TV-Series
Description
"Black Jack" is a medical drama anime centered around the enigmatic and highly skilled unlicensed surgeon, Black Jack. Known for his exceptional surgical abilities, Black Jack operates outside the conventional medical system, charging exorbitant fees for his services. His face bears a distinctive scar, a result of a childhood accident, and he is often accompanied by his young assistant, Pinoko, a girl who was once a parasitic twin and now lives as a fully independent individual. Despite his cold and aloof demeanor, Black Jack frequently takes on cases that challenge both his medical expertise and his moral compass.
The series is episodic, with each episode presenting a unique medical case or ethical dilemma. Black Jack’s patients range from ordinary individuals to those with rare or seemingly incurable conditions. His interventions often involve unconventional methods, pushing the boundaries of medical science. While his skills are unparalleled, his unorthodox approach and refusal to conform to medical regulations make him a controversial figure. Despite this, his dedication to saving lives, even at great personal risk, underscores a deeper sense of humanity beneath his hardened exterior.
Pinoko serves as both a comedic and emotional counterpoint to Black Jack. Her childlike innocence and unwavering loyalty provide moments of levity, while her presence often highlights Black Jack’s more compassionate side. The dynamic between the two characters adds depth to the narrative, balancing the often grim and intense medical scenarios with moments of warmth and humor.
The series explores themes of life, death, and the ethical complexities of medicine. It delves into questions of morality, such as the value of a life, the limits of medical intervention, and the consequences of playing god. Through its diverse cast of patients and their stories, "Black Jack" examines the human condition, often presenting thought-provoking scenarios that challenge both the characters and the audience.
Black Jack’s past is gradually revealed throughout the series, shedding light on the events that shaped him into the man he is today. His traumatic childhood, marked by the accident that left him scarred and the loss of his mother, plays a significant role in his motivations and worldview. These revelations add layers to his character, making him more than just a brilliant surgeon but a deeply complex individual grappling with his own demons.
The anime’s episodic structure allows for a wide range of storytelling, from heart-wrenching tragedies to uplifting tales of survival. Each case is self-contained, yet recurring characters and overarching themes tie the series together. The blend of medical drama, ethical exploration, and character development creates a compelling narrative that remains engaging throughout its run.
The series is episodic, with each episode presenting a unique medical case or ethical dilemma. Black Jack’s patients range from ordinary individuals to those with rare or seemingly incurable conditions. His interventions often involve unconventional methods, pushing the boundaries of medical science. While his skills are unparalleled, his unorthodox approach and refusal to conform to medical regulations make him a controversial figure. Despite this, his dedication to saving lives, even at great personal risk, underscores a deeper sense of humanity beneath his hardened exterior.
Pinoko serves as both a comedic and emotional counterpoint to Black Jack. Her childlike innocence and unwavering loyalty provide moments of levity, while her presence often highlights Black Jack’s more compassionate side. The dynamic between the two characters adds depth to the narrative, balancing the often grim and intense medical scenarios with moments of warmth and humor.
The series explores themes of life, death, and the ethical complexities of medicine. It delves into questions of morality, such as the value of a life, the limits of medical intervention, and the consequences of playing god. Through its diverse cast of patients and their stories, "Black Jack" examines the human condition, often presenting thought-provoking scenarios that challenge both the characters and the audience.
Black Jack’s past is gradually revealed throughout the series, shedding light on the events that shaped him into the man he is today. His traumatic childhood, marked by the accident that left him scarred and the loss of his mother, plays a significant role in his motivations and worldview. These revelations add layers to his character, making him more than just a brilliant surgeon but a deeply complex individual grappling with his own demons.
The anime’s episodic structure allows for a wide range of storytelling, from heart-wrenching tragedies to uplifting tales of survival. Each case is self-contained, yet recurring characters and overarching themes tie the series together. The blend of medical drama, ethical exploration, and character development creates a compelling narrative that remains engaging throughout its run.
