J-Drama Spotlight: 119 Emergency Call

Welcome to the J-Drama Spotlight, a column in which I talk you, our lovely readers, through a new or currently airing J-drama that's happened to catch my eye. To kick things off in style I've chosen to talk about 199 Emergency Call, a series that is currently airing on Fuji TV and flying under the radar for many due to the recent scandal shaking this TV network in Japan.

Key Details

199 Emergency Call is an original drama series that began airing weekly on Fuji TV on January 13th and is commissioned for ten episodes. It stars Nana Seino (Only Just Married) in the lead role as Yuki Kasuhara.

The series is written by Natsu Hashimoto (Mr. Bride) and Keigo Koyanagi (Raising of the Shield Hero anime) and is directed by Michiko Namiki (Everyone's Getting Married) and Naruhide Mizuta (The Incident).

The Premise

Our story takes place in the Yokohama City Fire Department's Command Section where the protagonist Yuki Kasuhara (played by Nana Seino) and her coworkers field incoming emergency calls. In other words, she works as an emergency dispatcher who first has to work out if the caller needs an ambulance or fire engine and what the situation is at the scene.

With nothing but the caller account to go on, it's a difficult role where being able to remain calm is of utmost importance so they can get the necessary information from those in need of help, including the location and the condition of the patient (in the case of a medical emergency). Even if they trace a call that only gives them a vague idea of where their caller might be. Having spent two years working with the fire department before transferring to the command centre, Yuki often finds herself visualising the situation a caller finds themselves in and more than once her knowledge of a surrounding area has helped immensely in guiding emergency workers in the right direction. Often when she's off-duty, Yuki will go to the areas her callers were in, looking for anything that could help her guide someone else who finds themselves in the same situation.

Of course, this is a stressful role and Yuki's longing to help every caller often leads to clashes with the views of her coworkers who have been through difficult situations themselves. But together they do their upmost to save lives and help those in desperate situations.

Why It's Worth Watching

While there is plenty of media surrounding police, doctors and firefighters it's unusual to see a story surrounding dispatch officers. It's an extremely important job, but one that goes unnoticed in the world of TV. So not only does it make for a relatively unique concept, but it's also spreading awareness of what kind of information is helpful to provide if you find yourself having to make an emergency call.

It was due to wanting to raise more awareness of the role that the Yokohama City Fire Department signed a deal with Fuji Television Network Inc to offer their full cooperation in producing the drama. This led to the show being filmed in Yokohama City's actual communications command centre, which adds to the realism of the finished work. After the Fuji TV scandal, Yokohama City has asked to have all mention of them scrubbed from the credits, however, they are still supporting filming. There were also fears the drama would be cancelled after an increase in calls being placed regarding Fuji TV instead of for actual emergencies, but we're five episodes in now and that thankfully seems to have become less of an issue.

The storylines we've seen so far are varied with both incidents that need the fire department and those that are more medical orientated. It has done a good job of showing the stress the callers are under too, those who get frustrated with the dispatch officers asking so many (necessary!) questions or who are overwhelmed due to a loved one in distress. We've also seen prank callers and how the team are trained to handle them as well as the attention that takes away from people who are facing very real emergencies.

With an average runtime of 45 minutes, there's been plenty of time to develop the large cast of characters, too. Each episode puts the spotlight on a different member of the team who all have their individual (and interesting) reasons for choosing to work in this department. As I've gotten to know them more as individuals I found myself just as invested in their storylines as we did the emergency calls.

When the show first started we also saw both sides of the emergencies, not only the dispatchers fielding the call but also the person on the other side. Since the Fuji TV scandal happened these scenes have steadily decreased to the point where entire episodes are now simply taking place in the command centre with no location shooting otherwise. This is a shame, but ultimately the team have been making the best of a poor situation and ensured they hired talented actors some of whom are from the seiyuu world such as Nobunaga Shimazaki and Marina Inoue. In fact, the first episode starred Yuki Kaji, who also appeared on-screen.

I feel many other series would have faltered under these conditions and really it's the strength of the writing and the actors that we're in the position where I still recommend this despite the very obvious cuts in budget and ability to tell the story the way they originally envisioned when this started.

In Closing

119 Emergency Call is a series striving not only to bring awareness to an often unseen job but also to capture the hearts of its audience through the personal stories of the cast. Despite having to navigate through a very difficult period with Fuji TV, the show continues to impress and make the best of the situation which is impressive all things considered.

119 Emergency Call is currently airing on Fuji TV on Mondays. Catchup is available through TVer and FOD.
©Fuji TV