I am a fan of Ozamu Tezuka, Japan’s premiere manga artist, since I was kid but really… this one of an unlicensed surgeon with a cute sidekick Pinoco baffles me a bit. I like Blackjack. Ozamu Tezuka created a character so dark and mysterious. However, if one is a doctor, specifically an unlicensed surgeon at that, I wonder how those great characteristics I once admired fit. Well, it does fit the character actually. A character that engages in unrecognized surgical practices such as joining two hearts together or even operating on himself. How that is medically possible is totally unknown. Tezuka-san of course, though not a medical expert, probably just based it on the fact that his character is a great surgeon enough to do those things. Well, okay. That is still weird to me.

But somehow, I can’t put my finger on why these all work. And there are indeed some stories that are endearing. I especially remember those chapters. I must admit this is something new. It’s weird but it’s good. Expect Tezuka-san to create something totally unique.

There is a Blackjack OAV and Movie. The art there actually made Blackjack look more handsome to me although the art does not have the Tezuka trademark. It’s because the animation was built only recently.

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NOTE: This description was written sometime 2001 and was recorded in the classic Otaku Fridge as ??.??.2001. Unfortunately the database would not accept non-numerical values, so this review is now dated January 02, 2001 by default.

Individual Rating: Individual Rating: Art 7; Story 7; Characters 8

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 2nd, 2001 at 10:04 am and is filed under Blackjack, Manga. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.