Jin is a TV Show from 2009 that I have vague memories of my mother watching. It's been brought onto Netflix now and since the premise seems interesting, I thought I'd give it a go.
The show, or at least season 1 is described on Wikipedia as: A human drama depicting the story of Jin Minakata, a neurosurgeon who time-slips to the late Edo period and, despite numerous hardships, manufactures penicillin to save people's lives.
As I watch the first episode I'll be writing down notes and things I observe. However keep in mind that I am not a professional critic and sometimes I find it hard to explain concepts completely in English as it's my third language. I hope you can find some enjoyment in reading.
Spoilers for Jin Season 1
I'm about 5 minutes into the episode and oh my, do not watch if you can't handle seeing blood as the show makes us watch Minakata as he performs brain surgery. I found myself looking away from the TV quite a bit and wincing at the sight. However that is most likely down to me being a big baby.
The scene of the "fetal tissue" inside the patient was kind of scary to me but I imagine it's foreshadowing of some kind.
The show often cuts to a sort of kaleidoscopic effect and I imagine that is also foreshadowing of some kind.
Learning the backstory of Minakata's wife did a good job of establishing the way Minakata acts towards his job and responsibilities. Basically, she's in a coma because of a surgery he performed on her and now he doesn't really feel as confident in his abilities.
Emotional scenes between Minakata and his wife are very well acted, especially on her part. She's played by Miki Nakatani who's been acting and performing since 1991 so seeing her here is a welcome surprise. However considering the plot of the show and her condition, I don't know if we'll be seeing much of her unless she also plays the role of someone else in the Edo period, which would be a cool decision for this show to make in my opinion. If Minakata recognises her as looking like his wife then it could make scenes between the two characters very worth watching.
Minakata is played by Takao Osawa who, for the most part, is a great actor but he keeps doing this big dumb smile and keeping his mouth open for just a second too long when doing so. His acting is great but sometimes you can't help but notice that big open-mouth smile he does.
There is a scene at 19:40 that scared me half to death. I wanted to punch my screen. Just thought I'd share that.
I have no idea who the man who had the baby in his brain is but he's creepy as all hell. He ends up stealing the baby back after waking. Minakata and the man fight over the baby jar and Minakata ends up falling off the building before being saved by that strange kaleidoscopic effect and ending up in what I assume is the Edo period.
Confused at first, Minakata looks around. He steps on the bag that the creepy bandage guy was trying to steal as well as the baby. I imagine it'll either come in handy at some point or we'll just find out why the dude wanted it. Either way, I'll be fine as long as they do something with it.
Minakata stumbles upon some swordsman fighting and assumes it's a film set or historical reenactment before figuring out that they're using real swords and that they're really bleeding before one of the swordsmen attempts to attack him and is saved by one of them as well the appearance of men from the "Mito Domain".
Minakata asks the swordsman who saved him if he's alright but the man is more worried about his friend, Chubei, although unfortunately Chubei has already passed. The swordman is injured and Minakata suggests surgery, not yet realising what time he is in. We learn the name of the swordsman here too, Kyotaro Tachibana.
Minakata manages to confuse the men of the Mito Domain with his smartypants doctor talk and then has the men carry Tachibana to a nearby town. We meet the mother and sister of Kyotaro too, Ei and Saki respectively.
Minakata explains that he must operate on Kyotaro as soon as possible in order to save him, more specifically within the next 30 minutes. He runs into the house to find tools to operate with and asks Saki to boil them. Saki is obviously confused by every word he says but he urges her to listen to him. He has Saki make a makeshift gauze and disinfectant.
Luckily he still has some stuff left in the bag that the creepy bandage man was attempting to steal. Very helpful indeed. He begins the operation on Kyotaro but soon enough, Ei barges in and draws a blade on Minakata and threatens to kill him and then herself if she is not allowed to stay in the room so she watches as Minakata performs surgery. She cries as he performs the surgery but stays in the room. I'm really hoping this surgery will turn out successfully because this is stressful to watch.
Ei pulls the knife on his again and he tries to make her understand what he is doing. The entire time this is happening, Saki is sitting at the door listening. I really like the way these scenes are written but my god it was hard to watch. He eventually has both Ei and Saki help him and they watch as he eventually stitches the wound back up. THANK GOD THAT WENT WELL.
The kaleidoscope brings us into the next scene in which Saki tells Jin why her mother doesn't trust western medicine, it's basically the same reason why Hank doesn't like androids (little dbh reference for you there). So basically Saki's father was treated by a western doctor and died after receiving unknown medicine. Humorously though, Jin falls asleep while she's talking.
