Reviews

Dec 18, 2015
Mixed Feelings
Anime is certainly a medium that can portray any type of theme, be it cooking, swimming or even the profession of doctor, which is the case for Young Black Jack. It is an anime that is adapted from one of Tezuka Osamu's numerous works, including genres such as drama, thriller and psychological ones, which was in some cases well done. Although the concept may seem uninteresting for some viewers, it is surprisingly alluring, yet it is apparent that it has some major flaws, being the inconsistent and episodic story throughout the series the major issue, as these seem to have no real connection with each other.

~Story~

It is the year of 1968, in the middle of the Vietnam war and student protests. The story of Young Black Jack is focused around the young Hazama, portraying his life before working as a clandestine underground doctor in which he will be known as Black Jack. He is a unparalleled genius with a strong sense of being a doctor, meaning he will save everyone even if it goes against the law. This will naturally bring numerous problems as a doctor, yet although these issues are shown to the viewer, the consequences are rather lackluster, albeit hinting at these. Personally I would have liked to see these more pronounced, hence being a bit of a drawback in my opinion.

There are several interesting aspects the anime portrays such as politics and the display of activism. Several times throughout its duration these are portrayed through student demonstrations or worker strikes, whilst the political issues are shown through the darker side of politics or individuals driven by greed, as opposed to the main protagonists. Another thing to point out is the fact that surgeries and the likes performed were explained aforehand, yet its execution was lackluster and not shown to the viewer. This was a drawback, as it would have been pleasing to see the detail in the surgery, as the details surrounding it were well relaid as well as realistic (albeit delving a bit too much in the theoretical side) to the viewer, knowing that the author himself was once a doctor himself.

The main issues with the series lay with the pacing of the series and its inconsistency throughout the series in addition to its episodic nature with no real connection with each other. The first few episodes are interesting to see, as it introduces the main characters and the dark side of the doctor world, meaning the politics and greed behind the scenes. However, the latter episodes were all disjointed, introducing a few characters with a problem, and naturally getting solved in the same episode. Consequently viewers are left with quite tensionless episodes, as well as being clueless as why to the characters were in sudden places, leaving viewers confused whether they missed a portion of the episode. Nonetheless, it must be said that the final episodes where much more intriguing, as it had a good story progression with the introduction of an interesting characters, as well as blending it fantastically with suspense and intrigue.

~Characters~

The cast of characters in Young Black Jack is small, focusing mainly on the main protagonists and their hardships throughout the different episodes. There are several character introduced in episodes, yet the majority lose are of no importance in the latter ones. From the ones that were kept, these underwent some character development as well some fleshing out, yet never really outstanding. There is the activist, Hazama's doctor friend, the supporting girl you name it. What must be mentioned that the behaviour of these were surprisingly human, showcasing greed, egoism, cowardice, insanity and the likes. Hazama himself is certainly the most interesting one, audiences observing his hardships and dilemmas faced when operating on people, in addition to its genius skills. What was sadly a bit lacking was a bit fleshing out of this character, as the very short flashbacks to his past left the viewers intrigued in it.

~Animation and sound~

The animation quality of Young Black Jack is well done, yet not outstanding; several inconsistencies in the character's could be found throughout the series, such as small changes in character's facial structure, or distant detail of these. The characters design is varied and very distinguishable from each other, yet there were some that were too ridiculous for the series, meaning too cartoonish. Although certainly a welcoming change, it is not befitting of the series: it makes it difficult to take the anime seriously, which is a shame, as it manages to create a serious and dark atmosphere. Other issue I might want to point out is the fact that the surgeries done are merely shown with some imaginary strings moving in air without displaying the actual surgery itself. While it certainly adds to the awe of the protagonists, it is rather lackluster when trying have some insight in its works.

The soundtrack used in the anime matches at times with different scenarios, yet for others it felt either lacking or not befitting of the atmosphere; these were ultimately forgettable. The voice actors matched well with the different personalities, displaying correctly different emotions when the situation required it.

~Enjoyment~

Young Black Jack was overall an enjoyable anime, yet its heights and lows were definitely the major drawback of the series, in addition to the connectionless episodes throughout the majority of the series. The ideas implemented were certainly of interest, with some interesting characters and certainly some interesting display of the world of the doctors. However, when finally finishing the series I was wondering why it didn't take the way the final episodes were done: it would have been so much more interesting as a series. So do I recommend this anime? I do, yet only to a certain an extent, as it was throughout the majority of the story too episodic for my likes.

Thank you for reading.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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