tries to live a quiet life, but it's all written with the same intelligence and care as the setup. The story is paced out well. It can scale up the stakes and scale them down in a way that many other shows don't do. A lot of the stories are nearly tropes. If you read enough manga and watch enough anime, you've seen many of the stories this show tells before, but this show does it in a way that's always satisfying. I have to give this show an 8/10.

Extra Thoughts

Visually, it's fine. I don't think there was any time when I thought the show looked great. I thought a few magical effects looked lame, but that's not a consistent problem. The most enjoyable thing visually is just how cute many of the younger characters look.

The Voice acting for the dub is good. I don't think there were any stand-out performances; the VAs just did a good job. The music and other sound design elements were forgettable.

The characters are good. Much of the supporting cast was well-written, but none were as enjoyable to watch as that MC.