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Black Jack Special: Inochi o Meguru Yottsu no Kiseki

Anime: Black Jack Special: Inochi o Meguru Yottsu no Kiseki

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Black Jack Special: Inochi o Meguru Yottsu no Kiseki
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Main Title Black Jack Special: Inochi o Meguru Yottsu no Kiseki (a2672)
Official Title javerified
Type TV Special, 4 episodes
Year 22.12.2003
Season Winter 2003/04
Tags mangaManga is the lifeblood that drives the anime industry. Everything and its mother is based on manga. However! There are exceptions where the manga was not the basis for the anime. See also manhua and manhwa., shounenIn the context of manga and associated media, shounen, literally meaning "youth" and often also specifically "boy", refers to a male audience roughly between the ages of 10 and 18.
Resources
Official website
YouTube
Allcinema
Anison
Syoboi
ANN
MAL
Rating 6.54 (276)
Average 7.10 (280)
Review Rating 7.16 (1)
Added by hidden on 2004-09-28 03:55
Edited by hidden on 2016-08-29 14:45
Main Title Black Jack Special: Inochi o Meguru Yottsu no Kiseki (a2672)
Official Title javerified
Synonym Black Jack Special: The 4 Miracles of Life, Black Jack: The 4 Miracles of Life, Блек Джак: Четирите чудеса на живота, ブラックジャック スペシャル ~命をめぐる4つの奇跡~
Short bj (2003)

main cast

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Ootsuka Akio as Black Jack
Mizutani Yuuko as Pinoko
Kawase Akiko as Honma Kumiko

main staff

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Original Work: Tezuka Osamu
Direction: Tezuka Makoto
Character Design: Kamimura Sachiko
Chief Animation Direction: Kamimura Sachiko
Music: Ikeda Daisuke
Work: Tezuka Productions Yomiuri TV
People's search for better health never ends. That is one of the reasons the study of anatomy and medicine was born. And to keep the physicians in check, we have medical laws. Black Jack goes outside and beyond those laws. He's an unlicensed, genius surgeon, traveling around the globe to complete his masterpieces. In this special, we can witness Tezuka Osamu asking the everlasting questions about life once again.

Statistics

Score/Rank by

6.54 (276)
#1554 (#42)
#6333 (#186)

Favourites/Rec.

#4426 (7)

Running Time

approx. 1h 45m

Completed

480 (41.9%)

Watching

18 (1.6%)

Plan to Watch

635 (55.4%)

Dropped

13 (1.1%)
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Reviews

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Rating: 7.16
Approval: 91.5% (2 votes)
Black Jack is, in my opinion, Osamu Tezuka's best manga. This is the story of a two-fisted surgeon with the hands of a god, a man who explores the questions of life while delivering healing and justice through his razor-sharp scalpel and only slightly less acute intellect. Which is why I was thrilled to find out that Tezuka Productions had released a TV special featuring Black Jack, and even more thrilled to find out that they had included the single best storyline Tezuka ever wrote for the manga.

Let's get down to nuts and bolts.

ANIMATION

Tezuka's character designs might throw some people off (particularly Pinoco), but they have aged surprisingly well for this day and age. Animation is clean and well done. No complaints here.

SOUND

Voice acting is spot-on. Black Jack has exactly the kind of steady, competent voice that he needs, and Pinoco's voice actress does an admirable job for such a difficult part (Pinoco's accent is nearly indecipherable - she mixes J's with S's, W's with L's, and so on and so forth). Music is decent, nothing stands out, but nothing grating either.

STORY

First of all, a note on the opening sequence - kudos to the creators for a perfect summary of Black Jack's origin! I had chills running down my spine during the montage. They did a perfect job of explaining his appearance and the reason for his life's journey with a minimum of dialogue.

The bulk of the TV special features four short stories - "Where's a Doctor!", "The Disowned Son," "U-18 Knew It," and "Like a Pearl." No guns, mecha, or foxy women here, just a doctor dealing with the dilemmas of his profession and exploring the issues of life, death, morality, family, and the simple miracles of everyday living.

(By the way, "Like a Pearl" was my favorite story from the manga, and I was thrilled to see it in the TV special.)

CHARACTER

I have no complaints about Black Jack (his characterization is perfect) but Pinoco got short-changed. If you haven't read the manga, Pinoco was originally a vestigial siamese twin whom Jack pieced together into a cyborg-girl using artificial body parts. The anime doesn't explore this at all, which means that most first-time viewers will probably assume that Pinoco is just a child who lives with Jack for some reason. Pinoco is mainly used for comic relief, which ignores some of the more poignant aspects of her character. It also makes her insistence that she is Jack's wife a bit harder to understand.

VALUE

Excellent storyline, well-plotted, and eminently rewatchable. . . except for chapter 3, "U-18 knew it," which is the only thing that kept it from getting a higher score.

