Black Jack (1996) Burakku jakku (original title)

Directors:

Osamu Dezaki
Fumihiro Yoshimura

Writers:

Bob Buchholz
Osamu Dezaki
(more)

Release Date:

22 May 1996 (Germany)

Genre:

Animation | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

The adventures of the unlicensed but genius doctor Black Jack, who encounters extraordinary people and phenomena as he attends to unusual medical cases.

Plot Keywords:

Anime | Medical | Based On Comic

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Hiroshi Fujioka
Akio Ohtsuka	...	Black Jack (voice)
Kirk Thornton	...	Black Jack (voice: English version) (as Sean Thornton)
Julie Maddalena	...	Pinoko (voice: English version) (as Julie Kliewer)
Yûko Mizutani	...	Pinoko (voice)
Mary Elizabeth McGlynn	...	Jo Carol Brane (voice: English version) (as Melissa Williamson)
Michael Sorich	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Barry Stigler	...	Thomas Johnston (voice: English version) (as Gil Starberry)
Lex Lang	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version) (as Alexis Lang)
Daran Norris	...	(voice: English version) (as Rob Thomas)
Dougary Grant	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Michael Forest	...	Roger Siegel (voice: English version) (as Alfred Thor)
Bridget Hoffman	...	Ellen Shryer (voice: English version) (as Tessa Ariel)
BJ Harrison	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Simon Prescott	...	Panel Host, Professor Michigan (voice: English version) (as Simon Isaacson)
Mona Marshall	...	Nomad (voice: English version) (as Destiny)
Paul St. Peter	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Anne Sherman	...	Fendy (voice: English version)
Wendee Lee	...	Betty Moore / Lisa Siegel (voice: English version)
Tony Pope	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version) (as Anthony Mozdy)
Peter Spellos	...	Mr. Brane (voice: English version) (as G. Gordon Baer)
Dan Woren	...	Nicholas Doris (voice: English version) (as Jackson Daniels)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Steve Blum	...	Olympics Announcer / Doctor (voice: English version) (as David Lucas)
Xavier Fagnon	...	Black Jack (French dub) (voice)
Megumi Hayashibara	...	Fujinami Rie (voice)
Christopher B. Joyce	...	Dr. Eric Caderry (voice: English version)
Layton Morrison	...	Thug (voice: English version)
Liam O'Brien	...	Salary Man
Joe Romersa	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Doug Stone	...	Charles Rosen (voice: English version)
Ralph Votrian	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version) (as Ralph Vortrian)

Directed by
Osamu Dezaki
Fumihiro Yoshimura

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Bob Buchholz
Osamu Dezaki
Udo Lindenberg		story
Eto Mori
Kihachi Okamoto
Osamu Tezuka		comic
Osamu Tezuka		story
Kuniaki Yamashita

Produced by
Minoru Kubota	....	producer
Takayuki Natsutani	....	executive producer
Yoshihiro Shimizu	....	executive producer
Sumio Udagawa	....	producer

Original Music by
Eiji Kawamura

Cinematography by
Hirokata Takahashi

Film Editing by
Seiji Morita

Art Direction by
Jiro Kono
Kazuo Okada
Masami Saitô

Art Department
James Dupuy	....	foreman

Sound Department
Etsushi Yamada	....	sound

Stunts
Layton Morrison	....	stunts

Animation Department
Akio Sugino	....	key animator

Music Department
Kazuo Kumada	....	music producer

Other crew
Satoshi Kuwabare	....	production coordinator
Akira Nagai	....	medical consultant
Akira Nagai	....	medical supervisor
Toshitaka Takeshita	....	medical consultant

Production Companies

• Akita Publishing
• Black Jack Committee
• Tezuka Production Company Ltd.

Distributors

• Shochiku Company (1996) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Manga Films

Also Known As:

"Burakku jakku" - Japan (original title)

Runtime:

90 min | Spain:92 min

Country:

Japan | Germany

Language:

German | Japanese

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | Ireland:18 | Canada:14A | UK:12 | USA:R

Company:

Akita Publishing

Trivia:

Out of the twenty two-part episodes (and thus ten stories) in the series, eight stories were adapted from Osamu Tezuka's "Black Jack" stories and two are original stories.

Quotes:

[Pinoko brings in a pile of letters]
Pinoko:Hey, are all these IOUs yours?
[Black Jack gazes at the letters, amused]
Pinoko:[exasperated] I shouldn't have expected you to remember... I'll throw them out!
[Black Jack quickly grabs the letters]
Black Jack:Sorry, those are important to me. Good night.

Movie Connections:

References "Astroboy" (1980)

Soundtrack:

Invisible Love

Coffee is a must before viewing. This film will put you right to sleep.

After hearing about this movie, and seeing some of the great reviews it got, i expected a lot more. While i bet its easy to like this film when you know all the backstory, and have read all the literature, its important for a film to be able to stand on its own.

I just found myself incredibly bored while watching it. The story was just not interesting and I didn't care about any of the characters. Why were they all so bland? Some of the animation was good, but it takes more than that to carry a film. The script and acting just weren't up to the task. After watching the english dub, i thought i'd give it another chance and view the japanese, but unfortunatley that was even worse. The japanese Dr. Black Jack made his english counterpart look like Mr. Personality.

If you are looking for good anime, or a good film, this isn't what you're looking for. I guess this is only for die hard fans. But if you still feel the urge to watch it, you'd better drink some coffee first, because it'll put you right to sleep.

**1/2