Jin wakes up in the modern hospital with a bandage on his head, so fuck I guess he didn't time travel and save the life of a samurai, maybe he's just crazy. He also tells the nurse that he traveled through time which is a wild thing to tell someone when you've just woken up in a hospital bed but whatever man, it's your life.
The nurse laughs at him before HIS WIFE ENTERS THE ROOM. Claiming that she did the operation. WHAT?
Oh fuck, so he wakes back up in the Edo period after that, I was really confused at first, turns out it was just a dream and he did really time travel. He realises he is still in the Edo period, gives himself a few slaps to the face to try and wake himself up before running out into the town.
Saki comes to speak with him, she tells him that it's Bunkyu Year 2, which is 1862 in the Western Calendar. If you didn't know, in Japan we have a separate calendar that correlates to how many years our emperor has been on the throne. In the real world we're about to enter Reiwa 7. I was born on Heisei 17.
Honestly I think the scene of him piecing it all together while talking to Saki and asking her questions is very good and I loved her reaction to the questions. She ends off the interaction asking if he would like some food.
He thanks her for the food and eats his rice. She also hands him his watch back and asks what it is. Then she continues to ask him more questions such as his weird clothes and his unusual hairstyle.
HOLY SHIT KYOTARO WOKE UP! Kinda... he seems a little vegetative. She thanks him for his work and offers to have him taken back to his home however he claims he doesn't remember where his home is. He then forgets his name? WAIT KYOTARO ISN'T A VEGETABLE! He offers to look into Jin's identity. Jin refuses and says that his memory will come back to him soon.
When alone he thinks back to the guy who tried to steal that stuff that he used to help Kyotaro. He also believes he may be able to go back home if he finds the creepy bandage guy. Now my personal theory for the creepy bandage guy is that... it's Jin. You only get to see his eye through the bandages but I think it looks enough like Jin. He also says that he wants to go back to "that place" maybe referring to the Edo period, it wouldn't have been crazy in a time travel show that the main character meets himself from further down the line. He may have been stealing those things so that he could help someone who was injured in the Edo period and that's why the stuff in the bag came in handy so much when helping Kyotaro. However that's just a theory, a Jin theory.
I still don't understand why the dude had a baby in his brain or why he wanted it back but it's whatever for now.
Ei makes up her own theories too, she believes Jin might be a fugitive and that's why he suddenly doesn't remember his name or where he lives. Kyotaro stands up for Jin and has a bit of a heated exchange with his mother but honestly Japanese moms get like this sometimes, it's whatever.
They also mention someone called Katsu, who Kyotaro seems to respect quite a lot.
Minakata overhears the exchange and leaves without saying anything. He does leave a note though, claiming that his memory has returned and so he's going home.
He then wanders around the forest like a dummy without anything to do. He does shout around for that head baby though. He looks over at the nearby river and recognises it as the Kanda river. Then wonders if he falls again he might end up home, what an intelligent link to make. He gets real close to jumping before being told to stop by a samurai. The samurai somewhat accuses him of making an attempt on his life. He also talks like a complete fuckwit due to his over-exaggerated accent.
Jin asks for the name of the swordsman but before he says, they're interrupted by his associates. The dude runs off after saying he'll be in Edo for a long time. Jin runs after him but the kaleidoscope takes us to the next scene.
Jin wanders back into town, observing all the Bunkyu period oddities. A woman compliments his hair before taking him to try black rice inari but as she drags him away, a kid grabs his hand and asks him to try the edamame instead but when he refuses, the kid offers him boiled eggs.
Jin sees that fuckwit samurai again and runs off. As he's running away, that little kid insults him and says he hopes Jin gets hit by a horse. The kid then gets hit by a horse, well nearly, the kid is shielded by his mother, who took the blow. Obviously Jin runs over and I imagine he's about to offer to operate.
Oh wait, there's another doctor in town, Yusuke Saburi. Who takes a look at the woman before Jin pushes past him. He amazes Saburi by applying pressure to stop the bleeding and then says she needs to be taken somewhere that he can operate. The fuckwit samurai shows up shouting before suggesting she be taken to the board posts. Then he demands Saburi helps him carry her.
Jin asks fuckwit if he can go get his tools from the Tachibana house, why he didn't take them with him when he left their house is beyond me but regardless, fuckwit goes to grab them.