ENJOYMENT

Have I mentioned that I love Black Jack? Let me say it again: I loved the manga, and the TV special is a wonderful tribute to Tezuka's original creation. I much prefer it to the subsequent TV series (which is largely oriented towards children.) A special thanks to Tezuka Productions for updating Black Jack to modern standards of animation.
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abilitiesAbilities are skills or competences that have applicability in some sort of activity.

first aid (1)The character is capable of preforming first aid (like artificial respiration or CPR) and may even have a license to do so.

accessoriesAccessories are objects characters use or sometimes simply carry around.

briefcase (1)no description setglasses (1)Glasses (also called eyeglasses or spectacles) are frames bearing lenses worn in front of the eyes, normally for vision correction, eye protection, or for protection from UV rays. For practical tagging purposes, sunglasses should not be considered glasses; the "glasses" tag is specifically about the type that doesn`t block light. However, a character who wears prescription glasses with dark lenses or who wears both eyewear types should take both tags.knife (1)This character is a user of a knife, a small weapon with an edged blade.mask (1)Masks are items normally worn on the face. Their uses range from medical (example: oxygen mask) to disguise (avoiding recognition). They can also be used for entertainment (for example, in theater or dance), and may even be forced upon someone as punishment. Masks have been in use since ancient times.surgical mask (1)A surgical mask, medical mask or procedure mask is a mask worn by health professionals during surgery and nursing to catch the bacteria or viruses shed in liquid droplets and aerosols from the wearer`s mouth and nose. They are not designed to protect the wearer from inhaling airborne bacteria or viruses and, while their filtering properties prevent the breathing in of airborne dust particles, they are less effective than respirators.surgical scalpels (1)no description set

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apron (1)An apron is an outer protective garment that covers primarily the front of the body.dress shirt (1)no description setovercoat (1)An overcoat is a type of long coat intended to be worn as the outermost garment, which usually extends below the knee.school uniform (1)A type of uniform worn in Japanese schools (called "seifuku" in Japanese), generally high school age or younger. They can vary considerably; commonly, females will wear a sailor uniform (modelled off the British Royal Navy uniforms in 1920) and males will often wear a "gakuran", which is a dark button-up uniform modelled off Prussian army uniforms. But expect to see a substantial amount of variety.shirt (1)no description setskirt (1)A skirt is a tube- or cone-shaped piece of clothing that hangs from the waist and covers the legs partially or fully. Skirts are often seen as garments for women, but exceptions exist. In anime, they`re almost always worn by women, generally as school uniform or workplace garments, and a man with one will likely be cross-dressing. Skirts that go below the knee are usually associated with strict rules and at times with winter, though even in winter anime schoolgirls in miniskirts can be found.vest (1)A vest is a sleeveless garment covering the upper body. The term has different meanings around the world. If the character is wearing the formal wear waistcoat vest, or wearing a sweater vest, use those respective tags and do not tag vest.waitress uniform (1)A uniform or dress meant to be worn by waitresses.

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Cast

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main character
Pinoko
female
voiced by:
secondary cast
Honma Kumiko
episode appearance appears in ep: 2, 4
female, apronAn apron is an outer protective garment that covers primarily the front of the body., brown eyesThe character has brown eyes., ribbon tieA ribbon tie is a ribbon used to tie the collar of a shirt, blouse, or other clothing top. This means that the ribbon, with or without a bow loop, is tying a collar that is cut close to the neck (i.e. not a low-cut collar); otherwise, the ribbon is just a common case of ribbons on clothes. Please see the full description for more detailed instructions on when to apply or not apply this tag., school uniformA type of uniform worn in Japanese schools (called "seifuku" in Japanese), generally high school age or younger. They can vary considerably; commonly, females will wear a sailor uniform (modelled off the British Royal Navy uniforms in 1920) and males will often wear a "gakuran", which is a dark button-up uniform modelled off Prussian army uniforms. But expect to see a substantial amount of variety., shoulder-length hairShoulder-length hair is hair at shoulder length, within a few centimetres margin. This hair length is longer than what one would typically, though not always, see on most males. Short hair includes hair that goes no more than a centimetre or two beyond the chin; anything longer is shoulder-length. Typical male hair at the back of the head which reaches the shoulders does not count as shoulder-length hair; the individual hair strands are very short (0-4 cm), and therefore count as short hair., skirtA skirt is a tube- or cone-shaped piece of clothing that hangs from the waist and covers the legs partially or fully. Skirts are often seen as garments for women, but exceptions exist. In anime, they`re almost always worn by women, generally as school uniform or workplace garments, and a man with one will likely be cross-dressing. Skirts that go below the knee are usually associated with strict rules and at times with winter, though even in winter anime schoolgirls in miniskirts can be found., waitressA female attendant who serves customers in a restaurant, café, or similar., waitress uniformA uniform or dress meant to be worn by waitresses.
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Last Update Name State N Episodes HE SP Languages Source Rating Cmts
14.11.2023 instable200 complete
4 0 x-unk en unknown N/A (0) 0
23.07.2023 VARYG complete
4 0 ja www N/A (0) 0
19.08.2022 B44S Team complete
4 0 ja ar DVD N/A (0) 0
11.07.2006 F-S KyT complete
4 0 ja fr unknown N/A (0) 0
15.10.2004 F-B complete
4 0 ja en DTV 8.63 (7) 0
no group complete finished ongoing stalled dropped specials only all