Today is the 50th anniversary of the Black Jack manga created by Osamu Tezuka. I wanted to celebrate by sharing this older painting I did of Hazama Kuroo 🎊🎉
I was introduced to him when I was in high school and I still adore his design.
Honestly SO pissed we only got three chapters of BJ with Kei Kisaragi in it, one of which he doesn't physically appear and the other is a dream sequence. There's so much stuff about him to explore.
Him being a trans man in the 70s, how he expresses that and the danger that could come with it especially as he travels to places that could be safe and accepting, then immediately to dangerous areas where he might have to hide. Shit was already extremely hard for trans women, but trans men were practically unheard of to most people and barely got attention.
We know he's been to places like the Philippines from a throwaway line in The Sea Smells of Romance, what does Kei think of it? Does he have a favorite place he's been to outside Japan?
Kei is infertile from uterine cancer, even if he doesn't want kids this could be painful or traumatic knowing he had the option forcefully taken from him. Is he jealous seeing Kuroo with Pinoko? Perhaps one time when they were together, Kei dreamed of starting a family with his lover, and now seeing Kuroo has his own daughter made Kei feel... Empty and unwanted.
Going back to The Sea Smells of Romance, that unnamed sailor was pretty close to Kei, and looked up to him like family before developing a crush. Did Kei know the boy saw him as a woman? Did it make him uncomfortable? Even so, Kei seemed to care for the young man, saw the kind for boy he was under his mean delinquent exterior and wanted him to remove his tattoos so he could work a safe job and be successful. Maybe he saw him as the kid he'd never have? So... when the boy died, did Kuroo ever tell Kei!? Or let him live on cluess to the harsh truth? If Kei knows, it must hurt so much, may even have caused him to spiral into horrible depression. Would Kei ever get the chance to grieve properly?
I The SI Called Life, Kuroo is dreaming about Kei saying "I'm quite happy I quit being a woman." I'd love to believe it's true, but how did Kuroo know this? Did Kei tell him in a letter or call? Or is Kuroo just making assumptions? Despite that, Kuroo still calls Kei his old name- "Megumi" Is Kuroo ashamed of longing for someone who is now a man? Is he simply unwilling to accept changes and move on, wanting to live in their past despite subconsciously knowing Kei is happier now as he is?
"I never stopped loving you."
Kuroo is reassuring himself Kei will always love him, no matter what. That no matter how much time passes, no matter how they both change, no matter how much distance between the couple they'll still care for each other.
Do they send letters or call or set up another meeting? Is it impossible because Kuroo doesn't know where Kei is at any given time? Or perhaps, they feel they're not ready to have another shot at romance, it's over to them?
Description: A detailed rendition of the original cover for the 2004 SEGA Playstation 2 title “Dororo”, also known as “Blood Will Tell” outside of Japan. It depicts the two main characters, Hyakkimaru and Dororo, as well as the title in way that parodies PS2 covers in a modern fashion.
Hello, Tumblr!!! I’m pinning this post because I am SO proud of how this turned out and I hope all my fellow Dororo and Tezuka Star System fans show up to support me on this one! I own a copy of Blood Will Tell that is caseless, so I really wanted to use the blank case I have and remake the cover for it… So I did! I also poorly cut together a booklet with it for printing purposes to put into the blank case. I don’t have a photo of that though, unfortunately. Regardless, I’m still very happy with how it turned out.
the kurooverse and their notoriously different personalities ft. pinoko because I didn't want to leave 3 blank spaces and he simply doesn't fit in those lol