After being decidely underwhelmed by the fourth instalment this episode adds some quite chilling horror to the medical thriller setup and is much better for it. A patient is brought into the hospital after suffering from wounds that appear from nowhere - in a supernatural twist she also seems to be suffering from some kind of possession.
After some issues with the video file it took me quite a while to get around to this but it proved to be (more or less) worth the effort.
In this episode Ray meets a face from her past; the result of which having some troublesome consequences for her colleagues at the hospital. This episode doesn’t have much in the medical thriller stakes but fills in the background to Ray and one or two of the supporting cast.
There’s another unusual operation for our supernatually gifted surgeon in the form of a twelve year old boy with a bizarre skin condition. What at first appears to be an ordinary trip to the beach is in fact Ray’s latest case (you didn’t think they’d do the token ‘beach episode’ this early on in the series, did you?) - the patient is kept on a life support system in a tank at the aquarium. Apparently this was the only way in which his symptoms could be kept in check long enough for surgery to be carried out.
The series continues as Ray pays a visit to a Shinoyama, a friend of hers who knows a thing or two about making medical gadgets - there’s a little romantic tension there but it could just as easily be Shinoyama’s cheeky sense of humour! She initially wants to check his progress on an electric scalpel, but he’s also been working on something more ambitious (below). Cut to…
It’s rare to find an animated medical thriller: my own experience has led me towards the excellent Monster and of course Tezuka’s legendary surgeon Black Jack. Incidentally, Ray: the Animation actually features a short cameo from the man himself, as he appears to restore the sight of a young girl in the opening scene. He cryptically informs her that she will be able to see again but it is her own choice as to how she lives her life (below).
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