@ MonsieurQuack
Okeydokey. First off, it starts out with a classic Japanese pun -- a play on the homophones 恋 (koi, love) and 鯉 (koi, carp). The first person says "love" (panel 1 in the right 4-koma on page 3) and the second person misunderstands it as "carp" (panel 2).
Normally you'd...
@traveling_chef
You're right. They're confusing two different meanings of bouzu, 坊主. Technically, yes, it means a Buddhist priest or monk -- but, by analogy of the monk's shaven head with the short-cropped hair of a boy, it means "sonny" or "lad" in informal speech.
When translating, a little...
@quagzlor
Obviously, his field is "whatever the mangaka needs to make drama happen". But the mangaka can't have their cake and eat it, too. Either he's a masterful surgeon with skill in whatever-you-need, or his field is normal general surgery, and he might possibly be ignorant of techniques...
@quagzlor
Kinda missing the point a little, there. It's been established that Dr. Koto is highly skilled and well-informed about his field. Don't you think he ought reasonably to be expected to be aware of the technique?
@First_Mate_Zoro
That's a good point, and I had forgotten to account for the story being of relatively older vintage. Even so, I can't imagine a highly skilled surgeon from around 2000 being unaware of the existence of this method. Of course, the mangaka's level of knowledge is a different matter.
Hoshino's "brilliant idea" that Dr. Koto gets so excited about? That's literally how they do brain surgery on tumors near critical sites.
I feel the mangaka dropped the ball on their research for this episode.