Black Jack 058: Seat of Pleasure (Manga)

Ongoing Serial: a series of episodes, published over a span of weeks/months/years where the story plot is connected from chapter to chapter and must be read in chronological order for it to be understood properly.
Chapter Serial: a series of episodes, published over a span of weeks/months/years where the story plot is self-contained to a single chapter. There may be an overarching plot, but the stories can generally be read in any order and be understood
Book: an all-in-one self contained story published as a one-off.
Supplement: an an all-in-one self contained story published as a stand-alone supplement to a regular weekly/monthly periodical.
Short Story: an all-in-one, self contained story that was published in a regular weekly/monthly periodical
Anthology: a collection of all-in-one, self contained stories that were published in a regular weekly/monthly periodical but are generally grouped together.

Black Jack 058, “Seat of Pleasure”

Black Jack (1973-83), Chapter 058 ‘Seat of Pleasure’ (快楽の座), was originally published on January 20, 1975 in Weekly Shonen Champion. Please note: this chapter is sealed.

What it’s about

A doctor boasts to Black Jack about a machine that controls the brain and mind – believing it can cure mental illness. He encounters the son of a rich family is suffering from depression. The boy never smiles or goes to school, preferring only to play with his pet lizard. The doctor convinces the boy’s mother that his machine, if planted in her son’s brain, will cure her son’s depression and make him a bright, normal boy. Desperate for a solution, the mother agrees to the surgery.

After the boy wakes up, he does wear a smile, but a cold, unfeeling one, and he throws his lizard to the floor. His mother, however, is totally oblivious to the situation and instead, thinking that he has become “normal,” piles on textbooks for him to study. Eventually the boy snaps, he stabs the doctor, escapes the hospital, and ties his mother up. Black Jack, upon hearing that the boy’s family is rich, agrees to perform the surgery to removing the machine from the boy before it destroys the brain. With the operation a success, Black Jack leaves a prescription for the mother: don’t force the boy into studying, don’t lock him up, and let him enjoy his hobbies.

Why it’s sealed

Although the theme of the story clearly points to the limits of medical science and criticizes lobotomy, it was sealed and has never been reprinted simply because it deals with the subject.