to be fair Dr. Flap Jack sounds like a legit Tezuka character.

Letting the kid think she's on vacation rather than a kidnapping is a serviceable way to handle the abduction if you've got access to a private island or beach you can hold them in. It keeps them from panicking because they're having fun, so they don't try to get away and letting them compose their own ransom notes by talking to their parents (or guardian) calms them into thinking everything is okay. As long as the threat of it suddenly becoming not nice for the girl is established, it's a good idea - at least in the context of fiction. It probably doesn't work so well in real life, but I've never tried it so I don't know.

Whoa, whoa, whoa! *Frosty the Snowman?!*

"Try that, Mortal Kombat." What, exploding hearts? MK9 Raiden is like "Hold my beer."

It’s the anime equivalent of House? Except he’s less of a douche and more of a super hero. Actually He’s doctor strange if his hands weren’t damaged.

Poisoning herself and 'Blackjack' makes perfect sense. 1. Motivates 'Blackjack' to find a cure for himself. 2. She doesn't know if he and the little girl are very close. In her 'world/mind' life is cheap, thus he might be willing to sacrifice her to get away. 3. If no cure can be found, her life is over anyway. She'd rather die than rot in jail. 4. She's a killer, if he fails, she'd kill him for it.

If Pinako is a homunculus, does that make Black Jack an alchemist? Has he seen the door?

I have a theory about the bad plot elements mentioned in this movie. And it extends to most of the old school Japanese anime directors. I think the idea/inclusion of tragically romantic ends or tragically romantic predicaments in anime is often times treated as more important than how those things fit into a plot logically. Almost as if a metaphorical scene of a rose wilting as a protagonist's love interest dies is seen as important to include regardless of what caused the death or if we actually care. I see a lot of themes of romanticism in feature length anime movies (especially old school anime from the 70s & 80s). There seems to be a consistent lack of subtlety or nuance in regards to complex character development like we're used to with western movies, live action or animated. It almost seems experimental. Like the art of the story is more important than the story of the art. I guess my point is, I think a big disconnect is that it's a cultural thing, lol. I just think westerners value different things in their storytelling as a whole.

The "Atlantis" thing could be due to copyright issues. Japan and anime are very particular about not using brand names to avoid any litigation. So in my opinion I think it's more a legal oversight, the studio wasn't sure if it would be copyright or not. They probably went the safer route just in case. Also I'm ready to hear you scream "JUST PULL THE DAMN TRIGGER" for GANTZ.

I will always remember Osamu Dezaki for directing the Ashita no Joe anime.

hopefully frosty the snowman will get a crossover with blackjack

Hm. This is the movie that introduced me to Black Jack... Heh. Pacing and certain quirks aside, I still like this movie.

Doctor Flapjack and Nurse K'nuckles

My only takeaway is that man, I wish this artstyle and color palette come back again.

There's was a manga where BlackJack became infected with a rare, undiscovered species of intestinal parasite in the Australian outback and had to perform surgery himself out in the bush. Is it weird that I expected this movie to end with Blackjack successfully performing brain-surgery on himself?

Black Jack might have been insane early on... But to my knowledge later on his series mellowed and was quite a bit more grounded. SURE he dealt with inexplicable diseases that defied what we know about medicine, but he wasn't making golems anymore and how he dealt with those diseases felt like a natural extension of how one might. I might be completely wrong though.

Wow this anime looks out there. Even so I always did like the character of Black Jack. He really feels the first of his kind; the anime doctor on the cutting edge of medicine to be thought impossible. Of all those crazy doctors of anime that came later there really is no beating the OG Mercenary Physician.

That berserk ost hits like a hammer

I remember really enjoying this movie when it first came out. I still own this and all the OVAs on DVD. Main reason are that I really love the art style, tone, and atmosphere so it got an easy pass from me. The OVAs are still great regardless.

The kid is creepily cute. cute but creepy like watches you sleep creepy not shank you in your sleep creepy

Isn’t it hard to believe that both Black Jack and Astro Boy are both in a puzzle game together called Crystal Crisis?

frosty the snowman? seriously? okay... did not see that coming...

love that you're finally covering this! Thanks for everything you do!

Blackjack is an interesting manga. It's one of very few cases I've seen where a story is gory without being violent. Also, I'm a sucker for the clear Holmesian influences in the character. Hope the OVA fares a bit better.

It always makes my day when I see you posted a new video!

Oh boy, Gantz is next. I'll get the gore bucket ready.