Episodes
Staffel 1
2Clinical Chart 2: A Funeral - The Procession Game
Six months before the episode's present,Black Jack saves Rei Fujinami, one of four girls injured while ice skating in S-city. During a later stopover in the same city, he encounters Rei again. She asks him to treat her friend Yumiko Inoue, who lies in a coma after falling eighty meters. Two other friends have already died: Yuki was killed by a speeding car, and Kaori committed suicide ten days later. Black Jack examines Yumiko at a wealthy private hospital inherited by Tokio Umetani, though Umetani shows more interest in car racing. Jack operates on Yumiko to remove a hematoma from her brain, assisted by the hospital's surgical team. He discovers that the girls became addicted to mescaline from a small, spiny cactus they found growing on Mt. Senin. Jack informs his friend, Police Lieutenant Takasugi, of his findings. He then accuses Umetani of cultivating the mescaline plants and attempting to kill the girls to hide his secret. Before Umetani can respond, syndicate operatives interrupt, abduct both Jack and Umetani. The captors leave the pair on Mt. Senin, where the cactus plants burn around them alongside a ticking time bomb. Jack drags himself and Umetani clear of the blast just before the explosion. Afterward, he bids a fond farewell to Rei and Takasugi, leaving the hospital owner's fate and the syndicate's broader reach unresolved.
3Thieving Dog
Black Jack and Pinoko adopt a stray dog and name the animal Largo. Largo develops a habit of stealing household objects and depositing them outside the house. A patient pays Black Jack with a valuable necklace for medical services. Largo takes the necklace and places it beyond the property boundaries. Black Jack and Pinoko exit the residence to search for the stolen item. While they stand outside,a sudden earthquake strikes the area. The seismic event causes the house to collapse completely. Largo's thieving behavior inadvertently forces the two occupants away from the collapsing building. The dog's action directly saves their lives from the destruction. Largo had detected the earthquake moments before it hit, prompting the chain of events. Black Jack and Pinoko recognize that the dog's seemingly troublesome habit prevented their deaths. The episode closes with the trio safe outside the rubble, and Largo remains with them as a permanent member of the household.
4Clinical Chart 4: Anorexia - The Two Dark Doctors
Black Jack accepts a case involving the actress Michelle Rochasse,who suffers from visible undernourishment and an inability to eat. Exhaustive tests by Black Jack fail to identify the cause of her condition. Red blotches appear on Michelle's skin. She crashes her car, and Dr. Kiriko saves her. Dr. Kiriko specializes in helping patients die, creating a direct conflict with Black Jack's goal of saving lives. The film's director tells Black Jack that Michelle's childhood friend Catina developed identical symptoms before her death. Both women grew up in the same village, Anjou. Black Jack travels to Anjou and encounters Dr. Kiriko, a toxicologist, who provides information about chemical weapons stored near the village from World War I. Black Jack isolates a parasite responsible for Michelle's illness. He operates to remove the parasite from Michelle's brain. The surgery saves her life. Michelle recovers and can complete her film. Black Jack's victory over the parasite does not end his professional rivalry with Kiriko, who continues to practice euthanasia.
5The Owl of San Merida
Black Jack and Pinoko encounter Leslie Harris on a passenger train in Europe. Leslie suffers from recurring nightmares of a woman and child singing about San Merida,and gunshot wounds spontaneously open on his back during these episodes. The wounds bleed briefly before closing without medical intervention. Black Jack examines Leslie and discovers nearly invisible scars from extensive skin graft surgery performed years earlier. Leslie has no memory of the operation, and his deceased parents cannot provide answers. Black Jack agrees to treat Leslie's condition in exchange for help locating the surgeon who performed the grafts. The trail leads them to the Republic of El Garnia, a country ravaged by civil war. They arrive at the village of San Merida, which Leslie recognizes despite having no conscious memory of visiting. A local priest directs them to Ernesto, the village's only pre-war survivor. Ernesto explains that during the conflict, an unlicensed medical student treated wounded villagers with improvised equipment. A young woman named Sandra and her daughter Anita were shot outside the church; Anita died instantly, while Sandra survived briefly. Soldiers brought a severely burned infant to Sandra's bedside. Sandra, mourning her lost daughter, attempted to nurse the baby before succumbing to her injuries. Moved by her sacrifice, Ernesto performed emergency surgery using Sandra's skin and tissue to save the infant. That infant grew up to become Leslie Harris. Government troops arrive and arrest Ernesto as a former resistance member, then summarily execute him despite the priest's protests. Black Jack attempts emergency surgery to save Ernesto but cannot overcome the old man's age and blood loss. Ernesto dies on the operating table. Leslie departs with closure, no longer fearing his visions, while Black Jack remains the sole living witness to both the miracle of Leslie's survival and the cost of civil war.
