Wednesday, July 24, 2024

Quick Review #55: Unmet Aru nougekkai no nikki - Spring 2024


Title: Unmet Aru nougekkai no nikki / アンメット ある脳外科医の日記

Rating: 9 /10 

Recommended for
Those who would like to watch a down-to-earth and natural medical-cum-humanity drama without the frills and exaggeration and are fans of the cast

* Spoilers ahead!

Liked:
- Unlike a lot of medical dramas which tend to play up the dramatic factor by projecting the medical personnel as super beings who can save the day regardless of whatever serious or complicated illness they are dealing with, this drama bucked the trend by delivering the medical aspect of the story in a very down-to-earth and as a-matter-of-fact manner. For the surgical scenes which were supposed to be the "climax" or had more tension built up, there was hardly any overly dramatic BGM nor exaggerated antics by the cast to show the "superior capabilities" of the medical personnel. The complicated neurological conditions were explained so well and easy to understand even for a layman. This was extremely unusual because medical dramas tend to bombard the viewers with so much jargon and overly-complicated terms that sometimes make me wonder if these illnesses were cooked up from nowhere just to make the doctors seem like super heroes who can cure anyone. The effort put in by the production crew really shone through in making this story feel more realistic as a workplace drama set in a neurology department of a hospital and keeping the viewers in mind by explaining the medical conditions properly and clearly.

- Since the story did not require the cast to over-act, it was so comfortable to watch them fit into the shoes of their characters so nicely. Besides Sugisaki Hana and Wakaba Ryuuya taking centrestage in driving the story with their superb work, I was particularly impressed with Chiba Yuudai and Kichise Michiko's performances this time which was way more natural than any of their acting I saw in the past. Iura Arata was as good as usual while the romance story between Okayama Amane's and Ikuta Erika's characters turned out to be more interesting to watch than expected.

- The sizzling chemistry between Sugisaki Hana and Wakaba Ryuuya made the lead couple such a joy to watch. One good thing that worked to their advantage was how well the love story of Miyabi and Sanpei was crafted with proper layering and tying up the loose ends so well with one scene in the finale. On the other hand, you also cannot deny that they did really well in conveying the emotions by relying on facial expressions most of the time since there was hardly any skinship or intimate scenes. Towards the end of the season when rumours of them being romantically involved started surfacing, it may probably affect how you see their onscreen interaction but I guess it's also fun to look out for signs of whether it was love for real or reel for them.

Disliked: 
- Given that the manga had yet to finish its run by the time the drama concluded (it was finished this month), I can understand why the drama did not have a very conclusive ending. At the very least, the most important question of whether Miyabi regained her memory was answered so I'm glad that this was properly addressed. Ideally, there should have been a "happily-ever-after" showing what happens to the key characters after the ending but that probably will only come through in a SP (if it ever happens) since there probably won't be enough new material for a full sequel. On the other hand, I'm also not too keen for a sequel in case it does not match up to the quality of this drama.

No comments: