Black Jack Episode 10 Discussion

What did you think of this episode?

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May 26, 2010 6:48 AM

SuperSamos

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Jun 2009

THIS IS AN ANIME ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS THE MANGA BEYOND THIS EPISODE.
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So. i didn't understand what Black Jack felt for Tsukiko. As for me she is unpleasant and mentally ill. Why does he care about her suddently?
He should be annoyed by her "love" - she's not the first girl who told all this "i-love-you" stuff to Hazama, you remember
Who cares about the stupid tramp and her stupid fish? >_<
It's not like Hazama to be chivalrous; previous episodes showed his interesting personality, but here he looks just like a Good Guy from Justice League.

i see him like just really good and honest man, but not an altruist! + "wow, an unknown illness! let's see!" + "give me as much money as possible"

Oct 10, 2013 2:03 PM

Farabeuf

The Shrike

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Nov 2009

11583

Tsukiko was a very cute, sweet and ethereal presence. It's not the first time Black Jack has had a thing for a younger woman.

"Perhaps there is a universal, absolute truth. Perhaps it justifies every question. But that's beyond the reach of these small hands." Mamoru Oshii

There is a cult of ignorance (...) nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” Isaac Asimov

Dec 21, 2013 12:55 AM

WolfWood37

Offline

Jul 2008

11009

I don't know why but this one became my favorite, I just loved the new characters. Especially the spa manager, I have no explanation but his bad jokes were cracking me up.

The end was very sad, but good grief she should have been watched more closely.

Mar 25, 2014 12:08 AM

Fronzel

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Jun 2010

1873

It's pretty amazing that a Black Jack story about a chemical company polluting a waterway and killing people lacked a cartoonish villain. Sugita from the chemical company seemed quite sincere about doing all that was possible to help the victims, and even the unpleasant-looking director immediately gives in to Black Jack's demands after being berated for the pollution.

SuperSamos said:
i didn't understand what Black Jack felt for Tsukiko. As for me she is unpleasant and mentally ill. Why does he care about her suddently?

Black Jack's backstory (not included in this OVA) involves being injured onto the verge of death and struggling though a painful physical rehabilitation so his sympathy for a young person with a body injured by the malfeasance of others makes a lot of sense. You're not paying much attention if you think Black Jack lacks compassion.

It was nice seeing him excited about something for a change, and it was a lot more interesting than the bit with the teenaged girl in episode 2 which seemed to be trying way too hard to give middle-aged men a fantasy object, though to be honest this was kind of doing that as well, just not being so clumsy about it.

Jul 20, 2015 7:52 PM

GohanwaOkazu

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Jan 2012

183

Black Jack is Japan's dark hero No.1. You'd have to read the original manga to fully understand who he is.

He narrowly survived an unexploded WW2 bomb blast, but his young mother died. He endured hard rehabilitation and naturally has a soft heart for anyone struggling for survival (especially for those trying to overcome handicaps).

He demands outrageous amount of money upon medical surgery, even from the poor sometimes, partly to test the client's love for the patient, partly to test the patient's strong will for survival. Another reason why he demands such money is for use on personal vendetta; he is madly vengeful on the land developers who neglected detonating the bomb and de facto killed his mother and crippled him. His enmity is also directed towards his rich father who neglected him and his mother when they needed help.

Part of his facial skin was donated by a racially discriminated boy (a mix of Japanese and Black American [probably a WW2 occupation army soldier]), and he keeps it even though it doesn't match his other skin. He is an ecologist who buys up islands to save them from redevelopment (and to plant bombs and play vengeance on those developers).

There are several episodes which shows Black Jack's other romantic side. Yes, young ladies do attract him very much (perhaps the memory of his forever young mother has something to do with this), and he is moved when he is confessed love. But the story always ends in a tragic way, with sad Hazama Kuro-o left in solitude (but Pinoko comes to his emotional rescue).

GohanwaOkazuJul 20, 2015 8:05 PM

Nov 7, 2015 5:06 PM

mint_neko

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Mar 2014

I adored the taxi driver and the inn keeper. This is one of my favorite episodes.

Jan 7, 2016 11:25 PM

Shocked

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Jan 2010

7191

An environmental episode that isn't indictive without cause. A situation where Black Jack's desire to provide relief efforts conflicts with his unlicensed status. The drama and heart present in rehabilitation, especially considering what Black Jack himself went through as a child. Parallels drawn between the mermaid story and the episode at hand. A nice closure that doesn't wrap everything up, but leads well into things to come. Also, the inn owner and the taxi driver were fun and were quite welcome in giving this episode so much personality on top of its drama. I'm not sure what else to say.

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May 17, 2016 1:36 AM

Avenger-senpai

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Mar 2012

5785

Obvious she was gonna die since she had the hots for Black Jack. That's 2 of 3 dead. I don't understand why she would hide the fact that she felt pain in her stomach and then go off to look for pearls during a freaking storm when her legs haven't even recovered. Clearly had some mental issues.