6Nighttime Tale in the Snow
Black Jack receives a large box of old Japanese currency from a man named Saburo Taneda,along with an urgent request to treat the man's dying wife. The package, however, arrived two years after its postmark. Black Jack and Pinoko drive through a heavy snowstorm to reach the remote mountain village, but their car becomes stuck. Black Jack falls asleep in the vehicle and dreams of ancient Japan. In the dream, the samurai Saburo Taneda carries Black Jack to a castle where Princess Ikehata suffers violent seizures and fits. The princess had eaten the poisonous gamakazura fruit four years earlier to avoid marrying Lord Rokuyoji against her will. Black Jack operates on the princess to repair an irregular heartbeat caused by the poison. During the operation, a giant snake emerges from the princess's chest. Saburo kills the snake, and at the same moment, Lady Kaoru, Rokuyoji's spurned wife who cast the curse, dies in a distant temple. Saburo and the princess flee together but are killed by Rokuyoji's troops. The messenger Abumaru then kills Rokuyoji in revenge for his mistreatment of Lady Kaoru. Black Jack wakes from the dream as the snowstorm clears. Saburo appears alive and leads Black Jack to his sick wife. Black Jack diagnoses mesothelioma and prepares to take her to a hospital. He then learns that Saburo died two years ago, and the wife has been cared for by neighbors who physically resemble the dream characters of Lady Kaoru and Abumaru. Black Jack leaves the village without collecting a fee, carrying the unsolved mystery of whether the dream was a supernatural vision or a hallucination.
9Episode 9
A family approaches Black Jack for help with a loved one suffering from an unexplained and rapidly worsening illness. The case connects to a rare gem called the carbuncle,which reportedly possesses mystical properties and attracts individuals seeking wealth or power. Black Jack discovers that the gem's true significance lies in its relation to life and death rather than its monetary value. The family's desperation grows as the patient's condition deteriorates, forcing them to confront buried secrets and long-held tensions. Black Jack applies his unorthodox surgical methods, which deviate from standard medical practices and draw criticism from the established medical community. His stoic demeanor contrasts with the family's open emotional distress, highlighting his reluctance to engage with their personal struggles. The episode shows the family revealing hidden conflicts and guilt as they weigh what they are willing to sacrifice for a chance at healing. Black Jack races against time to operate, with the carbuncle serving as a physical object that embodies the duality of beauty and destruction. The climactic surgery leaves the outcome ambiguous, challenging the characters to reflect on the choices they made in pursuit of saving a life. The episode ends with Black Jack moving on to his next case, carrying the unresolved moral weight of the decisions he witnessed.
10Sinking Woman
Industrial pollution from DL Chemical causes Mikazuki Syndrome,a heavy metal toxemia that affects residents who eat fish from Mikazuki Bay. The government orders the company to pay damages to hundreds of victims. DL Chemical representatives ask Black Jack to assist in operating on 300 patients urgently needing surgery. Black Jack and Pinoko stop at a Shinto shrine called the Mermaid Shrine, which commemorates a legend about a fisherman named Jiro and a mermaid named Nagi. They stay at an inn near hot springs and meet Tsukiko, a young woman crippled by the syndrome who earns her living selling fish from the contaminated bay. Rumors circulate about an unlicensed doctor on the relief team, and Black Jack declines to work on the official project. He sees Tsukiko lose the ability to walk and performs a knee replacement surgery to restore her mobility. Black Jack carries Tsukiko through town so she can sell her fish despite her condition. Tsukiko misses the sea and cannot resist returning to the water. One night she goes back to the bay and drowns. During the autopsy, doctors find blue pearls lodged in her duodenum. Black Jack keeps these pearls as a potential key to curing Mikazuki Syndrome.
