It’s not easy being a back alley doctor!
What They Say:
In The Patients of Dr. Maro, Hikomaro, better known as Dr. Maro, knows his way around the human body and can stick a thermometer in like a professional. Unfortunately, his medical ethics are seriously lacking, his concept of an appropriate Doctor-Patient relationship is entirely inappropriate, and his common sense is as non-functional as his sense of morality.
When Sakimi and Masashi, a young married couple, come to inquire about a medical issue and to consult on the possibility of having children, what starts as a routine breast exam spirals madly out of control. Then, when Dr. Maro’s far too intimate examination of the blushing bride results in a bashing husband, Maro finds his manual dexterity severely reduced by a pair of casts. Even then, Maro finds a way to come out on top, and to keep the not-so-good doctor from suing her husband, Sakimi must become his VERY personal servant!
The Review:
Audio:
The audio presentation for this property brings us the original Japanese language track in stereo encoded using the DTS-HD MA lossless codec. The show is one that is fairly standard when it comes to hentai in that there’s minimal music, basic sound effects, and lots of “dialogue” throughout it. It’s mostly a center channel based show with minimal directionality to it but it covers things well with a clean and problem free encoding. There isn’t much to work with when it comes to sound design but the moans and cries are pretty well presented and there are no problems to be had with it. It’s not a rich or warm mix but a solid one through and through and we didn’t have any problems with dropouts or distortions during regular playback.
Video:
Originally released in 2015, the transfer for these two OVAs are presented in their original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 in 1080p using the AVC codec. With just one disc to hold it all and plenty of room, the encoding for the Studio 1st production is definitely nicely done. It’s not a high end OVA series with rich colors and details, owing more to the traditional hentai of years gone by. But it has some nicely fluid moments, literally in some cases, and it’s completely uncensored. The show works with bright but not garish colors, solid enough animation without anything really over the top in terms of quality but nothing terrible either, and is fairly average in all the right ways in how it was put together. The encoding brings all that to the forefront so it’s not a show that will stand out but it is one that’s clean and problem free, which is what you want.
Packaging:
The packaging for this release comes in a standard sized Blu-ray case that has a really good reversible cover. The main cover uses the same artwork but with a zoom in thanks to a black border that also gives us some obscured areas of the nudity. Focusing on the two main female characters that we get, they’re piled on top of each other with breasts everywhere, and some nice tuckus raising up high in the background, while set within the office. The logo is cute and simple with some nice design elements to it and as a whole it definitely works well. The back cover is traditional with a black background, a breakdown of the premise, some clean shots from the show itself, and the technical information so that you know exactly what you’re getting. With the reverse side cover, the front is a borderless and unobscured piece that’s brighter and appealing with how weird it is (breasts do not move like that) while the back cover is more traditional porn back cover material as it’s filled with naked imagery and a small technical grid along the bottom. It gets the job done but it amuses me to see it done as “porn-y” as it is.
Menu:
The menu design works a split screen approach where the right side has the cover artwork sans logo, which is bright and colorful, and the left has a blue background that has the logo across it in big font while the navigation is along the lower left. It’s a simple navigation with just the episodes to select themselves and the promo for the release, so there are no submenus. It’s not a deep or rich menu but it basically takes the right elements from the marketing materials they have and sets up the tone well.
Extras:
None.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Based on the visual novel of the same name, the Patients of Dr. Maro is a two-episode OVA series that came out in the spring and summer of 2015 from MS Pictures. The visual novel from ELF Corporation is one that offers up plenty of material and the OVAs are designed so that there’s plenty of setup for a third installment that never happened. Director by Hideta Ooa based on the script by Shinichiro Sawayama, the show is fairly straightforward with what it does and mostly manages to avoid the things that are considered extreme and bother a lot of casual fans. The result is a show that’s not exactly tame but leans a little more in that direction than some others – your porn experience depending.
The premise is one that’s comical enough as we get something of a self proclaimed back alley doctor that has a nice office and doesn’t quite seem to be a back alley doctor. Dr. Maro is seeing one of his patients named Sakimi who has come with her husband to get some advice about a small pain that she has. Maro being the pervy kind of doctor that he is (his face is made up like a clown after all), he begins to examine her by massaging her breasts at first before moving on to other areas and essentially getting her all worked up while her husband watches. He attempts to paint it as a normal kind of examination even though Masashi gets angered by this but it’s Sakimi that normalizes it and says that it’s okay because she wants the help. And it seems like she’s enjoying the copious amount of breast massage that she’s getting. There’s only so much that Masashi can handle before he gets physical and hurts Maro, which is what takes him out of circulation for a bit.
Since Masashi crushed his hands and he’s unable to work, Sakimi’s guilt gets her to come and help out at the office for a while, resulting in them getting pretty close – and her wearing a nurses outfit since that’s all that he has. Suffice to say, their getting close leads to some amusing situations that takes it even further, though this also plays into Masashi coming back after feeling guilty about things as well. Of course, poor Sakimi also ends up in a bad situation when some thugs end up getting into the place later on and Masashi ends up tied up and forced to watch Sakimi being taken advantage of, resulting in it being an incredible turn on for him. Add in a minor subplot that I wanted more of that has Maro getting involved with a woman named Yukina that he actually really has feelings for and what we get is a kind of messy layered two episode show that’s not exactly smooth in hitting up the story points and structure but delivers some decent sex scenes.
In Summary:
The Patients of Dr. Maro has some fun material in it, I particularly liked the time with Yukina that we got and some of the amusing pseudo-cucking that was done early on to Masashi, but it also just suffers from what a lot of hentai does in poor story structure and just plain “weird” elements that make no sense, such as Maro’s pasty appearance. The animation for it is decent, not exceptional and not terrible, and it manages to deliver some fun moments throughout that should let it work as a bit of an entry level show for newer hentai viewers. Softcel’s release delivers us a good looking encoding, solid packaging, and a good presentation overall at a very low price that still surprises considering it’s in high definition.
Features:
Japanese DTS-HD MA 2.0 Language, English Subtitles
Content Grade: C+
Audio Grade: B
Video Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: B
Menu Grade: B
Extras Grade: N/A
Released By: Softcel Pictures
Release Date: June 13th, 2017
MSRP: $19.98
Running Time: 50 Minutes
Video Encoding: 1080p AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
