The Devil That Kills Doctors: Netflix Adds Hit Medical J-Drama

One-part medical and one-part political drama, Black Forceps follows a group of physicians in a small-town hospital and the politics within the Japanese medical system. Masashi Sera (Ryoma Takeuchi), an intern at Tojo University Hospital, arrives at the cardiac unit with a strong determination to learn and save lives. However, what he encounters goes beyond anything he had ever imagined.

Tojo Hospital is suffering from a shortage of heart surgeons due to one particular doctor who’s described as “the devil that kills doctors.” That devil is Seishiro Tokai (Kazunari Ninomiya): a genius surgeon known for cornering his colleagues and forcing them to resign. Sera is assigned Tokai as his mentor, and the pure-hearted doctor is forced to adapt to Tokai’s seemingly heartless methods.

At the same time while Sera struggles to operate under Tokai’s tutelage, he’s entangled in the rivalry between the top surgeon at Tojo University Hospital, Seigo Saeki (Seiyo Uchino), and the Director of Surgery at Teika University, Keisuke Nishizaki (Ennosuke Ichikawa). The former, Saeki, is the only person in the world who can perform the Saeki Method – surgery on the heart without stopping it – and aims to be President of the Japanese Society of Cardiac Surgery.

Going after the same title, Nishizaki makes attempts to show the world that Saeki is nothing but a small-town craftsman, and that the future is in the latest medical technology. To do this, Nishizaki sends in doctor Gonta Takashina (Kotaro Koizumi). Armed with the Snipe, a medical device capable of treating the heart without interruption, Takashina aims to make the Saeki Method a thing of the past.

With only 10 episodes in the first season and season 2 on the way, binge-watch this #1 trending medical drama to uncover the mystery behind the surgeons of Tojo University Hospital and see which doctor comes out on top in this story of man vs. machine!

Not quite ready to jump in? Let’s talk about the first episode!

Episode 1: Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better

It’s a special day for Tojo University Hospital, as narrated by intern doctor Masashi Sera. Some pretty important people from Tokyo are coming to visit. While Tojo is a fairly unknown hospital, their head of cardiatrics, Seigo Saeki, draws in patients from all over the nation with his renowned surgical skills. Today, he will perform open heart surgery for an audience of physicians from Tojo as well as two spectators from the prestigious Teika University.

As the surgery proceeds, Saeki reveals he will be performing the Saeki Method. This technique requires Saeki to perform surgery on the heart as it continues to beat, something only he has ever accomplished. Meanwhile – elsewhere in the hospital – an important patient’s condition deteriorates and requires emergency surgery. He’s Saeki’s patient, but Saeki’s going to be in surgery for hours.

After being informed of the situation, Saeki asks them to send the patient to surgery and instructs another doctor to begin the procedure until he can arrive. Sera and a group of other doctors all head to the emergency surgery to assist, and Saeki has them set up a live feed so that he can oversee the surgery while he continues to work on the one he’s performing for a live audience. All without the audience being aware of what’s happening!

When Saeki is satisfied with the direction of the second surgery, he decides to shut the feed, focusing on the surgery-at-hand. Little does he realize, the second surgery is far from over. Just when the surgical team is getting ready to relax, blood starts spraying from a tear in the base of the heart! They’re losing blood fast and can’t find the source of the blood. Saeki is seemingly the only doctor who can save this man now.

Having noticed the commotion earlier, Gonta Takashina from Teika University excuses himself from the live viewing in search of what’s going on in the hospital that is making people so frantic. He finds a room showing footage within each of the surgical rooms, revealing to him the patient bleeding out in one room while Saeki performs surgery in another. But, suddenly… that man arrives!

To the horror of the doctor running the second surgery, the surgeon Seishiro Tokai enters the fray. Observing the damage done, Tokai grills the surgeon on how he could make such a stupid mistake. But for ten million yen he can make it all go away; all the other doctor has to do is resign and hand over his severance pay.

Tokai’s brazen display shocks Sera and Takashina, but in the end, the surgeon yields. He has no other option but to hand over control to the Devil.

After stabilizing the patient, Tokai decides to complete the surgery himself rather than wait for Saeki. He performs the impossible: the Saeki Method. What’s more, Tokai finishes the surgery faster than Saeki!

Takashina leaves with his boss Keisuke Nishizaki, getting ready for their next move to secure the position of President of the Japanese Society of Cardiac Surgery and prevent Saeki from taking it. While the surgeon Tokai covered for packs up his belongings, Tokai makes sure to collect the ten million yen.

Tokai is now meant to be Sera’s doctor to study under, replacing the one who just resigned. Everyone generally dislikes Tokai, except for nurse Mari Nekota (Shuri). Sera attempts to talk with him about a patient transfer, but Tokai just walks off. Working with the patient himself since Tokai isn’t doing anything, Sera begins to build a bond with the older woman.

While out drinking with coworkers, the hospital calls Sera back. He is reprimanded for his written report of the surgery, which includes details of Tokai taking over the procedure and even performing the Saeki Method. His boss says no such thing happened, and that it’s completely different from the report he got from nurse Nekota.

Sera is required to rewrite the report and remove mention of Tokai taking over, although what he wrote originally was the truth. After all, how could a nobody like Tokai, some random hick doctor, know how to perform the coveted Saeki Method? How would that reflect on the hospital’s reputation? On Saeki’s reputation?

A fellow doctor pulls Sera aside as he walks down the halls of the hospital, showing him evidence of Tokai taking over other doctors’ surgeries. The physicians at the hospital are aware that Tokai is an exceptionally talented surgeon, and that none of them can stand up to him. He explains that countless doctors have quit because of Tokai, so how could they let it get out that he can perform the Saeki Method when no one else can?

Meanwhile, Saeki meets with the head chairman of the hospital and covers up Tokai’s extortion. But the shortage in the cardiatric unit is obvious, so the chairman has some ideas…

At the next meeting of doctors, Sera introduces the profile of his patient to prepare for her operation. Saeki will operate, Tokai will assist. But before the meeting is over, the chairman announces that he’ll be bringing in a doctor from Teika University. This doesn’t really go over well with the other doctors in the room.

Dr Takashina takes the podium and introduces his fellow doctors to the Snipe device. A surgeon using a Snipe can replace torn valves in a heart while it is still beating. It is a tool hundreds of times more precise than the human hand, and any surgeon can utilize it for this purpose. In short, it would render the Saeki Method obsolete. The other doctors hate this: they love Saeki and they think this Takashina guy is the enemy. But, like it or not, Takashina is here to stay.

Cut to Sera and his elderly patient – she doesn’t want to do the surgery. Sera and the nurse assisting him, Miwa Hanabusa (Wakana Aoi), attempt to persuade her to give it a shot. While they’re conversing, she begins having heart complications and goes into shock! Sera freezes and struggles to make a decision, when luckily Tokai swoops in and saves the day.

Later, Saeki praises Tokai for his quick thinking but confronts him on his performing the Saeki Method. Tokai plays dumb, and Saeki reminds him that only one of them can use the black forceps. Basically, he’s like “Don’t forget that I’m the god here” and Tokai is like “lmao ok” … and leaves.

Elsewhere, Sera confides in Hanabusa. They commiserate together about how they struggle to make decisions, even though they are now in the roles they have always dreamed of. Sitting in the same spot his patient usually sits, Sera suddenly realizes why she’s always looking sadly out the window…

Meanwhile, Tokai is in the nap room looking over the patient’s CT scans when he gets a call from his mother. She asks about Saeki, and it’s revealed that Saeki was Tokai’s late father’s colleague. The conversation ends quickly and Tokai continues looking at the CT scan. Something seems to be off…

The next day, Sera manages to convince his patient to undergo surgery, but there’s another issue: she may be too weak for the surgery. Fortunately, Takashina overhears the conversation about this and offers his assistance.

In a room with Saeki, Tokai, Sera, and other important members of the hospital, Takashina suggests they use the Snipe. It takes a little convincing, but the team agrees to give it a go. Takashina will perform the surgery while Saeki and Tokai assist.

But Tokai has one condition: if he has to take over for even a second, Takashina has to resign. Takashina agrees but with the stipulation that if the surgery is a success, Tokai will be the one to resign.

Wait, what happens next?!

Will the patient survive the surgery? Will the Snipe put an end to the Saeki Method? Who will resign next?! Why does Sera, the bigger doctor, not simply eat Tokai, the smaller doctor?! You’ll have to watch to find out!

While you may have to close your eyes sometimes if you’re squeamish, Black Forceps is a masterpiece that will have you fondly remembering other problematic TV show doctors like Gregory House of House, M.D. The political parts of the drama are interesting, but the havoc Tokai wreaks is the reason to stick around. After all, he might seem like Saeki’s lapdog in the beginning, but he always seems to be plotting something…

Interested in other medical shows? Try checking out this Turkish medical drama talked about here!