Customer Reviews

Black Jack, Vol. 5

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If you're reading this review, you probably already know that Osamu Tezuka is known as the "God of Manga" in Japan. You know that before becoming an artist full-time, Tezuka graduated from medical school. Tezuka's most developed character is "Black Jack," a "super doctor," an un-licensed maverick who is a fantastic surgeon. His exploits are so over-the-top, he must be Tezuka's dream of what a doctor could be. He has his flaws, such as his scarred face, and his greed for money, which at this point in the series we don't really understand.

In this volume of Black Jack stories, Tezuka takes a decidedly darker, more somber turn. Gone are the days in which Black Jack can do no wrong, and every story ends up tied neatly with a bow. The morality tales turn more serious, and in many of the stories, we feel Black Jack's angst as he either fails in his surgery attempts, or succeeds but questions the value of his success. I'm not going to spoil any stories, but at points he has existential dilemmas. Perhaps Tezuka wrote some of these stories during his tough times with his studio that went broke- I'm not sure of the exact timeline - but it is clear that there is a feeling of "innocence lost" here.

After all, Black Jack is still a super-surgeon, a maverick above the law and Pinoko is his wonderful sidekick. He becomes more real and a more sympathetic character as Tezuka is very rough on him here, but he emerges, if not unscathed, at least still Black Jack.

One note I've neglected to mention on my reviews of the various Black Jack books- the translation work is very good. I'm not fluent in Japanese, although I can read Kanji. What's especially helpful is when the author adds notes at the bottom of the page explaining ways Tezuka plays with names to create a sense of irony, or to even openly mock public figures and other Manga artists. We will never get 100% of the experience of a native Japanese reader, but this translator does a great job of getting us close.

If you haven't been following along in the series then you can rest assured that you won't miss too much if you haven't read anything previously. That's not to say that you shouldn't run out & pick up the previous volumes- they're excellent- but the series' setup of one-off chapters makes it easy for new readers to jump in at almost any point.

This volume collects all sort of different stories, from trying to save Kiriko's father to working on a celebrity. The stories are as varied as you could get without getting off the subject at hand.

Like I said in a previous review- some of the feats in this series are pretty unbelievable & just as many are almost impossible. Even so, the excellent Tezuka story telling will entrance even the most reluctant reader.