AnimeSuki Forums

NoSanninWa · 2006-04-13, 17:54

Having just watched episode 1 of this new series, I am wondering what exactly, its connection is to Black Jack and the work of Osamu Tezuka. A bit of research reveals that the manga was writen by Akihito Yoshitomi and I can find no record of Tezuka having anything to do with it. Yet, in episode 1 Black Jack, an Osamu Tezuka character is clearly evident. If that was not enough to confuse me, Director Sawa seems very much like a character who would have been created by Tezuka, although the fighting nurses seem nothing like Tezuka. The main character, Ray, seems to convey some of Tezuka's themes, but she is portrayed in a way that seems quite out of character for Tezuka.

As a final bit of confusion I see that although I cannot find any relation between Tezuka and the manga, this anime is made by Tezuka Productions. That makes me wonder if perhaps, the original manga merely made a nod to Tezuka's Black Jack, and since Tezuka Productions liked it and was involved in the creation of the anime, it was fleshed out. I'd appreciate if someone who read the manga, can tell me how much of an appearance Black Jack actually made.

Can someone enlighten me what the relation is exactly?

musouka · 2006-04-13, 18:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by NoSanninWa

That makes me wonder if perhaps, the original manga merely made a nod to Tezuka's Black Jack, and since Tezuka Productions liked it and was involved in the creation of the anime, it was fleshed out.

That's pretty much exactly it. The original manga had an obvious, but unexplicit reference to Black Jack, and the anime just fleshened it out further. The only other connection that I know of is that Yoshitoni did a one shot Black Jack chapter in Champion RED a while back as some sort of promotion/celebration I can't recall at this moment.

iluid · 2006-04-13, 18:49

As far as I know the author of RAY is just sort of paying homage to Tezuka by giving Black Jack a cameo in this series and making him a part of Ray’s past. There’s no direct link on Tezuka's side. I didn’t mean to imply that there was. It’s kind of like how Batman would occasionally show up on Scooby-Doo.

As for the production company, they probably just thought it was cool that Black Jack was appearing in the series, and decided to produce the show.

NoSanninWa · 2006-04-14, 00:44

So, how much of Black Jack appeared in the manga? I saw a reference to B.J. having restored her eyes. Does that mean he was only referred to by his initials in the manga? Is his face ever shown?

Sakuya · 2006-04-14, 01:38

Just skimmed through episode 2. The opening, interesting. They used rock music. I'm not a big fan of rock music but it's incredibly fast paced.

And they actually animated Ray's vision of everybody's skeletons from the manga!

It was pretty cool. The last scene of the opening sequence is very...interesting. It really makes you wonder if it's foreshadowing or not and where the series is going.

If you're interested in what that last scene is:

Spoiler:

Altharion · 2006-04-14, 03:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by NoSanninWa

So, how much of Black Jack appeared in the manga? I saw a reference to B.J. having restored her eyes. Does that mean he was only referred to by his initials in the manga? Is his face ever shown?

B.J isnt in the manga, its an unknown doctor in the manga but he doesnt look like B.J.

Sakuya · 2006-04-14, 03:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Altharion

B.J isnt in the manga, its an unknown doctor in the manga but he doesnt look like B.J.

Yes Black Jack is in the RAY manga. Page 5 of the first volume since that's all I have.

He's shadowed out and he clearly says his name is "BJ". And you can see his scar thingy on the side of his face clearly. Black Jack's appearance is not as blatant compared to the anime.

lavielove · 2006-04-14, 03:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Altharion

B.J isnt in the manga, its an unknown doctor in the manga but he doesnt look like B.J.

Actually unknown doctor would have been better.May be I still have not have a chance to read Black Jack Manga.Seems like Black Jack no Yoroshiku is popular these days,so they also put Black Jack in Ray to attract more and more viewers I think.=D suprisingly we are discussing about Black Jack manga instead of Ray.(is that what they(the production) want ?).lol

magic_tim · 2006-04-14, 13:37

On page 42 of the manga you can see he even dresses like him! Heh heh. Obviously, Akihito Yoshiomi was fan of Black Jack and it helped inspire the Ray manga. What's wrong with a little parody, or dare I say homage to Black Jack? so what if the continuity doesn't go beyond the Ray stories or even Yoshitomi's imagination? I think it's great! It makes me smile, and it makes me want to check out Black Jack (a character that Yoshitomi is obviously a fan of).

