Customer Reviews

Black Jack, Vol. 7

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The back cover of this book calls it a "peerless medical drama." That it is, and then some. This book is like literary crack cocaine. It is impossible to pick up a volume from this excellent series without screaming through it and looking for the next volume. If I had a huge stack of the books in my apartment, I'd be like one of those crackheads that didn't sleep or eat for a week.

You can pick up the series anywhere, but you probably should start at the first one, since it's unlikely you'll read just one. There are some events that gradually shape Black Jack and Pinoko throughout the volumes, but the genius of Tezuka is each story is a real story by itself. If the modern-day superhero book writers and DC and Marvel understood how to do this, their companies would regain their lost readership.

Tezuka knows how to spin a tale in which the "superhero" doctor Black Jack always has an interesting adventure, always survives, yet doesn't always succeed or "win." This is what makes the stories so real and interesting. As you read these stories, you form a very strong emotional bond with the characters.

Pinoko, Black Jack's sometime sidekick, at first read is just a silly, almost stupid naive girl. But over time, we watch Pinoko become a heroic, endearing, lovable character. I'm not sure what Tezuka is saying here; Pinoko is the strange little girl that Black Jack "created" out of body parts. She thinks she's 20 years old and his wife. In some ways she is very smart, beyond her years, but in most ways she is silly like a little girl. Yet she is incredibly loyal to Black Jack. In one story, we learn the great lengths she is willing to go for him. Is she a metaphor for Japan herself? Or some aspect of Japanese culture we don't understand? I don't know, but it's clear that this character has meaning on multiple levels.

Second, Black Jack is revered and called a "lone wolf" many times in this and all other volumes. Why does Tezuka admire him so much? We see his faults and his strengths, but clearly he is heroic. Tezuka uses him often as a way to rail against conventional, often times corrupt, Japanese culture. It is almost shocking that he is able to get away with this. Every hospital has a corrupt, lazy director. Black Jack is always the sympathetic figure, despite being unlicensed. It's amazing how this series was so popular in Japan.

If you think Manga is just the silly girly stories, or the silly pornographic garbage, you haven't read the "God of Manga" Tezuka yet. He will change your mind. Until you get to his other works, pick up Black Jack and prepare to be surprised.

If you've been following the series along to this point, you are more than familiar with the characters and themes of the manga. If you haven't, then don't worry- one of the strong points of the Black Jack series is that you can pick up any volume in the series & know what is going on. While some stories do give more background to the characters & situations, each chapter is an individual story unto themselves. (Although reading just one of the volumes is like listening to just one piece of a symphony- you can enjoy it, but you miss out on the overall experience.)

This volume, if I had to label it, would be the sad & sweet volume. The volume opens up with some rather sad tales, such as a sister who would do anything for her badly hurt brother... even if it means putting herself in danger. The tales do get a little sweeter as the volume progresses with a tale about a man who has lost his family & believes a trio of cats to be his dead wife & children, but overall many of the stories are a little sad. (They're more cheery than some of the other stories in previous volumes, though!) That isn't to say that they're all depressing- there's a pretty great story in here concerning the president of a huge company & a common construction worker that should warm the heart.

I really do enjoy the Black Jack series. As always, the feats in the manga really aren't feasible in many cases, but the storytelling is so great that you just really don't care. One of the things I really liked in this volume is that there's a lot of character background in it. You learn a little more about Black Jack's past & you get to see who Black Jack based Pinoko's face on. There's some translation notes on a few of the pages, which really helped on some occasions when some of the references got beyond my limited knowledge of Japanese culture.

If you've been collecting the series, I really don't have to tell you what makes this series so great. If you haven't, then you are really missing out. If Higurashi is my favorite thriller manga, Black Jack is my favorite drama manga. I'll be a little sad when Vertical eventually releases the final volume in 2011- this manga really takes you for one great ride. But then, what can you expect from Tezuka, other than the absolute best?