May 22, 2017 9:52 AM

spacecobra

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Apr 2017

This episode had a really great start then somehow went completely to shit. The story started with a good premise, we have a company which pollutes the nearby sea and causing a new type of disease due to pollution. We have a girl which we could relate to and the usual comedic relief characters in the shape of the inn owner and the cab driver. It was all going good until Black Jack operated on the little girl and run across Tsukiko, which changed the focus of the story from finding a cure for the disease to curing exclusively Tsukiko. I will list the problems after that;

1. Why on earth Black Jack decided to act like a spoiled brat and insisted operating on Tsukiko in the inn when there is a perfectly equipped hospital nearby. By doing that not only he wasted precious time to start the operation, therefore risking his patient's life, he also had to make long preparations to turn the inn into an operating room. Not to mention, no matter what he does there is no way the inn could be as sterile as an actual operating room of a hospital.

2. How come people of the town supposedly help Tsukiko yet seemingly no one warns her not to go diving in a polluted sea, or take precautions to stop her. They also buy poisoned fishes from her as an act of good will, yet no no one makes sure that Tsukiko doesn't eat the poisoned fishes she caught, which most likely she does.

3. We understand that Tsukiko is a mentally challenged girl, yet she behaves more stupidly beyond her mental capacity. She should have known that diving with a crippled leg is a really bad idea. Her leg could get cramped or give up any moment and cause her to drown. This is pretty much a basic logic which she should be aware of even with her mental capacity. It's also a miracle that she didn't get pneumonia or something by living in a damp cave right next to the sea.

4. It simply doesn't make sense that they can't make a health card for Tsukiko . She is obviously a mentally challenged girl with no real awareness of the things happening around. She also doesn't have any relatives to look after her or any official documents as expected. I'm pretty sure the government has specific laws to take care people like her and they can't just discard without providing any support. They could have at least taken her case to the court and they would have probably won as the court shows sympathy to the ones who were affected by the pollution due to the company's waste management.

5. We have already seen and heard during the anime that Black Jack has amassed a great deal of money in exchange of his services. Yet somehow he goes asking others for money when he should be perfectly capable of take care of Tsukiko 's monetary needs. It simply doesn't make sense, at all.

6. How come Tsukiko managed to get out of inn without anyone noticing and walked down a long staircase when her legs were barely healed. Leaving all that aside, they should have watched over her all the time because she is mentally challenged and does stupid things.

All in all, it was a huge mistake to throw the logic out of the window in favor of feels in this episode. The focus of the story should have been finding a cure for the disease, not curing Tsukiko. It's as if the subplot took over the main plot halfway in the story. The only part of the episode I really liked was the story of the mermaid told through the murals.

Normally I wouldn't write such a long article to criticize an episode of a show but it really pisses me off to see a potential going to a waste like this. Just my two cents.

spacecobraMay 22, 2017 9:58 AM

Oct 24, 2017 9:11 AM

#10

Rod_Russ

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Jun 2013

578

I agree with critics above. Maybe the tale was real and she was a mermaid.

Dec 12, 2018 10:27 AM

#11

Ranxomare

🥊 CHAMPION 🥊

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Apr 2016

23565

One of the bests episodes!
The sad fable, it became a reality and the young happiness girl died trying to find the blue pearl, the pearl of the love!!!
The Black Jack tears at the end of the episode were....

Mar 4, 2019 2:52 AM

#12

Rayl1ght

Offline

Oct 2012

7189

I like this inn owner, he's a pun master!

I feel really bad for the fish girl :(
First time I saw Black Jack cried T_T

I want happy end for once
Just once, after all last time we got one is the anorexia actress
Best episode so far because of the taxi driver and inn owner, they're wonderful addition to the casts xD

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Oct 28, 2019 3:33 PM

#13

Kristiwazhere

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Sep 2018

2282

While they were still good, I kinda feel like this last batch of episodes suffered a bit. Putting more of a focus on Piniko and her antics kinda dragged things down. I found the version of her in this group of episodes more annoying than charming, and her bursts of humor often came at awkward times. Also, maybe I'm wrong since it's been a while since I wanted the first group of episodes, but I swear that before these last few episodes it was more clear that she was an adult in a kid's body. I swear I remember her acting more mature and even insisting people not think of her as a kid before, so this felt like an odd change to me. I think maybe they were trying to appeal to the trends of the time, but it just didn't work for me. Since Final was made 10 years later hope they toned her back down.

KristiwazhereOct 29, 2019 12:14 AM

Sep 23, 2020 12:38 PM

#14

removed-user

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Jul 2018

564074

There were some weird part but overall felt to me the most satisfying narrative episode compare the last three or four episodes tbh. Reminds me I could had enjoyed more if I would focused on Black Jack than giving attention to medical details which is slowly going bit ridiculous since episode 7.

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