Osamu Tezuka's "Black Jack" gets an origin story care of NTV and director Kentaro Otani

by Chris MaGee

People seem to love a good origin story. You only need to look at such films as Christopher Nolan's "Batman Begins" to know that, but you also don't need to look further that "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace" or "Hannibal Rising" to know that a poorly executed origin story can gut our favorite screen characters. Still studios are more than happy to indulge our desire to know what makes our beloved good guys (and bad guys) tick, that's why Japan's NTV Network and director Kentaro Otani (Nana) are joining forces to bring us the origin story of one of manga's best known characters.

On April 23rd NTV will broadcast "Young Black Jack", which is exactly what it sounds like. The television special will follow the early adventures of Osamu Tezuka's maverick surgical genius Black Jack. 21-year-old actor Masaki Okada will portray Tezuka's character in a live-action story that will trace his origin from the age of nine when he is disfigured in a massive explosion that leaves his mother in a coma, through his days at medical school and the development of his rivalry with Dr. Kiriko.

With so many manga to live-action series to live-action film adaptations on the go we wonder if "Young Black Jack" will be popular enough with audiences to make the transition to the big screen. We'll have to wait until the end of this month to find out. Thanks to Anime News Network for this piece of news.