Doctor Y – Gekai Kaji Hideki

Kaji Hideki is a skilled surgeon, but is greedy over money. After helping with Daimon’s surgery, he is transferred to Teito Medical University’s Hospital’s Oarai 8th Branch Hospital. Hailed as a super doctor, Kaji quickly faces a crisis of prioritizing a rich patient with a simple surgery over a poor patient with a difficult surgery. As a doctor, what kind of choice will he make in the end?

Surgeon Kaji Hideki, known by the nickname “The Laparoscopic Magician,” is lured by the exceptionally high payment of 500,000 yen for a single night shift at the remote “Honokura Hospital” nestled deep in the mountains.

However, on his way to the hospital, local residents greet Kaji with ominous warnings: “Why did it have to be on a day like this…” Despite feeling uneasy about these strange comments, Kaji proceeds into the hospital under the guidance of nurse Nakata Kazuma.

Once inside, a series of disturbing and dangerous incidents begin to unfold, turning what should have been a routine night shift into a nightmare scenario.

This medical thriller combines elements of supernatural horror with hospital drama, as a confident surgeon finds himself trapped in increasingly perilous situations that challenge both his medical expertise and survival instincts.

Surgeon Kaji Hideki finds himself transferred to the Imperial Medical University’s 11th Shizuoka Branch Hospital, where hospital director Ito Shuichi makes an unexpected proposal. Surprisingly, Ito wants to recommend Kaji as the next professor in the upcoming faculty election! Despite his keen interest in money, Kaji shows no desire for status or power and politely declines the offer. However, three days later, during surgery, Kaji suddenly becomes aware of his aging body and contemplates his future. This realization causes him to completely change his mind and decide to run for the professorship.

Fortunately for Kaji, this professor election appears to have zero opposition candidates. With only seven professors voting, securing a simple majority would guarantee him the professor’s chair. Kaji immediately receives generous financial backing from local business mogul Shimizu Gonzou and begins campaigning vigorously for votes. However, an unexpected crisis emerges right from the start. While three members of the Ito faction promise to vote for Kaji, three members of Vice Director Atami Masato’s faction declare their opposition!

Determined to win the professor election, Kaji sets out to secure the crucial “final vote” from someone who belongs to neither faction. Unfortunately for him, this deciding vote belongs to the youngest professor, Fujinomiya Sayuri, who is known as “Shizuoka’s Miss Clean” due to her impeccable integrity! Despite Kaji’s attempts to win her over, she remains completely unmoved by his efforts.

Just when things seem challenging enough, Kaji faces an even greater predicament. Atami suddenly announces his candidate to oppose Kaji. The newly selected rival professor candidate is surgeon Tsuruda Takumi, who arrives at the Shizuoka branch hospital with an impressive background. Making matters worse, Tsuruda declares war on Kaji, stating, “I’ll use any means necessary to become a professor!”

Seven summers ago, Kaji helped perform an operation in absolute secrecy. The patient, a politician, calls him out of the blue, saying he wants to see Kaji, However, what awaits in the meeting is suspicion of a surgical error! Furthermore, there is a six-year-old girl, who carries a letter that says “This child is a treasure that God bestowed upon us in one miraculous night.”

It doesn’t take long for rumors about Kaji’s illegitimate child to spread, and then facts about her mother are revealed! And what is the surprising truth about the surgery 7 years ago?

Kaji Hideki was ousted from Totei University Hospital and invited to the prestigious Seikyo University Hospital as a visiting associate professor. He meets Nasu Koichi, a senior associate professor who is the private hospital’s best surgeon and also very well regarded by fellow doctors as well as patients. Nasu not only has ample surgical achievements but has published many papers too. Even though he looks set to be the next professor, he shows completely no interest in power and puts his patients first. Meanwhile, a young basketball superstar One Rui is hospitalised at Seikyo University Hospital for an abdominal aortic aneurysm.

A huge hurdle stands in the way of super doctor Kaji Hideki who is called the “laparoscope magician”. He currently works at Yokohama Branch Hospital which is affiliated to Teito Medical University, but he surprisingly keeps making mistakes in his forte – laparoscopic surgery. These days, Kaji’s eyes have gone bad. His back also hurts. Old age has set in and he is no longer able to perform surgeries the way he wants although he pretends the situation does not exist. Kaji is sounded out by the hospital’s director Uechi Masato about a director post at a branch hospital on an outlying island although it is in truth a notice of discharge. In addition, his girlfriend Egashira Sanae, who works as Uechi’s secretary, chucks him for an entrepreneur Muguruma Kohei with a huge personal fortune but only has six months to live. That is simply adding insult to injury. Meanwhile, Muguruma refuses to be hospitalized as he wants to carry out his unfinished business until his last moment. For some reason, Kaji is designated his private doctor. Even though he does not have much time left, Muguruma talks positively about the future and tries to achieve what he wants to do. Seeing him like this, Kaji who had been weighed down by his own limitations, starts to develop feelings that he cannot articulate. At this juncture, Muguruma’s condition suddenly deteriorates. He finally realizes that his time will soon be up. Kaji urges him to get hospitalized. However, Muguruma rejects him outright, declaring that there is one more thing that he wants to do – a very important thing…

In Doctor Y, Kaji Hideki (played by Katsumura) has woven a series of bittersweet and diverse stories, crossing genre boundaries with each episode. In the second installment, he gets spooked by a ghost incident while on night duty; in the third, he faces a crushing defeat in a bid for professorship. In subsequent seasons, he’s been cornered by dramas involving a secret child, surgical mistakes, and heartbreak, yet each time, like a phoenix, he rises again.

This time, however, Kaji finds himself at a breaking point, facing “unprecedented trials.” Sent to Singapore on an errand for Toitei University Hospital, he unwittingly stakes it all on a massive gamble—and spectacularly loses. To make matters worse, he squanders hospital funds, landing himself in a sea of debt. Adding to his woes, he receives a mysterious request from someone willing to take on his debts, but with one odd condition: “Do not let Higashimura Ren become a doctor.”