Quick Review #142: Gekijouban TOKYO MER ~ Hashiru kinkyuu kyuumeishitsu ~" (movie)

Title: Gekijouban TOKYO MER ~ Hashiru kinkyuu kyuumeishitsu ~ / 劇場版　TOKYO MER ~ 走る緊急救命室 ~　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 5 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who are fans of the drama series but don't mind the movie's story being rather flat this time

* Potential spoilers ahead!

Liked:

- If you had enjoyed the drama series, you should be satisfied to see the return of most, if not all of the cast members (except the one who "died" in  the series and only appeared in flashbacks and photos) reprising their roles with the addition of new characters. Among them, An stood out most because her character was supposed to be the ex-girlfriend of Otowa (Kaku Kento) and the leader of Yokohama MER which had a completely different mindset as compared to Tokyo MER.

Disliked: 

- What really worked for the drama series did not seem to work wonders for the movie this time. While it may have been exhilarating and gratifying to see the Tokyo MER team overcome seemingly impossible life-threatening situations to save patients with zero casualties all the time, the formula got rather stale this time as I got very put off by some seen-that-done-that developments e.g. shouting loudly to declare that there were no casualties and the predictability of the story. Coupled with the fact that I actually know the Yokohama Landmark Tower pretty well and had stayed at the hotel there before, what I knew about this building kept bothering me as I watched how the characters go up and down that massive building with so much ease as if it was nothing. Perhaps it's just me but the added "reality" angle here by using an actual building actually backfired for me.

- To be honest, Yokohama MER was not a match for Tokyo MER in various ways. Other than An who could have potentially given Suzuki Ryohei a run for his money as the "leader of the opposite side", the rest of the Yokohama team did not have the same kind of name awareness as their counterparts in the other team so it felt like An was leading a group of literally unknowns. And to be fair to them, they also hardly got any airtime to show what their characters were like. Secondly, if it had been that the Yokohama MER team members were given ample time to show their mettle rather than appear as snobs who talked big and did nothing spectacular from the start, they might have come across as serious and credible competition against their seniors in the MER field. Due to these reasons, the Yokohama MER team never threatened the Tokyo MER team in any way at all so it felt like they were just there for no particular reason and purpose other than to emphasize the heroic deeds of the Tokyo team. I felt that it was especially a waste for An's character to be rather forgettable towards the end - there could have been more to show the clash of her ideals with Kitami (Suzuki) or the ex-lovers relationship with Otowa.