Godhand Teru : Intro

About The Subs

I am watching the SD .avi version of this drama provided by TimeLesSub. Being newish to the drama scene I am still learning about each fansub group but let me just start out by saying I have watched more than a few releases from TimeLesSub (including this season) and they are my second favorite group next to GiriGiri Fansubs. Their timing, typesetting, and encoding are always perfect and I really have to bow down to their release rate also. The font for Teru is tall and sleek and I love how it works within the frame. Their translation of secondary and tertiary screen information is also well done and well placed, something that can be frustratingly busy in some other group releases I have seen. TimeLesSub has some impressive releases under their belt and their community, from what I have seen, is respectful and cool and something I'd like to participate in. I plan to review TimeLesSubs' finished projects Mei-chan no Shitsuji and Bloody Monday eventually also so keep an eye out for those.

On With The Show!

I have read on more than a few forums complaints about Godhand Teru seeming too much like an anime due to the "supernatural nature" of Teru's medical skills. Spare me. I hear the same thing in reverse from the anime community about certain anime as well. What's the big issue exactly? If something is animated it can't be too heavy in the drama department and if something is live action then it can't be too fantastical? Who has logic like this? For those of you that actually believe this nonsense you're welcome to come to my office for a consultation and I'll be happy to examine your incredibly narrow mind for you. People it's ALL FICTION. Does it matter if it's animated fiction or live fiction? It's still FICTION. It could be a comic, a graphic novel, a manga, a book, a movie, a drama, or anime. All I expect from good fiction is that it draws me in, holds me prisoner, and entertains me for the duration. I want to be moved to tears, driven to fits of laughter, gripped in terror, and experience whatever other emotional ingredients the creator has lovingly folded into the batter of that media. I don't care if there is chocolate in my peanut butter, I just want to consume the tasty goodness. Get me? Live action, anime, manga, etc, they are all simply MEDIUMS for delivering creative content. The package that the content is wrapped up in doesn't matter. As far as I'm concerned, GHT is a DRAMA ... just like Neon Genesis Evangelion. *grin*

With all that said ... I only really have one bone to pick with the show ...

Something that really bothers me in a drama with an ensemble cast is when the ensemble is lacking in, what I call, "Kon Kon!" factor. You Nobuta wo Produce fans probably know what I mean by this already, but for those of you who don't, consider the K² factor to be something akin to the Friends, Seinfeld, or Cheers effect when you get a perfectly melded group of talented people together on a set. The resulting effect is pure magic. Everyone's individual skills are showcased, well balanced with the others, and even better, they are enhanced by the unique talents of their fellow cast members. Finding the ideal combination of people to create that lightning in a bottle is difficult to achieve and is oftentimes extraordinary luck disguised as casting genius. I have yet to really experience the K²EE (Kon Kon! Ensemble Effect) in any drama since Nobuta wo Produce and I don't have a real explanation as to why. (Hancho might achieve it but it's hard to tell this early.) In GHT I really like the characters as they are portrayed by the actors themselves, but a good number of the characters are distant from me, barely wallpaper. I guess none of this really matters considering there are only 6 episodes of this drama. I have absolutely no idea how a story like this will play out with so few episodes. Though, to be perfectly honest, I don't know how much more I can take of perfectly rational people watching Teru clearly perform medical miracles in the O.R. and then forcibly denying them because of their own shortcomings as people. I deal with enough self-preserving destructive denial in my day job thanks!

I do really like this drama actually. Aside from the bonus factor that it reminds me of one of my favorite games, Trauma Center, Godhand Teru also has elements very similar to Kiina (which I will be reviewing shortly) and I adore that drama as well. I devoured all three episodes of GHT in one evening but I recommended it to all of my tribemates even before I was finished with the first episode. It is incredibly entertaining and has excellent, high quality production value as well. Although the surgeries are not as graphic as the ones I remember depicted in Code Blue (which my partner will be reviewing), they are detailed enough to still make GHT an entertaining and even compelling medical drama.

Can we please just take a few moments to talk about the copious amounts of drippy, dreamy, earth-shattering SICK HOTNESS there is in this drama? Is there anyone who isn't hot in this drama? Anyone? Was there a casting notice sent out in the JDrama world at some point that said "Looking for Sick Hotness for a New Medical Drama. Please Call 1-800-IAM-2HOT". It's everywhere! There are hot people just milling around as extras. I'm sure the caterers and janitors are probably hot also.

I remember Hiraoka Yuta vaguely from Tokyo Friends now that I have seen him seemingly every five minutes in the dramas I am watching *grin*. In addition to Godhand I am also watching Kiina and Monster Parent, both of which I absolutely love, and have Hiraoka-kun playing up his great style to a tee. What's really funny is that generally I don't look up information on DramaWiki until after I have watched the first episode of a drama. I quite literally download things based on the newness factor, title, whether the releases seem regular, and/or are completed already. The fact that I happened to download three dramas starring Hiraoka-kun is kind of cool because I simply adore him. The roles I am seeing him in are all different and yet also similar which may or may not be a kind of typecasting. I don't know enough about dramas yet to say. He is quirky and awkwardly charming in everything I see him in, yet as Teru he really seems to be channeling maximum levels of his trademark(?) windowlicker personality. *grin*

I totally remember seeing Mizukawa Asami in Last Friends and Nodame Cantabile. I liked her in both dramas and I felt she had such an interesting beauty about her. In GHT she is pouty, bitchy, and perpetually scowling which is way HOT. Just look at the image header above! She's all kinds of mad. She probably wakes up with that look on her face. That "I just ate something nasty and disagreeable and there's no toilet nearby" face. Even from behind a surgical mask she has creases so deep between her eyes you could make love to them. It took me a while to find a screenshot of her actually smiling, and not the nasty, sarcastic, condescending smile she flips Teru all the time, but an actual sweet one. For reasons that I won't reveal, her character; Shinomiya-san, has issues with Teru. She has good reason to scowl despite her desperately competitive nature which easily reveals more about her weaknesses than her actual strengths. I can't imagine her character evolving that much in 6 episodes so I will just leave it at that. We'll have to see how it goes.

The favorite amongst my tribemates and I is definitely the brilliant, sensitive, and EPICALLY HANDSOME Director of Valhalla played by Watabe Atsuro. That's right. Watabe-san is over 40 y'all ... and I want him. That's right. I said it. His performance of Yasuda Junji is nothing short of delicious! Much like Sasaki Kuranosuke in Hancho, he has a completely engaging smile. It transforms his whole face and has the power to adjust the very atmosphere of a scene. I want to take a poll to determine how many other people think the way Yasuda-sensei holds a cigarette is WAY SEXY. I think cigarette smoking is ass nasty but you know what, he makes it tasty and that takes serious talent in my book. Anyone that can make something that kills you look appealing deserves some kind of award, ne? *smile*

Thanks to TimeLesSubs for your hard work on these releases! I can't wait to see how everything plays out!