Ever since the internet bandwidth generally went up to 4M, all kinds of dramas started to proliferate. The people who stare at their computers and watch European and American dramas look down on the people who stare at their televisions and watch Chinese and Korean dramas. Back then, in the domestic black-and-white TV to color TV transition period, the most influential but the Japanese drama, "volleyball girl", "A letter", "blood doubt" are popular. When cable television began to spread, a "Tokyo Love Story", a **** 11 episodes, even in Japan is also the title of "love godfather". I've watched it several times, and I've memorized almost all the lines, but it doesn't come in handy because all the classic lines come from Rika Akana, and Manabu Nagao always seems to be mmmm-ing and mmmm-ing.
Almost a decade after Tokyo Love Story, when Korean dramas took over the TV screen, the audience split into two factions. The Korean ones were watching TV dramas like "Dae Jang Geum" and "Blue Death Love", which I hadn't seen a single episode of, and the Japanese ones were fans of animated TV programs.
Let me face the TV again is in 2006 in CCTV's "overseas theater" broadcast "White Tower", two episodes a day, are in the evening after 10:30 pm, has been put into the roughly 12:00, in addition to the beginning of the 4 episodes to miss the exception of the bottom of the whole with. Finally, since I had to catch up on the missing opening episodes, I waited until the original subtitled version was available online and watched it again in its entirety. I realized that it's not good to watch it all in one go, and I only paid attention to the plot and ignored a lot of it, so when I watched it for the third time, I still followed the two-episode-a-day pace. A TV series can make me watch it three times in less than half a year, except for the previous Tokyo Love Story, even the 83 version of the Legend of the Eagle Shooting Heroes, are not so fascinated, every time I watch it, there are some more in-depth understanding, worthy of the best-selling novels in Japan for more than 40 years. Another amazing is in the screenplay, performance, scene, can not find any flaws, the Japanese people this rigorous and demanding attitude is admirable, may also be watching too much commitment, ignored some small problems.
The story of The White Tower revolves around two central characters, Zaizen Goro and Satomi Shuji, who are also doctors, and unfolds on the stage of Naniwa University Hospital. It is a medical drama. There are two main threads entwined throughout the play: a dispute over a professorship and a dispute over medical malpractice. As the plot progresses, various characters are introduced one after another.
Sueaki Karasawa plays Zaizen Goro, a skilled surgeon who was born into a humble family and joined the family of Zaizen Yatabe, an obstetrician and gynecologist. He is very ambitious and tries to climb up the ladder by any means necessary. In order to get to the position of professor, he uses various methods and techniques to bribe professors who have the right to vote and to fight against his competitors, and in this regard, Zaizen Goro's "mentor" is his father-in-law, Zaizen Matabei, who finally gets to be the first professor of surgery in the university as he wishes to be. When he was involved in a medical dispute, he followed his lawyer's advice and tampered with medical records, and joined forces with the Medical Bureau to commit perjury, which he was able to get away with the first time, but when he was appealed the second time, he finally lost the case and collapsed in the court room after falling ill. The company's main goal is to provide the best possible service to its customers," said Mr. Kennedy.
Yosuke Eguchi as Shuji Satomi and Goro Zaizen are basically the opposite. Satomi is an associate professor of internal medicine with a passion for medicine, and his family rents a small apartment where he treats patients while devoting himself to medical research. He is not motivated by fame or fortune, and treats each patient equally without distraction or dedication. In the drama, most of Zaizen's patients are VIPs, officials and presidents of large corporations, while Satomi treats ordinary people. Satomi testifies, tells the truth, and seeks the truth in medical lawsuits, and insists on his beliefs, taking responsibility for his patients and respecting their lives, rather than being thrown out of Naniwa University Hospital. Of course, regardless of the outcome of the lawsuit, he had to resign and leave Naniwa University Hospital. On the recommendation of Prof. Okouchi, he entered a small hospital with a busy work schedule, far from his research.
