Ranked #668

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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Main
I almost never watched this show because I was told the show sucked....which I guess only goes to show that not matter what people say or how many people say it, it's really up to the individual and that person's preferences. Needless to say my review will probably be taken as a dissenting opinion from the majority who have given this show a medium to low score. Black Cat is not a bad show and it's not really a disappointing show either....only to those who selected this series with the expectation of finding the next Holy Grail of an anime, i.e., Cowboy Bebop or Trigun.

If you decide to pick this series to watch, then judge it on it's own merit and you will enjoy it a lot better. There's a nice mixture of funny and sad moments [expect some characters being killed off], there is some dramatic tension and a decent climax. Again, to me this was not such a horrendous story and I don't see where the big disappointment is. So I guess it would be best to say that this is the type of show you are going to have to watch and then formulate your own opinions about it.

Art Style
At first I thought “Gee, what sucky animation! ....Especially for something that came from Gonzo!!!!” But then I thought it was unfair to “expect things” and not allow room for change or a different form of expression. So I guess I could say that the animation for this show was pretty standard during the non-combat scenes......and “experimental” during the battle scenes. By experimental I mean, that the movements aren't very stylish, fancy, fluid or even detailed for that matter, objects tend to move at a super fast rate and there's a lot of [over] usage of different blurring effects and overlays. Also during these battle scenes a lot of times you won't have any backgrounds just the characters duking it out with their own brand of super powers thru numerous repeated [non-looped] scenes and multi-angled shots. Nothing else really stands out animation-wise, there aren't any beautiful scenery or exotic locales, this show is pretty much character driven so expect most [if not all] scenes to involve these people with powers in various situations.

Sound
I can't remember there being much music in this show. My favourite song has to be the OP, not for any particular reason except for that I like the part where Saya spins at ½ speed in her star-printed yukata, and the sound of the singers voice at that part. The first ED song I don't remember....I just like all the cat-faced people running and jumping around, the second ED song was also very nice, but I didn't think it should have been part of this anime's soundtrack.....also again I did like the little filmstrip flashback with Saya at the very end.

Story
Eventho I read some reviews on a couple of sites, I don't think the story was such a total mess. Yes! I DO think the ending was a little abrupt, it could have used a little cleaning up and with the series overall, a little tightening up here and there could have been done.....but it was still a fairly decent and entertaining story! But really I think just because this series started with that type of dramatic opening scenes with the shady characters jumping around on rooftops and a couple assassinations, people thought “YES! Guns, assassins, gangsters...Gungrave, Bebop, Trigun!!!” and then was put off by the shows apparent goofiness. The thing is the show was always goofy and was intended to be that way from the get-go. Now whether or not the manga was originally as goofy I don't know and honestly part of the reasons I used to not read mangas much was because I knew I would have issues with animes that didn't do a good job with the adaptation and I wouldn't be able to wholly enjoy the show. Black Cat I did enjoy because I watched it without trying to attach it to something else or try to compare it to anything else whether it be the original manga or other anime shows and it was a fun show.

So in other words, this was hardly a compelling drama or nail-bitingly suspenseful series it's just a superficially entertaining show where you'll laugh at the funny parts and be moved by the more touching parts, it's nothing you'll want to write a college thesis about.

Characters
You can definitely expect lots and lots of characters! I don't particularly go for shows with an infinite array of characters because it's too easy to lose focus of the actual plot and get all engrossed with “favourite” characters! Besides seeing too many faces and hearing a lot of names, gives me headache. This show does try it's best to keep it all around the five or so central figures, so this isn't as bad....and Sven does try to keep things light and funny which I could appreciate.


Worth it or not?
I liked it, I thought it was a good show and they kept it light and funny, except for a few poignant scenes. I would recommend this show to people...but not without making sure they're going to be really objective about it, otherwise they just be wasting their time to wind up as another disappointed viewer. read more