Saturday, February 1, 2014

UMI NO UE NO SHINRYOJO (海の上の診療所)















Fall 2013

Umi No Ue No Shinryojo is about a young doctor named Kota Sezaki (Shota Matsuda) who is hired to practice on a boat clinic called the Kaishinmaru. The Kaishinmaru travels to rural islands located in the Seto Inland Sea due to the lack of medical resources in the area. Dr. Kota is talented and highly skilled, but his reasons for accepting the job is a mystery. What is immediately known by the staff of the Kaishinmaru is that Dr. Kota is single and falls for beautiful women a bit too quickly. Will he eventually find that special someone or will he be destined to sail on the Kaishinmaru empty handed?

Recommendation: I've seen Shota Matsuda in "Hana Yori Dango" and "Tsuki No Koibito". I wasn't a huge fan of his, but he showed some range in this drama as an eccentric young doctor. I enjoyed his acting, but despite his best efforts, the drama as a whole was a bit dull and slow. I think it was meant to be a bit on the slow side, in a way showcasing the calm and serene life of rural Japan. I did enjoy the beautiful shots of the ocean and mountains, but as a drama it didn't arouse much excitement in me.

If I could sum up the drama in just a few words, the story is really all about misunderstandings and miscommunication as Dr. Kota repetitively visits one island after the next and falls in love with the first beautiful woman he sets his eyes on, only to be dumped or realizing that said beautiful woman already has a lover. The first episode started out mysteriously, but all the mysteries and tense subplots ended up being nothing more than misunderstandings that were resolved easily. Also, every person or acquaintance of said person he encounters has an accident which is not only coincidental, but just too patterned for my taste. In the end, I had a hard time trying to figure out what exactly this drama was about. I thought the last two episodes were good, but it was a little too late. I really felt Emi Takei's character, Mako chan could have been utilized better. I would have added more scenes that develop the relationship between Dr. Kota and Mako chan like maybe adding more scenes of walking through the countryside and talking about a variety of issues. Their relationship just felt awkward to me and to have them come together in the end didn't feel realistic.

If you want to see a drama that's a bit slow with some subtle humor and you like Shota Matsuda then by no means, please watch this drama. Unfortunately, for me, it was a bit light in terms of story, character development and overall excitement. I think the Kaishinmaru can sail on without me.

Story: 0.5
Acting: 0.5
Directing: 0.5
Character Development: 0.5
Emotional Factor: 0.5

2.5 Out Of 5.0 Crowns


7 comments:

  1. Your review on this is spot on. I starting watching this because i thought the cast was great and who does love romantic comedies :) sadly unlike you i did not get to the last 2 interesting episode. I dropped it after 3rd episode... things were repetitive and like you said the chemistry between the two main cast was way off.
    There was a suspense element (the mother thing) but it wasn't that interesting to keep me watching . maybe 1/5 for me :)

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  2. I think you made a wise choice not to see the rest of the drama. The repetitiveness really made it unexciting and the suspense aspect with Toda Erika's character and Dr. Kota's mother were quite disappointing to say the least.

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  4. Thanks. Will do as you say.
    I must say i end up dissapointed everytime i watch an Emi drama. She is suppose to be popular and there are lots of drama under her name but unfortunately i find was very boring, plan and boring (oh! i already said that) in all her roles :( I hope she proves me wrong in future but thus far i could not complete a single of her drama/movie :(

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  5. You know I went to Japan last summer and I was surprised to see her in a lot of commercials. I also saw Ayame Gouriki in commercials too which made me think they are rivals in way (I'm not positively sure about this though). They're both in there early twenties, but you are right, so far I'm not too impressed with either of them in terms of their acting prowess.

    I'm planning to watch two dramas in the winter season that star Ayame and Emi and they are both detective/mystery dramas. It will be interesting to see who receives better ratings!

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  6. haha, sound cool. I am excited to see Kuroshitsuji though, one of my fav. manga and anime. I hope i am not dissapointed, then again, the focus is more on the charming butler.
    I like mystery/detective kindda drama. Will look out of that, thanks:)

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  7. Awesome, let me know how Kuroshitsuji turns out. I never watched the anime, but I heard it was popular!

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