11Visited Memories
Pinoko suddenly collapses without apparent cause. Simultaneously,Lady Yurie, head of the Saionji family, collapses while rehearsing a traditional dance. Black Jack receives a call to treat Lady Yurie, from whom he removed a teratoid cystoma years earlier. He finds no medical explanation for Pinoko's condition but proceeds to examine Lady Yurie. The examination reveals that the cystoma was actually Lady Yurie's twin sister, growing inside her body. Black Jack had removed the small body parts from that cystoma and later surgically reassembled them to create Pinoko. Lady Yurie suffers from recurring malignant tumors, and her body begins to fail. Despite her deteriorating health, she insists on performing the Ascent of the White Heron at the White Heron Temple, a family tradition for the head of the Saionji family every ten years. The temple's legend tells of a heavenly maiden who took the form of a heron and descended to the land. Black Jack navigates the connection between his assistant and her biological twin while treating a woman determined to fulfill her family's ritual. The episode reveals Pinoko's origin as the reassembled remains of her own twin sister, redefining her relationship to Lady Yurie. Pinoko confronts her sister through a screen door and delivers a final goodbye that carries the weight of their shared but separate existence.
12Give My Brother Back To Me!
Pinoko watches a television program and takes a liking to the monster villain instead of the hero. She visits the TV studio and befriends the actor who performs inside the monster costume. The actor suffers from a lymphatic condition that requires surgery. Black Jack agrees to perform the operation. The actor's younger brother Yukio arrives at Black Jack's clinic. Yukio does not know his brother consented to treatment. He sees Black Jack as a kidnapper and demands his brother's release. Yukio confronts Black Jack with open hostility. Pinoko creates a plan to defuse the situation. The actor pretends to break free from Black Jack's custody and stages a rescue of Yukio. The staged escape convinces Yukio that his brother is safe. Black Jack then proceeds with the medical procedure to treat the actor's lymphatic problem. Yukio leaves with his brother,no longer viewing the unlicensed surgeon as a threat. Yukio's misunderstanding resolves, but Black Jack faces no shortage of future patients who distrust his methods.
13A Pirate's Arm
Gymnast Ichinoseki loses his left arm to gangrene. Black Jack amputates the limb and replaces it with a metal pincer. After the surgery,Ichinoseki falls into a deep depression. He abandons his gymnastics career and withdraws from public life. The metal arm suddenly begins speaking to him. The voice inside the pincer convinces Ichinoseki to enter competitive shogi. Ichinoseki reluctantly agrees and starts training for the board game. The arm offers strategic advice and constant encouragement during matches. Ichinoseki wins the regional shogi championship. Immediately after his victory, the arm reveals its secret. His longtime friend Toshie has been hiding in a nearby room throughout the competition. Toshie spoke into a transistor radio transmitter wired to a receiver inside the metal pincer. Toshie endured long hours of isolation and physical discomfort to keep Ichinoseki motivated. The episode closes with Ichinoseki facing the truth about Toshie's sacrifice and deception.
14Solomon - Move!
Pinoko accompanies Sharaku to a swimming pool. Black Jack warns Pinoko not to enter the water. Pinoko ignores the warning and uses an inner tube to go into the pool. She begins to drown. Musashi,a lifeguard who also works as an animator, rescues her from drowning. Black Jack examines Pinoko after the incident. The episode shows no medical operation or patient case for Black Jack. Pinoko's disobedience places her in direct physical danger. Sharaku witnesses the near-drowning event. Musashi's dual role as lifeguard and animator establishes his character briefly. Black Jack's warning proves correct, and Pinoko faces the consequences of disregarding his instruction. The episode ends with Pinoko recovering but her reckless behavior sets up future conflict with Black Jack's protective authority.
