Team Batista no Eikō

Team Batista no Eikō (チーム·バチスタの栄光 , The Glorious Team Batista ) is a Japanese mystery film and television show adapted from the best-selling novel of the same name by Takeru Kaidō. The story revolves around a hospital with a team of doctors known for their success with a type of heart surgery. After a series of failed operations that result in the patient's death, an internal investigation is initiated, led by a doctor named Taguchi and a brash government official. In the original novel the main character Taguchi, was a male doctor in his forties. However, for the film adaptation TBS suggested replacing the character with a young female resulting in Yūko Takeuchi being cast as in the role.[1] For the TV show, Taguchi is a man, with Atsushi Itō playing the role.

A top notch seven-member team of doctors and nurses known as “Team Batista” are Tojo University Hospital’s pride and joy. The medical team performs a prominent heart surgery known as the Batista Operation which has a normal 60% success rate, but the team has consecutively pulled off twenty six successful surgeries. However, the streak is broken after a string of three procedures end in their patients' deaths. Consequently, an internal investigation is launched with hospital therapist Kohei Taguchi in charge of uncovering the truth behind the incidents. When Taguchi is unable to find any definitive information, the deaths are labeled as unexplainable accidents. The evaluation is subsequently dismissed by Keisuke Shiratori, an investigator with the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, who re-launches the investigation on the basis that the deaths were actually murders.

The filmis based on an award-winning novel and its popularity resulted in roughly 25 movie studios and television networks fighting over adaptation rights, in the end TBS won out.[1] The novel was adapted for the screen by Hiroshi Saitō and Mitsuharu Makita. The film began shooting October 7, 2008 and was primarily shot in Tokyo. The Glorious Team Batista was in theaters on February 9, 2008 and became a commercial success, grossing 264 million yen from 284 screens its opening weekend.[3]

When The Glorious Team Batista was screened at the Udine Far East Film Festival, it received mediocre reviews. Todd Brown of Twitch wrote:

Similarly, Ross Chen of Love HK Film wrote:

A sequel to the film titled The Triumphant Return of General Rouge was released March 7, 2009. The sequel adapted from "General Rouge no Gaisen," which is the third book in the same novel series as "Team Batista." Yūko Takeuchi and Hiroshi Abe reprised their roles, with director Yoshihiro Nakamura also returning. Masato Sakai was cast as the film's antagonist.[2]