-OOC- [So he ran from all the deeds he'd done, he ran from things he'd just begun...]
[[A brief biography with pictures under the cut.]]
So, you want to know more about this creepy, sinister, yet debatably kind-hearted Death Doctor? No?
Well too bad, you're on this page now.
[This is a work in progress - check back later for more info. You'll know it's done when this message disappears.]
Exhibit A. ...His hair IS blond by the way; most of it has just turned gray from stress.
One thing you'll have to learn about Kiriko if you're going to CR with him: whenever Kiriko's on screen, he's either yelling at somebody, philosophizing, or being a heavily veiled nice guy. So let's delve into a little about him, shall we?
First things first; HE IS NOT BASED ON KEVORKIAN. Kiriko was created TWENTY YEARS before Kevorkian picked up a Thanatron. If anything, reality has imitated art.
That is all. Moving on.
Childhood and War:
Kiriko's a Death Doctor because of one thing and one thing alone: his experiences as a soldier when he was a young man. If he hadn't gone to war, he would easily be a nice, attractive Doctor in a similar vein to Black Queen.
Just a little technical note for this section: My sources here are Black Jack 21 and Kiri Kaoru's "Agent Orange," a magnificently done fanmade manga about Kiriko's life [albeit with loads and loads of porn, so research at your own risk ><;]. While I don't treat Agent Orange as canon (I especially disagree with how he came to lose his eye in that version - getting caught in a terrorist explosion is too similar to Black Jack's circumstances, and because of this, it downplays Kiriko's differences from Black Jack because of war), the way young Kiriko is portrayed matches perfectly with Yuri's description of him from Black Jack 21, so I will go with this biography.
Kiriko as a young man was drastically different from who became. He grew up in a closely-knit family in Northern Canada to a Japanese mother and Canadian father. His father, Edward George, made quite a significant impact on his life, both as a child and an adult. When Kiriko was still a boy, Dr. George began the "Noir Project" with Zen Mantoku, a Chinese businessman with a heavy background in crime, and founded an elixir known as "The Blood of Phoenix" that made whoever took it immortal. Dr. George was the first recipient of the serum - and essentially ceased to age. His father's immortality became a key point in Kiriko's life, and is arguably one of the key reasons he began dabbling in euthanasia.
Kiriko and his father soon moved to New York, leaving his mother and sister Yuri behind in Canada. During the end of his teenage years, Kiriko would enlist as a Canadian volunteer in the US Marine Corps and fight in a war, which would change him from a kindhearted young prodigy Doctor into a serial killer.
The exact events that changed him in the war are never said, but are likely associated with the graphic loss of his eye - it's alluded to that Kiriko was brutally tortured and was one of the sole survivors of an attack on his unit.
He's thoroughly traumatized (and, debatably, somewhat insane) from what he's seen, and it's pushed him over the edge so far he's made it his goal to euthanize all patients he deems deserve it.
Unfortunately, because of this, he's also very quick to give up.
But that being said, because of war, he also isn't afraid to kill or torture. He tries not to when he can help it, but he does give payback to those who deserve it. Like this bioterrorist here:
Kiriko's the one talking to the scientist. He poisoned him with a deadly virus. Lol.
If you've had CR with Kiriko, I'm sure you get the general idea.
Black Jack:
It's complicated. Let's leave it at that.
Anger:
If you haven't noticed yet, Kiriko is very quick to anger. Being a very stubborn man, if someone so much as opposes his beliefs even a little, he tends to fly off the handle.
For example, in one instance, Kiriko wants to put his immortal father to rest. Black Jack comes into Kiriko's house uninvited to save his Dad, so what's the first thing Kiriko does to stop him?
Put a shotgun to his Dad's head to stop Black Jack from saving him. What else?
What a good son.
So after putting a gun to his own father's head, Kiriko is eventually talked down, and then starts screaming at his dying father for... well, dying.
A big... happy family...
He really likes to yell.
