Black Jack 9
February 6, 2010
Osamu Tezuka – Vertical – 2010 – 17 volumes
Ah, I knew I had one more series with “black” in the title.
One of my favorite, if slightly far-fetched stories in the volume involved a couple at a hospital who decided to marry despite each having a slow-acting terminal condition. The woman had a form of leukemia, while the man had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which I didn’t recognize until Black Jack shortened it to ALS. It didn’t occur to me that Lou Gerhig’s Disease might not be a worldwide term for it. But Black Jack helps out a Russian doctor who knows the real secrets of suspended sleep/cryogenic freeze that keeps people alive and brings them back when there is a cure for their disease, and after badmouthing the couple as a med student, Black Jack remembers them later in life. Aww.
There was a strange story towards the end of the volume about a surgery that Black Jack botched twice and the stubborn patient that doesn’t value his life and refuses a third and final surgery. I liked the ridiculous and over-the-top ending, a similar one happened earlier in the series.
Also in this volume, Black Jack confronts Iriomote Wild Cats, incompetent doctors that have to perform surgery on him, terrorists that try to blow up his house, a couple other terrorists and gangsters, sharks, and a not-so-angelic Astro Boy. I’ve already read this story in Astro Boy, and I still don’t like it even after reading a good chunk of Black Jack. The ending doesn’t make any more sense this time around. I mean… why? Why do that to the little boy? How cruel.
One of the first stories in the volume is about Pinoko coming down with an incurable illness. Even though I was 100% certain that Pinoko wouldn’t die, it was still a very touching story. I still think Pinoko is quite creepy, but it is very touching that Black Jack cares about her so much. One Pinoko joke puzzled me thoroughly, though. She and Black Jack are performing a complex surgery in another story, and she says she can stay awake because she stayed up watching “woots” the other day. Black Jack asks, “As in ‘yay?’” and Pinoko replies “not ‘woot,’ ‘Woots!’” She always speaks with an impediment, and is probably talking about “Roots” here, which fits in with the Black Jack time frame, but… is Black Jack referring to what I think he is?
But yes, Black Jack keeps delivering the good stuff. From the first story about a teacher trying to use verbal abuse to motivate his students to the stories about his ethics and when he will and won’t accept payment, to the incredibly interesting and detailed cases he covers (in addition to ALS, we also see icthyosis, rare heart conditions, and one or two other oddball ailments), Black Jack keeps delivering the good stuff nine volumes in. It’s probably not for everyone (the moral situations are still ambiguous and nonsensical sometimes, and the stories don’t vary that much in structure, though the subject matter keeps them interesting and entertaining), but it’ll keep me entertained for a long time to come.
And for the record, Lamp is in here twice. Once he is killed away from the storyline and discovered later, which makes him angry, and later he gets to have a prominent role and wear a beard.
February 9, 2010 at 11:51 am
Yay! More Black Jack! Thanks for the review, I can’t wait to get my hands on this one!
B. Some Q’s on unclear points in the review: is the Russian cryogenic dr in the same story as the engaged diseased couple?
Black Jack and Astro Boy had a crossover with a different version of the story from each character’s POV? That’s amazing!
How can Lamp be upset after he’s killed off? :P
C. I don’t like Pinoko’s “I’m the wife!” attitude (she’s probably just confused. Remember she has the intellectual abilities of a young adult, but the emotional and physical maturity of a preschooler), but otherwise I like her, and more importantly, I love the paternal quality she brings out in BJ. And “Roots” is a good catch…as for ‘yay’ a think you just have a dirty mind. :P
D. I keep reading reviews that insist that Black Jack “isn’t for everybody.” I disagree. I’ve caught my dad (who dislikes sci-fi and comics) reading it, I’ve lent to people who have little-to-know familiarity with manga, including ultra-orthodox Jews, and everybody seems to love it! Black Jack has universal themes and Tezuka had great storytelling chops. Not everybody may like every story, (I’m a fan and I don’t) but the concept of a doctor doing good on the fringes of the law? That’s almost universally enjoyable!
February 10, 2010 at 1:53 am
Hello, and thank you so much for sharing your thoughts! I really appreciate the feedback. Let’s see:
- Yes, the Russian cryogenic doctor is in the same story as the couple with ALS and leukemia.
- The Astro Boy story is the same in both Astro Boy and Black Jack, no change in POV. As far as I remember, they are exactly the same story, just included in both collections.
- Lamp’s anger was part of a gag. I think he’s angry about being upstaged by Kojack.
- I can pretty much agree with you on everything you say about Pinoko. I do love what she brings out in Black Jack, but I really dislike her for all the wife gags. I understand her character completely, and can really sympathize with her at some points (the Pinoko story in this volume is one of her best, and deals with what it would take for Black Jack to give her an adult body), but I just… don’t like the wife gags. Plus, there’s the whole “tumor in the body of a little girl” thing, even if she’s way more than that now. And I think you’re the one with a dirty mind, I was thinking Black Jack was referring to the internet slang word “w00t,” the geeky man’s “yay.” I was curious about the anachronism. :p
- It’s true that Black Jack isn’t for everyone, though. It does appeal to a broad range of tastes because of its subject matter, but I’ve heard from more than a few people that don’t like it. The pacing of the stories is usually very slow with a quick resolution and a moral tagged on at the end, the Tezuka jokes tend to baffle people not familiar with his works and upset those looking for a serious story, the short episodic stories can get kind of repetitive for those looking for an overarching story, and it may also be a bit too “out there” for those who are looking for a serious medical drama along the lines of, say, ER or something like that. It’s especially hard to get people used to more modern manga series into it, because there’s a huge difference in storytelling technique and… well, everything. Black Jack just isn’t like Bleach or Naruto or anything else, which is to its benefit, but a lot of people are more comfortable with what’s familiar, you know? Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty to like about it, and I like it for some of the reasons others may not, but those are just some of the problems I can see with it. It does appeal to a lot of people who may not necessarily like other manga though, which is the really wonderful thing about it, and I’m glad you’ve found so many people to read it. It’s one of my favorite series and will continue to be, and I write reviews like this with a vague hope that maybe I’ll convince someone out there to finally pick it up.
The whole thing about it being way different from modern manga is a sticking point for a lot of older series. I’ve pretty much talked myself blue trying to get people to pick up From Eroica With Love, a classic 70s shoujo manga, but reading through some pretty… honest feedback from younger readers and primary consumers of manga, they dislike the dated art and think the story is weird. It’s the same reason why there are so few series from before the late 90s available in English. Manga fans want to read what they’re familiar with, which is going to be all current stuff that reflects modern tastes. Non-manga fans are more likely to try what they hear is best, which will inevitably be the opinion of the majority, and that always leaves the older stuff in the lurch. Handing stuff out to non-fans that suit personal tastes is a great idea, which is why Black Jack will succeed more than a lot of other series, and why Swan (another 70s shoujo manga) might do better than my Eroica since dancers can read that series and empathize with it.
Once again, thank you for your thoughts, I always love a discussion.