Manga Review: Anesthesiologist Hana by Hakua Nakao and Kappei Matsumoto
One of the manga genres that doesn’t get a lot of press in the US is “work manga”. These are more realistic looks at an unusual career, showing the day-to-day life and challenges, as well as what it takes to get and keep the job. Firefighter, forest ranger and in this case, anesthesiologist.
Hanako Hanaoka is a young anesthesiologist at a small hospital connected to a major university hospital, which is being upgraded to a tertiary care (the most drastic emergencies and operations) facility. Her specialty is relatively rare (and there don’t seem to be nurse anesthesiologists at that facility) so she’s constantly overworked and underappreciated. Worse, sexism and sexual harassment from her fellow doctors are everyday hassles.
However, the job does have its own rewards, so Hana perseveres.
There’s a lot of interesting medical tidbits about a specialty you might not have been informed about before (not exactly a TV-friendly set of procedures, after all.) Excitement is kept up with the introduction of more difficult cases and the hidden background of a couple of Hana’s colleagues.
However, the fanservice gets out of hand; and in a couple of cases is awkwardly shoved into stories that don’t really need it. There are some really painful cases of “male gaze” as well, and the sexual harassers never seem to face any actual consequences for their actions. And then there’s Hana herself. To allow the audience to be filled in, she is often shown as being dense and uninformed about her own job; she’s a grown woman, a medical doctor, heck, she’s not even an intern anymore, how is she such an immature novice?
Worth looking at for the medical information, but the ecchi elements may turn off some readers. This manga is out of print in North America as of 2014.
