Iryu Team Medical Dragon....

Yes.... This Japanese drama title does sound rather silly... well at least for me... but the storyline is pretty good. The basic storyline is about the dirty politics, corruption and nepotism that goes along with it, in Meishin University Medical Hospital.


Ryutaro Asada, played by Sakaguchi Kenji is a rebellious doctor who had been out casted in Japan medical league due to a devious plot by Kirima Gunji (played by Kitamura Kazuki). Ryutaro's extraordinary talent in surgery had been the prime jealousy of Kirima.

One day, Kirima's girlfriend Akira Kato had invited Ryutaro to join her team in doing a research that involves a highly specialized cardio-surgery prosedure named Batista. Akira seek Ryutaro's help after witnessing his skills in successfully treating patients in harsh working condition and without proper equipments. The drama tells about how Ryutaro find suitable teammates for the surgery and the dirty tricks that he had to cope through.

I surely don't want to reveal too much about the show. (^_^) .... Neway what I would like to say about this show was the main actor, Sakaguchi Kenji. Watching him in the first frame of Iryu gives me deja vu... like I had seen him somewhere before but I can't put his image anywhere. Not until midway of Iryu's 1 episode that it finally hit me. Ryutaro was Yamato in 'Pride'. Haha.... He totally had a different character in Iryu. In 'Pride' he plays as a person who is less secure. Whereas in Iryu, he played a very confident person. Seeing how well he played both of the totally different characters shows that Sakaguchi Kenji has good acting skills.

The other character that caught me eyes was Ijyuuin Noboru, sort of an intern in Meishin University Medical Hospital. He was reluctantly caught between the dirty hospital's politics and Ryutaro's rebellious actions. Ryutaro's interest in Ijyuuin was reasoned by the fact Ijyuuin is not yet corrupted by the hospital's politics. Ryutaro harshly trains Ijyuuin and making him among the youngest skilled heart surgeon. Ijyuuin character was played by Koike Teppei. I didn't really realize he was the other half of a Jpop duo 'WaT' until I read Dramawiki for more info on the show. He's totally cute and played a rather convincing insecure doctor in Iryu. Honestly with his seemingly short stature, he does kinda look like Doogie Howser M.D to me..... heheheh .....

Being kinda directly involve in the medical field, I do have a high expectation in medical dramas. But in reality, it's very hard to find a really convincingly made medical drama. For me, what's most impressive in Iryu, is the fact that they made really good and realistic internal organs. But I can't say the same about the blood though. The colour is sometime close to the real thing but there are times where it's totally sort of ... out of colour. Well, nevertheless it is a good medical drama. And I can't wait for Iryu 2 to finish so that I can marathon it. Hahahaha.... (^_^)V