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"Patients want to know what's going on in their own bodies"
A Life starred Kimura Takuya and Asano Tadanobu which was more than enough to grab my attention. I don’t particularly care for the medical genre but for these two I was willing to give this drama a whirl. They both gave strong performances but had an uneven and inconsistent script to contend with.
Okita Kazuaki has been practicing medicine in Seattle, Washington (USA) for the last ten years, honing his skills to a sharp point. When everyone else has given up on a patient they call Okita. His old mentor, Danjo Toranosuke, has a heart condition only he can fix so he flies to Japan. His friend Masao is now the vice director of the Danjo Hospital and married to Okita’s ex-love Mifuyu, who also happens to be Director Danjo’s daughter. After the director’s surgery, Okita is talked into staying to help with the health of another patient dear to him.
What I liked about this drama:
Kimura and Asano gave strong performances and were compelling to watch, even when their characters behaved inconsistently or reprehensibly. I also like that the surgical nurse, Shibata, was quite competent and observant. They used the tried and true trope of teaching doctors to actually care about their patients instead of their own win-loss record. Okita might have been a renowned surgeon, but only due to Herculean preparation, instead of innate genius which was a refreshing change. Surprisingly, he could also admit when he needed help.
What was okay:
The medical stories were compelling for the most part. If you like surgical scenes with realistic body parts laid open and into the weeds surgical charts and images, you will be rewarded. The drama revealed that the biggest problems the surgeons dealt with were not greedy medical corporations or insurance hassles, but instead a rigid hierarchical system where one could not question the diagnosis of another doctor. And many of the doctors were incredibly thin-skinned and prideful. The medical staff vastly outnumbered the patients. There was a Greek chorus of three doctors who commented on the action around them but never saw patients or set foot in an operating room. DRS Igawa and Hamura were stock medical characters. The older doctor seeking to make his way up the ladder and the young overly emotional, overly confident doctor who needed to be shown how to be a person and competent surgeon. Several characters had daddy issues, they ran that trope into the ground.
What didn’t really work for me:
Mifuyu gave new meaning to the word nepo baby. She left work early every day and spent most of her time playing with her daughter, cooking fabulous meals, sewing, and cleaning. Despite desiring a prestigious promotion, she was never shown studying or even so much as filling out reports. What truly bothered me as the drama continued---Mifuyu smiled and giggled throughout the entire drama no matter what was going on. There were very few times she showed any real emotions. I don’t trust anyone who wears a smile mask even when they are alone. Made me wonder if she was grinning while she planned to murder her husband in his sleep. He could be a jerk, as he was unfaithful to her and the hospital. Which brings me to…
The writing for Masao was all over the place. He loves Mifuyu. He wants her to die. He loves his family. He’s rarely home and banging the hospital lawyer. He built the hospital into something grand. He wants to destroy it. He is friends with Okita. He hates Okita. He’s the best neurosurgeon ever. Until the last couple of episodes, he never picked up a scalpel. Given that Mifuyu slept in the same bed with their daughter, maybe he and his wife had a transactional relationship. There was certainly no chemistry or intimate touches. He whined about no one trying to get to know him, yet when his wife and daughter needed him most, he let them down. Speaking of relationships…
The drama often alluded to Okita and Mifuyu’s grand romantic past yet only showed one scene over and over of them tying surgical knots. While Okita seemed to still be carrying a torch or maybe an unlit match, she always looked romantically disinterested in him. The writers and lighting techs (so much gauzy white light around her) worked very hard to portray Mifuyu as pure and devoted to her family.
**(EPISODE 1 SPOILERS that troubled me)**
What annual exam includes a brain MRI? After the diagnosis of Mifuyu’s brain tumor, why wasn’t she given her test results? Aside from the legal aspect of it, she deserved to know what was going on in her own body and to have the time to process the information and get her house in order. Yet Okita and Masao withheld that critical information from her for too long. Unforgivable. Mifuyu didn’t come away unscathed either, she was having concerning symptoms and didn’t take it upon herself to schedule a check-up. Once her condition was identified, they should never have let her perform surgery.
**END OF SPOILERS from Episode 1ish**
This drama was messy and inconsistent, but also had entertaining moments, largely due to the actors. I think it would have been better without the “romantic” angle or if it had just gone full blown melodramatic. Kimura Takuya’s performance was enough to keep me mostly engaged even when he was doing nothing but tying knots. Not a ringing endorsement to be sure.
