Mysterious sicknesss have been plaguing various people, causing their bodies to develop unpleasant changes, or discharge strange substances. The symptoms are such that they can't be cured with normal medicine—and that is assuming that the doctors are willing to even believe that such things can happen. Thankfully, Dr. Ramune is ready to cure these maladies, often helping these afflicted individuals discover the equally unpleasant sides of themselves and/or the people around them that they desperately wish to deny.
Dr. Ramune: Mysterious Disease Specialist, or 怪病医ラムネ(Kaibyōi Ramune) in Japanese, is a Shōnen manga written and illustrated by Aho Toro. The series was initially serialized in Monthly Shōnen Sirius magazine from September 2017 to July 2018, before being transferred to Magazine Pocket manga app in August 2018. It received an anime adaptation by Platinum Vision, which premiered on 10 January 2021.
The series contains examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Several of the patients’ poor spiritual conditions are caused by their similarly poor parental relationship.
- “Condiment Tears”: Koto’s mother is an emotionally abusive Stage Mom who forces her daughter to act in various shows and advertisements so that she could buy herself jewelries and other luxury items. Meanwhile, she refuses to listen to her daughter's wishes, and calling her selfish if she dares to have an opinion that conflicts with her mom's interests. The strain of having to fake emotions on-camera, while having to suppress them off-cam causes Koto to cry condiments that hurt her eyes.
- “Gyoza Ears”: The mother’s ears turned into gyoza about the same time her husband starts becoming violent towards her eldest son, Yu. However, it’s revealed that her older son is Dead All Along and that the patient is hallucinating him. Her husband’s “abusive” behaviour is just him accidentally knocking into the space where “Yu” is supposed to be.
- “Popcorn Head” zigzags this with Shun Aona’s father. Shun is a very talented artist who develops the eponymous popcorn head symptom because his father suppresses his artistic endeavours and forces him to succeed his business instead. However, Shun’s father is actually a Doting Parent, albeit extremely misguided. He’s afraid that Shun will leave the country to pursue his arts, so he lies to his son by claiming that Shun’s artwork is causing his mother to get sick.
- The Ace: Takaharu from “Chili Pepper Fingertips” is the top scorer in his school, a gold medalist in the national junior high school track and field champtionships, and is noted to be very good looking. His best friend Bungou also qualifies, being Takaharu’s Always Second Best in all of these fields.
- Badass Family: Kuro's parents own a judo dojo; Kuro, his father and brothers are all skilled judoka.
- Barefoot Loon: Dr. Ramune goes around in sandals, which serves to indicate his eccentric personality.
- Be Yourself: Many of the patients get afflicted by the mysterious disease because of the stress they experience from suppressing their true self.
- "Condiment Tears": Koto has been forced to suppress her own feelings and desires so that her mother could use her acting talent to make herself rich, and the condiment she cries are the manifestation of her bottled up emotions. Part of the treatment Dr. Ramune gives her is some tea that causes her to speak out her mind.
- "Chilli Pepper Fingertips": Takaharu is actually The Ace, but deliberately holds himself back in order to let his best friend shine. To remove the chilli peppers, Dr. Ramune gives him a magic tool that only allows itself to be used by those it considers "worthy", forcing Takaharu to display his true talents to be considered as such.
- "Popcorn Head": Shun Aona is a talented artist whose father wants him to stop "playing around" with art and start helping out with his business. Shun recovers after his parents agree to let his talents flourish rather than force him to become someone he's not just to keep him nearby.
- Body Horror: The “mysterious disease” that Dr. Ramune treats often transforms a person’s body part into something unpleasant, such as: a boy’s fingernails becoming chili pepper, a girl’s feet transforming into geta (heeled sandals), a woman’s ears turning into gyoza (dumplings), and a guy’s penis turning into chikuwa (fishcake). Special mention goes to Kuro's case that causes him to vomit sand everyday unless he visits the shrine where Ramune's office is.
- Chekhov's Gunman:
- The pair of kids who were forced to share a bun in the background during the flashback in the “Chilli Pepper Fingertips” chapters becomes the main characters of the “Gyoza Ears” arc.
- One of the women Kengo had been seeing, Yumi, is the patient for "Geta Feet", and her insistence on staying with Kengo despite his cheating is the reason for her feet turning into geta.
- Condescending Compassion: Explored in “Chilli Pepper Fingertips”. Takaharu is The Ace who holds himself back (e.g. wearing fake glasses to hide his good looks, deliberately writing the wrong answers during exams and running slower during physical education) so that he wouldn’t outshine his best friend Bungou. However, Bungou isn’t happy about this, believing that Takaharu is looking down on him and not taking him seriously as a rival.
