The Japanese Version of Good Doctor Is Warm, Lovely and Without Unnecessary Romance

The Japanese take on hit South Korean drama Good Doctor was released in 2018 but we’ve finally gotten around to watching it and we bring you a review of this heartwarming story today.

Disclaimer right away – I haven’t watched the Korean, that will say the original, version of Good Doctor (but I most certainly will soon) but I am familiar with the American take on it. Either way, I’d say that the Japanese version of Good Doctor is my proper encounter with the story and the unique and heartwarming plot and I really enjoyed it so, so much that I wish it had at least 5 more episodes. I don’t even know how I started this and why but I really love stories revolving around pediatricians and it definitely didn’t hurt that the main lead of the drama is portrayed by Kento Yamazaki of recent international Alice in Borderland fame. Let me get into more detail in the review below!

From MyDramaList: Minato Shindo has savant syndrome. His memory is amazing, but he has difficulty communicating with other people. When Minato Shindo was little, he dreamed of becoming a doctor. He met Doctor Akira Shiga and he wanted to become a paediatric surgeon. Akira Shiga was surprised by the 7-year-old’s memory of the human organs and he decided to support Minato Shindo in achieving his dream. Eventually, Minato Shindo graduated from medical school and passed the national exam for medical practitioners. Now, Akira Shiga works as a director at a large hospital. He suggests to Minato Shindo to work in the pediatric surgery department at the hospital where he works.

Possible extremely minor spoilers ahead:

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As I’m sure most of you already know, Good Doctor revolves around a doctor on an autistic spectrum who’s excellent at what he does but unique in his ways. Minato Shindo (portrayed by Kento Yamazaki) was the loveliest highlight of the drama and someone I grew really attached to about ten minutes into the drama. He’s sweet, smart and the kind of person who will teach you many important life lessons and remind you of the positive sides of life. From the first till the last episode Minato is lovely despite his own troubles and the past that is sometimes haunting him. He might be simple in his everyday life ways but he’s a talented doctor and above everything else the kind of doctor who really cares about his patients and does his best to make them happy even in their hardest and last days. There’s no way you’ll leave the drama without feeling like you want to give him a massive hug and another portion of his beloved rice balls. Kento Yamazaki was fantastic in this role and I think he brought our main character to life wonderfully.

However, I have to say how surprised I am regarding the rest of the cast – all of them were amazing! Juri Ueno as our female lead doctor Seto Natsumi was really just as lovely. She brought some of that real and raw pain the doctors have to deal with every day to the drama and I really loved her sweet character. She’s the one to first lose the prejudice towards Minato and she’s the one to teach her other colleagues some valuable lessons too. More often than not it was her patients and the way she dealt with them that made me tear up and even cry a bit during the last episode. You can tell how much she cares and I loved her friendship with Minato. They were an amazing duo to watch. Another shoutout, of course, has to go to the incredible Naohito Fujiki in the role of doctor Takayama Seiji who is easily one of the highlights of the show. It was obvious from the very start that despite his cold behaviour he’s actually a caring person who’s trying to protect his colleagues and Minato as well. I thought it was so lovely to see him open more and more up towards him and by the end of the drama I was smitten by his character completely. Such a scene stealer!

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If you’ve been reading my reviews before I’m sure you’ve noticed I love the case-based TV shows and Good Doctor is exactly that. Almost every episode deals with a different patient and their story while we also follow the lives of our main doctor trio. I liked every single story that was presented in the show and there’s no denying that so many of these stories really tugged on my heartstrings. Despite Good Doctor being quite light hearted and simple in its approach I was surprised by how many of these stories actually had a fatal ending which made the drama a lot more raw. Even though it’s more emotional and a sometimes a bit too optimistic when dealing with death, I did think it was nice that the drama wanted to show that life goes on and that we should cherish everything we have, even after those we love leave us. I’m sad the number of episodes is so low considering case-based shows can easily have more episodes or even seasons but maybe it’s sweet that they kept it relatively short.

I’d definitely recommend this version of the hit show – whether you’ve watched the original and the American version or didn’t watch anything at all, I think Japan did a great job with bringing this story to life and if doctor stories are your thing you’ll surely like this one. 8.5/10 from me.

Header Image Source: Fuji TV