Now, back to talking about Ray! I've been waiting for this series since I picked up the manga...has it been two years now? Yikes! When I saw the Ray website come up last year, you can well imagine that I flipped out! So now it's here...

...finally...

...and I'm having trouble with the mp4

(a format I'm not familiar with) Thus far, all I can do is listen to the sound

. So, until I fiure out how to view the mp4 I can only hope that someone subs it into avi (nudge nudge wink wink

) Not that I'm complaining. I thrilled that it was subbed at all!

In the meantime, I hope you all are enjoying Ray the Animation! It's been great listening to you guys chat about it, and it makes me even more excited to finally view it!

DannoHung · 2006-04-14, 13:54

Tim: Try playing the file with Quicktime (or VLC if you happen to have that). The DirectShow decoders don't support h.264 as far as I'm aware.

lavielove · 2006-04-15, 02:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by DannoHung

Tim: Try playing the file with Quicktime (or VLC if you happen to have that). The DirectShow decoders don't support h.264 as far as I'm aware.

No way. If you use VLC , all the qualities will be gone.just try to configure CCCP codec properly [or] follow the animesuki playback guide .wrong place to clarify those anyway.This is the first episode so may be the subbers wanted to give more qualities to the viewers.It's looking good and no nugging from me anyway =P

Sylf · 2006-04-15, 13:50

Just a bit of clarification : Tezuka Production is not the producer of this series. It's purely by RAY Project/OLM Team Iguchi. Tezuka Production is only a helping hand in this series. BJ's house -inside and out- is identical from the one in Black Jack the TV series, as well as the color of BJ's mother in the photo matches the ones we're familiar from BJ series. So I'm guessing that Tezuka Pro assisted the Ray team with those details.

noisytime · 2006-04-18, 22:58

I can understand being slightly amused by this but I'm strangely intrigued by the response it's been receiving around here.

Am I getting too old for anime or something??? The first episode of Ray was such inane fluff, it made Gad Guard look like an overlooked literary gem. Now I'm a little angry at myself for deleting the first ep, but here's what I remember:

Cute girl with a dark past has a shower scene, some flat dialogue about saving something or the other, enter bad guys, surprise, the well-endowed young nurses know how to fight!! Fight starts, Dr. Bad Dude with Attitude kicks their ass. (Apparently, his Leo Tolstoy beard isn't a medical hazard.) The good guys save the bad guy in need, the viewers are rewarded with lacy undergarments.

The worst part is that I'm not describing a new comedy directed by Tsutomu Mizushima, I'm pretty sure we're supposed to take this at face value.

Someone set me straight right away.

DannoHung · 2006-04-18, 23:13

I cannot understand how this could possibly be taken seriously by anyone... ever.

I mean, come ON, combat nurses man!

And did you see the hospital director's beard cover? F-ing hilarious.

Oh, PS:

Spoiler:

It's just so much cotton candy fluff!

In any case, it's a helluva lot better than another plain' ol' boring hospital drama.

noisytime · 2006-04-18, 23:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by DannoHung

I cannot understand how this could possibly be taken seriously by anyone... ever.

Reading the second page of this thread I got the impression that it was taken seriously by a number of people.

Are you saying all that stuff was done for comedic value? If so, it really fails as a comedy, unless you mean it's funny in a b-movie way. Dokuro-chan meets ER, it isn't. It wasn't nearly as amusing as the first ep. of Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu.

DannoHung · 2006-04-18, 23:50

Oh, obviously, not nearly as amusing as the Holy Haruhi.

I'm just saying... I don't think the people behind Haruhi are doing NEARLY as many lines of coke as the people making this.

