History YMMV / BlackJack

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

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: Almost every one of Pinoko's "comic relief" traits is the direct result of her ultra-creepy/tragic past.

** Whether Kisaragi Megumi, who is now [[SobriquetSexSwitch Kei]], should be considered simply a {{Bifauxnen}} who still sees herself as a woman, or a {{Transgender}} man is ''very hotly debated''.

* ValuesDissonace:

* ValuesDissonace: A boy is considered odd for enjoying and being good at feminine things like sewing. [[spoiler:He later discovers that as an infant, a doctor saved him from dying of a brain injury by transplanting pieces of a recently-deceased woman's brain to his (though the doctor does say the woman's brain cells ought to have completely merged with his, by the age he is when he learns this)]].

%%** And don't get us started on ''Young Black Jack''...

** Whether Kisaragi Megumi, who is now [[SobriquetSexSwitch Kei]], should be considered simply a {{Bifauxnen}} who still sees herself as a woman, or a {{Transgender}} man is ''very hotly debated''.

* NightmareFuel: The entirety of "Nadare". An adorable baby deer is subjected to brain surgery in an effort to give it human-level intellect. The result is it becoming an [[EvilAlbino albino]], sociopathic and borderline demonic beast that goes around maiming human beings once it reaches adulthood.

* EarWorm: "JUST BEFORE THE SUNRISE."

* {{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 [[{{Anvilicious}} anvilicious]]. [[{{OAV}} OAVs]] 7-10 are mostly exempt from this, fortunately.

* TastesLikeDiabetes: Pinoko.
* TheWoobie: Black Jack himself, [[StoicWoobie although he doesn't let his traumatic history show]]: when he was a child he was horribly injured by a dud bomb, losing his mother and almost losing his life if not for the efforts of Dr. Honma and his childhood classmate who donated skin grafts to him. Even though he survived, he had to fight tooth and nail to regain use of his limbs during rehabilitation. Since then, he lives in social isolation (except for, eventually, Pinoko) putting up with a bad reputation with most despite his medical mastery.

* HilariousInHindsight:
** Creator/AkioOhtsuka voiced [[Series/{{ER}} Peter Benton in Japanese]], a doctor who works ''inside'' the system rather than outside. Even more hilarious he's literally ''[[BlackAndNerdy black]]''.
** Black Jack shares his [[Creator/KirkThornton English]] and [[Creator/AkioOhtsuka Japanese]] voice actors with a ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' villain; in Japanese, he's Ansem, Seeker of Darkness [[spoiler: (as well as Terra-Xehanort)]], and in English, he's Saïx. Coincidently, [[spoiler: they are both members of the True Organization XIII, as revealed in ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'']].

** One of the patients Black Jack tends to (named Crossword) in the [=OVAs=] is voiced by Creator/ChikaoOhtsuka, who's the RealLife father of Black Jack's Japanese VA, Creator/AkioOhtsuka. [[spoiler:And he dies at the end of the episode]].

* BrokenBase: Is the anime too LighterAndSofter and adds in too many recurring characters, or are all the new characters endearing and the anime does the original justice whilst being more appealing to a wider audience?
** Are the OAV better and more faithful to the source material than the new anime, or are they TOO DarkerAndEdgier and remove too much of the goofiness in the manga? And don't get us started on ''Young Black Jack''...
** Whether Kisaragi Megumi, who is now [[SobriquetSexSwitch Kei]], should be considered simply a {{Bifauxnen}} who still see herself as a woman, or a {{Transgender}} man is ''very hotly debated''.

* TearJerker: Many, MANY stories are very heartbreaking. Special mentions go to [[spoiler: Black Jack's backstory]], [[spoiler: Pinoko's backstory]], [[spoiler: the violinist Morozov losing his fingers despite 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]]...
** There is also the story with another teratoid cystoma like Pinoko. When you see him, you can't help but want him to also be saved like Pinoko, but then [[spoiler: he was put in a jar to be an exhibit.]] That can make any fans wept.
** Also the one where [[spoiler: Pinoko's sister showed up at Black Jack's house and stayed there because of her amnesia.]] Seeing her and Pinoko getting along so well, you would want her to just stay there. But then, being [[spoiler: Pinoko's sister, after remembering everything, she would just leave on her own and not before scowling at Pinoko's face.]] So Black Jack decided to call her personal doctor to get her, and didn't reveal anything. It was indeed both ironic and sad.

