Black Jack Trivia

Are you a huge fan of Black Jack like I am? You're probably not aware of this but the Black Jack series that Animax is presently airing features cameo appearances of creator Osamu Tezuka's most popular characters. In Karte 20 "Tetsu of the Yamanote Line", AstroBoy and Inspector Tawashi make a brief "walk through" appearance in the scene where Tetsu (who is more popularly known as Daddy Walrus on AstroBoy) is running down the stairs of the train station as he tries to escape from a couple of angry pickpockets. Princess Sapphire is one of supercomputer U-18's patients in Black Jack: 4 Miracles of Life. One particularly memorable episode is Karte 23: "Love in the Pouring Rain", which was aired last week. Dr. Kiyomi Shimizu's brother Okuro is actually Hyakkimaru from Tezuka's popular samurai manga, Dororo. The design of Hyakkimaru served as the basis for the creation of Dr. Black Jack. Even the blanket that Black Jack used in that same episode had the "same anchors on violet background" design that Tezuka originally used for Hyakkimaru's kimono. Needless to say, Black Jack fans have remarked that seeing Hyakkimaru and Black Jack together in one anime episode is like seeing twins.