Black Jack and Megumi Kisaragi's ages.

[Earthshine]

There ya go! Knew he was closer to 35.

[Windswept Cloak]

He is 33 and Megumi is at LEAST one year younger according to the manga, so, yeah. But I'm making him 32 in Kaze ni Naru, after all even Hayao Miyazaki tended to change stuff slightly before making them into movies. In the novel series The Borrowers by Mary Norton the setting is in Britain but Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli changed it to Japan, and changed the English boy's name to Sho and the cook Ms. Driver to Haru the Housekeeper.

[Earthshine]

That's fine I think, he has a long life afterall, that and the events in the manga series I doubt ALL take place within one year. Rather I think they probably take place over a period of at least four or five years.

[Windswept Cloak]

Oops. I got it WRONG, I somehow saw "20 years" wrong (Sorry about my English. Ugh.) and saw it into "25 years"...which means Black Jack should be 28, not 33. Stupid me. I also figured out that in that particular episode Pinoko says that "she's 18" which means she hasn't been living with Black Jack for more than one year. In short, Black Jack probably started doing unlicensed work not long after he graduated from school. Actually in the live-action movie he started that while he was still a student, so yeah. But in later episodes Pinoko says "I'm 20" so BJ's age in the manga should be 28~30.

(edit) So people who say that he's in his twenties and thirties are both correct.

[Earthshine]

Ehh I'm still sticking to him being in his 30s.

[Windswept Cloak]

(Revives thread)

I'm re-writing my doujinshi script due to a new plot. Some of it is directically based off the Young Black Jack movie version, meaning unlike in the original manga, Black Jack never intended to get a license and starting "illegal work" after graduating.

Would it make sense if I made him graduate an year earlier than the other students (skipping one grade)? After all it's fiction but I still need opinions.

[Earthshine]

Japanese rarely EVER let people skip grades.

[Earthshine]

In the case of the Japanese it's because they really fear non-conforming and standing out. They feel that a variation or difference in its people will cause disorder among peers and will make people feel uncomfortable, one of their popular sayings are "deru kugi ha utaeru" which means "the protruding nail will be hammered."

Of course there are SOME cases where skipping grades will be allowed, it's just really rare and it's dealt with on a case by case basis.

These rules are here for many reasons and all are usually for order and smooth transitioning, rules are rarely in place "just because". There's always a reason why they are there.

[Earthshine]

Hm, that seems normal to me. Don't know what everyone else wants out of you though. Really from what you described is really normal.

[Windswept Cloak]

For Americans maybe, but remember, I live in Taiwan. My teacher just yelled at me this morning for the same silly reasons, for instance.