Review: Young Black Jack

Young Black Jack (Yangu Burakku Jakkku) is a manga that serves as a prequel to the Black Jack manga. Both series follow a man by the name of Kuroo Hazama, who is only referred to as Hazama by most peers and acquaintances. Hazama seeks to become the world's best surgeon and will accomplish that even if he has to bend some rules along the way. Recently Young Black Jack became adapted into an anime.

Young Black Jack is not about a black man named Jack, which left me a little upset when I sat down to watch the first episode. While Hazama's journey to become a doctor is well documented in the series it also focuses on society during the time period, as well as issues surrounding it. Some of the big issues it looked at were the Vietnam War and The Civil Rights Movement. Some people may find it to be a little preachy, but it's not. There is simply a great deal of time dedicated to giving a lot of information about the events and allowing the viewer to decide what they think is right or wrong. With that being said, it pulls no punches.

Desertion, illegal experimentation, torture and PTSD caused by the Vietnam War are all covered. When it came to the topic of the Civil Rights movement I was actually surprised. Japan hasn't always had the best track record when it comes to black characters or general racism towards black people. They pulled absolutely no punches on the issue and avoided the stereotypical caricatures of black people that can sometimes be present. Instead it focused on a lot of the feelings that black people had then, and still do. In one scene Hazama is sitting in a small restaurant having a meal with two black people, one a activist known as Invincible Johnny. Hazama wonders why they're being stared at with such harsh looks. Johnny responds with:

"The signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 legally declared an end to racial segregation. However, discrimination has continued in the schools and workplaces. And yet, the white people are trying to say everything has been resolved."

By this point in the anime I was already hooked, but it was a surreal moment seeing how far they went to research things like that. They really do their research on all the issues covered. It's nice to see that they didn't just make things up to move the story along. Sure there are still moments where you will have to suspend disbelief but the anime does do a good job at trying to get the history of the events happening around Hazama to be as accurate as possible.

The animation in the show is really smooth but the actual highlight is probably the still images. The anime looks nice but it's nothing ground breaking. However, it uses still images at various points to raise the tension. Almost using them to create a showdown as if there were going to be a fight. Because there aren't many fights going on. The musical score for the anime really has to be acknowledged. There isn't a moment where you'll wonder why a piece is playing, instead you won't actually notice the music unless you actively look for it. Not because it's bad, but because it does such a good job of elevating the moods in scenes. It's as if the music isn't a separate entity at all but a cohesive piece of the entire product.

The downside is that some, no, a lot of the characters can be really boring. Outside of Hamaza the only characters that show any evolution are Dr. Yabu. Nobody else ever changes, not even Maiko, who can be seen as a secondary character. If you want to view it as a snapshot in Hamaza's life instead of a series of events it can make sense that way.

Overall, it's a really good anime for 12 episodes. You should go ahead and take a loot at it. The episodes are basically standalone unless otherwise labeled as part 1, part 2 or part 3. So you don't actually have to watch the whole thing to understand the show. Either way, it's got my stamp of approval.

You can hear Darrell on the CP Time and Powerbomb Jutsu podcasts. He also plays classic arcade games on The Cabinet
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