Doctor-X 2 Review

Title: Doctor-X 2

AKA: Doctor-X Season 2

Genre: Medical

Episodes: 9

Broadcast period: 2013-Oct to 2013-Dec

Cast: Yonekura Ryoko, Fujiki Naohito, Uchida Yuki and Endo Kenichi.

“This is the story of a lone wolf woman doctor.  University hospitals' medical offices were losing power, and even medical care which engages in life plunged into an era where the law of jungle prevailed. To fill the critical shortage in the medical field, freelance - that is, lone wolf - doctors emerged.  For example, this woman. Averse to groups, averse to authority, averse to constraints, a medical specialist's license and her self-honed skill are her only weapons. Surgeon Daimon Michiko. Also known as Doctor X.” (Intro of the drama)

After leaving her last hospital freelancer Daimon Michiko (Yonekura Ryoko) is out of work. This all changes when she saves a horse owned by a wealthy physician Mabuchi Ichida (Mita Yoshiko) by performing surgery. Mabuchi decides to hire Daimon in order to perform surgery on a VIP patient with a condition, if left unfixed will leave the patient paralyzed.

When Daimon arrives at the hospital, she is met with the rules and system that makes doctors greedy and arrogant. So she announces that she will not do anything that hasn’t to do with a medical license, including listening to the chief. This does not lie well with the head of surgery, who wants to throw her out of the hospital and keep his position as the head…

This drama continues with Daimon Michiko from season one, and to be honest it did not change much. It is quite simply one of those dramas where you have a great doctor fight the corrupt and mean system. Even though premise is good, the general storyline kind of sucks. I don’t really like these types of characters, they are just not my type. The fact that they don’t have any flaws annoys me the most, and makes the characters unrealistic hence unlikeable. As the storyline goes, we have heard it before and it is kind of the same as season 1. The main actress is okay, and so is the rest, but I just watched it because of the medical part – and that wasn’t all that good. It’s not bad, it’s just so repetitive, so I don’t know why they did a season 2.

If you really enjoyed season 1 I would recommend season 2, but else not really.

☆☆☆½ / 3½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥ / 3 out of 5 hears

BORDER Review

Title: Border

Genre: Mystery, Suspense

Episodes: 9

Broadcast period: 2014-Apr to 2014-Jun

Theme song: evil falls by Man with a mission

Cast: Oguri Shun, Aoiki Munetaka, Haru and Endo Kenichi.

As a passionate and enthusiastic homicide detective, Ishikawa Ango (Oguri Shun) is a lucky guy who once happened to catch the perpetrator in a case and has the idea that he will get lucky often. That is until he in his own arrogance forgets that they are dealing with criminals, and is shot in the head on duty. After miraculously surviving the head wound, the bullet resides in his head, and is the only link to the man shooting him. Not wanting to go under the knife again, Ishikawa decides to leave the bullet, but doesn’t admit that the bullet gives him severe headaches.

Returning to duty he is eager to start, but is shocked to see things: he is seeing the victims and they want to help him solve their murder. At first Ishikawa thinks it is him imagining things, but as he is able to talk to the victims and find important clues, he starts using the ghosts as help for his investigations…

I actually saw this by accident; since I hadn’t followed up on new Japanese dramas I was pleasantly surprised to see Oguri Shun in a new drama. I also started this without any pre knowledge, so I had no idea what it was about, which by the way worked in its favor, because I totally liked the story.

The entire theme with the talking to ghosts is one of my favorite, might be because I am a bit of ‘supernatural person’, but it wasn’t until the very end I understood what the title of the drama actually meant. For a 9 episode drama this was brilliant, I am not sure it would be as great of it were longer, and Oguri is without a doubt the actor for this character.

So all in all: worth every minute.

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥ / 4 out of 5 hearts

Iryu 3 Review

Title: Iryu 3

AKA: Dragon Medical Team 3 / Dragon Team 3

Genre: Medical

Episodes: 10

Broadcast period: 2010-Oct to 2010-Dec

Cast: Sakaguchi Kenji, Inamori Izumi, Abe Sadao, Koike Teppei and Endo Kenichi.

When Meishii University Hospital once again is on the verge of ruin with a lack of good doctors and bright interns, a new president is announced. The new president is the former Professor Kitou (Natsuki Mari) who decides to reformate the hospital with good doctors and a better management plan. She calls upon the best doctors in order to recover the reputation of the hospital, and those are no other than the previous Team Dragon members Dr. Asada (Sakaguchi Kenjji), Dr. Kato (Inamori Izumi) and Dr. Fujiyoshi (Sasaki Kuranosuke). Trying to revive Team Dragon she reinstates Dr. Noguchi (Kishibe Ittoku) much to others displease, especially since he brings another doctor Dr. Kuroki (Endo Kenichi) to the hospital who introduces the new catheters which threatens the cardiology surgeons in losing their work - making heart surgery less popular amongst patients..

I sort of feel these seasons are like a repeat of one another with the difference of it being newer in terms of medical equipment. I have to admit what they are trying to do in every season by portraying the team dragon as a ‘super’ team has affected me, where I honestly root for them and want them be together as a team again, seems to be working on me, and I found myself thinking several times that “if the team dragon had gotten this patient…” etc. The drama is good, and it is getting better by the years, because you have this group of people focusing on the patients and doing their best, and greatly enough they like being together. So this is about them trying their best with their patients… Simply put.

I really good watch, and I love medical dramas, which must be why I am so biased.

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out of 5 hearts