The stark contrast between the characters of Zaizen and Satomi, with their different values and ways of doing things, creates tension throughout the show. It is easy for the audience to create a strong impression of good and evil, positive and negative, good and bad. In the reality of chasing fame and fortune, internist Dr. Satomi is a symbol of an ideal, All the doctors in the hospital may be Zaizen Goro, but every patient hopes to meet Satomi Shuji .
When you watch the entire episode, you realize that Zaizen isn't as much of an antagonist to Satomi as he appears to be. Zaizen Goro has been climbing up the ladder, chasing after power and fame, and his goal is to use the power in his hands to make others do his bidding after he climbs to the top, and to realize his own ideal - to establish a cancer medical center to treat more patients. Such an ideal Zaizen only told to two people, one is his lover Hanamori and the other is Satomi. Hanamori is the one who understands him the most in the drama, and the scriptwriter repeatedly speaks Zaizen's mind through Hanamori's mouth. Although Satomi is always against Zaizen, even testifying in court during a lawsuit and pointing the finger directly at Zaizen, Zaizen still calls Satomi a real doctor and promises to return Satomi to her love of medical research someday. After ascending to the position of Professor of the First Department of Surgery, Zaizen uses the connections he has accumulated - the wealthy businessman he cured earlier and the Minister of Medicine, Professor Ryoichi Ugai, who formed an alliance of attack and defense during the competition for the position of professor - to prepare for the creation of the Cancer Medical Center, and at the same time, he also invites Satomi to preside over the First Department of Internal Medicine. Unfortunately, when the groundbreaking for the building took place, a lawsuit and cancer struck together, and his ambition was not realized. From this point of view, the character of Zaizen Goro is not much closer to reality than Satomi. Because most of the people who climbed to the top of the power pyramid from the bottom have lost themselves in the process of climbing up. As the Lebanese poet Kahlil Gibran said, " We have traveled so far that we have forgotten why we started. "And there are very few people like Zaizen Goro who don't change their mind.
Zaizen Goro and Satomi Shuji look like two gods, they follow their hearts, no matter what kind of dilemma they face, what kind of choices they make, the audience will think that this is the way it should be, but it's the supporting characters who are facing the inner struggle of choice, which is portrayed by the actors in the best possible way. The supporting cast of "The White Tower" is also quite luxurious, the popular stars and acting together, appearance and acting skills are not inferior to the two protagonists, so it seems that the play does not seem to have a protagonist, each role into a very natural, no sudden feeling, the highest acting is that you simply do not see the actors in the play . Of course, in addition to the quality of the actors, the screenwriter Yumiko Inoue also deserves credit. This casting is also one of the reasons why, despite a ton of awards, "The White Tower" didn't have a single one for individual performances, such as Best Actor or Supporting Actor.
Zaizen Goro's mentor and boss, the first surgical department, Professor Azuma, undergoes a series of changes in the play, the most complex of all the characters, and Koji Ishizaka's interpretation of this is called the first supporting role. Prof. East is the key character in the plot twist, it can be said that everything is because of him.
Prof. Azuma, who has always dominated the surgical department at the university hospital, is jealous of Zaizen's excellent surgical skills, so he wants to give up Zaizen and choose an outsider when he chooses his successor. At this time, Prof. Azuma, before his retirement, still fantasizes about continuing his authority and maintaining his influence, but on the other hand, he also keenly senses that Zaizen has character problems. Therefore, Prof. Azuma asks Funao, a professor at Tohto University, to recommend a surgeon who is as strong as Zaizen and has good skills and character. In the faction-ridden medical world, important positions are usually not given to outsiders, so Prof. Funao readily agreed and soon found a suitable cardiac surgeon, Dr. Kikukawa Sei. Prof. Higashi also introduced his daughter, Tosako, to Kikukawa. When Zaizen hears about this, he breaks with Prof. Azuma and joins Prof. Ugai, becoming a member of the "Ugai faction", and the battle for the professorship begins.
