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Young Black Jack TV Anime's Ad Outlines Premise

The BS-TBS station debuted a new commercial for the upcoming television anime of Yū-Go Ōkuma and Yoshiaki Tabata's Young Black Jack manga in Japan. The ad features the show's opening theme song "I Am Just Feeling Alive" by the duo UMI☆KUUN.

The ad describes the story premise of this prequel to Black Jack, Osamu Tezuka's classic series about a brilliant maverick doctor who practices without a license. The prequel follows Black Jack when he was still a young, unorthodox medical student in 1968.

Yuichiro Umehara will play Kurō Hazama, the titular character Black Jack, and Junichi Suwabe will join the cast in the fifth episode as the military doctor who will one day become Kurō Hazama's rival. Other confirmed main cast members include:

Kōji Yusa as Yabu
Shizuka Itou as Maiko Okamoto
Akio Ohtsuka as Narrator

Other characters will appear in the second through fourth episodes:

Hiroki Touchi as Tōrō Tachiiri, a debt collector Hazama owes a lot of money to. Also known as Acetylene Lamp, he is one of Tezuka's reoccurring minor characters, and has appeared multiple times in Black Jack.

Norihiro Inoue as Raymond, a man imprisoned by Tachiiri with Hazama. He appeared in the Black Jack chapter "A Plot to Film Black Jack Performing an Operation."

Kazuo Oka as Tomezō Kanayama, a wealthy man who founded a religious sect based on patriotism. He is Count Alucard in Tezuka's I.L, and also appeared in the Black Jack chapter "Dedicated to Vampires."

Takuya Eguchi as Jou, a leader of a religious organization that worships Kanayama. He appeared in Tezuka's Under the Air and in the Black Jack chapter "On a Snowy Night."

Megumi Toyoguchi as Aoyama, a member of an anit-war group. She is Ruriko in Tezuka's The Vampires and has also appeared in the Black Jack chapter "U-18 Knew."

Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as Tamura, a youth acting under Aoyama. He is Masato in Phoenix: Mirai-hen, and also appeared in the Black Jack chapter "Tenacity."

Ryōtarō Okiayu as Smith, an American soldier who deserted from the Vietnam War. He appeared in Tezuka's NOMAN.

Hisafumi Oda as Marlon, an American soldier who deserted with Smith. He previously appeared in the Black Jack chapter "An Internal Clock."

Shunsuke Takeuchi as Hugo, a cool-headed man who doesn't show much emotion. He is from Tezuka's The Book of Human Insects.

Kentarō Tone as Takayanagi, a cameraman on the Vietnam front. He's the main character of Tezuka's Gringo.

Hiroki Yasumoto as Bob, the commanding officer of a transport corps for the American military. He is from Phoenix: Uchū-hen and the Black Jack chapter "Invaders From Space."

M.A.O as Phan, a Vietnamese guide and translator who works for Bob's corps. She appeared in Yakeppachi no Maria.

Shōta Yamamoto as Steve, a member of Bob's corps. He appeared Hungry Blues.

Mitsuko Kase (SaiKano, Ristorante Paradiso) is directing the anime at Tezuka Productions, and Armored Trooper Votoms creator Ryousuke Takahashi is supervising and writing the series scripts. Miyuki Katayama and Nana Miura are designing the characters and serving as chief animation directors. Minoru Nishida (Phoenix, Jungle Emperor Leo special, Thundercats) and Masato Shibata (Black Jack, Black Jack 21, Phoenix) are the art directors, and Megumi Arai is the color key artist.

Kazumasa Someya is the director of photography, and Tamami Watabe is editing. Toshiki Kameyama is directing the sound at Grooove, and Daisuke Ikeda (Golgo 13, Project ARMS) is composing the music at Being. The duo UMI☆KUUN is performing the opening theme song "I Am Just Feeling Alive," and Takuto is handling the ending song.

The series will premiere on October 1 at 2:16 a.m. on TBS, and it will then run on CBC, Sun TV, BS-TBS, and other stations.

Ōkuma and author Tabata launched the ongoing manga series in Akita Shoten's Young Champion magazine in 2011, with Nobumasa Gotō as the medical supervisor.

Thanks to Kagayaki for the embedded video.

Image © Young Black Jack Production Committee