Shōnen Jump’s latest rising star collides Sakamoto Days with The Apothecary Diaries, and the results are nothing short of glorious. Under Doctor, which premiered in January 2026, combines gripping action with medical mystery — with no shortage of heart, flair, and ingenious takes on shōnen storytelling. The fledgling manga also wears a stunning constellation of influences on its sleeve, ranging from classics like Hunter x Hunter to modern Shōnen Jump next-gen Big Three candidates like Ichi the Witch.
One of Under Doctor‘s most obvious influences is Sakamoto Days. With release updates on Sakamoto Days‘ confirmed second season few and far between, that’s great news for fans who are eager to scratch that itch in the meantime.
It also clearly draws loads of inspiration from The Apothecary Diaries, thanks to its intimate storylines and its emphasis on using diagnosis and the body itself as instruments for its storytelling. This strange clash of worlds yields a shōnen story that at once feels familiar and highly original. It’s still early in its run, but it’s already distinguished itself as a series to keep an eye on.
Under Doctor’s Formula Is Incredibly Novel
Profound medical knowledge serves as Under Doctor‘s foundation — it’s earned some comparisons to House M.D. for the same reason. Under Doctor‘s heartbeat is medical intrigue, and the backbone of the plot rests in diagnosis, treatment, and the human elements of those processes. This is where Under Doctor mirrors The Apothecary Diaries.
In many ways, Under Doctor‘s Dr. Haiji Kino has the hallmarks of conventional shōnen protagonists. However, many shōnen heroes, Dr. Haiji’s powers don’t sit on top of the narrative; instead, they’re tightly integrated with how the story itself is structured and unfolds.
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01
Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) became one of the most-watched anime on Crunchyroll. The story takes place in a world where humanity lives behind massive walls to protect themselves from giant humanoid creatures. What are these creatures called?
✓ Correct! The giant humanoid creatures are called Titans. In the original Japanese, they’re referred to as “Kyojin” (giants). Eren Yeager’s quest to destroy all Titans after they breach Wall Maria became one of the most gripping storylines in anime history.
✗ That answer needs more filler training! The answer is Titans. Kaiju are giant monsters from Japanese cinema like Godzilla, Hollows are the enemy creatures in Bleach, and Demons appear in series like Demon Slayer. In Attack on Titan, these towering humanoid creatures are specifically called Titans.
02
Studio MAPPA has become one of the most prominent anime studios in recent years, producing several massive hit series. Which of these popular anime was NOT produced by MAPPA?
✓ Correct! Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no Yaiba) is produced by ufotable, not MAPPA. Ufotable’s stunning animation quality — especially the breathtaking fight sequences — became a hallmark of the Demon Slayer franchise. MAPPA produced Jujutsu Kaisen, Attack on Titan: The Final Season, and Chainsaw Man.
✗ That answer needs more filler training! The answer is Demon Slayer. Demon Slayer is animated by studio ufotable, renowned for its gorgeous visual effects. MAPPA has produced Jujutsu Kaisen, took over Attack on Titan: The Final Season from WIT Studio, and animated Chainsaw Man.
03
Solo Leveling became a massive hit anime in 2024 after being one of the most popular manhwa (Korean comics) in the world. The story follows a weak hunter who gains the unique ability to level up. What is the protagonist’s name?
✓ Correct! Sung Jin-Woo is the protagonist of Solo Leveling. Originally the weakest E-Rank hunter, he gains the power of the mysterious System, allowing him to level up infinitely. His transformation from the “World’s Weakest Hunter” to the most powerful Shadow Monarch captivated millions of readers and viewers.
✗ That answer needs more filler training! The answer is Sung Jin-Woo. Jin-Woo Sung reverses the name order (Korean names place the surname first). Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk are protagonists from Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint, another popular Korean series. Sung Jin-Woo is the iconic Shadow Monarch of Solo Leveling.
04
The Crunchyroll Anime Awards celebrate the best in anime each year. Which anime won Anime of the Year at the 2024 Crunchyroll Anime Awards?
✓ Correct! Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End won Anime of the Year at the 2024 Crunchyroll Anime Awards. This beautifully contemplative series about an elven mage reflecting on mortality and the passage of time after her hero party’s quest ends charmed audiences and critics alike with its unique, introspective storytelling.
✗ That answer needs more filler training! The answer is Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End. While Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2, Oshi no Ko, and Vinland Saga Season 2 were all critically acclaimed, it was Frieren’s meditative exploration of time, memory, and connection that captured the top prize at the 2024 ceremony.
05
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is consistently rated as one of the greatest anime of all time. The story follows two brothers who attempted a forbidden alchemical technique. What taboo did Edward and Alphonse Elric commit?
✓ Correct! Edward and Alphonse attempted human transmutation to bring their deceased mother back to life. The attempt failed catastrophically — Edward lost his left leg and then sacrificed his right arm to bind Alphonse’s soul to a suit of armor. This event drives the entire series as they search for the Philosopher’s Stone to restore their bodies.
✗ That answer needs more filler training! The answer is human transmutation — specifically, attempting to resurrect their dead mother. In the world of FMA, human transmutation is the ultimate taboo in alchemy. The brothers’ failed attempt cost Edward his limbs and Alphonse his entire body, setting the stage for their epic journey.