In the first round of the election, due to Zaizen's henchman's direct threat to Kikukawa and Prof. Azuma's trick, the scales were tipped in favor of Kikukawa, who was an outsider, and it was a tie. Because of the unfair incident, the highly respected Prof. Okouchi decided to step in and preside over the election himself. Knowing that his strength is limited, Prof. Azuma enlists the help of Prof. Funao. At Prof. Azuma's house, they plan the number of votes they will get and discuss their countermeasures. Funao rebukes Prof. Azuma for his naive proposal and takes out his book, using Prof. Azuma's position and his own as a bargaining chip to exchange votes. Prof. Azuma's expression changes from surprise at the beginning, to being at a loss for words, to pained loss, and finally to helplessness, and in just a few minutes, the collapse of Prof. Azuma's inner beliefs is portrayed by Koji Ishizaka in a regal way. Even so, in the end, it still failed, because Zaizen's side is even more bottomless, in addition to using title and reputation, more direct use of money to bribe the election.
Prof. Azuma, after losing the election, decides to let go of his face and settle the score with Zaizen before he retires. Zaizen, who holds a grudge, deliberately arranges a major surgery on the day of Prof. Azuma's retirement and transfers his staff. Prof. Azuma finishes his last day of work in silence. Prof. Azuma seems to have come out of the shadows, and despite his disappointment, he is still smiling and full of affinity. A long shot of Prof. Azuma's back, watching him slowly walk away, and the theme music fades in, closes the first part of The White Tower.
After his retirement, Prof. Azuma works as the director of a small hospital. Because of Zaizen's medical dispute case, he is again caught in the center of right and wrong. Because no one dares to offend Naniwa University, the prosecuting attorney asks Satomi to ask Prof. Azuma to appear as a witness for the prosecution. In front of difficult choices, this time, Prof. Azuma decides to appear in court according to his own will, risking that he will never be able to work as a physician. In court, Prof. Azuma faces up to his mistakes and resigns.
From beginning to end, the characterization of Professor Dong always carries a bit of tragedy. He always believes that everyone has a bottom line in the fame and fortune of hooking up, and as a result, he loses his case, and then bravely faces the powerful hospital, and despite winning the case, he is unable to get a foothold in the medical profession.
Other minor characters, minor characters, are constantly faced with a variety of painful choices, just like Prof. Azuma.
Sasaki's wife, Yoshie, is struggling to make ends meet because her medical lawsuit against the influential hospital has affected her bento store business, and she is hesitant to continue or end her life; Prof. Azuma's daughter, Saeko, who wants to live independently from her parents, refuses to marry Kikukawa, but falls in love with Satomi, a married man; and the lawyer, Sekiguchi, who expected that Sasaki's wife, Yoshie, wouldn't win the case, and wanted to take the case away from her. He is not able to win the case, and he wanted to muddle through after receiving the money. At the moment of being a deserter, he is impressed by Sasaki's passion, and decides to commit to the case which has no chance of winning; Zaizen's henchman, Yanagihara, who has always been at the mercy of Zaizen, is put in front of him with the oldest temptations - money, positions and beautiful women, and asked to do the same as the original sins of human nature --deception and betrayal; ......
Compared with hospital directors, professors, barristers, presidents and other big shots, ordinary people and small people have more difficulty in controlling their own destiny, so they have more and more painful conflicts inside, constantly struggling, hovering on the edge of loss and possession. the edge of loss and possession. These pains and joys fill the drama "The White Tower" to the brim, and never drag. And the choices these little people make, as a viewer in real life, will come someday as well. Perhaps, because of this, this TV series has been evaluated by many as a profound depiction of human nature.
For me, this Japanese drama has surpassed any drama I've ever watched, and even today, ten years later, there is still no drama that can match it. It's also been about a decade since I've watched any other drama like I watched White Tower, because the real drama has, in fact, been on for years. Since then, I've developed a quirk that when I read a book, or a movie, or a TV show, I go for the classics that can't get any better, and I go for the ones that were made ten years ago.
That's the biggest impact The White Tower had on me - it was the last TV show I ever watched.