A throwaway gag from the Black Jack movie; one minute in, after the pole-vaulting record is shattered, a panel of commentators are shown talking over each other. Down in the corner, doing commentary for Rumanian TV, is Tezuka's Don Dracula. LOVE IT! BTW, you showed the manga of Pinoko's creation story yet missed her name and personality being spun off from Pinocchio; she's an 18 year old mind in a five year old's body, and Tezuka--and by extension Dezaki--does not always play that for laughs, even though fan preferences seem to demand it.

Please do Cyborg 009 (2000s version)

This guy invented the watercolor still? Goddamn that is some lifetime cred. No wonder he got jobs adapting Tezuka.

I think the x-ray gimmick was an homage to Sonny Chiba movies.

Can't wait to see Sage's reaction to "Military Doctors for Justice". I absolutely loved this movie. Black Jack is the effing MAN!

10:58 and thats how we got Skarlet's second fatality in MK11

6:30 - Is that Susumu Hirawsawa music I hear?

Yes! I remember watching this anime as a kid all the time. Ah, the memories.

as always, your insight is awesome :P Great vid, Bennett :P

Bennet, you shouldn't judge Dezaki without seeing his most important works first - which are the tv shows Dororo, Ashita no Joe, Ace wo Nerae, and Versailles no Bara. Please watch them, as those are the works that made him as famous and beloved as he is today. Certainly not Black Jack or Cobra.

"Don't google Terratoma" *Cautiously and slowly presses tab bar...

Many corners were cut but damn it looks beautiful at times, especially the animation. Or maybe it's just the drawing style compared to any anime nowadays... if anime even still exists, all is borderline porn now.

I look forward to Sage's review of the Black Jack OVAs. I remember enjoying them when I was younger, and it'll be interesting to see how well they hold up.

i loved all the episodes in this series. there's something artistic and fascinating about it

and here I thought Ted Turner was the master of blatant environmental messages

Considering Blackjack is a rouge doctor, perhaps they were afraid if he knew exactly what they had done with their drug ahead of time, he could reveal their full involvement once he was finished, especially since a patient he cared for died horribly because of them. Really, they were manipulating him to figure out the growths on the pituitary gland on his own, and they could sell that as a freak mutation that their drugs could control. He wasn't supposed to know about their initial drug tests to begin with.

This is my favorite comic books since I was a child, I am 53 years old, black Jack is the best!

My Reaction to the anime coming up next week: YEEEEESSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2:32 So Frosty the Snowman is an anime?

HA! That fucking ending reminds me of The Abyss. Underwater sorta spooky suspense flick makes a last second turn into, "Get your shit together with those nukes mankind or we'll fucking drop the ocean on you."

To save people from having their desks, keyboards and clothing ruined from upchucking; a teratoma is an early onset twin zygote that during pregnancy became encased inside the other twin and stopped developing. It's basically a tumor or cyst containing various tissues, calcified bits and even hair.

Remember that time when Black Jack turned a women into a bird person?

Damn.. you went hard on one i consider a classic but i understand your reasonings and explanation - looking forward to Gantz discussion, wonder if you have read the manga as well - would love to see that animated to it's entirey but it just goes bat shit insane - still a great juvenile adventure right there :)

Oh nice! Feels so good to get more and more AA!

Yay, this is what I was waiting for.

Fun Fact: The mention of Frosty the Snowman and One Thousand and One Nights is interesting, considering their short proximity of time between releases. Effectively, Dezaki could have worked on both within an overlap. The man who made Frosty come to life was simultaneously drawing the pornographic epic version of Aladdin.

I love the art style

ALSO, FUN FACT: the original seiyuu for black jack is, i believe, the same seiyuu that voiced Rider in the japanese dub of Fate/Zero. How is THAT for awesome? (he he just my opinion anyway) Oh and BJ's english VA here played Kiritsugu's dad in the Fate Zero english dub. So...do with that what you will. (this is what i spend my time thinking about!)

Ahh, it makes me so happy to see someone post anything related to Black Jack! It's my favorite manga, and I consider Black Jack to be my favorite fictional character. One of the things that always saddened me is that there was never an anime adaptation that truly captured the spirit of the original source material. I actually like the art-style of the Dezaki OVAs & movie. I *loved* that they would actually show the surgeries being performed, while being really detailed on the surgical sites being shown. However, I had a lot of the same gripes with Dezaki's version of Black Jack. Concerning the OVAs it also just felt like they were a bit too dark. I felt it didn't fit at times. I still really enjoyed them for what they were, and look back at them fondly.

Well, if I get a cat now I'm naming it Dr. Flapjack.

The hype for Gantz is so real. So glad that's coming considering I just finished it 2 weeks ago.

