BLACKJACK

— by Chadwick Ngan

BLACKJACK is one of those cerebral stories that have a great premise, interesting characters and enough mysteries to draw you in right away. Unfortunately, like many of those stories, BLACKJACK cannot deliver the conclusion satisfactorily.
The story begins in 1996. In the mythical Atlantis Olympic Games, new, extraordinary world records are being set at an unprecedented pace. Against this backdrop, Blackjack operates on a little girl, Lisa. He removes a tumor from her body successfully.
Two years have passed. During that time, many people with incredible abilities appear in sports, arts and other fields. Their talents are so amazing that the press dub them superhumans. Blackjack receives an urgent call from Lisa's father. She is suffering from a major relapse and is in critical condition. Blackjack flies to her home immediately, but arrives too late to save her. Before she dies, Lisa tells Blackjack she believes in him, because his skills are just like the superhumans.
During the post-mortem autopsy, Blackjack is shocked to discovered that all of Lisa's internal organs are old and decayed, as if she were in her nineties. Lisa was only 16 when she died, and all her organs were healthy when he operated on her two years ago. Puzzled, Blackjack leaves the grieving parents shortly after the funeral. They insist on giving him Lisa's last painting as a memoir, but he refuses to accept it. Pinocco, his protoge, takes the picture on his behalf.
A mystery woman continues to call Blackjack. She won't tell him anything, save her number, and a promise for money. Her calls are ignored. Eventually, she leaves her name: Joelle Carol. When she finds out Blackjack is scheduled to operate on a patient in New York, she "introduces" herself by interrupting and taking over his operation.
After the operation is over, Blackjack confronts Joelle about her actions. Now that she has his attention, she again pleads her case for his assistance. Blackjack refuses flat out, even when he finds out Joelle's associates have "invited" Pinocco on a grand vacation in his name, effectively making her a hostage. However, as Joelle leaves she says, "The fate of the superhumans is in your hands."
In a flashback, Blackjack recalls how art dealers have pestered him for Lisa's final painting, calling that the last creation of a superhuman artist. Intrigued, Blackjack finally accepts Joelle's offer. The next day, he goes to her medical center. During his orientation, he is surprised to discover that every "superhuman" eventually develops a deadly sickness. They lose their vigor, become wasted hulks of their former self, before dying in horrifying fashion. In fact, their celebrated superhuman abilities are just part of the early symptoms of a deadly contagious epidemic! Joelle calls it the "Moerae Syndrome," after the three goddesses of fate in Greek mythology. As Blackjack tries to unravel the cause of this deadly disease, he discovers greedy corporate scheming, blinding personal ambitions, amoral scientists and a terrible secret behind the origin of the Moerae Syndrome.
Sounds interesting? I thought so too. In fact, it was an enjoyable viewing experience until the last ten minutes. Then everything falls apart. First, as the villain lies dying, I was treated to a several minutes-long death speech. An amazing feat, considering the villain has multiple sucking chest wounds after being raked by an assault rifle. (This is a show that stresses medical reality, after all.) The purpose of the death-speech, of course, is to make me feel sorry for the villain. It failed. After spending 80 minutes showing me how vile, selfish and heartless the villain is, I am not going to shed a tear over some sob story about a harsh upbringing and a heartless father.
Next, the plot is resolved using deus ex machina. Out of the blue, some mysterious nomad tribe (which we see very little of, and is only mentioned briefly once) just happens to have the cure all along! How very convenient! And if that is not enough, I'm suddenly assaulted by a bombastic speech about how humankind is destroying his planet, and how we should do something about it. Huh? I beg your pardon? Where does this come from? So far, the whole movie centers on greed, ambition and the responsibility a scientist has towards society. Never once has someone linked environmentalism with the plot. This sudden tirade not only is out of place, it also degrades the intellectual level of the movie. Instead of assuming the audience will understand by implication, it now force-feeds the message down our throats.
I'm disappointed. BLACKJACK is one of Osamu Tezuka's masterpieces, and I hate to see it suffer such injustices. It shows a lot of promise at first — solid plot, interesting characters, mysteries, good animation and a decent dub. Unfortunately, this sets up such a high expectation that one cannot help but notice the weak ending. It's a real pity, because BLACKJACK comes so close to being "two thumbs up."

Released in North America by Manga Entertainment
75 minutes
$19.95 (dubbed)
(VHS Color/Stereo Hi-Fi)
UPC: 6-60200-40173-3 (dub)
Where to buy