Black Jack 171: The Wall (Manga)
Black Jack 171, “The Wall”
Black Jack (1973-83), Chapter 171 ‘The Wall’ (壁), was originally published on May 9, 1977 in Weekly Shonen Champion. Please note: this chapter is sealed.
What it’s about
A junior high school boy is terminally ill from Polyarteritis nodosa, but is determined to keep on living his life as usual. He keeps his condition a secret from his friends at school, and applies for the high school entrance exam. However when pressed, the boy tells his teacher of his earlier encounter with Black Jack while at the beach. Distressed and ready to give up living, Black Jack shows him the ruins of a cave dwelling used by primitive man at a time before there were doctors. Black Jack says “Sometimes I come here and think… that people can live without doctors”, and he tells the boy to never think of dying but to live to the fullest until the very last moment. To prove that he, himself has been through tough times as well, Black Jack then strips down and shows his scarred and patchwork body. With Black Jack‘s help, the boy comes to realize that just because medical science can’t cure him, it doesn’t mean he shouldn’t give up living.
Thanks to this encouragement, the boy struggles on every day despite his worsening condition. He takes the high school entrance exam in his sick bed, but passes and attends high school for a short time before he passes away quietly one day during class. After the boy’s death, his junior high school teacher runs into Black Jack on the street and tells him that the boy seemed content when he died. Upon hearing the news, Black Jack replies, “Don’t be ridiculous. How can anybody be content when he’s dead?”
Why it’s sealed
Despite it’s positive message (i.e. live life to the fullest even in the face of death), it is speculated that it has been excluded from collected editions because it mentions a specific condition, Polyarteritis nodosa. However, “The Wall” is only semi-sealed and has been reprinted on occasion in very rare editions. It was first re-printed as an insert inside an anthology special featuring Black Jack tribute stories by other manga artists. Printed on poor-quality paper, copies of the anthology are most often found with the insert removed, as people are primarily interested in the almost-impossible-to-find Tezuka drawn story.
It was also reprinted in 2007 by Akita Shoten in the Black Jack guide, “A Prayer for the Dying (ブラック・ジャック「死にゆくものへの祈り編」) as well as the Black Jack Treasure Book.
