Black Jack (1996)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Anime	Main Menu Audio & Animation Trailer-Akira; Macross Plus; Ghost In The Shell Trailer-Blood-The Last Vampire; Street Fighter Alpha Easter Egg-Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1996
Running Time	92:54 (Case: 90)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Osamu Dezaki
Studio Distributor	Shochiku Madman Entertainment	Starring	None Given
Case	Click
RPI	?	Music	Eiji Kawamura

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.75:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	Yes
Subtitles	English	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Black Jack is a Japanese animated film centred around a brilliant but mysterious surgeon known simply as Black Jack.

    Black Jack is a brilliant unregistered renegade surgeon who is able to perform operations that other doctors will not attempt. To perform this surgery he charges extremely high prices and only chooses patients he feels are deserving of his talents. During the Olympic Games, a new breed of athlete emerges. These athletes are labelled as 'Superhumans' as they are able to achieve levels of performance previously thought physically impossible by mankind. As time progresses, more 'Superhumans' emerge in different fields including art, literature and music. It seems that a new stage of human development is about to begin, but what is the connection to the mysterious doctor Black Jack?

    This movie was based on the original manga by Osamu Tezuka who was also responsible for Astroboy and Kimba the White Lion. This movie does contain some small references to these shows but this movie is much darker than them and is definitely aimed towards an adult audience. The movie does have characters performing superhuman achievements but the story is focused upon the investigation into how these abilities were achieved and the medical research behind them. This is surprisingly a very interesting storyline that is arguably aimed at a more adult audience than many anime productions.

Video

    The transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.75:1 and is NOT 16x9 enhanced.

    The sharpness level does vary throughout the transfer, with the majority of scenes appearing quite sharp but a number of scenes clearly softer. These changes in sharpness were only minimally distracting and may be inherent in the original source material. No low level noise was detected during the transfer. Excellent shadow detail may be seen during the transfer with the numerous dark scenes clearly revealing the high levels of detail of the original animation.

    The colour palette displayed by this transfer utilizes a wide range of colours including many subtle shadings but always appears slightly muted as typically seen in animation of this age.

    A number of small MPEG artefacts may be seen throughout the transfer. An example of these artefacts may be seen at 4:30 but all of these are very small and are not distracting. During the opening credit sequence, Gibbs artefacts may be seen around the titles displayed.

    Numerous aliasing artefacts may be seen during the transfer. Some examples of these may be seen at 2:25, 3:30, 5:03, 5:38, 6:30, and 14:35. Most of these artefacts only occur for a short period of time but due to their frequency they are moderately distracting.

    A number of film artefacts appear throughout the transfer. Some examples of these artefacts may be seen at 4:19, 6:38, 10:45, 22:12, 23:02 and 25:05. All of these artefacts are relatively small and they are only slightly distracting to the viewer.

    A small number of NTSC to PAL conversion artefacts may also be seen during the transfer with examples clearly visible at 47:02 and 54:49. These artefacts are only slightly distracting.

    Finally, a number of cross coloration artefacts may be seen. Some examples of these may be seen at 35:18, 67:39 and 73:27 but these are only slightly distracting to the viewer.

    A single set of yellow English subtitles are included on this disc. As with many anime transfers, the subtitles and the English language tracks often show obvious differences but this is only annoying when watching the titles with the English audio. At 18:36 a single subtitle appears for a very short period of time forcing viewers to replay the segment in order to read it. A single line of white burned-in text may be seen at 10:06 providing an obvious English translation for the newspaper headline shown in the scene.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The dialogue during all tracks was clear and easy to understand at all times.

    As this is an animated feature, there are the expected obvious problems with audio sync for each soundtrack. No dropouts were detected at any stage during the transfer.

    The score by Eiji Kawamura fits the on-screen action well but the main theme songs by Mai Yamane used during the opening and closing sequences seem a little out of place.

    The surround channels are used effectively by the 5.1 mix during scenes such as the Olympic crowd scenes and during the city scenes. The subwoofer channel is also used to support the score and various effects but this never draws attention to itself.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

    The animated menu is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

Trailer: Akira (1:15)

    This trailer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.66:1 with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

Trailer: Macross Plus (2:53)

    Presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with a musical Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

Trailer: Ghost In The Shell (1:34)

    Presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

Trailer: Blood The Last Vampire (1:40)

    This trailer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

Trailer: Street Fighter Alpha The Movie (1:06)

    Presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

Easter Egg

    The trailer for Black Jack (0:36) may be accessed by pressing the left arrow from the scene selection option on the main menu and highlighting the title. This trailer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

    Both versions of this film appear to be identical and I therefore would have no preference for either version.

    Black Jack is an entertaining medical thriller that will appeal to a wide mature audience.

    The video transfer is acceptable but slightly disappointing and could have been significantly improved with a new 16x9 transfer.

    The 5.1 English mix is well done but the Japanese 2.0 mix will appeal to fans of the original audio.

    Almost no extras are included on the disc with only a collection of trailers provided.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall