Saijou no Meii ch17-18

「 17 & 18 – Female Mascot of Pediatric Surgery & What Can’t Be Fixed 」With the previously unprecedented surgery a success, the whole hospital is taking notice of Mikoto’s genius. With more people casting their eyes on Mikoto, Sena feels insecure of her standing with the doctor. What will she do now?

Saijou no Meii「 最上の命医 」

Chapter 17 & 18 – Female Mascot of Pediatric Surgery & What Can’t Be Fixed
Read Online @ ONEMANGA

Summary: Sena and Ayame are discussing the world-first surgery that had baffled the medical world, as well as Ayame’s brother. Due to Mikoto putting his concern on his patient’s safety over everything else, he was able to think up an ingenious plan in order to get out of the tough situation. Due to this compassion, it sets him and Ayame’s brother apart, as he genuinely cares for his patients rather than acting on his own selfish needs. In the patient ward, Nasuka is healing up quickly, as she and Mikoto share a laugh together. Seeing how heroic Mikoto had been previously made Nasuka grow a crush on him and after asking a few questions over her own well-being, bluntly asks Mikoto out. Obviously due to the age difference, Mikoto can’t help but laugh. Just outside the door however, Sena overheard everything and gets jealous.

With Sena snapping at everything Mikoto does, Mikoto wondered if he had done anything wrong and asks Ayame. Being oblivious to everything as usual, he fails to see that Sena has feelings for him. Ayame, who is grateful at how Mikoto was able to shut his brother up, says that he will fix things with Sena for him and soon asks her to go out to dinner with him at a prestigious restaurant, whose owner was an ex-patient of his. After some chit-chat over dinner, Ayame manages to get Sena to blurt out that she liked Mikoto. Ayame then asks why Sena hasn’t been trying to act more ladylike in front of Mikoto, as she is often seen hitting, yelling, crying and acting like an idiot whenever they’re around. Seeing as she is pretty much the female mascot of pediatric surgery (since she is the only female in their hopes of reviving pediatric surgery in the hospital), she needs to take care of her well-being and appearance more. Since she doesn’t wear make-up, Ayame calls up the make-up expert of the hotel to help spice up Sena’s look. After a while, Sena reemerges with a completely different look, one that could even fool Ayame into thinking that she was someone else.

With her new style, Sena feels confident and it shows the next day at work. Everyone is in awe of her and even Mikoto manages to notice the change, given how dense he can be. Sena obviously feels ecstatic over this, since she was worried that Mikoto would not notice the makeover. Mikoto however was on his way for a nap, as he had been working a shift when Sena and Ayame went out for dinner the night before. In his absence, Dr. Matsunaka, a flirtatious and perverted older surgeon would fill in for his shift beside Sena. Uncomfortable at his advances, Sena tries to call Ayame to act as a buffer between the two but unfortunately for her, Ayame was busy operating on a patient.

Desperate for some patients to arrive so that she could be distracted with work, the call finally came with a kid complaining of a stomach ache. After a routine checkup, every signs point to a normal inflammation caused by a stomach flu. Matsunaka suggests some medicine for the boy’s troubles but Sena doesn’t seem convinced. After her own personal checkup, she proposes that there might be a chance of appendicitis. Matsunaka is appalled that a resident was questioning his diagnosis but Sena is able to convince him by betting that if he were right, she would let him to a personal checkup on her (Bom Chicka Wow Wow~~).

Seems like she was right, as the next scene shows Ayame urgently reach for Mikoto at the sleeping quarters after his operation was done. He thinks that Sena and Matsunaka may be in danger but as they arrive in the scene, Matsunaka had just successfully completed the surgery. Matsunaka admitted that it was his mistake but thanks to Sena’s insistence, they were able to operate on the boy before the perforated appendicitis got worse. He was inspired by Sena’s will and commends Mikoto for raising her like that. Mikoto and Ayame soon catches up with Sena outside the operating theater but she tries to run away, afraid to let Mikoto see her with her makeup in disarray after the surgery. Mikoto doesn’t agree though, as he says that it’s the prettiest she’s ever been.

Not long after, Sena informs Ayame that Matsunaka has changed his perverted ways and is now very professional around the workplace. It seems that Sena was able to struck a chord with him, as he has regained his old passion. Alerted by the fact that Sena was not wearing makeup, Ayame asks why she wasn’t prepping herself up for Mikoto but Sena simply replies that she was already pretty enough without it.

My Thoughts: As usual, Miracle Mikoto does the impossible once more (there seems to be a theme going on here). After going through great lengths to get the surgery approved, it would have been too much for the procedure to fail so I guess it was always in the books for completion. I did like the development after the surgery though, since we got to see more Sena stuff, as she copes with her crush on Mikoto. Personally, I approve of this but I didn’t realise that we would get confirmation on this so early in the manga (seeing that there wasn’t really any lovey-dovey stuff for main character Azuma in Yakitate Japan).

Seeing the antics that Sena goes through reminds me a bit of JD in Scrubs, in that they’re both very odd and kind of idiotic. While it is more serious than Yakitate, it was refreshing to see that the mangaka hasn’t completely forgotten his comedic roots (he even tried standup comedy at one point) and went for some natural comedy. Nothing forced, and just the right amount. I wonder about Ayame’s age though. Looking at him you would think that the guy was in his teen years but seeing as he has major connections with higher up execs, I wonder how long he’s been an actual doctor. His fashion sense is also awkward, with all the leather and black. He resembles Nell (or was it Near?) from Death Note, as they share similar tastes in clothing.

Sena did look quite elegant with her new makeup but I was relieved to see that she ditched the look in order for au naturale. She does seem much prettier without the makeup to me and she won’t look like she’s trying to hard. It’s good to see that Mikoto agrees also so no drastic changes soon I hope. Now that this debacle is finished, we will get to see the plot progress a bit further, as Mikoto continues to gain approval to revive the pediatric ward. Since the hospital had deemed the ward too costly with little room for success, Mikoto’s completion rating should do the trick. As for what Ayame’s brother will cook up in the future, who knows but I think he wouldn’t be taking action too soon given how embarrassed he was made to look in the last surgery.