And finally, when he himself has fallen ill, he tried to commit suicide by blowing himself up with dynamite. When his sister tries to stop him, he completely overreacts and immediately threatens her with a bomb. Admittedly, this is to keep her away so she won't catch it, but you can't deny he's completely enraged at them for intruding.
Kiriko prefers to keep his alien jellyfish pregnancies to himself (I know, I can't unsee either).
That's blood on his chest by the way, not hair.
Yay!
But his opinionated tantrums is only a small part of his character as a whole.
Kindness:
Much to (many) fans of Black Jack's surprise, Kiriko is NOT evil. Hell, the reason people are reluctant to call him the villain of the story is because, at times, he is way too damn nice.
Tezuka tried to create a villain who was not "the villain" because he was "evil", but because he was simply misguided. This causes a lot of confusion when people try to define Kiriko's character, because many people come to forget this and just classify him as an outright asshole.
Contrary to popular belief, Kiriko actually can be a very charming man when he wants to. Which is almost never.
He's truly a Doctor devoted to his trade, and only preforms Euthanasia because he truly believes he's taking care of his patients. He's even said "saving a life, that's the best thing"; he will gladly help anybody who needs him.
See? Bawww.
Kiriko isn't beyond taking care of his enemies, either. He saves Black Jack's life three times in the course of one movie, just because he respects him as a Doctor. (They also have this deep frenemies thing going on, but I'm not going to delve into that.)
At the climax of the film, he even goes so far as to sacrifice his own life to save Black Jack. He is shot in the stomach (AND THEN FALLS OFF A FUCKING CLIFF) while trying to distract a hitman; a fatal wound no matter what Hollywood tries to tell you.
As he lays dying, he tells Black Jack to let him go, knowing he's not going to make it.
...But Black Jack has other plans.
Fucking asshole.
It includes unanesthetized surgery in the middle of a raft on the ocean. And lots and LOTS of screaming on Kiriko's part.
But he puts up with it, because he has no regrets about saving Black Jack's life.
So there you go. Kiriko George; kind of psychotic, harsh-tempered, and sometimes fucking insane, but overall a nice guy who definitely genuinely cares about those around him, even if he never shows it.
Any Questions? Don't be afraid to ask!
So, you want to know more about this creepy, sinister, yet debatably kind-hearted Death Doctor? No?
Well too bad, you're on this page now.
[This is a work in progress - check back later for more info. You'll know it's done when this message disappears.]
Exhibit A. ...His hair IS blond by the way; most of it has just turned gray from stress.
One thing you'll have to learn about Kiriko if you're going to CR with him: whenever Kiriko's on screen, he's either yelling at somebody, philosophizing, or being a heavily veiled nice guy. So let's delve into a little about him, shall we?
First things first; HE IS NOT BASED ON KEVORKIAN. Kiriko was created TWENTY YEARS before Kevorkian picked up a Thanatron. If anything, reality has imitated art.
That is all. Moving on.
Childhood and War:
Kiriko's a Death Doctor because of one thing and one thing alone: his experiences as a soldier when he was a young man. If he hadn't gone to war, he would easily be a nice, attractive Doctor in a similar vein to Black Queen.
Just a little technical note for this section: My sources here are Black Jack 21 and Kiri Kaoru's "Agent Orange," a magnificently done fanmade manga about Kiriko's life [albeit with loads and loads of porn, so research at your own risk ><;]. While I don't treat Agent Orange as canon (I especially disagree with how he came to lose his eye in that version - getting caught in a terrorist explosion is too similar to Black Jack's circumstances, and because of this, it downplays Kiriko's differences from Black Jack because of war), the way young Kiriko is portrayed matches perfectly with Yuri's description of him from Black Jack 21, so I will go with this biography.
Kiriko as a young man was drastically different from who became. He grew up in a closely-knit family in Northern Canada to a Japanese mother and Canadian father. His father, Edward George, made quite a significant impact on his life, both as a child and an adult. When Kiriko was still a boy, Dr. George began the "Noir Project" with Zen Mantoku, a Chinese businessman with a heavy background in crime, and founded an elixir known as "The Blood of Phoenix" that made whoever took it immortal. Dr. George was the first recipient of the serum - and essentially ceased to age. His father's immortality became a key point in Kiriko's life, and is arguably one of the key reasons he began dabbling in euthanasia.
