Hollywood once used permanent sets for the dozens of Westerns it cranked out annually — the frontier town, ranch house and corral all in one convenient location, built to last. I sometimes imagine something similar for Japan's endless procession of hospital dramas. They all seem to use one generic set, populated by full-time extras dressed as doctors, nurses and patients.
Izuru Narushima's medical drama, "Koko no Mesu" ("The Lone Scalpel"), may unfold almost entirely in a hospital, but it is not a bland, antiseptic, standard-issue set. Instead it looks like the hospitals and clinics most of us encounter here: Scruffy and grimy, as though it has been a stranger to the paint can since it opened its doors decades ago.
This realism extends to the entire production, including operation scenes that could serve as instructional videos. The story, about the first liver transplant in Japan, is based on an actual incident, while the medico hero, played by the always excellent Shinichi Tsutsumi ("Climber's High," "Always"), is exactly the type to make such a breakthrough: Skilled, dedicated — and more than a little unworldly. That is, he doggedly presses on without making the usual calculations to advance his interests, personal and professional — or simply guard his back.