Thank You, Doctor (2022) [/] Chinese medical drama series running 40 45-minute episodes. At a large university hospital two doctors join the new Emergency ICU center (this is different than the regular ICU which the hospital also has so a subplot is justifying the existence of an "extra" ICU). Bai Shu (Bai Yu) is a single dad, gifted surgeon, but very arrogant. He's assigned to EICU in order to broaden his social skills. Xiao Yan (Yang Mi, She and Her Perfect Husband, 2022; Eternal Love, 2017; The Interpreter, 2016; ), returns to China from a stint with a Doctors Without Borders type organization where she did a lot of good but lost her fiancé during a rebel attack.

Each episode focuses on one or two cases with many cases running over to a second episode so it's not as episodic as clean-cut episodic as American tv. Half an episode is about the doctors and staff which means the guest characters get a lot of screen time. This means that, like an American series, you're getting bits and pieces of the various characters -- like head of EICU Lu Ping An's (Li Jie) hidden love for the married head nurse, or first year resident Chen Zhi (Liu Yan Chen) chasing after the fiery doctor Tang Hua (Jiang Rui Jia) who thinks he's a fool. And the very slow romance between Bai Shu and Xiao Yan.

In the end though I found the series below average. Many medical cases are fairly similar or similarly resolved and there's a lot of "trust the medical system even though it seems expensive" messaging. None of the three romances are resolved, though the main one is a strong maybe. But it does seem like they wanted a second season. The last episode ends with a minute or so long insert where it looks like they had everyone available except Bai Yu and in a long, voiceless camera sequence it kind of wraps up things a bit.

I was expecting more romance and/or more drama. I watched for Yang Mi but I think the show is more about Bai Shu than other characters.


Drawing Closer (2024) [-] Japanese romance drama film. Teenager Akito Hayasaka (Ren Nagase) finds out he has a year to live and is considering suicide but meets the bright Haruna Sakurai (Natsuki Deguchi) at the hospital and she only has 6 months to live. Not telling her his illness he befriends Sakurai and tries to brighten her every day as the two fall in love. But eventually they do both die and it's sort of about the mark they leave in other people's lives.

Sakura Spirit (2014) [-] Sexy anime visual novel (with one choice towards the end). You are a teen judo star transported to ancient Japan where you have to help two sexy fox spirits become friends with a local village protected by two sexy girl guards. It's about a 2-1/2 hour story without nudity though lots of cleavage and suggestive situations. A bit weak on characterization but this is a prologue to a longer story that was never completed as far as I can tell. $10 is kind of expensive so I wouldn't recommend this story.

99 Ranch Medium Tofu [-] This is their house brand. It's $2 each whereas House tofu is $2.30 to $3 each. But I found this tofu not quite as good. A bit too firm (firmer than House firm) and dries out faster so I guess there's less water content. On the other hand maybe that means you get more soybean goodness.