10 July 2025
Okita Kazuaki has been practicing medicine in Seattle, Washington (USA) for the last ten years, honing his skills to a sharp point. When everyone else has given up on a patient they call Okita. His old mentor, Danjo Toranosuke, has a heart condition only he can fix so he flies to Japan. His friend Masao is now the vice director of the Danjo Hospital and married to Okita’s ex-love Mifuyu, who also happens to be Director Danjo’s daughter. After the director’s surgery, Okita is talked into staying to help with the health of another patient dear to him.
What I liked about this drama:
Kimura and Asano gave strong performances and were compelling to watch, even when their characters behaved inconsistently or reprehensibly. I also like that the surgical nurse, Shibata, was quite competent and observant. They used the tried and true trope of teaching doctors to actually care about their patients instead of their own win-loss record. Okita might have been a renowned surgeon, but only due to Herculean preparation, instead of innate genius which was a refreshing change. Surprisingly, he could also admit when he needed help.
What was okay:
The medical stories were compelling for the most part. If you like surgical scenes with realistic body parts laid open and into the weeds surgical charts and images, you will be rewarded. The drama revealed that the biggest problems the surgeons dealt with were not greedy medical corporations or insurance hassles, but instead a rigid hierarchical system where one could not question the diagnosis of another doctor. And many of the doctors were incredibly thin-skinned and prideful. The medical staff vastly outnumbered the patients. There was a Greek chorus of three doctors who commented on the action around them but never saw patients or set foot in an operating room. DRS Igawa and Hamura were stock medical characters. The older doctor seeking to make his way up the ladder and the young overly emotional, overly confident doctor who needed to be shown how to be a person and competent surgeon. Several characters had daddy issues, they ran that trope into the ground.
What didn’t really work for me:
Mifuyu gave new meaning to the word nepo baby. She left work early every day and spent most of her time playing with her daughter, cooking fabulous meals, sewing, and cleaning. Despite desiring a prestigious promotion, she was never shown studying or even so much as filling out reports. What truly bothered me as the drama continued---Mifuyu smiled and giggled throughout the entire drama no matter what was going on. There were very few times she showed any real emotions. I don’t trust anyone who wears a smile mask even when they are alone. Made me wonder if she was grinning while she planned to murder her husband in his sleep. He could be a jerk, as he was unfaithful to her and the hospital. Which brings me to…
The writing for Masao was all over the place. He loves Mifuyu. He wants her to die. He loves his family. He’s rarely home and banging the hospital lawyer. He built the hospital into something grand. He wants to destroy it. He is friends with Okita. He hates Okita. He’s the best neurosurgeon ever. Until the last couple of episodes, he never picked up a scalpel. Given that Mifuyu slept in the same bed with their daughter, maybe he and his wife had a transactional relationship. There was certainly no chemistry or intimate touches. He whined about no one trying to get to know him, yet when his wife and daughter needed him most, he let them down. Speaking of relationships…
The drama often alluded to Okita and Mifuyu’s grand romantic past yet only showed one scene over and over of them tying surgical knots. While Okita seemed to still be carrying a torch or maybe an unlit match, she always looked romantically disinterested in him. The writers and lighting techs (so much gauzy white light around her) worked very hard to portray Mifuyu as pure and devoted to her family.
**(EPISODE 1 SPOILERS that troubled me)**
What annual exam includes a brain MRI? After the diagnosis of Mifuyu’s brain tumor, why wasn’t she given her test results? Aside from the legal aspect of it, she deserved to know what was going on in her own body and to have the time to process the information and get her house in order. Yet Okita and Masao withheld that critical information from her for too long. Unforgivable. Mifuyu didn’t come away unscathed either, she was having concerning symptoms and didn’t take it upon herself to schedule a check-up. Once her condition was identified, they should never have let her perform surgery.
**END OF SPOILERS from Episode 1ish**
This drama was messy and inconsistent, but also had entertaining moments, largely due to the actors. I think it would have been better without the “romantic” angle or if it had just gone full blown melodramatic. Kimura Takuya’s performance was enough to keep me mostly engaged even when he was doing nothing but tying knots. Not a ringing endorsement to be sure.
10 July 2025
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