Dr. DMAT ドクター ディーマット [series]

*Insert squeely tagline about Okura being awesome here* 

So when looking at the poster for this show I though maybe Okura had made a pride of orange show with all the furrows of worry and staring at accidents to ponder and shout orders while people are endlessly dying around him - you remember Rescue right? 

Well, yes, it does go a little bit that way, but no where near as comically as Rescue. 

They have moments of arguing around dying people instead of saving them, the monologues that seem to make 2 desperate minutes last for a whole presidential speech about who to save and why. But its more realistic than Rescue. Maybe only because Rescue is so stupid that you couldnt really get much more ridiculous behaviour around tragedy. 

Dr DMAT is drama following a group of doctors called DMAT who act as paramedics to be first on the disaster scene but with the skills of fully trained surgeons and A&E doctors and nurses. This is a real thing by the way.

In this drama they are a trial team newly joined by the unwilling main character Yakumo Hibiki and his best friend nurse Yoshioka Rin. 

Did you notice I did this post in DMAT colours?

Yakumo's sister is in a coma due to his decision to save another patient before her in a scenario we have constant flash backs to. That decision plagues him as he hides in the GP office, comes out into the ER, and reluctantly goes out into battle with DMAT. 

He has to fight his demons while saving the world one person at a time and really I think they managed to keep the balance of his gloomy guilt ridden angst and his new fighting spirit pretty well. 

Full cast list: 

Okura Tadayoshi - Yakumo Hibiki 

Kato Ai - Yoshioka Rin 

Takimoto Miori - Yakumo Haruko 

Ichikawa Mikako - Isesaki Kumi 

Aso Yumi - Hasegawa Kumiko 

Sato Jiro - Kozone Tatsuya 

Hosshan - Murakami Kazushi 

Matsuo Satoru - Hanada Takichiro 

Takizawa Saori - Mizuno Sachiko 

Takaki Yuya - Komatsu Kenji 

Hidari Tonpei - Yakumo Raizou 

Ishiguro Ken - Sakuraba Shusaku 

Kunimura Jun - Isesaki Katsuichi

I was upset when they killed off really great characters, I was also dying with laughter at some epic furrows of worry pride of orange style moments - but not so much. It was more serious feels than staring off into the orange sky for no reason feels.

I loved Okura in ROMES so much that when I saw he was in another drama I was super happy. 

I think he has a wide range and I think he can keep going really successfully with his acting, but I hope that he gets to do something really different next time. 

I would love to see him play someone really quirky instead of angst filled and troubled. I think comedy is just waiting for you Okura!

Literally everything I watch recently has Kato Ai in it. She is everywhere I turn like a stalker from a crime drama, lurking round every corner with a weird camera angle and ominous music.

But this stalker, it seems, is a really nice face to see. I didnt think there was anything super special about her but I always find myself happy when she turns up in a drama, so there must be something about her.

Sato Jiro popped up again but not as a comic relief, just a shouty shouty man. He is a great no bullsh*t doctor who stomps around with the wisdom of a sage getting things done like a repo man on his last job of the day. 

A really nice mixture of personality traits. I just love love love him in any thing - he can do no wrong so I guess I cant comment so well on him.

There were some interesting side stories, some new additions to the team later in the drama to turn things up a a bit, and just so many lives hanging in the balance waiting for these guys to stop arguing and put them in an ambulance.

Ichikawa Mikaki (samurai high school) is so striking some how. There is something slightly annoying but immensely great about her. 

Her character in this drama is pretty much that way also but the annoying and awesome traits are due to very different things. 

She is a ball buster kind of woman, the hospital chief's daughter, a genius surgeon, and an arrogant bitch. But we just have to love her. 

I really like her acting style, the only really that annoys me about Ichikawa is that she mumbles so much I have a hard time understanding her speech.

There are some big moral questions each episode. Almost every one has a theme and message to it. But you see it coming a mile away, you know how its going to play out but I think that's because you know how it should play out. 

It would be interesting for someone with a none functioning moral center to watch this and see if they would agree with the decisions being made and the logic about who to save first and who deserves what level of priority in their treatment.

There are some really nice moments, and some proper tear jerkers where I really hated the show for killing off someone I really liked. 

It was only a couple of characters though, considering it is a disaster drama they manage to save many of the people pretty much all the time. Maybe it was serious enough already, they didnt want to make it too depressing.

Its not Pride of Orange but its worth watching purely because Okura is f*cking awesome.

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