Team Batista 2 Review

Title: Team Batista 2

AKA: The Triumphant return of General Rouge

Genre: Medical, Mystery

Episodes: 12 + SP

Broadcast period: 2010 Apr to 2010 Jun

Cast: Ito Atasushi, Nakamura Toru, Nishijima Hidetoshi, Kato Ai and Matsuaka Tori

Six months after the Batista incident, Taguchi Kohei (Ito Atasushi) is still working in the Special Complaint Department. When a former patient of his gets admitted to the Emergency Room he is called upon and meets the famous ‘General Rouge’ Hayami Koichi (Nishijima Hidetoshi) a man famous for accepting all patients and never letting anyone rest. At the same time he stumbles upon Shiratori Keisuke (Nakamura Toru) who is back to do a compulsory audit on the hospital, and becomes fairly interested in Hayami whom he seems to have a former relationship with. When some doubtful documents pop up, Shiratori makes Taguchi join the Emergency Room team as the ‘Mental Care’ doctor, meaning dealing with the mental states of the patients, but also helping them overcome their emotions. With Taguchi there it gives Shiratori the ability to check up on Hayami, and to find out what really is going on…

Again the great thing about dramas is that you can get to know the characters and their situations better than in a movie, and that is what I think makes the biggest difference between the movie and drama. Though the movie was great the drama sort of is much more detailed and much more heartfelt - kind of lets you like the characters more, even though they are not all that great. The duo has grown even more on me - like Sherlock and Watson - they have these comic moments and usually work extremely well together, yet they are complete opposites. And honestly I like season 2 a bit better than season 1 :)

But you can watch season 2 without having watched season 1, though season 1 is great watch too..

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out of 5 hearts

The Triumphant Return of General Rouge Movie Review

Title: The Triumphant Return of General Rouge

AKA: Glorious Team Batista 2 Movie

Genre: Medical, Mystery, Thriller

Origin: Japan

Release date: March 7, 2009

Cast: Takeuchi Yuko, Abe Hiroshi, Sakai Masato, Kanjiya Shirori, Yamamoto Taro and Shiro Sano.

This movie is the follow-up on the movie “The Glorious Team Batistsa”.

One year has passed since Taguchi Kimiko (Takeuchi Yuko) and Shiratori Keisuke (Abe Hiroshi) solved the case with the Team Batista scandal, and now Taguchi has unwillingly become a member of the ethnic’s board. Still doing the counseling, she one morning gets an anonymous letter addressed to her about a doctor having a collusive relationship with Medical Arts: a medical supply company. After taking the letter to the hospital director she is told to investigate which she only agrees on as long as she is allowed to leave the ethics board.

While investigating one doctor from the Medical Arts company dies, and Taguchi becomes a prime suspect since she was last seen with him. Moments after being released she hears of Shiratori’s admitted in the same hospital, so she goes to taunt him. But when she is told by Shiratori that he had gotten the same letter as her they team up once again to find the truth…

Compared to the first movie, the first part, this one I like better. It has a bit more humor, and it is more ‘medical’ in the essences of there actually being more about patients and doctors. The duo seems more enjoyable around each other, and the overall story is kind of a bit more intriguing than the first movie. Though I have to admit, I like the drama idea of the stories more. I haven’t watched the second season, but I think I will still prefer the drama. The movies have this dark ‘cloud’ around it, as if it’s scary in some way, and I am not sure it’s supposed to be like that. The atmosphere is kind of dark, and it was like that in the first movie as well.

It’s an okay movie to watch if you liked the first one.

☆☆☆½ / 3½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out of 5 hearts