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CLINICAL CHART #2
— by Chad Kime
There were two reasons why I was very enthusiastic when I was given the
opportunity to review BLACK JACK CLINICAL CHART 2:
- BLACK JACK is a cool concept from the Great Grand-daddy of all manga
masters: Tezuka Osamu.
- I had the great fortune to view BLACK JACK Clinical Chart 5 in Japanese,
and was very entertained.
Unfortunately, after viewing Clinical Chart 2, my enthusiasm for viewing
the rest of the volumes of Black Jack has been dampened.
The BLACK JACK concept itself is quite appealing. Black Jack is an
uncertified physician, who uses his brilliant and unorthodox techniques to
perform incredible surgical feats. Since these surgeries are illegal,
Black Jack usually demands a steep fee from his wealthy clients ($3,000,000
in the preview for Clinical Chart 1, $800,000 to $8,000,000 in Clinical
Chart 2), but has been known to do a few charity cases. From what I have
seen of other episodes, Black Jack's cases are usually on an extreme border
of reality much the same as the science in the X-Files.
This is not the case with Clinical Chart 2. Not that there is anything
noticeably bad about the episode, but it is just so average.
Granted, I am not a dubbed video enthusiast; however, the quality of the
dub was passable, and did nothing to further detract from the already bland
and only mildly interesting story. The plot revolves around spoiled rich
kids getting killed because they stumbled across a secret field of
drug-producing cacti. Even the medical aspect was rather mundane. Sure,
reviving a comatose patient is a big deal, but it is not very dramatic.
The direction of this episode attempts to pump up the drama with the use of
painted stills and animation effects. However, despite my academic interest
in the techniques, I found that the direction felt formulaic and only made
it seem like the animation studio was trying to cut a few corners to save
on money. All of the elements are pretty much the same: technically sound
and functional without anything special to hook a viewer's attention.
Clinical Chart 5, however, is another story, literally and figuratively.
In this volume, the patient is a young man whose body develops bleeding
bullet holes every night during his nightmares. The search for a cure
involves researching the patient's past and the facts behind a surgery
performed on the man as a baby. Unlike the bland, safe, Clinical Chart 2,
Clinical Chart 5 is vicious in its open portrayal of the violent butchery
of war and its victims.
I cannot honestly say that the performances of the animators, directors,
and voice actors were, technically, superior in Clinical Chart 5. However,
their efforts work together to develop an interesting fifty minutes of
entertainment instead of simply co-existing, like in Clinical Chart 2.
Overall, I recommend Clinical Chart 5 for anyone who is a fan of the
X-files, or who wants to experience a glimpse of Tezuka's gift for
entertaining, and I recommend Clinical Chart 2 for anyone already dedicated
to BLACK JACK, or to insomniacs. Let's hope the rest of the series is more
like episode five than episode two.
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BLACK JACK
copyright 1993 Tezuka Productions
English dub copyright 1996 Tezuka Productions
Released in North America by U.S. Manga Corps |
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