Black Jack, Volume Seven by Osamu Tezuka

Another tale about Black Jack, the unlicensed surgeon who is usually the only chance to save his patient's life.

"Guys and Birds" has Blackjack being summoned to a small house on the edge of a tideland to look at a man's son who has been injured. It turns out that it's not that the boy can't be saved by anyone else, but that no other doctor has the courage to stand up to the crimelord who wants the land, Tonio, the boy Black Jack came here to help, understands the birds of the tidelands, who love him. But when his father is shot, can Blackjack get Tonio to safety, or will the birds give him away?

In "The Gray Mansion", a woman hires BlackJack to rebuild her brother's face and body after he was horribly injured and scarred in a fire. But something about the two seems strange. Can BlackJack penetrate to the heart of the mystery and prevent another tragedy from occurring?

"A Cat and Shozo" brings BlackJack together with a man who lost his entire family, and now sees them in the cat he took in and her kittens. One of the cats is hurt, but can BlackJack heal the man's shattered mind? Or does he get something out of his strange family that is too deep to be gotten rid of?

"The Two Pinokos" bring BlackJack into contact with a girl named Romi, the same girl he modeled Pinoko's appearance on, from a picture in a magazine article. But she is dying of sickness caused by contact with Pollution. Can BlackJack save her, or appeal to the Doctor who is monitoring her case about the importance of being truthful? Or will the other Doctor allow the businessmen to buy him off with money to lie about the cause of Romi's death?

"Unexploded Bomb" brings BlackJack together with a fat-cat who allowed homes to be built on an island filled with unexploded bombs and other ordinance. Landing together on the island in a balloon, he allows the fat-cat to escape. But can the man escape the other bombs left on the island. And why is BlackJack doing this?

"Younger Brother" tells the story of two sons of a man dying of cancer. Both agree to become surgeons, and if either falls ill, will save the other. But the older son is needed to run their father's company, and the younger son is too stupid to be a surgeon. When the elder brother falls ill, the brother brings in Black Jack to be a "ringer" for his own son, who is studying medicine in America. But will the older brother fall for the ruse?

"High and Low" brings together an executive who needs a blood transfusion and a construction Worker who has the same rare blood type to save him. Black Jack performs the operation for 50 million yen. But when the construction worker also needs an operation, will the executive repay the favor or will he save his company instead?

"Goribei of Senjogahara" gives us a Gorilla who attacks women on the sacred mountain, and steals milk and vegetables. BlackJack is helping the latest victim when a famous hunter shows up to track down and kill Goribei. But can BlackJack stop the attacks in his own way?

"The Kuroshio: A Memoir" shows the lengths BlackJack will go to for justice, as hounds a famous actor who is attempting to escape apologizing to a couple for the death of their xon. Who will crack first? BlackJack, or the actor?

In "Black and White", a surgeon named Shirabyoshi (Or "White") meets a man with a brain tumor. But when he hears that the man is going to BlackJack, he begs the man's wife to let him perform the surgery. But can he deal with the aftermath of a patient who is a criminal on the run from a rival organization?

"A Hill for One" has BlackJack denying to make a contribution to the reforestation of a hill that was partially denuded by the Winter Olympics. But when BlackJack is injured and saved by a bear, will he return the favor when he is well? And what else will he do for the animal that saved him?

"Cloudy, Later Fair" brings together a young boy, his injured father, and BlackJack when the father's life is endangered by an employee strike at the hotel they are in. But when they are trapped on the mountain during a lightning storm, can BlackJack save his life through surgery?

In "Hurricane", BlackJack is brought to a small island by a man determined to save his father- or so he says. In reality, he is the lover of his father's beautiful young wife, and when a hurricane threatens, he attempts to strand BlackJack and the old man on the island so he can inherit his father's company, money and holdings, and his father's wife as well. Can BlackJack keep the old man alive and survive the storm?

"Timeout" has BlackJack at the scene of an accident with a young boy trapped under metal pipes that rolled off the back of a truck. Assured by the owners of the trucking company that they will pay his fees, BlackJack works tirelessly to free him and reattatch the limbs he had to remove to free the child. But will the company pay up in the end?

I liked these stories, which really covered all sorts of medical conditions and people. And some of those "people" weren't exactly "people" at all, like Goribei the Gorilla and the bear who saves BlackJack's life. Pinoko appears hardly at all in this volume, which I thought was all to the good. I find her too much of a one-note character, a gag whose time has long since passed.

This book was very full of stories about BlackJack's sense of justice, and why he is needed. After all, even criminals need medical care, And being outside the law himself, he can deal with thema manner befitting their behavior. But we also get to see some of the experiences that shaped BlackJack into the man he is today, In "Unexploded Bomb" we see a side of him that is cruel and ruthless- much more so than he usually is. And its a shock to see, how far he'll go to wreak vengeance on the wronged. Perhaps he's got reason to be so harsh when you see the hand that life dealt him.

I still love this series. It makes medical operations taut and gripping, and shows the genius of Osamu Tezuka, that you can care so much about the characters in a very few pages. Modern manga are generally all about long, involved stories, but they need many pages to achieve the same effect that Tezuka does in just a few. This is genius at work, and I love reading these stories. Highly recommended.