Black Forceps


Black Forceps, also known as "Black Pean" or "Black Paean", is a Japanese drama based on the book "Black Pean 1988" by author. It aired in April 2018 on TBS Television.
A sequel, based on the books "Blaze Mes 1990" and "Cerisier Center 1991" by the same author, is scheduled to air in July 2024.

Synopsis

Season 1

Tojo University Hospital is known for having high success in its Surgery Department. Its Director, Professor and heart surgeon Seigō Saeki has implemented the "Saeki Procedure", which is a heart surgery performed without stopping the heart. He has been considered as a candidate for President of the Japanese Society of Cardiac Surgery, as is his rival, Keisuke Nishizaki, Director of Surgery of Teika University. Nishisaki considers he is better for the position and schemes to bring down Tojo's fame to achieve it. For that, he sends surgeon Gonta Takashina, fervent user of the latest devices, to Tojo.
In Tojo, Takashina will face Seishirō Tokai, a genius surgeon whose surgical technique has a 100% of success, but whose attitude alienates everyone around him.

Season 2

Six years have passed since the last encounter with Tokai. Tojo's medical crew has continued to grow and improve, including Tokai's "rival", Takashina, promoter of the "Snipe" medical device, formerly of Teika, now a part of Tojo.
Saeki, creator of the world-famous Saeki surgery technique, is now Tojo University Hospital's director. He aims for the position of president of the Japanese Medical Association, pinnacle of research medicine in Japan, and plans to open a new hospital that specializes in cardiac surgery. He has heard about Yukihiko Amagi, a devilish, world-renowned genius surgeon that works in the Heart Center in Australia's Gold Coast, and wants him for his team.
Sera, former resident and an assistant to Tokai, now a full-fledged cardiac surgeon, is in charge of getting to Amagi, who is, eerily, a Tokai doppleganger. Sera is to deliver a letter from Saeki to Amagi.

Cast

Tojo University Hospital

  • Kazunari Ninomiya
  • * as surgeon Seishiro Tokai. Known as a surgery genius for his perfect score, he is a rebel, rarely attends conferences and other administrative events. His attitude often alienates those around him Re-appears in in flashbacks, and in episode 8 he makes a come back.
  • * as surgeon Yukihiko Amagi, a world leader in cardiac coronary artery bypass grafting; has worked for many years at the Heart Center on Australia's Gold Coast. His other passion is gambling
  • Wakana Aoi as operating room nurse Miwa Hanabusa. Continues in season 2 as a more experienced, caring nurse.
  • Ryoma Takeuchi as 1st. year resident Masashi Sera. Continues in season 2 as a more experienced and reliable doctor
  • Seiyō Uchino as Director of the Surgery Department, Professor and cardiac surgeon Seigō Saeki. Known for the "Saeki Procedure". He has become Director of the hospital in season 2
  • Kotaro Koizumi returns in season 2 as doctor Takashina Gonta, as a Tojo ally.
  • Taro Shigaki as Tojo University Director Nobuaki Moriya, his affiliation is with Teika, not Tojo
  • Satoshi Hashimoto as Surgery Department associate professor Seiichirō Kurosaki
  • ' as Head nurse Makoto Fujiwara
  • ' as surgical nurse Mari Nekota, with a skill in preparing medical instruments, continues in season 2
  • ' as surgeon Yūji Kakitani
  • Hiroki Konno as surgeon Fuminori Sekikawa, second surgery using a snipe
  • ' as resident doctor Kouhei Taguchi
  • ' as resident doctor Kōichi Hayami
  • ' as resident doctor Tōko Shimazu
  • Naruki Matsukawa as resident doctor Tatsuya Kitajima
  • ' as nurse Ayumi Miyamoto
  • ' as nurse Mio Arai
  • as Sera's supervisor Tadashi Yokoyama. He leaves the hospital after a botched surgery that Tokai has to fix

    Teika University Hospital

  • Kotaro Koizumi as surgeon and lecturer Takashina Gonta, who is on loan in Tojo. Promoter of new surgical technology
  • Ichikawa Ennosuke IV as Professor of Surgery Keisuke Nishizaki. Mainly engaged in research

    Others

  • ' as Clinical trial coordinator Kaori Kinoshita
  • Kōji Katō as Hideto Ikenaga, editor-in-chief of the medical journal Japan Journal of Surgery
  • ' as surgeon Kenichi Shinohara
  • Jouji Shibue as surgeon Masato Fukumoto
  • as resident Park Min-jae, a resident in a Korean hospital that goes to Australia in search for Amagi.
  • Choi Ji-woo as Korean doctor, hospital and restaurant owner Park Seo-hyun. She is resident Park Min-jae's mother. She goes with him to Australia to look for Amagi.

    Tokai family

  • Mitsuko Baisho as Tokai's mother, Harue Tokai
  • as Tokai's deceased father, surgeon Ichiro Tokai

    Season 1 guests

  • Momiji Yamamura as Taeko Minagawa, Sera's first patient
  • Naoko Sawamatsu as Yoshie Koyama, the wife of a patient
  • ' as Kaneto Koyama, a patient brought in an emergency
  • Shinya Tasaki as Hideo Kusunoki, a patient under the care of Tokai and Sera
  • Yugo Kochi as Hayato Tamura, candidate for snipe surgery, but ends being operated on by Tokai, due to being a complicated and rare case
  • ' as Koji Tamura, Hayato's father
  • ' as Koharu Shimano, a patient who has been transferred from Teika University Hospital. Takashina was her primary care physician at Teika
  • Masami Tanaka as Naho Shimano, Koharu's mother
  • ' as Jin Matsuoka, a surgeon at Teika University Hospital who specializes in endoscopic surgery using support robot "Darwin"
  • ' as Masayuki Tomizawa, Chief Medical Officer of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare
  • Saki Aibu as Shoko Yamamoto, Kinoshita's former colleague nurse
  • ' as Hidefumi Takeda, a doctor at Teika University Hospital
  • Shintarō Hayashi as Ryuichi Kobayashi, a patient without an apparent reason to be hospitaized.
  • ' as Kobayashi
  • ' as Katsuya Sakaguchi surgeon at Teika
  • as Tatsuji Iinuma, a patient under the care of nurse Hanabusa. He was originally Ichiro Tokai's patient.

