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

Ousama ni Sasagu Kusuriyubi

 Ousama ni Sasagu Kusuriyubi~ The King and the Wicked Woman: A wildly uneven and tonally inconsistent story of a so-called wicked woman from a poor family who suddenly becomes involved in a sham marriage with an arrogant wealthy heir to a vast family fortune.

Kanna Hashimoto stars as Ayaka Haneda and Ryosuke Yamada stars as Togo Nitta, an Employee and Boss of a Wedding Planner service, both of whom seems mostly unlikeable to everyone save those closest to them!

 Out of the blue they suddenly announce their MARRIAGE PLANS, to the shock of everyone, but we will soon find that both Bride and Groom have their own secret agendas for the union to take place….

On the surface, it’s your standard ‘fake marriage” romcom set-up, but the writers can’t seem to make up their mind if the characters are supposed to be loud and outspoken or kindhearted and sympathetic and what is presented varies wildly throughout the show, as if no one could figure out what the true characters motivations and purpose is!

I’ll say ONE thing for this drama: it’s FULL of stars, most notably in the actors playing the Parents, with actress Ryo and Muga Tsukaji as Ayaka’s humble Mom and Dad...

...and regal looking Nanako Matsushima and Go Riju as Togo Nitta’s refined and affluent Parents

Also a handful other others like  Ryoko Kobayashi as Saya Okada and Ryota Bando as Kento Kamiyama. These are the people that the Wedded Couple ACTUALLY care for, guess we'll see how they play into this set up....

Kento Nagao as Ayaka’s caring brother (who also serves as narrator)…

And as the couple's respective assistants/juniors we have Yuki Morinaga as Akita Koji, Nitta's secretary...

...and Ryota Miura as Haneda's wide eyed and gushing kohai Koki Takemoto!

Despite its’ scattershot and willy-nilly approach to the story, I’m guess I'm interested enough to see where this whole thing goes...and besides all that, MY OH MY, Kanna Hashimoto looks simply dazzling in this one!! If not for ANY other reason, I’ll watch it simply as a showcase for how PRETTY Kanna can get!

PS: There was this great gag where they're showing how Kanna's character Ayaka has been popular her whole life, and show a flashback where an online news crawl had dubbed her the "Once in a 100 Years Beauty", obviously making fun of the similar dubious title bestowed upon the REAL Kanna not so long ago, AHAHAHA!!

This isn't the first time a drama has taken a dig at that lofty nickname given her, looks like it will be awhile til Kanna can ever live up to it...or live it down!