Lazarus · 2006-04-21, 02:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by DannoHung

BTW: Kudos to Froth Bite for the size of the download. The video quality was excellent despite the size. MP4 would seem to be the way to go gents!

I must beg to differ. I have never once met an MP4 file that I liked. My installations of MPC, Zoomplayer, and even QT, have likewise never once met an MP4 file that they liked.

I patiently await another fansub group to see the light and pick this series up, preferably in plain old vanilla XviD.

lavielove · 2006-04-21, 07:51

Just finished watching episode 2.

Spoiler:

Kaoru Chujo · 2006-04-21, 12:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lazarus

I must beg to differ. I have never once met an MP4 file that I liked. My installations of MPC, Zoomplayer, and even QT, have likewise never once met an MP4 file that they liked. I patiently await another fansub group to see the light and pick this series up, preferably in plain old vanilla XviD.

My experience is that I use MPC and the CCCP codec pack on a laptop with a 1 GHz processor and 256K ram and have never had trouble with mp4 files.

orion · 2006-04-21, 18:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lazarus

I must beg to differ. I have never once met an MP4 file that I liked. My installations of MPC, Zoomplayer, and even QT, have likewise never once met an MP4 file that they liked.

I patiently await another fansub group to see the light and pick this series up, preferably in plain old vanilla XviD.

It may be a very long wait. F-B is so far the only group to do this title. Have you tried Windows Media Player? It will play this file if you have the codecs.

2006-04-13, 17:54	Link #41
NoSanninWa Weapon of Mass Discussion Fansubber Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: New York, USA	Having just watched episode 1 of this new series, I am wondering what exactly, its connection is to Black Jack and the work of Osamu Tezuka. A bit of research reveals that the manga was writen by Akihito Yoshitomi and I can find no record of Tezuka having anything to do with it. Yet, in episode 1 Black Jack, an Osamu Tezuka character is clearly evident. If that was not enough to confuse me, Director Sawa seems very much like a character who would have been created by Tezuka, although the fighting nurses seem nothing like Tezuka. The main character, Ray, seems to convey some of Tezuka's themes, but she is portrayed in a way that seems quite out of character for Tezuka. As a final bit of confusion I see that although I cannot find any relation between Tezuka and the manga, this anime is made by Tezuka Productions. That makes me wonder if perhaps, the original manga merely made a nod to Tezuka's Black Jack, and since Tezuka Productions liked it and was involved in the creation of the anime, it was fleshed out. I'd appreciate if someone who read the manga, can tell me how much of an appearance Black Jack actually made. Can someone enlighten me what the relation is exactly? __________________ There's not that fine a line between willing suspension of disbelief and something just being stupid.

2006-04-14, 00:44	Link #44
NoSanninWa Weapon of Mass Discussion Fansubber Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: New York, USA	So, how much of Black Jack appeared in the manga? I saw a reference to B.J. having restored her eyes. Does that mean he was only referred to by his initials in the manga? Is his face ever shown? __________________ There's not that fine a line between willing suspension of disbelief and something just being stupid.

2006-04-14, 01:38	Link #45
Sakuya Senior Member Artist Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: United States Age: 35	Just skimmed through episode 2. The opening, interesting. They used rock music. I'm not a big fan of rock music but it's incredibly fast paced. And they actually animated Ray's vision of everybody's skeletons from the manga! It was pretty cool. The last scene of the opening sequence is very...interesting. It really makes you wonder if it's foreshadowing or not and where the series is going. If you're interested in what that last scene is: Spoiler: Ray jumps off a building.

