Umi no Ue no Shinryoujo eps 1-3

In episode 4 of KDO where Kuwano and Hayasaka sensei board the tour bus, it was to tour the locations of this 48 Japanese movie series called Otoko wa Tsurai yo which was about a travelling salesman who falls in love but inadvertently hooking up the girl with another man. I've never seen the movies but I'd imagined it would be similar to 101 Proposals. The underdog who never succeeds and who the audience keeps going back wanting him to get the girl but they he'll never succeed because that would mean the end.

I would imagine the shadow of Otoko wa Tsurai yo hangs over Umi no Ue no Shinryoujo. Instead of the everyman travelling salesman, we have Matsuda Shota as a travelling super doctor thereby creating the most believable down on his luck protagonist who can never get the woman. So episode Dr Kota goes to an island, falls in love with a hot chick, gets into a medical emergency and get rejected in the end. 

Except for Kaho in episode 3, I found the series pretty flat. There is just no charm, no melancholy to this character. The slapstick jokes fall flat and the series as a whole feels too by the numbers, eg anything to do with the captain is so boring. Its tries too hard to be funny and ends up feeling not earnest for lack of a better word. I was tempted to give it a do not watch but its not like it sucks. I'll probably keep watching just for the women and Toda Erika. Umi no Ue no Shinryoujo just feels souless.