[Rating: 8/10]

Genre: Medical, Drama

Hiragi Nachi is an anti-social obstetrician who would do anything to save her patients, even if great risks are involved. Though her colleagues are dismayed by her attitude, they know she is one of the best in her field and is a genuine doctor who cares for her patients. Nachi also has her personal reasons for the way she conducts herself. One day a freak accident makes her re-evaluate things as the situation puts not only her career but the entire department at stake.

First of all you must be wondering if Gyne is my favourite jdrama for the season, why did I rate it lower than My Girl? Well, just because it’s number one doesn’t mean it has to have a higher rating. For one thing I like shows with some action and mystery involved, and Gyne despite not having as stellar a cast had a good storyline. It’s probably my second favourite medical drama after Iryu, which says something (I know I keep bringing up Iryu alot lately but I can’t help it~). Gyne was also pretty psychological which I enjoyed, Nachi’s downward spiral into post- trauma parnoia rather surprised me at first but it was riveting to watch. So was the underlying tension/rivalry between her and fellow doctor Higuchi. Higuchi turned out to be one of my favourite characters, even over Nachi and I sorta felt sorry that she was the middle-man in the whole thing, and her talents seemed to be overlooked. I really wanted her to get together with the other doctor… forgot his name (the tall one). A surprising sub-plot I didn’t expect to like that much was the romance between the Susami and Segawa. Though I found their relationship developed really quickly in the show I realized most of it was subtle and behind-the-scenes it was.  Despite their age difference they were very sweet together, and the ‘wedding scene’ was touching especially with Susami and the improv rings. This was where I started to take notice of Uchida Yuki (Segawa) and she’s now one of my favourite actresses (she’s in Iryu 2 as well). I also give this show extra cookies for being a hospital drama not set in the general Emergency ward or the cardiosurgery ward (enough of the batista operations I think, though they were good). It presented a good insight to this lesser known department, and balanced doctor and patient point of views well. The Tokutomi family’s story was very touching, and I couldn’t hate them for what happened afterwards, though I do think the dad was rather naive though his confusion and distraught is understandable. And Nachi’s son? So sweet. He reminded a little me of Koharu in My Girl with his odd child sense of understanding.

Ok, now onto what I didn’t like about the show which lead me to give it a lower rating than My Girl were. Tamaki, the other main character of the show, the rookie doctor who Nachi was supposed to mentor. He’s whiny and went round sleeping with two people from the same department at the same time. Both girls genuinely liked him and he did throw away a good chance in the end.I think the show was supposed to be told from his viewpoint but that didn’t really work that well… it was pretty vague exactly what his purpose was supposed to serve. I feel the show could have worked just as well without him. The other characters totally overshadowed him. Other than that the cast interactions were good but lacking dynamic in some places, but it could be partly due to the relations between the characters. And though I doubt it, I hope to see something where Nachi gets back together with her husband? They seem to care alot for each other still, and hey, he did sorta save her and the department in the end. Quite sad that he’s not on the tree diagram of the main characters because he was definitely more than just a cameo.  I took ages to search for the actor (Hasegawa Hiroki).

So there you have it, my favourite drama of Autumn 2009 =3

Team Batista no Eiko

[Rating: 8/10]

Genre: Medical Drama, Suspense

Taguchi Kohei, a bumbling doctor is sent to investigate a string of mysterious deaths that revolve around a reputable team of surgeons who perform the highly-risky batista heart operations. Were the deaths simply due to natural causes or is there a murderer amongst the team? And can Guchi prevent his own growing sympathies towards the team from getting in the way of his investigation?

This show was rather intriguing. Unlike Iryu (Team Medical Dragon), there was more emphasis on individuals than that of promoting team spirit which was interesting to see for a change. If not for the main protagonist, the whole show would have a rather solmen air about it, so I think that it balanced out nicely. It focuses mainly on the investigation and the team with the rest of the hospitable barely appearing at all. The entire show was filled with twists that made me think and rethink the identity of the murderer, or perhaps there was no murdere at all and perhaps the operation only worked on children and not adults. And when the truths were revealed one by one, they weren’t anything like I expected, and the characters being ambiguous in their motives also added to the tensions. I thought the ambiguity of the characters made the show stand out from other medical shows I’ve seen. I wouldn’t say the cast was stellar but they played their parts well enough, definitely not sloppy at all. I can’t say that I like any character in particular but cast-wise, Nakamura Toru was awesome as Shiratori, I think he outshone Taguchi Kohei  even though the latter is the main character. A notable role would have to be Shirota Yu as Himuro the Anaesthetician (did I spell that correctly?), I did pity the guy despite what he did, the scene of him eating with Guchi’s family just gave me the warm fuzzies. He did not deserve to get offed like that, but what can I can, karma comes back with a vengence. Personally I feel that was Shirota’s best performance to date, followed by his portrayal of Mariya in the detective drama Koshonin, he plays the misunderstood, underappreciated character pretty well. Team Batista no Eiko is definitely interesting and original compared to the more popular medical series, but it may not be everyone’s cup of tea.

Iryu

[Rating: 9.5/10]

Genre: Medical drama

Katou Akira is a brilliant and ambitious young doctor who aspires to score a professorship by writing a thesis on the infamous Batista Heart operation. She manages to convince Asada Ryutaro, a talented doctor experienced with operating in resource-lacking warzone regions to head the team. However Asada has a bit of a regenade reputation, and it will take more than a bit of convincing with the higher ups that the Batista project will pull through. To top it off they have to deal with the board of professors who are more concerned about the hospitals reputation than the patients.

I’m really glad that I decided to watch this because it was brilliant. I had previously watched another drama centered around the Batista operation, Team Bastista no Eiko (2008 version) and doubted Iryu would match up to it. Another day I’ll make a post on Team Batista, but both series were very different, not what I was expecting at all! Team Batista was more on the operating procedure, Iryu was focused on the hospital politics.  The entire team was just amazing, the main cast all shone in their own way, from the good to the bad guys. My favourite members of the team were Miki and Fujiyoshi. Miki just stood by Asada the whole way with this unwavering spirit, definitely the glue and mood-lifter of the team. Without her they’d probably have fallen apart a little. And Fujiyoshi was the perfect pillar of silent support once he was in. Strongest point of Iryu? The cast! So many of my favourite Japanese actors! Sasaki Kuranosuke (probably the main reason I decided to watch this) as Fujiyoshi and Mizukawa Asami as Miki (beautiful and confident as always!). And I thought it was Koike Teppei’s best performance (as the bumbling intern Ijyuuin) I’ve seen to date, he should definitely play more serious roles instead of the cute boy next door stuff.

A surprising performance was Kishibe Ittoku who played Noguchi ‘the devil’, the power hungry professor overseeing Katou’s thesis. He looked so pissed and devasted at the end I almost felt sorry for him ( almost)… and and Kitamura Kazuki as Kirima Gunji! I knew he’d be brilliant. The man has played the strangest assortment of roles, and has been great in all of them. I notice he’s normally in a grey character role – his characters are both good and bad. I do hope Gunji and Akira get back together though, I was rooting for them despite knowing how manipulative Gunji had become. I would say the cast was all equally strong with none of them overtly trying to outdo the other. It was really a team! And despite the serious atmosphere of the drama, there were a couple of moments that made me go “Awww…!”  This drama is definitely earning a place in my ‘re-watch’ category.