2006-04-14, 13:37	Link #49
magic_tim Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2006	He looks exactly like Black Jack! On page 42 of the manga you can see he even dresses like him! Heh heh. Obviously, Akihito Yoshiomi was fan of Black Jack and it helped inspire the Ray manga. What's wrong with a little parody, or dare I say homage to Black Jack? so what if the continuity doesn't go beyond the Ray stories or even Yoshitomi's imagination? I think it's great! It makes me smile, and it makes me want to check out Black Jack (a character that Yoshitomi is obviously a fan of). Now, back to talking about Ray! I've been waiting for this series since I picked up the manga...has it been two years now? Yikes! When I saw the Ray website come up last year, you can well imagine that I flipped out! So now it's here... ...finally... ...and I'm having trouble with the mp4 (a format I'm not familiar with) Thus far, all I can do is listen to the sound . So, until I fiure out how to view the mp4 I can only hope that someone subs it into avi (nudge nudge wink wink ) Not that I'm complaining. I thrilled that it was subbed at all! In the meantime, I hope you all are enjoying Ray the Animation! It's been great listening to you guys chat about it, and it makes me even more excited to finally view it!

2006-04-18, 23:13	Link #54
DannoHung Watch the Skies Join Date: Apr 2006	I cannot understand how this could possibly be taken seriously by anyone... ever. I mean, come ON, combat nurses man! And did you see the hospital director's beard cover? F-ing hilarious. Oh, PS: Spoiler: Did the guy who ordered the hit on the mobster look a whole lot like the hospital director or what? It's just so much cotton candy fluff! In any case, it's a helluva lot better than another plain' ol' boring hospital drama.

2006-04-13, 18:49	Link #43
iluid Member Join Date: Feb 2004	As far as I know the author of RAY is just sort of paying homage to Tezuka by giving Black Jack a cameo in this series and making him a part of Ray’s past. There’s no direct link on Tezuka's side. I didn’t mean to imply that there was. It’s kind of like how Batman would occasionally show up on Scooby-Doo. As for the production company, they probably just thought it was cool that Black Jack was appearing in the series, and decided to produce the show.

2006-04-14, 13:54	Link #50
DannoHung Watch the Skies Join Date: Apr 2006	Tim: Try playing the file with Quicktime (or VLC if you happen to have that). The DirectShow decoders don't support h.264 as far as I'm aware.

2006-04-15, 13:50	Link #52
Sylf 翻訳家わなびぃ Fansubber Join Date: Nov 2003 Age: 50	Just a bit of clarification : Tezuka Production is not the producer of this series. It's purely by RAY Project/OLM Team Iguchi. Tezuka Production is only a helping hand in this series. BJ's house -inside and out- is identical from the one in Black Jack the TV series, as well as the color of BJ's mother in the photo matches the ones we're familiar from BJ series. So I'm guessing that Tezuka Pro assisted the Ray team with those details.

2006-04-18, 22:58	Link #53
noisytime Insignificant Member Join Date: Apr 2006	I can understand being slightly amused by this but I'm strangely intrigued by the response it's been receiving around here. Am I getting too old for anime or something??? The first episode of Ray was such inane fluff, it made Gad Guard look like an overlooked literary gem. Now I'm a little angry at myself for deleting the first ep, but here's what I remember: Cute girl with a dark past has a shower scene, some flat dialogue about saving something or the other, enter bad guys, surprise, the well-endowed young nurses know how to fight!! Fight starts, Dr. Bad Dude with Attitude kicks their ass. (Apparently, his Leo Tolstoy beard isn't a medical hazard.) The good guys save the bad guy in need, the viewers are rewarded with lacy undergarments. The worst part is that I'm not describing a new comedy directed by Tsutomu Mizushima, I'm pretty sure we're supposed to take this at face value. Someone set me straight right away.

2006-04-18, 23:50	Link #56
DannoHung Watch the Skies Join Date: Apr 2006	Oh, obviously, not nearly as amusing as the Holy Haruhi. I'm just saying... I don't think the people behind Haruhi are doing NEARLY as many lines of coke as the people making this.

2006-04-21, 07:51	Link #58
lavielove ... Join Date: Dec 2005	Just finished watching episode 2. Spoiler: I like the scenes where Anna's sister told Ray that the reason why she wanted to give her organ and Anna cried after the operation.That's really hurt =( Shinoyama was the one who rocked in here.If I were Anna sister,I would have kicked Anna out of window when she said that. Last edited by lavielove; 2006-04-21 at 08:06.