15The Fake Wedding
Michiru,a teenage girl hospitalized with terminal cancer, learns she has only a few weeks left to live. She decides to use her remaining time by marrying the next man who walks into her hospital room. Black Jack enters and becomes the unintended target of her dying request. He agrees to participate in a fabricated wedding ceremony to grant her final wish. Black Jack then performs a successful surgical operation that completely eradicates her cancer. Michiru recovers fully and no longer faces imminent death. She approaches Black Jack again and insists on continuing their marriage as a real, permanent relationship. Black Jack refuses her proposal outright. He explains that the marriage was only a token arrangement to comfort a dying patient. He tells Michiru that she now possesses a new life and should pursue genuine happiness rather than clinging to a deathbed fantasy. He rejects her romantic advances without ambiguity. Black Jack leaves the hospital, ending any further discussion. Michiru remains behind, forced to confront her unexpected recovery and the future she had already resigned herself to losing. In the following episode, Pinoko vanishes, and Black Jack must locate her.
19The Tale of the Kowa Clinic
Black Jack brings Pinoko to a small rural clinic to obtain digestion medicine. At the clinic,he meets Dr. Kowa, a country physician who treats local patients with modest facilities. Dr. Kowa asks Black Jack to assist him in performing a thyroid operation on a patient. Black Jack agrees and observes the operation closely. During the procedure, Black Jack notices that Dr. Kowa lacks an official medical license. Despite this, the patients treat Dr. Kowa with exceptional trust and warmth. Black Jack recognizes that Dr. Kowa has earned genuine community respect through years of dedicated service. The operation succeeds, and Dr. Kowa decides to enroll in medical school to obtain formal credentials. Black Jack leaves the clinic, carrying the contrast between his own isolated, fee-driven practice and Dr. Kowa's integrated community role. The episode closes with Black Jack quietly considering what truly defines a competent and trustworthy physician.
20Yamanote Tetsu
Tetsu,the owner of Black Jack's regular cafe, recounts his past as a notorious pickpocket. A police detective persistently chased Tetsu, determined to catch him stealing. During one pursuit, Tetsu runs into a sheet glass panel and severs two fingers. The detective locates Black Jack and blackmails the surgeon into reattaching Tetsu's fingers. The detective wants Tetsu fully healed so he can resume his cat-and-mouse game. Black Jack performs the operation but also covers for Tetsu's past actions. The detective later attempts to arrest Black Jack for practicing medicine without a license. Tetsu repays Black Jack's earlier protection by intervening and preventing the arrest. The detective's scheme collapses as both Tetsu and Black Jack evade his traps. The episode closes with Tetsu returning to run his cafe and Black Jack facing the detective's ongoing enmity.
21Hints of Spring
Kumiko loses vision in one eye due to glaucoma and seeks Black Jack's treatment. Black Jack performs a cornea transplant,replacing the damaged tissue with a donor cornea. After the surgery, Kumiko begins seeing a recurring image: a man reaching his hand toward her. Pinoko interprets the vision as evidence of a murder, believing the donor witnessed his killer before death. She initiates a rescue effort, attempting to locate a potential victim based on the visual clue. Investigation reveals the donor was a man whose fiancee lay trapped under debris. In his final moments, the donor extended his hand in a desperate attempt to save her. The vision was not an act of violence but one of selfless love and sacrifice. Kumiko comes to terms with the image, understanding its true meaning as the donor's last conscious act. The episode closes with Pinoko's mistaken assumption corrected and the donor's final gesture honored without further conflict.
23Love in the Storm
Black Jack arrives on a remote island and encounters Kiyomi,a young woman who serves as the island's only physician. Kiyomi tends to the islanders' medical needs with limited equipment and no backup. She treats chronic illnesses, delivers babies, and handles emergencies alone. Kiyomi immediately recognizes Black Jack's reputation and approaches him directly. She confesses her romantic love for him and asks him to stay. Black Jack observes her vital role in the community. He calculates that her departure would leave dozens of patients without any medical care. He rejects her confession, explaining that her duty to the island outweighs her personal desires. Black Jack prepares to leave the island by boat. A sudden landslide crashes down from the hillside, burying the path where Kiyomi stands. Black Jack rushes back and digs her out from the mud and rocks. He finds her with severe internal bleeding and broken bones. Without a proper operating room, he performs emergency surgery on the spot, using improvised tools and his precise hands. He removes bone fragments, stops the bleeding, and closes her wounds. Kiyomi falls unconscious during the procedure. Black Jack monitors her vital signs until she stabilizes. He then boards his boat and leaves the island before dawn. Kiyomi wakes up later in her own clinic, finding her wounds expertly sutured and no sign of Black Jack. She realizes he saved her life and left without accepting her love. Kiyomi wakes up alone in her clinic, the only evidence of Black Jack's presence the surgical scars on her body.