    Story

Season 1

Doctor Seigo Saeki, professor and director of the Cardiac Surgery department at Tojo University Hospital, is known for his method called "Saeki Procedure", in which he operates on the heart of the patient without stopping it. His rival from Teika University, Professor Keisuke Nishizaki, who is seeking the post of president of the Japan Surgical Society, as is Saeki, has gone to Tojo, as have clinical trial coordinator Kaori Kinoshita and editor-in-chief of the medical journal Hideto Ikenaga, to watch Saeki in action, when a sudden emergency arises. Saeki sends a team to another operating room to attend that patient, but when his condition worsens, surgeon Seishiro Tokai, appears and finishes the operation, surprising doctor and lecturer Gonta Takashina. Tokai, who's called the "Devil of the operating room", has only one condition to do it: that the operating doctor submit his resignation letter and give him 10 million yen as compensation.
Takashina, who had been sent to Tojo by Nishizaki to promote the use of the "Snipe" medical device, has operated on a couple of patients with it, to prove the benefits of its use, but fails the 2nd surgery due to the patient's pre-existing condition, which was resolved by Tokai, after resident Sera begged him to, since it was his patient. On another day, Tokai works on patient Koyama to save his life, but he still needs another surgery to replace his mitral valve. Takashina suggests using the Snipe for it.
Takashina has not produced the results expected by Nishizaki to get the "impact factor" that will get him elected as president. There are 2 new patients at Tojo, one of which could be an ideal candidate to have a "Snipe" procedure done. As Takashina refuses to do the procedure on the music student, Saeki orders Tokai to do it. Seeing the success that "Snipe" has brought to Tojo, Takashina is conflicted as to who to include as chief researcher on his papers, Saeki, where the procedures had been taking part, or Nishizaki, where the paper was being written, and was at its final stages. In between, Takashina had transferred a patient from Teika to Tojo, and asked Saeki to perform a "Snipe" procedure on him. When Saeki appointed Tokai to do it, he refused, and, angrily, recriminated Saeki for crossing to the other side. Saeki, furious, told Tokai to not intervene in any more surgeries.
Takashina has finally decided who to include in his paper: Nishizaki. This means that he will return to Teika. Tokai had conveyed "certain concerns" to Saeki about patient Koharu Shimano, those concerns related to a "Snipe" procedure, which, because of her condition, couldn't be resolved through open-heart surgery. Takashina suggested using the endoscopic surgery support robot "Darwin".
Tokai's mother is taken in for an emergency surgery. Kurosaki, the attending surgeon, operates on her, but, unknowingly, leaves some of the tumor he was removing, and that is noticed by Tokai in a post-operative examination. He blames Kurosaki for malpractice, and demands compensation from Tojo. The election of president of the Japan Surgical Society has shifted battle, from the use of the "Snipe" to the use of "Darwin". A Japanese version, the "Caesar" was introduced in Tojo as a clinical trial, and Saeki puts Takashina in charge of it. Takashina considers who the perfect candidate to try it out on is: Tokai's mother, Harue.
Tokai is recruited by Teika, and Takashina begins to question Nishisaki's reasons to do it. Saeki also questions Nishizaki's actions, when Tomizawa, from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, promoter of the Darwin / Caesar, and who is an acquaintance of Nishizaki, takes a patient to Tojo to undergo a Darwin procedure. The Darwin / Caesar trials are over, and Nishizaki wants to unveil the perform the unveiling surgery under the leadership of Teika. Seeing no benefit, Saeki proposes Nishizaki to combine teams into one, with Tokai, Takashina and Sera at the helm. Teika staff went to Tojo, but immediately felt overwhelmed with Tokai's presence, as he was in charge of the Darwin surgeries. On the other hand, Saeki's presence around Tojo had declined, and Tokai had urged a reluctant Sera to follow him.
Saeki falls, and his condition reveals an existing disease in the cardiac area. Urgent intervention is required, and only Tokai can do it, but he is away looking for a patient at a neighboring hospital. However, the patient is not there, and Saeki holds that key. Tokai reveals to Sera that his true intention will be resolved after helping Saeki. But Saeki refuses Tokai's surgery, and proposes the use of Caesar, information of which has been taken away to Teika on Nishizaki's orders. Tokai performs the operation as a temporary measure. He asks Saeki to reveal the whereabouts of "Tatsuji Iinuma", the patient he is looking for, as a condition for performing a reoperation to cure him completely. Saeki refuses to answer, and forces himself to travel to Tokyo to a surgical conference. In Tojo, the condition of a "hidden" patient is discovered by Takashina. This patient is Iinuma, the one that Tokai was looking for. Miwa was in charge of him, at the request of Head nurse Fujiwara. He and Saeki are the reason behind Tokai being in Tojo... and the black forceps.