Komori Chiaki is a budding tennis student. However, one day while training, her coach hits a ball into her eye on accident. At the hospital, the news that she will never regain the sight in her eye leaves her heartbroken. As a last resort, she undergoes a costly surgery from the mysterious doctor known as Black Jack, where after a successful operation, a mysterious figure starts to emerge in her vision, and only she can see it.
Direction
Obayashi's signature disorienting cuts and dream-logic pacing.
Practical Effects
Gloriously analog surgical sequences and ghostly double exposures.
Costume
Black Jack's dramatic cape and stripe detail: iconic, unhinged king behavior.
Director
Nobuhiko Obayashi
Nagisa Katahira
Chiaki Komori
Joe Shishido
Black Jack
Etsuko Shihomi
Kyoko Nanbu
Kōji Wada
Masahiko Tate
Toru Minegishi
Shiro Kazama
Isao Tamagawa
Detective Geta
Rinichi Yamamoto
Detective Tawashi
Hiroyuki Nagato
Eiichiro Komori
Fumi Dan
Masahiko Tate's Sister
Yumeji Tsukioka
Dorm Mother
Toshiya Fujita
Guard
Sonny Chiba
Drunkard
Nobuhiko Obayashi
Tennis Referee
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Director Nobuhiko Obayashi made this between HOUSE (1977) and other Tezuka adaptations, in his absolute prime for unhinged visual experimentation.
Black Jack remains Osamu Tezuka's most enduring 'rogue doctor' creation; this film captures his moral ambiguity better than most straight adaptations.
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