Kiriko and his father soon moved to New York, leaving his mother and sister Yuri behind in Canada. During the end of his teenage years, Kiriko would enlist as a Canadian volunteer in the US Marine Corps and fight in a war, which would change him from a kindhearted young prodigy Doctor into a serial killer.
The exact events that changed him in the war are never said, but are likely associated with the graphic loss of his eye - it's alluded to that Kiriko was brutally tortured and was one of the sole survivors of an attack on his unit.
He's thoroughly traumatized (and, debatably, somewhat insane) from what he's seen, and it's pushed him over the edge so far he's made it his goal to euthanize all patients he deems deserve it.
Unfortunately, because of this, he's also very quick to give up.
But that being said, because of war, he also isn't afraid to kill or torture. He tries not to when he can help it, but he does give payback to those who deserve it. Like this bioterrorist here:
Kiriko's the one talking to the scientist. He poisoned him with a deadly virus. Lol.
If you've had CR with Kiriko, I'm sure you get the general idea.
Black Jack:
It's complicated. Let's leave it at that.
Anger:
If you haven't noticed yet, Kiriko is very quick to anger. Being a very stubborn man, if someone so much as opposes his beliefs even a little, he tends to fly off the handle.
For example, in one instance, Kiriko wants to put his immortal father to rest. Black Jack comes into Kiriko's house uninvited to save his Dad, so what's the first thing Kiriko does to stop him?
Put a shotgun to his Dad's head to stop Black Jack from saving him. What else?
What a good son.
So after putting a gun to his own father's head, Kiriko is eventually talked down, and then starts screaming at his dying father for... well, dying.
A big... happy family...
He really likes to yell.
And finally, when he himself has fallen ill, he tried to commit suicide by blowing himself up with dynamite. When his sister tries to stop him, he completely overreacts and immediately threatens her with a bomb. Admittedly, this is to keep her away so she won't catch it, but you can't deny he's completely enraged at them for intruding.
Kiriko prefers to keep his alien jellyfish pregnancies to himself (I know, I can't unsee either).
That's blood on his chest by the way, not hair.
Yay!
But his opinionated tantrums is only a small part of his character as a whole.
Kindness:
Much to (many) fans of Black Jack's surprise, Kiriko is NOT evil. Hell, the reason people are reluctant to call him the villain of the story is because, at times, he is way too damn nice.
Tezuka tried to create a villain who was not "the villain" because he was "evil", but because he was simply misguided. This causes a lot of confusion when people try to define Kiriko's character, because many people come to forget this and just classify him as an outright asshole.
Contrary to popular belief, Kiriko actually can be a very charming man when he wants to. Which is almost never.
He's truly a Doctor devoted to his trade, and only preforms Euthanasia because he truly believes he's taking care of his patients. He's even said "saving a life, that's the best thing"; he will gladly help anybody who needs him.
See? Bawww.
Kiriko isn't beyond taking care of his enemies, either. He saves Black Jack's life three times in the course of one movie, just because he respects him as a Doctor. (They also have this deep frenemies thing going on, but I'm not going to delve into that.)
At the climax of the film, he even goes so far as to sacrifice his own life to save Black Jack. He is shot in the stomach (AND THEN FALLS OFF A FUCKING CLIFF) while trying to distract a hitman; a fatal wound no matter what Hollywood tries to tell you.
As he lays dying, he tells Black Jack to let him go, knowing he's not going to make it.
...But Black Jack has other plans.
Fucking asshole.
It includes unanesthetized surgery in the middle of a raft on the ocean. And lots and LOTS of screaming on Kiriko's part.
But he puts up with it, because he has no regrets about saving Black Jack's life.
So there you go. Kiriko George; kind of psychotic, harsh-tempered, and sometimes fucking insane, but overall a nice guy who definitely genuinely cares about those around him, even if he never shows it.
Any Questions? Don't be afraid to ask!