History YMMV / BlackJack

* UnfortunateImplications: Both [[spoiler: Megumi]] and Blackjack seem to believe that a woman's gender identity lies in her ability to reproduce, so after he gives her a life-saving hysterectomy, [[spoiler: she chooses to take on the identity of a male rather than continue on with her old life]].

* UnfortunateImplications: The entire [[spoiler:Megumi]] thing smacks of "If you can't give birth, you're not a proper woman"...

** In the ''Harsher'' side: One of the pacients Black Jack attends (named Crossword) in the [=OVAs=] is voiced by Creator/ChikaoOhtsuka, who is AkioOhtsuka's ''father'' in RealLife. [[spoiler:And he dies at the end of the episode]].

** In the ''Harsher'' side: One of the pacients Black Jack attends (named Crossword) in the [=OVAs=] is voiced by ChikaoOhtsuka, who is AkioOhtsuka's ''father'' in RealLife. [[spoiler:And he dies at the end of the episode]].

** Nasty, but there may be some justification in that BJ had to remove ''all'' of the relevant plumbing, ''including the stuff that releases hormones''. Not only do her breasts eventually vanish without estrogen to maintain her physique, but ''she can't even be sexually aroused anymore.'' BJ considers the whole thing to be one of [[MyGreatestFailure His Greatest Failures]] - he wanted to marry the girl, and he basically had to '''castrate''' her to save her life! Makes his occasional RageAgainstTheHeavens even more poignant, eh?

* HarsherInHindsight: One chapter had the author of an extremely popular serial novel close to dying just as he's about to write the last chapter of the story. [[spoiler: He winds up dying seconds after finishing the last page]]. Now go to OsamuTezuka's page and look under 'FamousLastWords'.

* AwesomeAnachronisticApparel: Black Jack [[LimitedWardrobe always]] dresses like he just walked out of Victorian England.

* TearJerker: Many, MANY stories are very heartbreaking. Special mentions go to [[spoiler: Black Jack's backstory]], [[spoiler: Pinoco's backstory]], [[spoiler: the violinist Morozov losing his fingers fespite Black Jack's efforts]], the whole deal with [[spoiler: Nadare the intelligent deer]], and the case where [[spoiler: a cute cashier with her eyes damaged by a bomb can only be operated ''to see again for five minutes'' so she can identify the man who detonated the bomb AND blinded her in the first place]]...

* TearJerker: Many, MANY stories are very heartbreaking. Special mentions go to [[spoiler: Black Jack's backstory]], [[spoiler: Pinoco's backstory]], [[spoiler: the violinist Morozov losing his fingers fespite Black Jack's efforts]], the whole deal with [[spoiler: Nadare the intelligent deer]]...

* HalfTruth: Most of Black Jack's diagnosis as told to his patients and their families, to protect them or because he's certain they couldn't handle their therapy otherwise:
** For example, in one of the earliest stories a mafioso has a good kid framed for a crime he didn't commit, to use him as "spare parts" for his own spoiled rotten son. Black Jack [[spoiler: gives the good kid plastic surgery and tells him to claim to be the mafioso's son and use his money to escape, bringing alone his own poor mother]].
** Black Jack tells one of his patients the story of a young paraplegic who regained full mobility by exercising strenuosly, then downtoning the story as a fib. As the patient starts a long marathon, as in the story he was just told about, Black Jack quietly follows him, interested. It's revealed that [[spoiler: Black Jack wasn't telling all the truth: the young paraplegic in the story was Black Jack as a little kid]].
** Black Jack fits a former kid athlete with a crude, low-tech prostetic arm, claiming it's "Special". It's later discovered that [[spoiler: the arm had actually a useful feature: a two-way radio connected with a receiver, given to the kid secret crush, who then was able to confort him and push him to a new careerer as a shogi champion]].
** Black Jack has surgery on a young singer, telling her that if she doesn't observe a short vocal rest she'll go mute. The singer disobeys, screwing over her voice. Black Jack then puts her on an unusual three months long total voice rest, claiming that, if she obeys, he'll install a costly artificial voice box in her throat. [[spoiler: The artificial voice box was just a broken stethoscope, and Black Jack just wanted to scare her into observing proper therapy. After she did, she healed just nice]].
** Black Jack claims he had surgery on a girl to let her take the place of her dead brother as the heir of an important firm. [[spoiler: Later, he reveals he just hypnotized the girl to believe his lie, thus making her able and confortable to perform the given role]].

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: {{Periphery Demographic}} aside, the manga was in a shonen magazine and the TV anime's in a family timeslot. [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids The 90's movie and OAV series,]] [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel on the other hand...]]

** Nasty, but there may be some justification in that BJ had to remove all the relevant plumbing, including the stuff that releases hormones. The woman in question ''can't even be sexually stimulated anymore.'' BJ considers the whole thing to be one of [[MyGreatestFailure His Greatest Failures]] - he wanted to marry the girl, and he basically had to '''castrate''' her to save her life! Makes his occasional RageAgainstTheHeavens even more poignant, eh?
*** Actually, given the clitoris isn't attached to the bits that make children, that makes it ''worse''.

** Nasty, but there may be some justification in that BJ had to remove all the relevant plumbing, including the stuff that releases hormones. The woman in question ''can't even be sexually stimulated anymore.'' BJ considers the whole thing to be one of [[MyGreatestFailure His Greatest Failures]] - he wanted to marry the girl, and he basically had to '''castrate''' her to save her life! Makes his occasional RageAgainstTheHeavens even more poignant, eh?

** Black Jack claims he had surgery on a girl to let her take the place of her dead brother as the heir of an important firm. [[Spoiler: Later, he reveals he just hypnotized the girl to believe his lie, thus making her able and confortable to perform the given role]].

* HarsherInHindsight: One chapter had the author of an extremely popular serial novel close to dying just as he's about to write the last chapter of the story. [[He winds up dying seconds after finishing the last page]]. Now go to OsamuTezuka's page and look under ''FamousLastWords''.

* AdaptationDisplacement: The 90's theatrical movie and first 6 [=OAVs=] ([[{{macekre}} or some form of them, anyway]]) were released in the US in 1996...three years BEFORE the manga got an English translation.

* AdaptationDisplacement: The 90's theatrical movie and first 6 [=OAVs=] ([[{macekre}} or some form of them, anyway]]) were released in the US in 1996...three years BEFORE the manga got an English translation.

* AdaptationDisplacement: The 90's theatrical movie and first 6 [=OAVs=] (or some form of them, anyway) were released in the US in 1996...three years BEFORE the manga got an English translation.

* AdaptationDisplacement: The 90's theatrical movie and first 6 OAVs [[{{Macekre}} (or some form of them, anyway)]] were released in the US in 1996...three years BEFORE the manga got an English translation.

* {{Macekre}}: The dub scripts for the first six [[{{OAV}} OAVs]] and the movie are sometimes ''dramatically'' different from the subtitles. This mostly manifests as an inexplicable rearrangement, alteration or deletion of several key lines, which can sometimes make the dialogue rather clunky. This is particularly evident in the fourth OAV, in which the entire point of the episode is subverted, and in the movie, wherein one character goes from being tragically misguided to downright Satanic, as well as rendering the movie's GreenAesop [[{{Narm}} narmishly]] [[{{Anvilicious}} anvilicious]]. [[{{OAV}} OAVs]] 7-10 are mostly exempt from this, fortunately.