24A Challenge Called Nadare
A genetically-enhanced deer named Nadare attacks workers at a deep mountain construction site. Injured workers arrive at a hospital at the mountain's base for treatment. Years earlier,a young doctor befriended Nadare and raised the deer as his own sibling. The doctor wished the deer possessed the ability to speak and converse. He convinced Black Jack to move Nadare's brain from its skull to its chest cavity. The relocation allows the brain to continue growing and increases the deer's cognitive intelligence. In the present, Nadare's heightened emotions and intelligence cause it to become uncontrollable. The deer attacks the doctor's own fiancée. The doctor successfully drives Nadare away from the scene. Black Jack then operates on the fiancée to repair her injuries. The surgery saves the woman's life. The episode ends with Nadare still at large and the doctor facing the consequences of his request to enhance the animal.
30The Operation at the Thunderstorm
A hospital strike paralyzes medical services. A young boy seeks a doctor to treat his ailing father,but the physician refuses because of the strike. The boy encounters a woman who also tries to find help. They attempt to transport the father to another hospital, but a thunderstorm topples a tree across the road, blocking their escape. The same doctor who originally refused treatment appears at the blocked site. Black Jack arrives and decides to perform the operation on the father inside a car or shelter. He sets the procedure against a countdown: another unstable tree threatens to fall on them before the surgery finishes. A tree crashes down onto the doctor who had refused to help. Injured, the doctor begs Black Jack for treatment. Black Jack refuses, stating that he is now on strike as well. The doctor immediately admits his earlier refusal was wrong. Satisfied with the admission, Black Jack agrees to operate on the injured doctor, saving his life. The episode concludes with the father also receiving the necessary care, but Black Jack’s retaliatory strike action forces the other doctor to confront his own hypocrisy.
46The Bodyguard at the Festival
Pinoko and her friends visit a high school culture festival. A delinquent from another school named Jaws leads his gang in wrecking the event. Jaws collapses during one of his destructive acts. Medical examination reveals a life-threatening heart condition that will cause his death without treatment. Black Jack diagnoses the problem and explains the severity of the prognosis. Facing his own mortality,Jaws changes his behavior. He decides to use his remaining strength to protect the festival grounds and its visitors. He stops his gang's rampage and begins patrolling the event. Jaws fights off other troublemakers who try to disrupt the festivities. His actions earn reluctant respect from the students he previously terrorized. The episode follows Jaws as he awaits surgery and possible recovery. The immediate consequence is a temporary truce between Jaws and the festival attendees. Pinoko observes the transformation from bully to guardian. The episode ends with Jaws entering the hospital for his operation, uncertain whether he will survive.
47A Violin from a Snowfall
A passenger plane carrying Black Jack and Pinoko makes an emergency landing on an Arctic snowfield during a blizzard. The aircraft balances precariously at the edge of a loose crevice. The world-renowned violinist Morozov calms the panicking passengers by playing his instrument. The captain orders everyone to evacuate to a nearby barn and forbids carrying luggage due to high winds. Morozov refuses to leave his violin and ties its case to his body with his scarf. A fellow passenger sneaks a flask into his coat,but the wind rips it from his hands. The flask strikes Pinoko in the head, and the storm throws her small body toward the crevice. Morozov dives and catches her, but the effort tears his violin case loose into the snow. Black Jack prevents Morozov from chasing the instrument, warning that frostbite will destroy his hands. That night, Morozov sneaks out alone to recover his violin. Black Jack finds the violinist unconscious in the blizzard with his fingers frozen solid. Without his medical instruments left behind on the plane, Black Jack cannot save the fingers and must amputate them in the barn. Morozov tells Black Jack that both of them now understand the cost of never letting go of what they value most. The episode closes with Morozov facing a future without the fingers that defined his life.
