Night Shift Nurses

Night Shift Nurses is the North American localization of Yakin Byōtō (夜勤病棟, Yakin Byōtō), a Japanese OVA series adapted by Discovery^[1] from the visual novel of the same name.^[2] It was formerly licensed by Anime 18, and now by Critical Mass Video.^[3] The series is particularly notorious for its explicit depictions of rape, sadomasochism, and paraphilia.^[4][5]

Synopsis

Setting

Night Shift Nurses, as was originally written for the game, takes place in an undisclosed area of Japan, mainly at the fictional St. Juliana Hospital. A majority of the game is portrayed on campus with minor visits to the character's residences and surrounding towns.^[6]

Plot

Ryuji Hirasaka is an unemployed, middle-aged Japanese gynaecologist, single, independent, and living on his own. One evening, he receives an email from the fictional St. Juliana Hospital, a local institution, offering him a temporary job opportunity. He contently accepts, scheduling to meet with the president the following day.

That afternoon, semi-formal and with a portfolio, Ryuji commutes to the hospital. After an acquaintance with Ren Nanase, a nurse who escorts him to the president, he is frightened to discover his potential employer is a woman he had brutally raped in the past, Narumi Jinguji. In spite of the excruciating atmosphere, however, Narumi explains her wish to develop a department in the hospital that caters to the sexual interests of patients; in need of his expertise to oversee the operation. Overwhelmed with lewd excitement, Ryuji agrees.^[7]

Characters

Ryuji Hirasaka (比良坂 竜二, Hirasaka Ryūji)

Voiced by: Sabro Gohno (Japanese); Bjorkin Stiles, Michael Sanderson (English)

Ryuji Hirasaka is the aforementioned antihero of the series. A knowledgeable practitioner, his life takes a sharp turn when he is invited to direct and corrupt a team of nurses at his new place of work. An unconvicted sex offender, Ryuji is vicious, controlling and intimidating, often cold reading those under him to learn about their vulnerabilities and how to exploit them. He sports a mullet and is bespectacled. He is murdered by Ren at the end of episode 5. In Night Shift Nurses Kranke he has a better ending: he gets married to Ren and the couple decide to move to the countryside to continue their experiments.

Narumi Jinguji (神宮寺 成美, Jinguji Narumi)

Voiced by: Kaoru Hoshioki (Japanese); Irie, Marcia Belle, Likki Dee Split (English)

Narumi Jinguji is the thirty-two-year-old^[8] head practitioner of the St. Juliana Hospital, specializing in gynaecology. Voluptuous and enticing, she arranges to meet with Ryuji one afternoon to offer him the chance to sexually discipline a select group of her nursing staff for the purpose of developing a prostitution ring. As a previous rape victim of her own employee, Narumi exhibits bursts of psychological imbalance and unrest. She is noted for her long green hair. Like Ryuji, she too wears glasses. She commits suicide after attempting to kill Ryuji near the end of episode 5. In Night Shift Nurses Kranke, she is shown attending Ryuji and Ren's wedding.

Ren Nanase (七瀬 恋, Nanase Ren)

Voiced by: Yuu Mikage (Japanese); Lynna Dunham, Kendall Harrison (English)

Bright and friendly, Ren Nanase is a twenty-two-year-old^[8] nurse at the St. Juliana Hospital who is arguably the most iconic character of the series. She is the first nurse Ryuji meets and the first who genuinely welcomes him as a friend and superior. When her love for an inpatient boxer, Naoya Ohkawa, is discovered, Ryuji learns of her match fixing and uses it as blackmail. Like the nurses to come, in spite of the abhorrent treatment she receives, Ren develops Stockholm syndrome and becomes emotionally attached to her abuser. Ren is distinguishable by her incredibly long hair, of which is usually tied into a ponytail. It is later revealed that she is pregnant. She is the one who kills Ryuji after he gained back his consciousness. After being arrested she admits that she loves him. In Night Shift Nurses Kranke, she gets married to Ryuji, lives with him in the countryside, and becomes a "good" wife.

Remi Shinjyo (新城 礼美, Shinjō Remi)

Voiced by: Nana Aikawa (Japanese); Nursey, Lotus, Jessica Thorne (English)

Remi Shinjyo is a twenty-seven-year-old^[8] senior nurse of the hospital maternity ward. As a headstrong superior, Remi is outwardly proud, fastidious and authoritative, especially to Ryuji. Although it is not mentioned until later, Remi is responsible for an act of malpractice that resulted in the death of a patient. Ryuji takes advantage of Remi's malpractice and subjects her to inhumane experiments. Like Ren, Remi falls for Ryuji and shows huge interest of wanting to be experimented by Ryuji again. Amongst all the nurses, she is the only one who is not a virgin.

Ako Fujisawa (藤沢 亜子, Fujisawa Ako)

Voiced by: Saya Tohno (Japanese); Alexis J. Parker, Kay Parrott, Mika Moon (English)

Shy and quiet, Ako Fujisawa is a twenty-three-year-old^[8] pharmacist. The daughter of a wealthy family, she is falsely accused of stealing drugs from her department and this is used as the basis for her series of abuse. In much the same fashion as Ren, Ako develops delusional, obedient feelings for Ryuji. Owing to one of the elements of the show, Ako becomes a coprophile.

Hikaru Kodama (児玉 ひかる, Kodama Hikaru)

Voiced by: Mai Akizuki (Japanese); Jessica Calvello (English)

Hikaru Kodama is a twenty-one-year-old^[8] amateur nurse, newly employed and specializing in pediatrics. As her department suggests, Hikaru absolutely loves children and like them, is energetic. She is the fourth and final nurse to be subjected to Ryuji and by far endures the most inhumane practices in the first phase of the series. It is later revealed that most of the group has to endure the same thing as her. Hikaru is noted for her pigtails and loose socks. She has an adoptive sister, Ai, hospitalized for heart problems. She later admits to have fallen for the doctor. In Night Shift Nurses Kranke, the doctor later does his experiments on both her and her sister. During Ryuji and Ren's wedding, she is the one who catches the bouquet.

Ai Kodama (児玉 愛, Kodama Ai)

Voiced by: Asuka Tanii, Mai Akizuki

Dr. Sekigawa (関川, Sekigawa-sensei)

Voiced by: Katsuyuki Konishi

Reception

As a result of the unrestrained content of the series, Night Shift Nurses is usually regarded as one of, if not the most graphic hentai ever released. Several minutes of particularly unruly scenes were even banned from North American releases.^[9] Industry aggregator Mania.com gave the series an F, citing that although the animation is "clean" and "slick", the quantity of edits made for the American release yields it one that "[...]I in no way [can] recommend."

References

External links

• Official Yakin Byōtō game website (Japanese)
• Official Yakin Byōtō OVA website (Japanese)
• "Night Shift Nurses". The Visual Novel Database. 
• Night Shift Nurses (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Night Shift Nurse: Yagami Yu (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia