Random manga review!
Aug. 8th, 2011 11:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
splinteredstarWell this is slightly later than usual. Because the last six hours or so I have been reading a fabulous manga - Black Jack by Tezuka Osamu. Yes, the guy who did Astro Boy. Yes, the guy who basically invented Manga.
It is pretty much fabulous.
The main character is a blackmarket surgeon who charges exorbitant fees - sometimes. Other times he fakes it and charges nothing. He's unlicensed but also fucking brilliant, and a bit of a jerk. He's also a lot more philanthropic than he'd like to admit.
Yes, I have a weakness for the "good guys who are bitchy and pretend to be evil."
There's occasionally bullshit science - no, brain transplants don't work, and someone cannot continue operating for ten minutes after their heart stops. That is not how biology works thankyouverymuch. - but I'm used to swallowing much bigger doses of silliness from some manga. (YGO. Enough said.)
It's interesting, reading a manga that was published in '73. (A storyline about polio is actually kind of surreal now.) There's not nearly as much racism or sexism as you'd expect- though there is some, on race it's actually much better than I'd expected. Better than some current series, even. Blackjack, the lead character, has - SPOILER - a darker patch on his face because when he was a child and severely injured, his mixed-race friend offered his skin to help heal. Blackjack has been offered skin several times, to get a patch that matches his skin tone better, but each time he has refused out of respect for his friend. / END SPOILER
On sexism there is some serious flaws - no, darling, you don't have to stop living as a woman just because your ovaries and womb were removed, that is not how gender identity works either - but like I said, not as bad as it could have been. While many of the women have been swooning love interests for BJ, that's no different than today - and unlike today, they are often shown to be very competent doctors as well.
So yeah. Very good manga. Now back to reading, I've got a volume and a half left...
It is pretty much fabulous.
The main character is a blackmarket surgeon who charges exorbitant fees - sometimes. Other times he fakes it and charges nothing. He's unlicensed but also fucking brilliant, and a bit of a jerk. He's also a lot more philanthropic than he'd like to admit.
Yes, I have a weakness for the "good guys who are bitchy and pretend to be evil."
There's occasionally bullshit science - no, brain transplants don't work, and someone cannot continue operating for ten minutes after their heart stops. That is not how biology works thankyouverymuch. - but I'm used to swallowing much bigger doses of silliness from some manga. (YGO. Enough said.)
It's interesting, reading a manga that was published in '73. (A storyline about polio is actually kind of surreal now.) There's not nearly as much racism or sexism as you'd expect- though there is some, on race it's actually much better than I'd expected. Better than some current series, even. Blackjack, the lead character, has - SPOILER - a darker patch on his face because when he was a child and severely injured, his mixed-race friend offered his skin to help heal. Blackjack has been offered skin several times, to get a patch that matches his skin tone better, but each time he has refused out of respect for his friend. / END SPOILER
On sexism there is some serious flaws - no, darling, you don't have to stop living as a woman just because your ovaries and womb were removed, that is not how gender identity works either - but like I said, not as bad as it could have been. While many of the women have been swooning love interests for BJ, that's no different than today - and unlike today, they are often shown to be very competent doctors as well.
So yeah. Very good manga. Now back to reading, I've got a volume and a half left...
