Ranked #933

Black Cat

Gah~ Ceray's Review Time (procrastination in disguise)! Anyway, this is the review for the anime Black Cat. The anime is about Black Cat, also known as Train Heartnet, who once was an assassin for the organization Chronos. Due to events that happen in the story, Train quits being an assassin to becoming a sweeper/bounty hunter.

Plot: Since I haven't read the manga (yet) I can't compare the plots, I do know, however, that the storyline has changed a bit, however that doesn't really affect the story. The main part of the story consists of Train more or less wanting to confront a ghost from his past and this takes up roughly a little less than half the series. Though it's good that Black Cat had other small subplots, it felt rushed at times, as if they wanted to get straight to the action, which took away from the enjoyment. That aside, the story was wonderful, and kept me anxious for the next episode (which is why I finished so quickly), wanting to know what would happen to Train and company next.
Score: 7/10

Animation: If you want me to express what I though about the animation for Black Cat in one word that word would be "PWETTY." Not pretty, but pwetty. The animation is smooth and does look all.... icky. Yeah. If there's one thing about the animation that I have to point out is that Train looks younger, a few years younger. I mean, he's twenty three in the manga, but in the anime he looks nineteen (age change could be because of the changed time line...). What else should I say? The ending animation for the first twelve episodes is amusing, but only until... episode eight, but honestly I was missing it after a while. But, that's not the point, and the point is that Black Cat's animation nice... No reused animation, as far as I saw.
Score:10/10

Sound: Ah~ The background music, it's music to my ears. The music pretty much matches the mood of the current scene, for example during the dramatic scenes some sort of opera sounding music plays giving you that... ominous (?) feeling. I absolutely adored the piano version of the song Konoyo no Uta, which plays at certain points in the series. The opening theme, Daia no Hana, is amazing as well... However, the first ending theme Namidaboshi sometimes doesn't match the mood of the episode that it's ending...

Now usually, I don't watch subs, this is because I'd rather hear it in English, with Black Cat, I had no choice but to watch it subbed... And how wonderful it was. Takashi Kondo pulls Train off extremely well, sounding one way when serious and totally lighthearted another way. Also Shin'ichiro Miki makes Creed sound absolutely obsessed, which is good... I guess...Cept, I dun like Creed...
Score:9/10

Character: Ah. Do I have to put this? I totally love the characters of Black Cat... Even Creed, who scares me a lot. They aren't all that different than their manga counterparts, which is... good, and you can really tell the difference between then, Train is Train, Tanya is Tanya and Creed.... is obsessed.
Score: 9/10

Enjoyment: ... Must I explain?... Well... I sorta watched the whole series for Train... So... yeah...
Score: 9/10


Overall:

Yay!: Animation is smooth and pwetty. Smooth animation is good on Ceray's glasses ridden eyes.
Nay!: Plot was way too rushed. Pull it out at least ten or so more episoes.
Score: 9/10
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First of all, to be honest with you all. I did not enjoy this series as much as i thought i would like it mainly because of the plot and how it got fairly rushed in the end.

Story - The beginning part of the story i thought was very well made, it was very dark, mysterious but not scary at all for those who dislike scary storylines. But after a while the plot just seem dull and unoriginal. Typical protagonist trying to save the world, trying to protect his friends and trying to get revenge, all these types of storylines has been overused, if Black Cat had a better storyline, i believe it would have been better.

Art - I liked the design of the characters, especially Train during the beginning of the series. So i have nothing to complain about the art category.

Sound- Not much to review about sound, but i have to admit the gunshots were pretty real. Also, the voice actors fitted the role very well, especially Eve and Sven. The OP was quite nice, fitted into the anime quite nice.. Forgot how the ED goes so i can't review that.

Character- One of the things that makes Black Cat enjoyable are the wide variety of characters. It is quite amusing watching Jenos and Rins yell at each other. So if your looking for some humorous characters, Black Cat has that for you. The one thing that i thought lacked in the character section was the sudden change of Train Heartnet. Although it says half a year has passed, I'm pretty sure people other then me wants to watch the process of him from a deadly assassin to a overly energetic young man. Another reason i suggest Black Cat was rushed.

Enjoyment- Black Cat is actually quite enjoyable if you do not care about the unoriginal storyline seeing that the characters are greatly designed and there are many great fight scenes.

Overall- Overall i would say Black Cat is a fair made anime that fails to achieve better due to the lack of storyline and how it is quite rushed. Although i say this, i still enjoyed Black Cat to it's full potential. read more