This review may contain spoilers
The first season but slightly to the left
I should start this out by saying that, like the first season, I still don't know whether I actually liked the show or not. I feel like I might as well review both seasons together cause the season 2 feels more like the fever dream version of season 1. The parallels aren't so much uncanny as they are annoying, but they are plentiful.
(The rest of this is all spoilers so don't read beyond this point if you don't wanna know what happens.)
We start with Sera (the only character that actually got some character development, though it kind of starts and ends with being a little more mature and confident) meeting Tokai's twin (who is somehow also a crazy surgeon genious and gets called a devil) and he falls right back into old patterns, trailing after him like a puppy and being not-so-gently bullied into becoming a better surgeon in turn.
Everyone else is exactly the same, sometimes to kind of sad degrees. There is one notable new character, a korean exchange resident and he's actually quite alright.
Neko is Neko (though she levels up to doctor because the show apparently finally realised that female doctors exist - shocker, I know).
Miwa's only change is that she gets involved in the plot more.
Takashina, though with a certain self-aware irony, is right back to two-timing and back-stabbing, though this time it's entirely his decision so at least there's that going for him.
Saeki is shockingly unchanged, kind of the bad guy but never really, very little logic to his actions and provocations of all other characters, and like in the first season he conveniently gets to redeem himself at the end with a tragic backstory and a noble cause that goes completely against the way he normally acts with no explanation for the weird dissonance. The fact that both Tokai and Amagi think he did something wrong and framed their respective father figures for it, only to find out that he wasn't actually at fault and everything they were mad about was a misunderstanding, only to then be saved during a surgery by Saeki's help (that they shouldn't rightfully have needed) is the greatest injustice done to the twins imo. The fact that he has the audacity to be shocked at the end that he didn't get voted director after antagonising everyone, even those who were on his side, is actually hilarious.
The villains this time seem to have been on the way to an over the top anime adaptation, but they took a wrong turn and ended up here instead. Cartoonish doesn't do it justice. And it's every. single. one. of. them.
Plot wise it's really season one but with more dramatic flair, Amagi's mentorship of Sera a little more flamboyant that Tokai's but otherwise unchanged in dynamics, Saeki's fight with some other important dude over a chairman position, the machine vs. human debate for the medical cases and whatever kind of confusing, emotionally charged mess Saeki's relationship with the twins is. It's one messed up family and while he seems to have good intentions, Saeki's involvement manages to make it worse at every corner.
We also completely abandon realism with our public show performance surgeries but we weren't big on that in the first season so that was actually kind of easy to get used to. The show is so predictable it kind of hurts, with very few unexpected surprises.
None of this sounds like I enjoyed myself. But somehow, shockingly, I did. It wasn't because of the original and tight storywriting for sure, but somehow the characters have grown on me and the acting (with notable exception from the villains, though they seem to have been intended that way) was solid throughout. The relationship dynamics, though recycled, weren't any less amusing to watch the second time around and the last 15 minutes ripped me to absolute emotional shreds as intended so that's that I guess.
I rated it 8.5 mostly for nostalgia but also for the fact that despite all the objectively bad parts I still ended up enjoying it. The rating I gave here has about as much logic behind it as Saeki's behaviour, so it felt fitting somehow. This review probably wasn't very helpful but it sufficiently conveyed my (conflicted) emotions about the show so do with that what you will. I hope you watch it and feel as confused as I do.
(The rest of this is all spoilers so don't read beyond this point if you don't wanna know what happens.)
We start with Sera (the only character that actually got some character development, though it kind of starts and ends with being a little more mature and confident) meeting Tokai's twin (who is somehow also a crazy surgeon genious and gets called a devil) and he falls right back into old patterns, trailing after him like a puppy and being not-so-gently bullied into becoming a better surgeon in turn.
Everyone else is exactly the same, sometimes to kind of sad degrees. There is one notable new character, a korean exchange resident and he's actually quite alright.
Neko is Neko (though she levels up to doctor because the show apparently finally realised that female doctors exist - shocker, I know).
Miwa's only change is that she gets involved in the plot more.
Takashina, though with a certain self-aware irony, is right back to two-timing and back-stabbing, though this time it's entirely his decision so at least there's that going for him.
Saeki is shockingly unchanged, kind of the bad guy but never really, very little logic to his actions and provocations of all other characters, and like in the first season he conveniently gets to redeem himself at the end with a tragic backstory and a noble cause that goes completely against the way he normally acts with no explanation for the weird dissonance. The fact that both Tokai and Amagi think he did something wrong and framed their respective father figures for it, only to find out that he wasn't actually at fault and everything they were mad about was a misunderstanding, only to then be saved during a surgery by Saeki's help (that they shouldn't rightfully have needed) is the greatest injustice done to the twins imo. The fact that he has the audacity to be shocked at the end that he didn't get voted director after antagonising everyone, even those who were on his side, is actually hilarious.
The villains this time seem to have been on the way to an over the top anime adaptation, but they took a wrong turn and ended up here instead. Cartoonish doesn't do it justice. And it's every. single. one. of. them.
Plot wise it's really season one but with more dramatic flair, Amagi's mentorship of Sera a little more flamboyant that Tokai's but otherwise unchanged in dynamics, Saeki's fight with some other important dude over a chairman position, the machine vs. human debate for the medical cases and whatever kind of confusing, emotionally charged mess Saeki's relationship with the twins is. It's one messed up family and while he seems to have good intentions, Saeki's involvement manages to make it worse at every corner.
We also completely abandon realism with our public show performance surgeries but we weren't big on that in the first season so that was actually kind of easy to get used to. The show is so predictable it kind of hurts, with very few unexpected surprises.
None of this sounds like I enjoyed myself. But somehow, shockingly, I did. It wasn't because of the original and tight storywriting for sure, but somehow the characters have grown on me and the acting (with notable exception from the villains, though they seem to have been intended that way) was solid throughout. The relationship dynamics, though recycled, weren't any less amusing to watch the second time around and the last 15 minutes ripped me to absolute emotional shreds as intended so that's that I guess.
I rated it 8.5 mostly for nostalgia but also for the fact that despite all the objectively bad parts I still ended up enjoying it. The rating I gave here has about as much logic behind it as Saeki's behaviour, so it felt fitting somehow. This review probably wasn't very helpful but it sufficiently conveyed my (conflicted) emotions about the show so do with that what you will. I hope you watch it and feel as confused as I do.
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