49The Voice of a Distorted Face
Sharaku frightens Pinoko with a horror story about a man whose facial disfigurement harbors a second personality. A patient whose face is completely wrapped in bandages arrives at Black Jack's clinic. The man suffers from dissociative identity disorder,and his violent alternate personality emerges whenever a carbuncle distorts his face. Black Jack performs surgery to remove the carbuncle and restore the patient's original appearance. The carbuncle grows back, and the violent personality returns along with it. Black Jack operates a second time, removing the carbuncle permanently, and the alternate personality disappears with it. The patient returns home with his face and single identity restored. Black Jack travels to the man's house to collect his surgical fee. The patient ambushes Black Jack and attempts to kill him. Pinoko also finds herself trapped inside the house with the crazed man. Black Jack must find a way to escape before the patient succeeds in his murderous plan.
50Episode 50
A wealthy older man hires Black Jack to pose as his nephew and perform surgery on his ill elder brother. Black Jack reluctantly accepts the request. The elder brother once worked as a laborer to pay for his younger sibling's medical school tuition,fulfilling a promise to their dying father. The younger brother could not withstand the pressure of becoming a doctor, ran away, and later built a successful company. His own son now studies medicine in New York. Black Jack refuses to operate immediately and demands one week to prepare. When the day of the procedure arrives, the suspicious elder brother recognizes Black Jack and rejects treatment, insisting he will only accept surgery from his actual nephew. Black Jack has already flown the real nephew from New York to the hospital. The elder brother sees his nephew, now a medical student, and the two brothers reconcile after years of separation. The operation proceeds with the nephew assisting Black Jack. The episode closes with the family reunited and Black Jack departing as the brothers begin to rebuild their relationship.
51The Infamous Acupuncturist
A blind acupuncturist named Biwamaru correctly identifies Black Jack as a surgeon just by sensing him on the street. Biwamaru declares surgery and medicine to be worthless and walks away. Black Jack later visits a patient who could not eat and finds the person eating normally. The patient's mother explains that Biwamaru inserted needles and solved the problem. Black Jack tracks down Biwamaru and orders him to stop treating his patients. Biwamaru refuses,stating he goes wherever his senses lead him. The acupuncturist then visits a young girl under Black Jack's care and treats her with a needle. Black Jack rushes to the girl's house and brings Biwamaru along. He shows Biwamaru that the girl suffers from an extreme fear of needles, and the treatment triggered debilitating panic attacks instead of helping. Black Jack treats the girl properly, demonstrating that needles do not suit every patient. Biwamaru later returns the favor by using his needle technique to heal Black Jack's chronic intestinal weakness. The two part with a grudging mutual recognition, but Biwamaru continues his wandering practice.
61The Two Pinokos
Black Jack travels to a seaside town to examine cancer patients at a chemical factory. The factory president explains that the company provides jobs and donations to the poor community. After examining the patients,Black Jack doubts their illnesses are simple cancer. Leaving the factory, he encounters a girl named Romi on the beach who closely resembles Pinoko. Romi suffers from a coughing fit, and Black Jack escorts her home. At Romi's house, her physician Tsukuta, a public health official, is already present. Black Jack informs Tsukuta that the factory patients share symptoms similar to Romi's. Subsequent investigation reveals that the factory workers have developed poisoning from Zeta Metal, a substance used in the plant's operations. Black Jack continues investigating the root cause of Romi's lung disease. Meanwhile, Pinoko remains at home due to a severe cold, unaware of the girl who looks exactly like her. The episode introduces the mystery of Romi's origin and her identical appearance to Pinoko. Black Jack must determine whether Romi's fatal lung condition stems from the same industrial contamination. The parallel between the two identical girls raises questions about Pinoko's own mysterious past. Black Jack faces a dual medical puzzle while the factory president's claims of community benefit clash with the toxic consequences of his business.
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Anime overview
Manga overview
Music
Opening
Ending
Ep. 1-28
EXILE
Hiro