Young Black Jack

In the 1960s, a gifted young medical student tries to make a name for himself. Kuroo Hazama is a reserved young man with unusual black-and-white hair, a body covered with scars, and a dark past. Despite only being a medical student, his surgical brilliance starts to attract attention after he completes a seemingly impossible operation. Together with the spirited and honest intern Maiko Okamoto and Yabu, a close friend with a troubled life, Hazama devotes himself to the world of medicine.

However, his path to becoming a respectable surgeon is a difficult one as student riots, war, and corruption are consuming Japan. Hazama quickly finds himself caught up in a series of nefarious circumstances that challenge his integrity as a person and his path towards becoming a surgeon. Young Black Jack chronicles the story of a man capable of performing unthinkable feats of medicine, and the journey that leads him to become the legend known as Black Jack.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Hazama, Kuroo Main

Umehara, Yuuichirou Japanese

Okamoto, Maiko Main

Itou, Shizuka Japanese

Yabu Main

Yusa, Kouji Japanese

Doctor Kiriko Supporting

Suwabe, Junichi Japanese

Hige Oyaji Supporting

Tomita, Kousei Japanese

Hyakki, Maruo Supporting

Miyano, Mamoru Japanese

Okuchin Supporting

Oosaka, Ryouta Japanese

Hugo Supporting

Takeuchi, Shunsuke Japanese

Lisenberg Supporting

Yamanoi, Jin Japanese

Tawashi Supporting

Shioya, Yoku Japanese

Fukuda, Jun Producer

Tanaka, Junichirou Producer

Hashimoto, Shintarou Producer

Uemura, Shunichi Producer

Reviews

Dec 19, 2015

Vehemor

Recommended

It's hard to make a prequel about one of the most iconic characters in anime and don't ruin the story, but luckily, that didn't happen with YBJ.

An adult medical drama is a breath of frsh air amidst so many highschool harems, ecchi or overpowered characters.

Story: 10/10

Being a sequel there are some limitations, you must tie this to the original, but as an origin story YBJ is really great. Set in the Vietnam war, in a convulsed Japan, Hazama goes through a lot in order to become the dark character we know. Maybe a 24 episode anime would have been better, but in 12 episodes they ... manage to show Hazama's transformation.

Art: 9/10

It's easier to draw a magical utopia than a realistic Vietnam era anime, trying to be accurate with technology and clothing, but that doesn't seem like a problem in YBJ. The series itself has a dark tone, neccesary for the character, but it's easy to watch.

Sound: 8/10

For me, the best opening this season. The BGM helps, it's nicely chosen and adds a lot to the different settings and places the anime takes.

Character: 10/10

Again, making a prequel about an iconic character with a very disctintive personality is hard. You are tied. You can't discover gunpowder again. There is some character development, that's the core of everything, and the darkening of Hazama is clear.

Enjoyment: 9/10

Not a standard anime, it's a medical drama, it's a prequel, it's something you know how it's going to end and despite all of the above, you actually want to watch Hazam's growing. Maybe a bit of a light of hope, maybe because you love the original character, but it's easy tow atch the anime.

Overall: 9/10

It was a great anime. I'd reccomend it for anyone working on the health area, from nurses to morticians. It's finally an anime you cna connect with, and maybe use it to confront your own ideals about medical ethics.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Dec 18, 2015

Nervin

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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Jul 8, 2020

YaAAbu

Not Recommended

at the beginning it was classical anime it has some good points but the development of story didn't change at all

most of my family are doctors (exp me i am engineer XD) so i know some basic about that job so after each ep the realistic of the anime decrease something like " he did it by himself with out any help at first time " is something that impossible

at the natural station maybe i will give him 5/10 but that wasn't the case in here because the anime just take some politics issues and present it by very bad ... way

yup i mean Vietnam war the anime used the same concept as the USA media just tell the people how good they are

just in the anime : War crimes are done only by Vietnam side , USA was just there for spread flower nothing else , USA used air force most of time to destroy everything include the target and anything who just around them and more
here is some facts u can find it by 2 min search :
"A large number of war crimes took place during the Vietnam War. War crimes were committed by both sides during the conflict and included rape, massacres of civilians, bombings of civilian targets, terrorism, the widespread use of torture, and the murder of prisoners of war. Additional common crimes included theft, arson, and the destruction of property not warranted by military necessity."

i am not here to say who is right or wrong but don't stuck politics issues if u want to just lie about it and didn't show the whole picture
someone will say "man that isn't political program to do that " well u r right that was just anime so don't talk about political , if u want to do that just convert it to political program that no one will watch it

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

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