Black Jack (character)

Infobox animanga character
name = Black Jack
series = Black Jack


caption = Black Jack as he appears in "Black Jack 21"
first = "Black Jack", Chapter 1 (November 19, 1973)
last =
creator = Osamu Tezuka
voiced by = Akio Ohtsuka (Japan), Kirk Thornton (English, OVA, and movie)
oaux* name =
oaux* =
nickname =
alias = Kuro Hazama
age =
gender =
species =
born =
death =
nationality =
class =
occupation = Surgeon
title =
relatives =
paux* name =
paux* =
divider =
aux* name =
aux* = nihongo|"Black Jack"|ブラック・ジャック|Burakku Jakku is a fictional character created by Osamu Tezuka, introduced in "Weekly Shōnen Champion" on November 19, 1973.

Black Jack is a medical mercenary, selling his skills to the highest bidder. He is a shadowy figure, with a black cape, eerie black-and-white hair and a scar across his face. Black Jack cures patients indiscriminately, from common folk to presidents and yakuza leaders. To his VIP patients, he charges absurd sums. All this has given him a reputation for callousness and greed which he gleefully cultivates.

However, to the reader it is clear that Black Jack actually is not really bad. In fact, when he cures poor patients, he charges absurd sums, too, and when the poor patients couldn't pay that, he leaves and then returns to operate them for free. In a chapter of Black Jack, he explains that if the patients claim that the sums are absurd, they haven't understood emotions at the border between life and death. The truth is, he is actually doing rich people a favor by removing their material wealth. He never charges his patients a reasonable amount, unless his emotions compel him, or if he admires the patient, or if the patient helped him.

In addition to his medical skills, Black Jack is a skilled fighter. He is not violent by nature, but he will not hesitate to use force to defend himself or others. He is capable of fighting with his fists, he sometimes uses a gun, and he can use a scalpel as a throwing weapon somewhat like a shuriken.

Biography

Black Jack's real name is nihongo|Kuro Hazama|間 黒男|Hazama Kuroo. His odd appearance comes from an incident during his childhood when he was 8 years old, where both he and his mother were severely injured in an explosion. His mother lost all four limbs, later slipping into a coma, and dying shortly afterward. Meanwhile, Kuro's own body was nearly torn to shreds, but he was rescued thanks to a miraculous operation by Dr. Jotaro Honma. Marked by this experience, Kuro decided to become a surgeon himself, taking the name of Black Jack.

Despite his medical genius, Black Jack has chosen never to obtain a surgical license, operating instead in the shadows. He scorns such things as licenses as meaningless symbols of social status, preferring to live in anonymity. Also, a license would mean he would have to follow certain rules, including not charging large fees for operations. The episodes "Missing Pinoko" (Black Jack TV) and "The Day his Medical License Returns" (Black Jack 21) both show him once having a medical license, but performed a procedure when his superior said that it was hopeless. Despite saving the patient, his license was revoked. Ever since, he has been based in a private clinic on a sea cliff far away from civilization, but frequently travels to hospitals around the world to covertly assist terminally ill patients.

In episode 31 "Intimidation in the Twentieth Year" (Black Jack TV), its said the operation made by Dr. Honma was twenty years ago, so Black Jack's age is around 28 years, but its said he opened his clinic 10 years ago, so Black Jack could have finished medical career when he was 18 years or younger.

In Chapter 68: "The Most Beautiful Woman in the World" (published April 14, 1975), the character explains his real name; Kuro. "Kuro-o" is written with the Japanese characters for "black" and "man". As Jack is a common name for a man, he translates his name as "Black Jack".

Other appearances

As part of Osamu Tezuka's Star System, Black Jack has appeared in several of the artist's works.

Black Jack starred as a side character along with Pinoko in episode 27 (The Time Machine) of the 1980 animated adaptation of Tezuka's "Astro Boy". Both he and Astro were recruited by a detective from the distant future and were taken back to a medieval castle to catch a man who was messing up the timeline, where Black Jack was to heal a sick prince and Astro was to protect the castle from the evil sorcerer. While Astro attempts to fight the beasts sent by an evil sorcerer, Black Jack makes the startling discovery that the prince is actually a princess, and using some clever deception to outwit their nemesis, heals her as Astro defeats the sorcerer, showing him to be the man that the futuristic detective was looking for. In true Black Jack fashion, he tells the town to learn to accept that they would have a female ruler, and refuses payment, instead taking a commemorative coin which Astro later values to be worth several million dollars.

Black Jack makes cameo appearances in 1979's "Marine Express", 1980's "Phoenix 2772" as the foreman of the prison planet work camp, and the 2004 videogame "".

Other manga artists have paid homage to Tezuka's surgeon in their works. The character of Black Jack, identified only as B.J., appears in Akihito Yoshitomi's "Ray". In Yoshitomi's manga, B.J. operates on the titular character, giving her X-ray vision. "Excel Saga"'s Dr. Sekifumi Iwata bears a scar similar to Black Jack's. [The reference is even brought up by the American editor. The notes at the back of the first volume refer to him as a "Black Jack looking quack".] Nicktoons's "Kappa Mikey" s contains a slight humorous reference. In the episode "Saving Face", Dr. Takashi Katashi claims he removed Black Jack's scar to make him appear better. Even Kamen Rider Den-O's Imagin Anime OVA parodized Black Jack by having Ryutaros cosplay as him in a doctor sketch.

References

External links

* [http://en.tezuka.co.jp/studio/character/c049/c049.html Black Jack] in the Tezuka World database
* [http://tezukainenglish.com/?q=node/85 Black Jack] in the Tezuka in English database