Awesome, can't wait for Gantz. Weirdly one of the few anime I got my dad into. XD One day, I'd love for you to review Ping Pong Club. That one is so freaking funny and weird, like a demented love child between Beavis and Butt-head, South Park, and Monty Python's flying circus. XDD

Fuck yes! Gantz! You've had that on the shelf behind you for-fucking-ever! I've been waiting for you to talk about it!

Great stuff keep up the reviews! Fan of yours for like 10+ years now! AND DO SOMETHING LEWD WITH SUAVE AGAIN! Ever going to ACEN or anime Midwest btw? Where are you located?

I Gantz wait for the next episode

I actually like the weird stuff Osamu Dezaki put in Golgo 13 and Space adventure cobra

"You're all on steroids" -Nate Diaz-kun

I literally only knew about Black Jack because of the crossover episode he had with Astro Boy and another of Tetzuka's works about a princess who disguises herself as a prince

Saying that Gantz fall even shorter that this movie, is still an understatement.

The art is so late 70s early 80s. I love it.

Yeaaah! Hope he’ll review They Were 11

Have a like for the Metalocalypse reference. Oh, uh, and the great review that surrounded it.

Oh hey. Been wondering when you were gonna cover GANTZ. Looking forward to it :D

13:35 Thank you for the Metalocalypse clip 😂

That ending tried to slap me with a fish, and I just laughed my ass off

I reviewed Samurai Shodown and YYH I plan on reviewing Kenshin, Zeta Gundam and Berserk. Maybe the 08th ms team and gundam 0080 also.

i miss that intro, i mean part of it wasnt finished yet, but the show must go on, even if you toss yourself into a black void

is 2:19 from Cobra? it looks like it but which one was directed by this crazy dude?

Hey Sage, ever thought of coming to Australia for Supanova Expo or Oz ComicCon? We'd love to have ya down under.

I'm so glad your covering blackjack! Just a heads up about the ova though, there's actually two episodes that aren't dubbed if I remember correctly. Those episodes arent really important though as the ova as a whole is a sort of monster of the week sorta shtick.

Yoooooooo Gantz time, I'm hyped!

Bennett you look a lot better and a lot healthier since the weight loss, congrats :)

"Don't google teratoma unless you have a cast iron stomach" *Immediately goes and googles teratoma Oh yeah, I've seen those before. They're interesting

Jack Black was actually a nice film, but the premise was just absolutely ridiculous, Tezuka's original Jack Black was also just as inconceivable as well. Next thing you will tell me is that he also plays a mean guitar and made a tribute to the greatest song he sang to the devil.

After watching this review I went and watched a couple episodes of the TV series and I have to say it's a fascinating series that I would highly recommend. Like an anime version of House is the best way I can think to describe it.

Frosty the snowman...really? You learn something new every day XD

maybe the poison was laced on the cork screw, putting it through the cork into the bottle

Did you extend your cut off date? I thought that the Gantz anime came out long after 2004.

I've seen Gantz on his shelf and wondered if he was ever going to talk about it. Oh boy oh boy.

I'm curious what Sage's thoughts would be of that Young Black Jack series that aired a couple years back

FINALLY AFTER YEARS OF BEGGING I GET TO HEAR WHAT YOU THINK OF GANTZ!!! YAY!!😁😁

That dub ending is undefendable and I wont even try, but I think you're skipping past a lot of what makes Blackjack's own character. I don't really want to sound all weeb, but he's more than just a loner with a heart of gold or something, there are some very Japanese sentiments of the responsibility of the gifted to society and....not sure I can think of how to phrase it all. I'm going to say that this movie was a bad example in general, and specifically the dub even worse. Also, maybe it would help to consider Blackjack's medical skill the equivalent of one of those over the top sports anime where a wise nod from the coach is enough to let a player achieve super human effort because they believe in themselves and their team mates. It's clearly supposed to be just that over the top, which you'll see any time he gets into an altercation and pulls his 'as the greatest medical mind in the world I obviously have the grace and knowledge of anatomy to also be the greatest fighter in the world'.

you opening credit when you have cgi sage falling through the void of fandom, slamming into your logo

hnnnnnnngggggg those mid roll cards, pure adult swim nostalgia.

From seeing this and plenty of other Black Jack anime, I now want a Franken Fran anime, like for real!

I don’t think you have any idea now many brain cells I popped in the first thirty seconds when I thought you were pronouncing Tezuka “Tezuki.”

Boogiepop Phantom review at some point maybe?

Dr. Flapjack is an awesome name for a cat, and I wish I'd thought of it.

Yes Gantz Can’t wait

wish you still used the full intro theme

Finally! Gantz is coming up! it'll be really amusing to see this mind-fuck series reviewed.

Oh dear. Gantz. This is going to be fun.

Think you'll get to the Phoenix series anytime soon?

Love the Black Jack series