Iryū
Iryū: Team Medical Dragon is a Japanese medical manga series created by Akira Nagai and illustrated by Tarō Nogizaka; following Nagai's death in 2004, Nogizaka became the sole author, with medical supervision taken by Mie Yoshinuma. The manga was serialized in Shogakukan's manga magazine Big Comic Superior from April 2002 to January 2011, with its chapters collected in 25 volumes.
It was adapted into a live action series, which was broadcast between April and June 2006 and was followed up by three sequels in 2007, 2010, and 2014.
In 2005, the manga won the 50th Shogakukan Manga Award in the general category.
Plot
Ryūtarou Asada is a prodigal surgeon who was exiled from the medical field. He is recruited by Akira Katō, an assistant professor, who wishes to use his skills to complete her thesis on the Batista procedure to promote herself politically in order to change the corruption in the Japanese medical system. Ryūtarou accepts and begins by recruiting a team skilled enough for the surgery.Characters
;Ryūtarou Asada;Akira Katō
;Miki Satohara
;Noboru Ijūin
;Keisuke Fujiyoshi
;Monji Arase
;Takeo Noguchi
;Gunji Kirishima
;Naoto Kitō
;Shōko Kitō
;Takehiko Kihara
Media
Manga
Team Medical Dragon was created by doctor, writer, and medical journalist, and illustrated by. The series debuted in Shogakukan's manga magazine Big Comic Superior on April 26, 2002. Nagai died of liver cancer in 2004, and Nogizaka became the sole author of the series, with medical supervision taken by Mie Yoshinuma. The series finished on January 28, 2011. Shogakukan collected its chapters into twenty-five volumes, released between September 30, 2002, and February 26, 2011.Volumes
Live action series
The manga was adapted into a series of live action dramas by Fuji TV. Directed by both Satoshi Kubota and Naruhide Mizuta, the first season of the live action series was produced by Sōsuke Osabe and Yasuyuki Asuyuki with Koji Hayashi as the scriptwriter. The series ran for 11 episodes which were broadcast on Fuji TV between April 13, 2006, and June 29, 2006. The ending theme for the first season is "Believe" by Ai. Fuji TV released a DVD box set on October 27, 2006. The soundtrack for the series was released by Universal Sigma on June 7, 2006, which was re-released by Universal Sigma on September 18, 2013.Directed by Hiroki Hayama, Kazunari Hoshino and Naruhide Mizuta, the second season of the live action series was produced by Sōsuke Osabe and Reiko Misao with Koji Hayashi as the scriptwriter. The series ran for 11 episodes which were broadcast on Fuji TV between October 11, 2007, and December 20, 2007. The ending theme for the second season is "One" by Ai. Fuji TV released a DVD box set on April 16, 2008. The soundtrack for the series was released by Universal Sigma on November 28, 2007, which was re-released by Universal Sigma on September 18, 2013.
Directed by Hiroki Hayama, Ryo Tanaka and Naruhide Mizuta, the third season of the live action series was produced by Tsuneya Watanabe with Koji Hayashi as the scriptwriter. The series ran for 10 episodes which were broadcast on Fuji TV between October 14, 2010, and December 16, 2010. The ending theme for the third season is "Door to the Future" by Deep. Fuji TV released a DVD box set on April 6, 2011. The soundtrack for the series was released by Universal Sigma on December 8, 2010.
A fourth season of the drama was announced in 2013. It was broadcast from January 9 to March 20, 2014.