** One of the patients Black Jack tends to (named Crossword) in the [=OVAs=] is voiced by Creator/ChikaoOhtsuka, who the RealLife father of Black Jack's Japanese VA, Creator/AkioOhtsuka. [[spoiler:And he dies at the end of the episode]].

* MisaimedFandom: Several fans believed that Pinoko being a child-sized adult is considered as an "Anime Logic", [[spoiler:before they would eventually found out her tragic past as a teratoid cystoma.]]

* 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 despite 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]]...

* TheWoobie: Black Jack himself, [[StoicWoobie although he doesn't let his traumatic history show]]: when he was a child he was horribly injured by a dud bomb, losing his mother and almost losing his life if not for the efforts of Dr. Honma and his childhood classmate who donated skin grafts to him. Even though he survived, he had to fight tooth and nail to regain use of his limbs during rehabilitation. Since then, he lives in social isolation (except for, eventually, Pinoko,) putting up with a bad reputation with most despite his medical mastery.

* MemeticMutation: Pinoko claiming that she is an adult is considered as an "Anime Logic" by several fans, [[spoiler:before they would eventually found out her tragic past.]]

** Are the {{OAVs}} better and more faithful to the source material than the new anime, or are they TOO DarkerAndEdgier and remove too much of the goofiness in the manga?
** And don't get us started on ''Young Black Jack''...

* TheWoobie: You ''WILL'' want to smother Pinoko with hugs and puppies at some point or another. Black Jack himself is something of a StoicWoobie.

* HilariousInHindsight[=/=]HarsherInHindsight: Both instances of this involves Black Jack's ''[[Creator/AkioOhtsuka Japanese VA]]'':
** In the ''Hilarious'' side: Creator/AkioOhtsuka voiced [[Series/{{ER}} Peter Benton in Japanese]], a doctor who works ''inside'' the system rather than outside. Even more hilarious he's literally ''[[BlackAndNerdy black]]''.

** In the ''Harsher'' side: One of the patients Black Jack attends (named Crossword) in the [=OVAs=] is voiced by Creator/ChikaoOhtsuka, who is Creator/AkioOhtsuka's ''father'' in RealLife. [[spoiler:And he dies at the end of the episode]].
** 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 Creator/OsamuTezuka's page and look under 'FamousLastWords'.
*** Artists who die either during or just after their magnum opus show up a lot. Early in the series, there was Go Gan, a painter suffering from radiation poisoning who asks Black Jack to keep him alive long enough to finish his painting of the event that caused it. Again, look at Tezuka's last words.
** And then there's ''Tenacity''. Made all the more heartrending by the fact that Tezuka's AuthorAvatar is a major character.

* Black Jack shares his [[Creator/KirkThornton English]] and [[Creator/AkioOhtsuka Japanese]] voice actors with a ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' villain; in Japanese, he's Ansem, Seeker of Darkness [[spoiler: (as well as Terra-Xehanort)]], and in English, he's Saïx. Coincidently, [[spoiler: they are both members of the True Organization XIII, as revealed in ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'']].

* 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,]] [[NightmareFuel on the other hand...]]
* TheWoobie: You ''WILL'' want to smother Pinoko with hugs and puppies at some point or another. Black Jack himself is something of a StoicWoobie.

* HilariousInHindsight[=/=]HarsherInHindsight: Both instances of this involves Black Jack's ''[[AkioOhtsuka Japanese VA]]'':
** In the ''Hilarious'' side: AkioOhtsuka voiced [[Series/{{ER}} Peter Benton in Japanese]], a doctor who works ''inside'' the system rather than outside. Even more hilarious he's literally ''[[BlackAndNerdy black]]''.
** In the ''Harsher'' side: One of the patients 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]].
** 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'.