One Nutty Hospital: Eiko Koike in "Shinjuku Yasen Byoin"

Eiko Koike in Shinjuku Yasen Byoin

 Watched the first episode of the new Eiko Koike-led “Shinjuku Yasen Byoin” a medical/comedy drama, (if there’s such a thing) and holy cow, was this one WACKY show, centering around a community hospital in Shinjuku catering to mostly homeless and foreigners, people who have need of medical attention but may not have the insurance or credentials to go to a regular place.
At the moment, the hospital is on its last legs (and threatening to be bought out)  because their director, once a famous star physician, is now elderly, half-drunken and shaky, a situation which is problematic at best!  And the rest of the medical team isn’t any better, cowardly and incompetent and lacking the basic skills to perform even the most rudimentary of procedures!!

Taiga Nakano

Takashi Okabe

Tohru Baba

Akira Emoto

Muga Tsukaji

Gaku Hamada

Kami Hiraiwa

Ai Hashimoto

Atsuko Takahata

Enter Yoko Nishi Freeman, an ARMY medical doctor newly arrived from America with limited funds, an abrasive attitude, and a WHOLE lot of medical knowledge! Arriving at the team’s shabby medical station for alcohol poisoning (a result of taking too much tequila shots in a challenge, LOL), she becomes the hospital’s lone chance of pulling through and making it.

Sounds like a nice set-up for a fun drama but MAN, was this one WACKY! Like, headache-inducingly wacky, with screeching and completely spastic characters , somehow their medical mishaps and surgical shenanigans made me more queasy and nervous about the whole idea of medical malpractice than any feelings of mirth!

 Frankly with this kind of advanced nuttiness I'm not expecting anything great, but who knows? I’ve been irritated by other shows that have gone on to become HUGE faves of mine, so maybe this one will turn into a WINNER! Ya never know....Guess I'll have to stay tuned to find out!

PS: For someone who was supposedly raised in America, Yoko sure speaks lousy English! In fact, both Eiko Koike and Ai Hashimoto's characters are supposed to be fluent English speakers but GADS, if it weren't for the subtitles, I wouldn't understand HALF of what they were saying! LOLOLOL