Random Ooishi vocal cameo? I normally don't notice too much or comment upon overlapping VAs since there's a lot of that, it all kind of blends together, and I just like to first and foremost focus on the world of the show I'm presently in and discard such external distractions, but it's such a distinct voice. Unfortunately too minor of a character, at least as of now, to be apparently listed and accounted for in the casting information to check.
Anyway, I do prefer when they mainly stick to the hospital setting as was the case in the last few episodes, but it seems so many mystery series cannot resist the classic locked room/closed room setup and ultimate dilemma. It can still be entertaining. I have no clue and I honestly don't even try to deduce it in advance as I just prefer seeing the characters work through it and explain when the time comes, letting it unfold naturally in real time without getting into theorycrafting and speculation. Mystery is up there among my favorite and preferred genres, but I'm not an active or proactive but very passive mystery watcher. I don't take it as an interactive experience.
Concerning the series in general, the repeated delays are annoying but they don't impact the quality of the show as a whole, in that how many delays there are or whether or not there were any at all will be completely and totally irrelevant to anyone watching the show in the future, whether one day later or 20 years from now, after it finishes airing. I favor this realistic art style because it feels appropriate and fitting for a series with a realistic scientific focus in a modern-day setting. At the same time, on numerous occasions the characters have gone off-model making it all look a little cheap and half-baked, but luckily art and animation aren't what I put too much stock into as far as what I value and prioritize in a series.
This didn't end up as much of a standout as I would have liked or hoped as I previously thought handled the right way and with a couple of the right decisions this could easily have ended up as a shoo-in for my favorite of the season, one of my favorite and one of the better ones of the year and from recent times in general, and so forth. As it stands it's still my second favorite airing seasonal, but I've tempered expectations a bit. I think it's because Takao is really the only interesting, endearing, or compelling character whereas the rest are mostly props for her to shine, but that's honestly true as well in a lot of the hour-long medical and crime/lawyer/detective/police live action American serials this seems modeled after or inspired by. Plus, I would like them to use their runtime even more effectively when not showcasing Takao's antics and eccentricities to just pack as much in-depth and obscure medical info and details as possible, which, while they've had a few rarer or more pondersome cases they've only really been okay on that front without too much revolutionary or requiring of knowledge of too rare conditions as they mostly peaked in the first case in terms of rarity, novelty, and complexity/amount of moving parts, with the blue-blooded amputee two-parter. They probably were wise in having that one serve as the introductory hook.
Still, one thing I've both enjoyed and admired throughout which has remained consistent throughout, is how open and unreserved they've been in showing Takao as a semi-functional autistic. It always helps in your medical series, I find, when the star and ace doctors aren't themselves the picture of physically and/or psychologically or behaviorally perfect healthy normality. She's a savant and not modest about it, she admits herself she "can't read the room" and doesn't know what to say to console or pacify people or have accepted social interactions (relates to "theory of mind", but I don't personally like using this term because the way it's usually discussed is wildly misleading and widely misunderstood), can't work well with others and really only has a few special people like Kotori and her sister and to a lesser extent maybe Mai who she feels she can rely on, is hugely messy whether when eating or housekeeping and organizing her living space but has a system which makes perfect sense to her in her own mind, has angry and sad outbursts and meltdowns regardless of her audience and who's in the room, her older sister functions as her kind of parental figure or minder and she's not even trusted to be allowed to exercise certain adult responsibilities like driving despite being a highly intelligent, educated, and trained medical doctor in a position of authority as second in command of a major general hospital. And on and on.
Basically, she has major issues of executive dysfunction impacting her daily life in a way which aren't just differences of minor personality traits.
At this point, her being neurodivergent is as canon and integral to the character as Gregory House being a sarcastic misanthrope and opioid addict.
She also reminds me of Sakurako Kujou and Maomao, but I actually feel that this may be the instance of doing a character like that which to me has rung the most true.
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