Train Heartnet became known as the Black Cat due to his skills and his place as Number 13 in the secret society “Chronos”. With his gun Hades, he unfeelingly murdered uncountable people at Chronos’ demand. This was until he met Saya Minatsuki, a bounty hunter or “Sweeper” who teaches him the meaning of human life.
Enraged at how Saya had changed Train, Creed Diskenth, a fellow member of Chronos, murders Saya. Saya’s murder results in Train completely forsaking the organization and following a new life as a Sweeper.
On his new path, Train joins up with fellow Sweeper, the carefree Sven Vollfied, and later the mysterious Eve. Train believes his old life is behind him until Creed reappears, asking Train to help him overthrow Chronos.
Contributed by DokiDokiChan
Story & Characters
Number thirteen and the black cats, we fear and detest them, don't we? Consider they are omens of bad luck and
disaster. Funny enough, these two are mixed together to create a good series, Black Cat.
Chronos, an organization bent on world peace, rules one third of the world's economy. To maintain the balance of
the world, Chronos is therefore essential, and there is a need for people to protect Chronos. Thirteen special elite
assassins each possess unique orichalcum-forged weapons and are called the Numbers, Chronos' erasers. The
thirteenth member, Train Heartnet (aka "Black Cat"), is a merciless assassin with peerless marksmanship and
prominent skills in combat; his duties consist of killing anyone, anywhere, and he is very good at it, earning many
notorious reputations much like the nickname and number he bears. Train's moral and value of human lives and
society are changed after meeting a female sweeper named Minatsuki Saya. This eventually leads to his decision of
leaving Chronos to live a free, wayward life of a sweeper whilst learning to appreciate it and maintaining his skill,
which is good because things ain't gonna be pretty when Train's secret stalker, Creed Diskenth, launches a
world revolution to overthrown Chronos. The battle's on!
It's usually a bad sign when the title character is also the least interesting one in the show. Train Heartnet has
some wicked moves, the thing going with the cat, a large appetite and an allegedly "cool" look. It's
interesting to see he transforms from a stone-cold killer to a free-willed, compassionate traveler, but those
aren't new, in fact, many works have featured this character archetype (Himura Kenshin or Vash the Stampede). Even
the most hardcore action heroes have at least something to keep them more and more appealing, but all Mr. Black Cat has
is some hilarious scenes and fancy moves. It's not a bad thing, but not much. Sven with his vision eye, trick
briefcase and "Mr. Nice Guy" attitude make him a truly funny and likable character as the same goes for child
bio weapon Eve; her background isn't hardly new, but her interesting and sympathetic characters, interactions with
Sven and cuteness work well.
Black Cat isn't a bad show, but its concept is overran with lack of originality. How many times before have the
"youth trained as an expert killer and working for a secret organization," the "special drinks will grant
you superpower or you will lose your life if it doesn't work" or the "we dominate over the world in the
name of peace" concepts been done? The anime's weak execution can also be counted negative as it wind itself
up to fever pitch, serving up its big climax a full four episodes before the end of the series. The series still has Eve
and its amusing jokes can make up for this mess.
Rating: 7
Art
The character design of Black Cat looks better than its manga counterpart, featuring many good-looking hitmen and moe
type characters. Example, just take a look at Train, such an intensive glare he has, with this, he stands among some of
the most notorious heroes who have deadly eyes. The series' design did a decent job in showing a futuristic city to
an old American Wild West remote town.
Other than the frantic attempts to distinguish itself stylistically, Black Cat's animation is purely basic. Yeah,
as much as Gonzo's works are known for their great deal in animation, this show uses exaggeratedly colorful,
erratic visual to support the fight scenes. These action sets are some of the most intricately staged, overstate
animated fight sequences in anime history. They are also almost hilariously dynamic at times as blood, sparks and major
explosions get bombarded in full view of the camera. As the heat spices up a little, so does the excitement, but there
is none of Gonzo's trademark CGs.
Rating: 7
Sound
The musical score samples from themes one would more expect from a classic Western, especially in its lightly comic
moments, but is otherwise not especially remarkable. Three pieces of music were used for Black Cat: OP "Daia no
Hana" is a mix of simple instrumentals, techno backbeat, orchestral bombast, and overwrought operatic vocals that
is used primarily as invisible background support while the first ED is a lighter, cutesy tone with cat-themed as
backgrounds and the second is sad melody with an airy singing voice. However, the best song of the entire series is that
lovely tune sung by Saya.
Voice actings, on the other hand, don't compare well with the better efforts put on the music, some qualities in
voices are slightly different in many case. Voiced by Kondou Takashi, Train sounds a bit plain, boring for his cool hero
type when his child seiyuu, Takayama Minami, performed a better role. Sven's gravelly voice and Eve's cold yet
child-like tone make the pair even more appealing as the series progresses. Some more specific examples are Creed's
insanity and Sephiria's heroism are more than enough to convince they are a few of many good fits.
Rating: 7
Presentation
To say that Black Cat is a bad show wouldn't be fair to its sporadically entertaining qualities, but it certainly
isn't a complete good show either. If only it was without the "reject and escape from the organization that
made you a killer" track, half-hearted cliche and with so many superior examples of the genre out there, it could
have been better. A more solid writing, more exciting originalities to make it flourished are hard to imagine. The
endearing qualities are in place, from the supporting cast - particularly Eve and Sven - to the weird yet amusing
insertions of humor. Black Cat is still the first and probably most successful its author ever created, it indeed does
leave a good impression that Train and Eve made appearance in his later works. Aside from those, the series'
overriding mediocrity.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Story: 6
Characters: 7
Art: 8
Animation: 6
Voice: 6
Music: 7
Overall: 7
Good:
+A good mix of flashy actions and some funny jokes; isn't terrible.
+Eve is appealing.
Bad:
+Not exactly the most original concept in the world.
+Fights made insensible by over-enthusiastic stylization.
+Last episodes, occasionally descend to extreme rush.
Rating: 6
Final Verdict
6.6667 (above average)
Reviewed by Weskalia, Feb 26, 2011
