Bhavna

There I said it- a typical day in the life of Michiko Damion goes like this: she gets hired as a freelance surgeon in some fancy hospital, run by stuffy bureaucracy and hierarchy, with some old shriveled dude with a swollen ego doing his “rounds” with his doctors while getting favors and gratuities from patients. The surgery case often starts with a conference or meeting among the surgeons and the chief where they discuss some patient with a crazy cancer that’s spreading like wildfire. Then they ask “Who can take on this case?” Michiko’s hand shoots straight up and she says she can do it, plus she never fails- her signature line: “Watashi.. shippai shinai no de.” Her confidence is through the roof. Daimon’s confidence doesn’t come from titles, status, or hierarchical power handed down by humans. She carries divine authority straight from God, and works like a thousand handed Goddess, as cited by the chiefs themselves. Unfortunately because of her straight shooting and honest manner, Daimon is not welcome at these conferences and is often thrown out. They pick another incompetent surgeon to do the job. Someone who will inevitably fail so that our heroine Michiko can save the day. Somewhere between then and operating day, Michiko bumps into the patient- she always meets the patient beforehand and talks with them. Then on surgery day, the incompetent surgeon chosen for the job starts sweating and Michiko says “Move!” And then asks for the scalpel and monopolar and all her cool gadgets. She is “like a pit bull” in the operating room, as told by her own Locum agency coordinator, who essentially charged insane prices for her surgeries, but never really shows her the money (more on that later). So Michiko does some serious magic in the operating room, puts her hand over the patient’s heart or arm after completing, to transmit her healing powers to the patient, and the patient’s life is saved! The administration and powers that be are so threatened by Michiko’s surgery genius that they try to suppress her existence, and cover up her work with someone else’s name, or sometimes straight up fire her. These worldly authorities are jealous of her divine surgical and healing powers.

Reminds me of the Pharisees in the Jesus story- they carry the worldly power and authority but are hypocrites and only concerned with image, status, and reputation. So when a true healer comes along with Christlike powers, they seek to squash it and diminish her. I see so many similarities between Michiko and the biblical story. In fact Michiko is an archetypal Christ figure- the one who heals with divine authority, who never fails in healing and saving lives, who is ostracized, with no real friends in the world, who is constantly scapegoated and smeared and gaslit by the system. But in her compassion and will to serve, she continues to do surgery after surgery and she can’t help but save lives and heal. It’s what she’s built for.

Though her hobbies say surgery, she loves playing Mahjong with her Locum agency director who I suspect is basically swindling all the money she is making from surgeries and barely giving her food to eat. She begs him to buy sushi and shrimp tempura when she should be swimming in a sea of money. Where does all that money go? She lives in a dump with that agency director and other doctors in that agency and it looks so ghetto. But when she arrives at the hospital, Michiko looks like she stepped onto the runway in 6 inch high heels and mini skirts. She’s an all star, Doctor X- the Sailor Moon of doctors!