This review may contain spoilers
A Must Watch 2025 JDrama
I'm so glad I finally got to watch this. Though it was with AI translated subs I found on reddit, I was still able to understand everything with my basic knowledge in Japanese.
Anyways, I think this drama is perfect. As someone who loves character-driven stories, I'm so glad I got to see Madoka, her fellow residents, and even her senpai doctors go through character development.
Here's what I think about some of note-worthy characters:
• Madoka - She wasn't the stand out character for me, but with how relateable her character is, I do love how we get to see the entire story through her perspective.
• Igarashi - Ryuche is one of my kami oshis, so I watched this drama for him. This might have a tad bit of bias, but he's my fav character. He's kind of like the male version of Madoka, with how he is easy to getting along with, is kind, thinks of others before himself, and can be animated at times. But he does it differently from Madoka. Like how he's such a gossip, which is how he gets along with the people around him. And also his growth as a doctor is a whole 180°. One of the fav parts about the drama is how, in the latter parts, Igarashi kept facing signs about getting into ER as his specialty. And I'm so glad he did. The ER part in Madoka's rotation was my fav part. Anyways, I absolutely adore Igarashi. He is such a good person.
• Moe - Most of our first impression about her is that she's just a pretty girl who wants to take it easy. But as the show went on, her character grows and changes. This is evident during her rotation with cosmetology. Deep down, she's actually a hard working woman who wants to do what she can in her own way to help others. She's such a darling.
• Chifuyu - I felt like her character as a doctor wasn't given much attention during this drama. We got to see more of her relationship with Hongo-sensei than her growth as a professional just starting out. We don't even see how she got to decide on Breast Surgery as her specialty. Like, yes we know the reason. But I wanted to see how it progressed to that.
• Kanno - This is where I take the opportunity to talk about the romance aspect of the drama. Because, as a character, Konno felt too one dimensional for me. He's just your typical ikemen competent co worker that our beloved female lead ends up with. While he had a bit of spotlight during the last parts, it didn't do much for me. At first, we see him as this kind mentor to Madoka during her first rotation in Surgery. I honestly thought he would be this type of character that our main lead interacts a lot with during the first few episodes and then gradually see less of when said main lead finally grows as a character. I thought he felt too "established" as a character that I think it wasn't necessary to put him under the spotlight as our main lead's romantic end game. And I kind of wish Madoka didn't break up with Sunoda. With how different they are, it would have been more interesting to watch them navigate their relationship as Madoka becomes busier with her residency. Anyway, this is not to say that I didn't like Kanno's character, but I just think he shouldn't have been given that much screen time in order for the other interesting storylines to develop.
• Nishiyama - I'm glad they resolved his Showa-era way of thinking right off the bat in the first episode. And that he ended up becoming in charge of training young residents.
As for the storyline, I think it was well paced and interesting. There weren't a lot of subplots which made everything easy to follow. Though some minor parts did feel kind of cheesy. But as a feel-good drama overall, it did enough to not come across as corny. And it's because we get to relate to all these characters, with how they act and how they came about to all these decisions given their circumstances, their life experiences, and even their upbringing.
To sum it all up, this is probably my favorite drama of 2025. I hope this will be on an international streaming platform soon because it's what this drama deserves.
Anyways, I think this drama is perfect. As someone who loves character-driven stories, I'm so glad I got to see Madoka, her fellow residents, and even her senpai doctors go through character development.
Here's what I think about some of note-worthy characters:
• Madoka - She wasn't the stand out character for me, but with how relateable her character is, I do love how we get to see the entire story through her perspective.
• Igarashi - Ryuche is one of my kami oshis, so I watched this drama for him. This might have a tad bit of bias, but he's my fav character. He's kind of like the male version of Madoka, with how he is easy to getting along with, is kind, thinks of others before himself, and can be animated at times. But he does it differently from Madoka. Like how he's such a gossip, which is how he gets along with the people around him. And also his growth as a doctor is a whole 180°. One of the fav parts about the drama is how, in the latter parts, Igarashi kept facing signs about getting into ER as his specialty. And I'm so glad he did. The ER part in Madoka's rotation was my fav part. Anyways, I absolutely adore Igarashi. He is such a good person.
• Moe - Most of our first impression about her is that she's just a pretty girl who wants to take it easy. But as the show went on, her character grows and changes. This is evident during her rotation with cosmetology. Deep down, she's actually a hard working woman who wants to do what she can in her own way to help others. She's such a darling.
• Chifuyu - I felt like her character as a doctor wasn't given much attention during this drama. We got to see more of her relationship with Hongo-sensei than her growth as a professional just starting out. We don't even see how she got to decide on Breast Surgery as her specialty. Like, yes we know the reason. But I wanted to see how it progressed to that.
• Kanno - This is where I take the opportunity to talk about the romance aspect of the drama. Because, as a character, Konno felt too one dimensional for me. He's just your typical ikemen competent co worker that our beloved female lead ends up with. While he had a bit of spotlight during the last parts, it didn't do much for me. At first, we see him as this kind mentor to Madoka during her first rotation in Surgery. I honestly thought he would be this type of character that our main lead interacts a lot with during the first few episodes and then gradually see less of when said main lead finally grows as a character. I thought he felt too "established" as a character that I think it wasn't necessary to put him under the spotlight as our main lead's romantic end game. And I kind of wish Madoka didn't break up with Sunoda. With how different they are, it would have been more interesting to watch them navigate their relationship as Madoka becomes busier with her residency. Anyway, this is not to say that I didn't like Kanno's character, but I just think he shouldn't have been given that much screen time in order for the other interesting storylines to develop.
• Nishiyama - I'm glad they resolved his Showa-era way of thinking right off the bat in the first episode. And that he ended up becoming in charge of training young residents.
As for the storyline, I think it was well paced and interesting. There weren't a lot of subplots which made everything easy to follow. Though some minor parts did feel kind of cheesy. But as a feel-good drama overall, it did enough to not come across as corny. And it's because we get to relate to all these characters, with how they act and how they came about to all these decisions given their circumstances, their life experiences, and even their upbringing.
To sum it all up, this is probably my favorite drama of 2025. I hope this will be on an international streaming platform soon because it's what this drama deserves.
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