Young Black Jack

Episode 4

It's episode 4 of Young Black Jack, and everyone's going to 'Nam. At least, Hazama and Yabu are. Last week's war protesters were just the appetizer for a multi-part story about Hazama and friends on the war's front lines, more complicated and less black-and-white than our previous installments. It couldn't come any sooner, since this episode plops us down in early 1968, in the middle of the Tet Offensive.

The episode only goes over the broad strokes of the event, but not really why the Tet Offensive was so pivotal. Not only was it one of the largest campaigns of the war, but it was launched by the North Vietnamese against the U.S. and South Vietnam. Up until that point, America and their allies had insisted that the North was not strong enough (and did not have enough resources) to mount a serious threat to their forces in the war. The Tet Offensive proved that horribly wrong, as the North Vietnamese devastated their enemies with coordinated surprise attacks. Even more importantly, journalists extensively documented the event, releasing graphic footage to news networks around the world. So the Tet Offensive was also a turning point in global public opinion about the war, making it very significant that the first person Hazama meets in Vietnam is Takayanagi, a photojournalist.

I didn't like the portrayal of Takayanagi as obsessive and amoral, stopping at nothing to get the best story he can. Like the war protesters of last week, the role journalists played in shaping opinion on the Vietnam War deserves more nuance than that. Takayanagi got me worried that there would be more weird conservative re-writes of Black Jack's story and character this time, but luckily, the rest of this episode does a slightly better job at portraying the complexities of this important historical event. Slightly.

So why is Hazama there in the first place? It's because of Yabu, who dashed off to the war in order to feel more useful and like Hazama. His friend knows and cautions Yabu that it's a bad idea, since he is so squeamish around blood. There is no place worse for someone like that than a war zone. Unfortunately, Hazama can't stop him, so he follows to investigate when he finds out that Yabu's hospital was bombed. There's no trace of his friend, but when he meets Takayanagi, a group of American soldiers, and their interpreter Phan, Hazama finds himself drawn up into the conflict anyway.

The rest of the episode is pretty familiar if you've seen just about any movie or TV show about Vietnam. Bob (because what is an anime with Americans where one of them isn't named Bob?) takes the group through the jungle, dispensing some hurried discussion about the war and its morality. Phan is ready to defend South Vietnam, worried about the North taking over the country, but she's reminded that the North Vietnamese are still people, so they'll still have to take human lives. Again, it's not that much more complex than previous dilemmas in Young Black Jack; this is all very obvious anti-war stuff. Still, it's an improvement on the strawman pacifists of last week. At least it's suggesting there are complicated reasons for everyone's involvement in the war. Naturally, this scene culminates in the North Vietnamese attacking the group, which leads to Hazama gaping at how hellish war can be.

The climax of the scene is, of course, Hazama's surgery. One of the American soldiers gets shot through a vital artery, and Hazama knows he'll die if he isn't operated on soon. Hazama rushes to him, risking his own life as he dodges enemy fire. The other characters marvel as he loses himself in the surgery, oblivious to everything that goes around him. It's a recurring theme for Hazama in this series, but it is concerning with how the show keeps using important historical conflicts as backdrops. Again, it is also unfair to his character, since the original Black Jack was always aware of the power dynamics and moral allegiances of his clients. Far from being impartial, those were always at the front of his mind when planning how to help people. Still, when the conflict is as muddled and bleak as the Vietnam War, maybe there's a ray of hope in someone who can put all that aside to just save lives from the madness.

It looks like Hazama will have more of that headed his way, since right after he finishes stitching the guy up, the North Vietnamese immediately capture him and his group. Considering how the civilians come off as weak and quick to surrender, clad in stereotypical straw hats, I'm not looking forward to how it's going to show the Vietnamese camp. Japan's relationship with Vietnam is a little more complicated than it is with China or Korea, and they have less of a history with stereotyping Vietnamese in anime and manga. Then again, this show already has demonstrated some pretty conservative politics and a tendency to stereotype, so who knows, it could surprise me!

Luckily, there's other stuff to look forward to; it looks like Yabu is alive, or at least he'll be present next episode. It's interesting to see Hazama in a situation that could finally challenge his cool removal from the world and turn him into the Black Jack fans know and love. Still, Young Black Jack as a series has to bring something more interesting to the table than just a pastiche of stuff that other Vietnam War media has done better. I'm sure it doesn't come off quite the same way for Japanese audiences, considering the country's uneasy neutrality during the war. For Americans, the war is deeply embedded in our cultural consciousness, and our pop culture follows suit. I'm an American writing for Americans though, so as it stands right now, I've definitely seen better. Young Black Jack has a chance to step it up next week, as Hazama and friends become prisoners of war. Here's hoping.

Rating: B-

Young Black Jack is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Rose is a music Ph.D. student who loves overanalyzing anime soundtracks. Follow her on her media blog Rose's Turn.