- Curtains Match the Windows: Ayame's hair and eyes are purple.
- Disability Superpower: Niko is blind, but his other senses (especially his hearing) is so sharp he can practically echolocate.
- Dumber Than They Look: Zigzagged with Takaharu: he wears a pair of Nerd Glasses, but despite being studious, isn't regarded as particularly intelligent by his classmates. However, his glasses is actually fake, and he's deliberately underperforming in his studies, so that his best friend Bungou could get the spotlight. When he finally stops holding himself back, he gets rid of the fake glasses and starts getting better grades.
- Eccentric Artist: Aona, the Patient of the Week in "Popcorn Head", is an extremely talented artist. According to Kuro, he's won every single art competition he entered, and when their school allows him to open a solo exhibition, which managed to draw in packs of visitors. However, he also has a very odd way of communicating, tends to narrate his emotions, regards his artworks as his friends, and otherwise has trouble focusing on other subjects beyond his interests.
- Exotic Eye Designs: Ayame has large, purple eyes with prominent spiral patterns reflected in them.
- Eyes Always Shut: Niko always keeps his eyes shut, which highlights his laidback and serene personality. He's also blind, so he has no real need to open his eyes.
- Goroawase Number: Niko wears a shirt with 25 on it, which can be read as ni-ko. His apron has 2525, which can be read the same but also has the bonus effect of sounding like niko-niko, which is an onomatopoeia-like word that can mean 'smiling'.
- Hair-Contrast Duo:
- Dr. Ramune has blonde hair and is a Hot-Blooded Idiot Hero, while his dark-haired assistant Kuro is The Stoic.
- At school, Kuro's closest friend seems to be the white-haired Aona, who is an excitable Eccentric Artist.
- Ramune also has a foil in the form of his master, the Tall, Dark, and Handsome Momiji. Unlike Ramune, Momiji is a Pragmatic Hero who keeps a distance from his patients and prefers to focus on simply working on a cure. He tells Ramune to do the same, telling that Ramune's tendency to get too involved in his patients' private lives is just going to hurt himself and others.
- Height Angst: Kuro stands at a mere 152cm—about the same height as a lot of grade-schoolers despite being in middle school—and poking fun at his small stature his a good way to get a beatdown.
- Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Ramune's former master Momiji is a sadist, and Ramune is still traumatized by whatever Momiji put him through while he's still an apprentice. Ramune's over-the-top fear of Momiji and the latter's verbal insults, beatings and other mistreatment towards the former is all played for laughs.
- Idiot Hair: Kuro's brother Kurage has one long strand sticking up from the top of his forehead, and is presented as a perverted idiot. When arguing with his younger sisters, one of them actually calls him ahoge.
- Magical Barefooter: Dr. Ramune going around in sandals may be an indication of his otherworldliness, as he's dealing with mystical diseases.
- Muggle in Mage Custody: Kuro, an ordinary human becoming a servant of the mystical Dr. Ramune.
- My God, What Have I Done?: To save Koto's life, Dr. Ramune sacrifices all luxury items her mother has obtained to cure her. While shocked at losing her stuff, she's even more horrified when Koto apologizes for what happens and is more than willing to get ill again so she can get her mother's stuff back. This act finally makes Koto's mother realize the damage she's done.
- Past-Life Memories: Grandma Ayame has the physical appearance of a grade schooler, but since she retains the memories of her past life, her mental age is actually 112.
- Patient of the Week: Each episode deals with different individuals, each being plagued with varying types of mysterious illnesses that directly or indirectly corresponds with whatever emotional distress they are going through at the moment.
- Really Gets Around: Kengo has been seeing seven women at the same time, and the lies he created turned his penis into a chikawa, like how he wear all the women's rings on his left ring finger. To cure it, Dr. Ramune transfers the chikawa to Kengo's ring finger and demands he either fesses up or lose the finger once the chikawa goes rotten.
- Selective Obliviousness: In "Gyoza Ears", the patient is in a very deep denial that her elder son, Yuu, was kidnapped and murdered while she wasn't paying attention to him, so much so that starts to hallucinate that Yuu is still around. Her gyoza-turned ears absorb any statement or question that would suggest otherwise.
- Smart People Wear Glasses: Invoked for laughs in one bonus panel where Dr. Ramune wears a pair of fake glasses and claims that he feels smarter because of it.
- There Are No Therapists: Averted. The mysterious illnesses tend to afflict those who struggle with stress and other emotional/mental issues, and the fact that Ramune has to deal with them might seem to indicate a lack of mental health specialists. However, the patient in the “Gyoza Ears” arc is specifically referred to Dr. Ramune by her therapist.
