Black Jack is an anime based off of the wildly popular classic manga series by Osamu Tezuka. It follows an unlicensed doctor, Kuroo Hazama, known by his nickname, Black Jack, who is the best in his trade. But this comes at a cost, a great cost, one which makes Black Jack look greedy. This is the result of the man's work, brilliant, but underground and sometimes illegal.
First a little bit of background on Osamu Tezuka. Osamu Tezuka is widely known to be the first successful mangaka and the godfather of modern anime, this was not his intention. On the contrary, in fact, Osamu Tezuka went to school to become a physician or a surgeon (I have read articles which state either of these), of which after graduating from medical school, never applied for a license, taking a short break before he reached his goal doing manga publications. But fate had another calling for him as he quickly became one of the most well-known people in Japan, especially as far as entertainment is concerned and the rest is history.
With the premise of the anime, as well as the character of Black Jack, the show's subject being established, the remaining main characters are to be described. There is one major recurrent side character, Pinoko, a living tumor, given a body by Black Jack, she serves as Black Jack's assistant as well as a means of comic relief. Interestingly, Pinoko can be considered the first Loli, as she is 18 years old, but has the body of someone about five, additionally she is engaged to Black Jack, but Black Jack treats her like a daughter more than a wife. The main antagonist is Doctor Kiriko, known as either Mozart or Death Doctor. He is much like Black Jack in profession and trade, but as the nickname Death Doctor suggests, Doctor Kiriko believes that death is sometimes a better solution than life.
Episode one starts off with Black Jack answering a call to a remote island. The patient, named Mr. Crossword, is afflicted with a mysterious disease which causes him to have a large intake of water in order to keep away excruciating pain. Called in by Mr. Crossword's wife, Black Jack is hoped to save Mr. Crossword and his affliction. There are two subplots in this episode, one which includes an affair taken on by Mrs. Crossword, which ends, even while Mrs. Crossword is pregnant, near the end of this subplot Mrs. Crossword falls in the shower and Black Jack is forced to operate on her in order to repair the placenta to let the infant live, there is only a 20% success rate that the infant will survive, but he manages to pull it off. Another one involves a poverty-stricken village on the other side of the island, the villagers are running out of water and some of the villagers have gotten the mystery illness, he speaks to the town's nurse and she tells Black Jack the symptoms and the outcome of the disease and then he leaves. The main plot resumes with Mr. Crossword asking Black Jack not to save his life, but rather cut him open while he has his next attack, which he believes is the last. Mr. Crossword is right, but what Black Jack finds out and tells to the nurse eventually gives the disease, named Kimaira, worldwide attention. This is where the episode ends.
Episode two is a case which Black Jack had not planned for. Starting in the winter Black ack performs first aid on a girl who had fallen into an icy fountain whilst skating. This is the last that Black Jack thinks he will see of her, just like all of his other clients, but he was wrong. Six months later, Black Jack returns to the same city as he was in before and comes across the girl, named Rei Fujinami, her friends have died one by one, one was run over, the other comitted suicide by train and the last is likely to be comatose for the rest of her life after a bridge collapse. Black Jack agrees to operate on her, but when he gets to the hospital, the president, Tokio Umetani, refuses. Under pressure from the other surgeons, he grudgingly accepts. Black Jack operates and things go smooth, but it seems that Black Jack's patient had been drugged. It turns out that there is more to this case. When Black Jack, discovers the drugging, a series of incidents occur: First a lack of visits from Rei for a total of five days. Black Jack goes to Rei's apartment and finds her experiencing the effects of drug withdrawal. He then discovers a dried up cactus which contains a drug, get pricked by it, and it has similar effects to opium. Once Black Jack finds out about this, he asks Rei what this was all about, she explains where she found the cactus, and after some research find out the hill is owned by none other than Tokio Umetani, the hospital president. Black Jack confronts him on this, but as he does so, the mob which controls the operation enters the room and knocks out Black Jack and Umetani. They are taken to the hillside, drugged, and left to die as the cacti are burned and a bomb is set. Black Jack makes it out with Umetani, but only after stabbing himself with a set of medical shears. The episode concludes with a final goodbye from Rei before flying back home.
Episode three is a high risk operation to say the least. The story begins with the apprehension of a military general, named General Cruz, under accusations of encouraging drug trade. He has been suffering from intense, debilitating pain. His troops ambush a convoy carrying him to a prison for interrogation and escapes. In the meantime, Black Jack is called in to operate on him, while in the middle of a war. Operating in complete darkness, Black Jack identifies General Cruz's ailment as cancer and must remove his tumor. But the night before, the encampment is attacked and everyone splits up and flees. As a result, Black Jack works only by moonlight is successful, but he still needs to take General Cruz to the border of his country. Once there, the wartime enemy awaits for Cruz. Black Jack refuses to turn him over and Cruz, now concious, refuses too and reveals that he has strapped grenades to him. He walks to the border, but then the enemy opens fire, leaving only his hand left. Black Jack is horrified, and later leaves, where the episode ends.
Episode four introduces Doctor Kiriko, showing him euthanizing his patient by lethal injection. The patient in question, is one of Black Jack's patients and he shows up as Kiriko is leaving, after this Black Jack rushes to the patients room, where he is dead. The deceased's family apoligizes, but they felt that death was a better option. Cut to a little while later, Black Jack has another case, this one of an actress, named Micelle Rochasse, who collapsed during the shooting of a movie's final scene.
So far, I really quite like the series for its masterful storytelling and high quality animation with efficient blending of computer generated imagery and traditional elements. It is clear that the production was given a good budget, as shown with the high production standards. Minor elements, such as sound management are done well too. Overall, I recommend this to anyone interested, there is no going wrong with this one.
