Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Haretsu Eps 1-3


Haretsu is a very interesting jdorama. I thought it would be just another Pandora clone; doctor opens pandora's box by finding a way to make failing hearts younger or work again and we have a moral ending. 


Our main character is a lot more complicated character than your usual Pandora characters. He is an ambitious and perfectionist researcher whose motto is 'you become a true doctor after killing 3 patients'. He is also being sued for medical negligence which makes me worried about a karmic ending. His first human test subject ends up being his father who he hates and he finds out that the treatment might have a side effect.


On the other side, we have the Machiavelli of the National Lifestyle Ministry(?). Now this guy has interesting ideas on how to deal with Japan's aging population. He's the bad guy but there is truth in what he believes in. As someone says in episode 3, medical technology has advanced to the stage where we just keep non-functioning people alive and it is a burden on the country.


Haretsu could possibly be a non WOWOW must watch show or it could go the Pandora route and just be safe and boring. Why I haven't gone though all 7 episodes in one shot is that Haretsu's Japanese is very difficult. I bloody hate all the super long medical terms that actors say really fast. Shout out to Magboro for retiming the Japanese subs. I would not be able to watch Haretsu without them. So far so good and its nice to see a show where the main character is not really a nice person.

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