Jin (Season 1 & 2)

Jin Synopsis

The story follows a brain surgeon named, Minakata Jin, who has spent the last two years in anguish, as his fiancee lies in a vegetative state after an operation he performed. One day, he faints at the hospital and awakens to find himself transported back in time to the Edo period. He is soon attacked by a samurai, but he escapes with the help of a man named Kyotaro. Kyotaro suffers a serious injury to the head while trying to protect him, but Jin manages to save his life despite a lack of proper medical equipment. Because of that, Kyotaro's sister Saki begins taking an interest in Jin and becomes his assistant. Meanwhile, Jin is determined to find a way back to the present. -Tokyograph

Jin - Season 2 Synopsis

2 years have passed... Jin and Saki develop a sweet confectionery that contains medicine for Saki’s mother who has a severe case of beriberi. Meanwhile, Ryoma asks Jin to care for Kaishuu Katsu’s mentor, Shozan Sakuma. Shozan is in a critical state after being attacked by the Shinsengumi. Jin is reluctant because curing Shozan would mean changing the course of history. However, Shozan tells him that he too is involved in the “present”. -TBS

My Take

I finished watching this over a week ago and I really got addicted to watching this drama. I couldn't stop watching the whole series and I only watched the two seasons in just one week, if I'm not mistaken. It took me some time to write a review on this drama since it took me awhile to get over the whole series.

The plot is very intriguing and each episode is never boring. I'm not a fan of medical stuff and truth be told, this is my first drama to watch that had some medical stuff in it. Each episode has an "operation" in it and each time  I had to cover 3/4 of the screen so that I couldn't see the bloody stuff onscreen.

I'm not surprised that the actors Osawa Takao (Minakata Jin) and Uchino Masaaki (Sakamoto Ryoma) received awards for their performance. They're quite good, especially Uchino Masaaki's portrayal of the ever eccentric Sakamoto Ryoma. I watched the entire series but I haven't seen Minakata Jin get angry. I found that hard to believe as there only seems to be goodness that comes from him but I do suppose there are some people like that. I haven't met that kind of person yet; goes to show that people with this particular character is very rare.

There are a lot of other characters as well, such as Tachibana Saki and the other doctors in the series, but I'm not really much in the mood to review them one by one even though they're also important in the drama; most especially Tachibana Saki. (She's more important than the next character I'm about to mention.)

Perhaps the character that I'm most intrigued about is the oiran (courtesan), Nokaze. I think the actress, Nakatani Miki, is too old to portray the character. That's just probably me, since I did my thesis on an English subject on Yoshiwara, Oiran, and Geishas so I know a thing or two about the red-light district in Edo. However I felt drawn to Nokaze's character, but I have no idea why. I also found her speech weird, yet amusing. There are two incidents which I like that happened with this character, and both of them are in the last episode of the first season. One is her final oiran parade wearing the white kimono, and two, the last part at the end when she attempts to advertise her self-established school.

There isn't much difference in the two seasons (I think), but the flow of the story is very consistent. What I do like most about this series is that I couldn't predict what was going to happen next (except for a few parts though). The cliffhanger in every episode is what kept me in hitting the next button to play the next episode.

The main theme of this series is to overcome whatever challenges you face. This drama is nothing like One Liter of Tears, but I have to admit that there are some episodes that I got over-emotional about it. In other words, I cried. I wasn't satisfied with the ending, though. There are just some things that I wish had happened and I was kind of disappointed that they didn't happen at the end. Oh well.

So, would I like another sequel for this drama even though it's finished? Yes, please. Would I recommend this to a friend? Most definitely. Is my review sucky? Uhh.. yes. :| (so sorry, i'm not really that inspired to write anything but i really felt that i had to get this review done. gah, look at those sucky english grammar >.<)