Jin begins to put stuff in green tea because of the antibacterial properties and dab it in her forehead. Saburi and the kid watch all of this happen.
Fuckwit finds Saki on his way and asks if she can get him the surgical instruments as a woman is dying. Ei tries to stop Saki from leaving the house with the surgical instruments, because she's a bitch. Saki says she'll explain before she runs off, out of the house. Ei then finds the note Jin left. The camera then pans toward the orange bag that still has a box of medicine that Saki forgot inside it.
Saki tells fuckwit that she's coming with him. We get more shots of Jin treating the mother and also of Saki and Fuckwit traveling back. There is a slight roadblock but Saki gets past it with ease by lying so it's not anything noteworthy.
Also, Jin keeps referring to Fuckwit as the guy from Tosa but honestly, until we learn his name, he is Fuckwit to me.
We also get to see Katsu for the first time. He tells Saki where the border post is. We also learn his full name is Rintaro Katsu.
There's a tear-jerking scene where the mother wakes up while they wait for the instruments and the kid swears to give Jin edamame for the rest of his life.
Saki arrives with the instruments in time. I would just like to say that I think this episode is a very well written start to a show and that I understand my retelling and explanations are nowhere near as good so if you're enjoying reading this, I recommend you watch the episode for yourself if you have time.
Jin says that he can't find the Xylocaine, (it's the one left in the bag), he explains that it's an anesthetic. She says that going back to get it will take one koku. Koku is an old way of measuring the time, there are 12 koku in a day/night cycle so 1 koku is like 2 hours.
The woman asks if he's unable to do the surgery. He explains that he can do the surgery, he will have to tie up the blood vessels and that she'll be in a lot of pain but she accepts the risk. He asks Kiichi (the son) to stay outside but he says he'll be strong for his mother and stay by her side. Saburi says he'll take care of Kiichi and honestly I forgot Saburi existed and he's a named character.
The only thing to say about the scene of the surgery is that it's incredibly hard to watch. The woman screams in pain, everyone reacts to it and honestly I had to look away. Everyone present in this scene did an amazing job of acting. Jin says that without anesthetic she might not be able to continue, she's in too much pain. Kiichi starts to sing a little song chant about pain going away. This whole scene is heartbreaking.
He continues to finish the surgery. Jin starts to talk to Miki (his wife) in his head, talking about how surgery is much more difficult being in the Edo period. I don't make it sound like much but it's well written and a nice addition to the scene.
Jin finishes the surgery and goes to look out at the sunset. Saki approaches him and asks if anything is wrong, he says this is a place he used to come to often and she asks if he lives near here. Then there are some comparative shots of both his life in modern day tokyo and his current situation in bunkyu edo. He ends off with a speech about the beautiful scenery as he cries and the music wells up. He falls to the ground in tears.
Saki then says that the Tachibana house will be his home as it's unsafe when the sun goes down and that she doesn't believe he remembers where his home is.
They then walk home together. Saki says she'll convince her mother to let Jin stay but turns out Ei didn't need convincing after having read his note.
The episode then brings us to the Chiba dojo in Oke town. Inside is Fuckwit and his associate, Jutaro Chiba. Chiba says he has intentions of killing Katsu, remember Katsu?
Oh, we're back with Jin now, he wonders if Miki is doing okay while he looks at a photo of her but apparently her hand is on the wrong side in the photo? Maybe this is time travel stuff, I don't know.
Then we're brought to another place, we see a woman looking through a kaleidoscope as a big boi enters the room. He calls her Nokaze and says that there are rumors of a wizard doctor on the streets. She says that he is probably a magician pretending to be a doctor.
HOLY SHIT IS THAT MIKI NAKATANI? ...So it seems that my prediction of Miki Nakatani playing someone in Edo as well as Jin's wife was correct. Holy shit.
The episode then turns to Jin as he questions if he is changing history by saving the life of people who were destined to die then Jin sees Fuckwit again and runs after him.
The episode shifts focus again, this time to Saburi, telling other doctors about Jin. A respected doctor, Koan Ogata appears and asks Saburi if what he is saying is true.
It flips back to Jin running after Fuckwit and finally catches him. Jin asks for his name and Fuckwit states that his name is Ryoma Sakamoto. As in the historical figure Ryoma Sakamoto.
The episode ends off there but overall I think it was very well written. It's a very cool concept and I look forward to watching more of it. The only thing I keep thinking about is: "This is a TBS adaptation of a manga... the manga is probably better".
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