Set at SMH (Sugita Genbaku Memorial Hospital), a hospital with a modern medical system, the series depicts the youth and growth of four trainee doctors. "Handoku" is an abbreviation for "half-baked doctor." As a former gang member, Ichiban (Nagase) was witness to the worst side of the emergency medical system and vowed to become a doctor to change it. With the aggressive passion he learned on the streets, Ichiban has worked his way to becoming a no-nonsense emergency medicine resident. But it is this same passion that he must learn to control when confronted with a situation that is beyond his help...

Title: ハンドク!!! - Handoku
English: Half doctor
Format: Renzoku
Genre: Medical
Episodes: 10
Broadcast network: TBS
Broadcast period: 2001-Oct-10 to 2001-Dec-12
Air time: Wednesday 22:00
Theme song: Dr. by TOKIO

SMH (Sugita Genbaku Memorial Surgical Hospital) Resident (Handoku)

Hasama Ichiban
Played by Nagase Tomoya (TOKIO)
A former Ikebukuro gang member who decided to become a doctor after a certain incident. He admires Black Jack and Asaka Yui. He's a troublemaker who often clashes head-on with SMH's medical practices, but he's also a passionate, half-baked doctor with a stronger conviction than most. He lives in a boarding house at the Toneri Higashi branch. He's nicknamed "Idiot" by the SMH members. His eyesight is so good that, despite his poor academic skills, he managed to pass both the medical school entrance exam and the national medical exam by cheating. However, he's actually farsighted, meaning he can see far away but not close up. Initially, he struggles with drawing blood when he first arrives at SMH.

Michiko Kojima
Played by Rina Uchiyama
A medical intern at SMH. A diligent, good-student type, she served as class representative and student council president throughout elementary school. In high school, she became a doctor, inspired by and inspired by the medical system advocated by Kazuko. She lives with her mother, a teacher. Traumatized by childhood abuse, she has an extreme hatred for men, but opens up to Hazama Ichiban.

Megumi Kisaragi
Played by Hitomi Manaka
One of the medical interns at SMH, a beautiful and intelligent girl who returned home from overseas. She occasionally speaks in a Kansai dialect. The daughter of the president of Kisaragi Electric, she grew up with everything she could want and was contented, which is why she feels a lack of fulfillment in life. She has a cool and nihilistic personality.

Makoto Takano (31)
Played by Kuranosuke Sasaki
A medical intern at SMH. Having failed the entrance exam six times before entering medical school, Takano is older than the other handokus. His family runs a private practice and he's rich. He owns several luxury cars and cell phones, and is knowledgeable about brand-name products. He's always the one who teases him, shoving his face in the toilet, using him as a practice dummy for blood draws, and pestering him for money.

Sugita Ine
Played by Nogiwa Yoko
Chairman of SMH. Following the death of her husband, who was the hospital director, she invited Shindo to overhaul SMH and entrusted him with the hospital's policies. Since then, she has been stripped of most of her decision-making power and is in retirement. While she is open to both good and bad, she is always thinking about what medical care should be like. In fact, she is also the best understanding friend of Ichiban, a problem child.

Takaishi Katsue
Played by Okamoto Rei
Head nurse of SMH's Second Surgery Ward. She is beautiful but single. She complains a lot and is harsh on others, but lacks the courage to challenge the organization.

The Four Heavenly Kings of Surgeons
Zaizen Hachiro
Played by Hankai Kazuaki
A cardiac surgeon in charge of Hazama Ichiban's training. He is eyeing the position of chief surgeon, but is struggling to adapt to the hospital's system. He is a family-oriented, stay-at-home father with five children. The only one of the Four Heavenly Kings who is not a graduate of the University of Tokyo.

Hidemaru Namikoshi
Played by Kenichi Yajima
A general surgeon in charge of Michiko Kojima's training. He is relieved to be the doctor in charge of the honor student Michiko.

Tokushu Katagiri
Played by Jiro Sato
A cardiac surgeon in charge of Megumi Kisaragi's training.

Ben Keiko Casey Yamada
Played by Fuyuko Imae
A gastroenterological surgeon in charge of Makoto Takano's training. He is the same age as Takano, who failed the entrance exam six times.

Others
Masami Mori
Played by Megumi Ujiie
A bespectacled nurse in the SMH Second Surgery Ward. She has her eye on Takano and stalks him like a stalker.

Momoko Yamaguchi, Junna Sakurada
Played by Rie Taguchi, Maya Miyamoto
A beautiful nurse in the SMH Second Surgery Ward. Takano often invites her out to dinner, but she is cold towards him.

Ishiyama
Played by: Yasue Sato
Shindo's secretary.

Nobuyuki Sakaguchi (Nobu)
Played by: Kazunari Ninomiya (Arashi)
A younger brother of Ichiban from his days as a gangster, he is feared and nicknamed "Route 4's Demon Slayer Nobu." He makes a living by delivering newspapers at the Mainichi Shimbun Toneri Higashi Branch where Ichiban is staying. He is in love with Miyuki, the daughter of the distributor's manager, and is so smitten with her that he even gets nervous when calling her by name. He and Ichiban, who has no family, have a brotherly relationship. However, in episode 7, he suspects that Ichiban is responsible for the death of his friend Kaze, accusing him of being a "murderer!"

Miyuki Hirakawa
Played by: Tsukasa Hori
A female college student and the daughter of the manager of the Mainichi Shimbun Toneri Higashi Branch. She likes Ichiban and calls him "Ichi."

Takeo Hirakawa (played by Pepe Hozumi) is the manager of the Mainichi Newspaper Toneri Higashi branch and Miyuki's father.

Asaka Yui
Played by Asaka Yui
The idol that Hazama Ichiban admires. He appears in Ichiban's dreams.

Chikuzen Tetsuichiro
Played by Masu Takeshi
Shoichiro's father. A journalist. He comes to SMH to cover the story.

Chikuzen Shoichiro
Played by Kaku Tomohiro
Tetsuichiro's son, hospitalized at SMH. He is often provocative towards the Handokus. He is a VIP patient and a troublesome patient. He becomes friends with Kaze, who has been hospitalized, and asks Ichiban to give him his eye if he dies.

Kojima Haruko
Played by Yamaguchi Miyako
Michiko's mother. She frequently meets her father, who abused Michiko.

Screenwriter: Ooishi Shizuka
Producer: Ueda Hiroki
Director: Tsutsumi Yukihiko, Kaneko Fuminori
Music: Shida Hirohide (志田博英)

Note
As the drama approached its final episode, in the preview for the next week, it was announced that if the viewership rating for the next episode fell below 10%, Tsutsumi Yukihiko would shave his head. In reality, the rating did not fall below 10%, but after the end credits of the final episode, Tsutsumi Yukihiko appeared briefly with a shaved head.