Buzz
Black Jack has been adapted numerous times over the years, but this new live-action iteration hopes to capture the essence of the original manga.
Yet another anime gets the live-action treatment, and this time it's one of the classics. Yes, Black Jack will be the next story to be adapted into a feature film with real actors, set to be released within the coming year. However, instead of simply remaking the anime, the story will be adapted from the original manga.
In addition to the release date announcement for 2024, along with promotional images, there's news that the main character will be portrayed by Issei Takahashi. Takahashi is known for his roles as Seiji Amasawa in Whisper of the Heart and Kazunori Morinaga in Ikebukuro West Gate Park. The actor is a familiar face often seen in live-action adaptations.
Black Jack, created by Osamu Tezuka (also famous for Astro Boy), first debuted as a manga in November 1973. The manga continued to be published for ten years, featuring hundreds of short stories, each averaging about 20 pages.
The story follows the adventures of a doctor named Black Jack, who has a distinctive appearance that most anime fans can recognize immediately, whether they've read his stories before or not. Most of the tales revolve around Black Jack aiding the underprivileged with his medical knowledge, often without receiving anything in return.
This isn't the first time Black Jack has been adapted from manga to screen. In 1992, there was a theatrical film along with a 10-episode OVA series created by Tezuka's apprentice, Osamu Dezaki. Later, a 61-episode anime aired from 2004 to 2006 adapted from the original manga. Another 17 episodes followed the new storyline in 2006, titled Black Jack 21, although the series has never been licensed internationally. Finally, in 2015, another new series titled Young Black Jack was released, depicting Black Jack's medical school years in a separate original story.
This new live-action series isn't the first time Black Jack has been adapted into a live-action film. The first film premiered in 1977, followed by a series of multi-episode films in 1981 that altered Black Jack's storyline from the original manga. Three more films were made in 1996 and another three in 2000 - 2001. Most recently, in 2011, Young Black Jack was also adapted into live-action, with a fresh take on the original Black Jack story.
TV Asahi's new live-action adaptation will be the first to directly adapt from the original manga in 2000 and will strive to capture the original story more accurately than some other adaptations. The film will be directed by Hideo Joujou, written by Yoshiko Morishita, and scored by Takashi Ohmama. However, TV Asahi isn't the only studio undertaking adaptations at the moment, as China's Beijing Enlight Pictures is also producing a Chinese live-action TV series.
