Black Jack, Vol. 1: Infection (1996)
Review by Dindrane
Film:
DVD:

Original story by Osamu Tezuka
Screenplay by Osamu Dezaki, Kuniaki Yamashita, and Eto Mori
Directed by Osamu Dezaki

Features:

• Art gallery
  

Dindrane's Anime Warnings:

• Medical ickiness
• Illegal doctors working on patients
• Drug use
• Violence to adults and children
• Brief nudity
• Mild profanity

Released by: Central Park Media
Region: 1
Rating: 13+
Anamorphic: N/A; appears in its original 1.33:1 format.

My Advice: At least rent it.

Black Jack tells the story of the enigmatic physician Black Jack (naturally), who isn't afraid of anything and seems able to handle everything. If you can pay his exorbitant fees and don't mind the fact that he is working without a license, this world-famous healer might be your last hope.

There are essentially two tales on this disc. In Episode One, Black Jack flies to the remote castle home of his patient, a man named Crossword, who is suffering from mysterious, wracking pains and extreme dehydration. Crossword's young wife Seido was also once the patient of Black Jack, and Seido is now pregnant. The mystery expands to include a parallel case in the small village near the castle, an adulterous, backstabbing employee, rumors of a curse, and a long-ago, terrible wrong the people of the village did to Crossword.

The second episode deals with a young girl, Ryuuji, met by accident and hastily but perfectly stitched up by Black Jack. Two years later, their paths cross again, as Ryuuji seeks the doctor's help for her friend Yumiko, who is in a coma. It seems that two of Ryuuji's friends are already dead, and she cannot bear the thought of losing another one. Black Jack attempts to perform a very special brain surgery on Yumiko, much to the dismay of the local crooked head-physician. As a parallel plot, a local detective mentions to Black Jack that a new drug is plaguing the city, and he's on the track of finding the source. Is Ryuuji insane and killing her friends? Is someone else after them? What is the secret of the mountain, the hospital, the girls, and the drugs?

The video quality is fairly good--not as perfect as a newer show would look, but plenty good enough for enjoyment. There are no obvious problems with audio, either, and the English cast is particularly good here.

The features list is rather slim, consisting only of a short art gallery/slideshow presentation with still shots from the show. The images are nice enough of course and make short work of creating a desktop image for your computer, but it would have been nice, as always, to have had more goodies, like interviews, comparisons with the manga version, and so forth.

If you like medical dramas, such as ER," or mysteries like Poirot, or even forensic shows that combine the two like Cold Case Files and CSI, then you should enjoy Black Jack. The character is intriguing and a major selling point of the show; we learn just enough about him to wonder who his is and what his biography must be like.