Black Cat

Completing every job with ruthless accuracy, Train Heartnet is an infamous assassin with no regard for human life. Donning the moniker "Black Cat" in the underground world, the elite killer works for the powerful secret organization known only as Chronos.

One gloomy night, the blasé gunman stumbles upon Saya Minatsuki, an enigmatic bounty hunter, and soon develops an odd friendship with her. Influenced by Saya's positive outlook on life, Train begins to rethink his life. Deciding to abandon his role as the Black Cat, he instead opts to head down a virtuous path as an honest bounty hunter. However, Chronos—and particularly Creed Diskenth, Train's possessive underling—is not impressed with Train's sudden change of heart and vows to resort to extreme measures in order to bring back the emissary of bad luck.

This assassin turned "stray cat" can only wander so far before the deafening sound of gunfire rings out.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Heartnet, Train Main

Kondo, Takashi Japanese

Eve Main

Fukuen, Misato Japanese

Vollfied, Sven Main

Fujiwara, Keiji Japanese

Walker, Rinslet Main

Yukana Japanese

Minatsuki, Saya Supporting

Toyoguchi, Megumi Japanese

Diskenth, Creed Supporting

Miki, Shinichiro Japanese

Lunatique, Tearju Supporting

Fukuen, Misato Japanese

Kirisaki, Kyouko Supporting

Chiba, Chiemi Japanese

Arks, Sephiria Supporting

Inoue, Kikuko Japanese

Hazard, Jenos Supporting

Sakurai, Takahiro Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Harp, Clarine Producer

Okiura, Taito Producer

Shinozaki, Shinya Producer

Reviews

Jul 1, 2020

Yung_Warrior

Recommended

A series that has retained some popularity past its heyday, Black Cat is essentially a kiddie version of Cowboy Bebop with more traditional anime elements incorporated into the work as opposed to Bebop's more avant-garde (by the standards of the industry) western style. This is no surprise, as most anime/manga tend to be fairly derivative of the industry's titans. There are certainly worse examples to riff off than Bebop, and it's an interesting choice since Bebop was a flop in Japan. Black Cat is nowhere near as interesting, nuanced, or artistic as that series, but there is fun to be had here and what cliches ... do exist are well-executed.

The anachronistic setting is split into three factions, rather like Outlaw Star now that I think of it. There is Chronos, which is a secret society of assassins who have some sort of ill-defined influence over the world's governments. Their members are all badass fighters with various supernatural weapons, much like Organization 13 from KH. Two such members were the main character Train Heartnet along with the main villain of the piece, Creed Diskenth. The first seven or so episodes explain the backstory of how these two characters leave Chronos and join the other two factions in the setting.

Train decides to become a freelance bounty hunter, known as a Sweeper, after meeting a nice girl who persuades him to leave the life of a cold killer behind. Of course, being a bounty hunter for hire isn't actually that different from being a bounty hunter for Chronos, but I suppose Train now has the ability to choose which jobs he is willing to take. Indeed, there is nothing morally challenging about the story in any respect - the Sweepers are essentially no different than the ninjas in Naruto or the mages in Fairy Tail. They are unambiguous heroes. Train forms a squad with comic relief/everyman Sven Vollfied, deadpan loli stereotype Eve, and femme fatale Rinslet Walker. I quite liked Rinslet, was ok with Sven, and rolled my eyes at Eve, who is probably the most cliched character of the bunch. Interestingly, Train himself goes from being an edgelord to an upbeat shonen protagonist over the course of the series, though he is still haunted by his dark past. I imagine much of Train's popularity comes from surface-level appreciation of his character design, but he's actually a fairly rounded character who has some depth to him. It's worht noting the main characters match up 1:1 with Cowboy Bebop's main cast. Train=Spike, Sven=Jet, Rinslet=Faye, Eve=a less fun version of Ed, and Creed=Vicious.

Speaking of Creed, he is an utterly psychopathic villain who is also a yandere for Train. He's never explicitly stated to be gay, but we all know. He creates the third faction of the series, the Apostles of the Star. Despite the cool name, the group's motivations are ill-conceived beyond taking over the world. It's never really explained why Creed despises Chronos so much, or how he would do things differently than them. Indeed, beyond his singular desire for Train he's a flat character. Ultimately, he's a flash in the pan villain who has style but no substance.

The series has very good animation and sound across the board, which helps to differentiate the extensive cast of secondary characters. They all only get scraps of screentime, but I was impressed by the sheer volume of different designs and powers. It helped the world feel vivid and populated. For a shonen series, many female characters got significant focus and were strong fighters as well. Wasn't a sausage fest at all despite the yaoi overtones between Train and Creed. The fight scenes were usually quite fluid and the colors really popped. In addition, the opening song is fantastic. I think the technical aspects of the show kept me endeared even when the actual plot got dangerously thin.

In total, I think everyone should watch Cowboy Bebop instead, but I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the series. The manga the anime is based off of is finished, allowing for a complete story. You don't always get that in anime. Although this show doesn't tell the full story of the manga, the impressive technical qualities displayed helped boost my score to a very weak 7 bordering on a 6.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Mar 25, 2023

DISKOWN

Mixed Feelings

Black Cat has really good music, character designs, and has a good artistic style. Unfortunately there is more style than substance. The poor pacing, inconsistent animation, and uninteresting plot make the series painfully average. The music really elevates what it accompanies and makes scenes feel much more impactful. The characters are all unique and it is a shame that their backgrounds and motivations are not explored further. The animation is extremely inconsistent, there are some scenes where it was obvious where the budget went, and others that are lacking. The pacing is also a huge detriment especially later in the ... series where there are large exposition dumps overshadowing the rest of the episode. The main narrative is rather boring and messy especially at the end of the series. Black Cat is cool to look at but that's about it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Oct 26, 2024

crafydolsel

Not Recommended

I will just say one thing this shit was so bad I was considering suicide because of this piece of shit show, at the first few episodes when Train was wearing black I was interested and I was like "Maybe this show isn't that bad" and I finished watching it and I was just like finally it's done and I don't have to kill myself, and if you think I'm exaggerating on how bad this show is I dropped it more than 8 times, but some of the fights were amazingly animated like the fight between train and zoolander or whatever his name is, and ... the only reason I watched this, because this anime was by the same studio that did full metal panic which is one of my favorite mecha anime and I was like oh maybe I should watch whatever this studio that did full metal panic and maybe I should watch their other works which was black cat, and i feel like i wasted two months trying to watch this fucking show, in summary of what i wrote don't watch this, watch something else that you think is actually worth your precous time.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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