Kodansha re-releasing Black Jack

[grapeofdeath]

[grapeofdeath]

I just got a hold of the first three volumes and found it to be, again, different from all the other previous releases. Kodansha has a little calendar in the back and this latest release will only be 12 volumes long. Three volume are out, three more come out tomorrow, and the rest are spread out between August-October.

A quick glance at the table of contents reveals that this is similar to the Akita Shinsouban in that the chapters are placed in chronological order. The main difference is which chapters are omitted.

Volume 1 contains chapters 1-18. Previous Kodansha editions omitted chapter 9.

Volume 2 contains chapters 19-44. It omits 22 - Won't Stop Bleeding, 28 - Finger, 36 - Sinking Woman, and 41 - Vegetable. Previous Kodansha editions omitted 26. Akita Shinsouban omitted 22, 28, 36, and 41 plus 37 - The Two Jans.

Volume 3 contains chapters 45-67. It omits 58 - Seat of Pleasure and 64 - You Did It! Akita Shinsouban only omitted 58.

This version is interesting as it has added back most of the chapters Kodansha took out in the past. It also includes chapter 37 which hasn't been included in the 17 volume Bunkouban version. It still leaves out 64, making it unlikely that this will turn out to be a more complete set than other versions out there.

[Xenops]

So what you consider the most complete set at this time?

~Xenops

[grapeofdeath]

It comes down to about two versions to me that come pretty close to being complete. Both sort of end up being hybrids, though.

The 17 volume Akita Bunkouban that the the latest English release is based on omits 11 chapters. But with our version, if you include the three limited edition hardcovers that include 3 more chapters, that cuts the omitted chapters down to 8.

The other one that comes a little closer is the original Japanese Shounen Champion version that came published in 25 volumes. The final prints of these had a total of 8 omitted chapters. However, if you add in an early print of volume 4 (I think it has to be before the 10th printing) it also includes chapter 41, which brings the omitted chapters down to 7.

[Xenops]

Are both the Shounen Champion and Kodansha sets in chronological order?

[grapeofdeath]

The Shounen Champion and the first couple of Kodansha releases are not in chronological order. Only this most recent Kodansha release posted about here and the Akita Shinsouban are.

[grapeofdeath]