06
Spy x Family became a worldwide phenomenon with its wholesome yet action-packed story of a found family. The father, Loid Forger, is secretly a spy. What is his spy codename?
✓ Correct! Loid Forger’s spy codename is Twilight, and he’s considered the top agent of Westalis’s intelligence service, WISE. His mission, Operation Strix, requires him to build a fake family — leading him to adopt the telepathic Anya and marry the assassin Yor, creating one of anime’s most beloved found families.
✗ That answer needs more filler training! The answer is Twilight. Agent Dusk and Shadow are fictional names, while Nightfall is actually the codename of another WISE agent, Fiona Frost, who has a crush on Loid. Twilight is Westalis’s greatest spy and the heart of Spy x Family’s charming story.
07
Crunchyroll merged with another major anime streaming service to become the dominant platform for anime. Which streaming service was absorbed into Crunchyroll?
✓ Correct! Funimation was merged into Crunchyroll after Sony’s acquisition of Crunchyroll from AT&T in 2021. The merger consolidated the anime streaming market, bringing Funimation’s massive library of dubbed anime together with Crunchyroll’s simulcast catalog, making Crunchyroll the world’s largest dedicated anime platform.
✗ That answer needs more filler training! The answer is Funimation. Netflix Anime is part of Netflix and operates independently, HIDIVE is Sentai Filmworks’ streaming service, and AnimeLab was a smaller Australian service. Funimation — once Crunchyroll’s biggest rival — was fully absorbed into the Crunchyroll platform.
08
Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli are legendary in the anime world. Miyazaki’s final film was released in 2023 and won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. What is the title of this film?
✓ Correct! The Boy and the Heron (Kimitachi wa Dō Ikiru ka) was released in 2023 and won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2024. The deeply personal, surrealist fantasy film was widely considered Miyazaki’s farewell masterpiece, exploring themes of grief, imagination, and the passage between worlds.
✗ That answer needs more filler training! The answer is The Boy and the Heron. Spirited Away 2 and Ponyo Returns don’t exist. The Wind Rises was Miyazaki’s previous “final” film from 2013. The Boy and the Heron marked his true farewell, winning the Oscar and cementing his legacy as anime’s greatest storyteller.
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Groomed to become an assassin, Haiji would utterly reject that path in order to pursue medicine and save people. He was born with an innate ability to understand the internal workings of others’ bodies and to sense lights on their bodies indicating underlying problems and weak points. Through his childhood assassin training, he learned how to manipulate the body through self-taught acupressure to cure or alleviate ailments — or to stylishly incapacitate enemies.
But what makes Haiji most interesting isn’t his unique powers. It’s how he chooses to direct them. That’s where Under Doctor intersects with Sakamoto Days.
Under Doctor’s Fresh Protagonist Addresses A Real Problem
On the surface, Under Doctor and Sakamoto Days have a lot in common already: theming around the underground and assassins, over-the-top action, a story that isn’t afraid to be sentimental, and a slowly-assembled, well-written supporting cast. Even their protagonists are considered the best of the best with their respective work. But Taro Sakamoto and Haiji also parallel each other in a much more meaningful way.
Through his close partnership with Chiwako of the Oshimori family, the Japanese underground’s oldest and most dominant clan, Haiji takes on high-paying cases irrespective of the client or their work. On a handful of occasions, he’s also been willing to do pro bono cases for rare diseases or out of goodwill.
Like Sakamoto, Haiji has very clear motivations, and some real reasons for finding himself entangled with the underworld nonetheless. In Under Doctor‘s case, Haiji’s overarching goal is simple: to research cures for rare diseases that don’t receive funding from traditional medical institutions because they’re not profitable. It’s later revealed that this is because of an extremely rare disease that has frozen a childhood friend in time, dormant on a hospital bed.
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This context grounds all of Haiji’s decisions — including treating members of the same underworld he wished to escape. Both Sakamoto and Haiji take exterior pressures and constant threats and face them with ironclad resolve; meanwhile, their assassin powers become not a means of harm or survival, but protection for the people and things that matter most to them. Under Doctor intelligently augments that core idea by making Dr. Haiji’s top motivation leveraging his expertise to help with solving an actual problem in the real world, and one that affects him personally.
That’s the key shift that both Under Doctor and Sakamoto Days operate through: by emphasizing protection, the stories leave just as much room for their supporting casts and their broader motivations as they do for their protagonists. Under Doctor bursts with sincerity as much as it brims with gripping action and hype; its masterful injection of The Apothecary Diaries’ most addictive elements into Sakamoto Days’ story structure makes Under Doctor an up-and-comer that every Shōnen Jump fan needs to watch out for.
TV Show(s)
One Piece, Naruto, Naruto: Shippuden, Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Bleach, My Hero Academia, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Jujutsu Kaisen, Hunter x Hunter, Hunter x Hunter, JoJo Bizarre Adventure, Death Note, Yu Yu Hakusho: Eizou Hakusho, Black Clover, Dr. Stone, Haikyuu!!, The Promised Neverland, Food Wars!: Shokugeki No Soma, Kuroko’s Basketball, Tokyo Ghoul, Toriko
