Black Cat

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Stray Cat

Japanese: BLACK CAT

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Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 20

Chapters: 187

Status: Finished

Published: Jul 11, 2000 to Jun 14, 2004

Genres: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy

Demographic: Shounen

Serialization: Shounen Jump (Weekly)

Authors: Yabuki, Kentarou (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 7.79¹ (scored by 22,590 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #1308²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #339

Members: 49,163

Favorites: 1,756

Resources

Wikipedia

7.79

Ranked #1308Popularity #339Members 49,163

MangaShounen Jump (Weekly)Yabuki, Kentarou (Story & Art)

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Volumes: /20

Chapters: /187

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Synopsis

Train Heartnet is an amicable bounty hunter—known as a "Sweeper"—with a talent for sharpshooting. Working alongside his cool-headed partner Sven Vollfied, they hunt down wanted criminals. Unfortunately, however, despite their efforts, the dynamic duo always seems to be short on money, which forces them to accept a job from the beautiful Rinslet Walker, a sly thief for hire, and a mysterious girl named Eve.

However, the motley crew soon discovers a terrible plot to revolutionize the world, and the mastermind is someone Train knows and loathes with a passion. As the plan is set into motion, it is soon made clear that behind the carefree sharpshooter's smiling face lies a tragic past and an insatiable desire for revenge.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Included one-shot:
Volume 8: Stray Cat (pilot)

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Background

Black Cat was published in English by VIZ Media under the Shonen Jump imprint from March 7, 2006 to May 5, 2009 and in Italian by Star Comics from February 3, 2004 to April 2, 2007.

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More characters
Characters

Heartnet, Train

Main

Eve

Main

Vollfied, Sven

Main

Walker, Rinslet

Main

Minatsuki, Saya

Supporting

Diskenth, Creed

Supporting

Lunatique, Tearju

Supporting

Kirisaki, Kyouko

Supporting

Arks, Sephiria

Supporting

Hazard, Jenos

Supporting

Reviews

May 21, 2008

Pyrefly

Recommended

Black Cat at its worst is a typical action manga chock-full of unoriginal characters and plot devices, but at its best an enjoyable series in which those unoriginal characters are endearing, the plot devices are familiar enough to seem almost nostalgic, and the story as a whole flows well (for the most part).

Story: The core story is quite interesting, though it often takes the shonen staples of "I'm gonna fight you just to prove myself" and "I suddenly got so much more powerful" and "I'm the only one that can stop the bad guy." The story is fun and even suspenseful beyond those occasional nuisances. ...

Art: Black Cat also reminds the audience it's shonen by featuring a lot of guys with spiky hair. Train Heartnet's features are adorably catlike. In case you're not sure who to root for, the good guys look nice and bad guys are usually quite ugly. Nothing about the art itself really jumps out at the reader beyond some of the action sequences, which are nicely drawn. Unlike many other shonen, I actually found myself understanding what had just happened in any given fight.

Character: Characters are not this series' strong point, at least not as far as originality goes. Everyone has seen these characters before at some point, they just looked different and had different names. Train is your heartless assassin-turned all-around nice guy who is also a bounty hunter. Sven is the self-proclaimed gentleman sidekick with some kind of trump card in his fighting ability. Eve is the ridiculously powerful child who's been genetically altered and initially had no emotion. Creed is the guy who has a disturbing obsession with the main character and a vendetta against the world who inevitably decides to rule it over as a god.

That being said, the characters are faithful to their unoriginal archetypes. They rarely do anything unexpected, unless that's their intended personality.

Enjoyment: In spite of the perceived recycled characters and storyline, Black Cat is quite enjoyable. There's plenty of humor interspersed throughout and the characters, to their credit, are diverse enough where a reader could pick one he/she really really likes and cheer them on over the course of the story.

Overall: Black Cat is criticized for not being too original, but that's not really its intention. The idea is to create an interesting story with characters that have been tested and proven to work on an audience before, and besides, if Black Cat were to happen to be the first anime anyone saw, they wouldn't necessarily know the difference. This is, in the end, a worthwhile series for action fans.

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Jan 10, 2024

Firippu-chan

Mixed Feelings

Spoiler

If you're looking for a comfort action-manga with a light worldbuilding, this is for you. Don't expect great complex storylines and plot-twists. It's a simple, honest, straightforward manga with enjoyable (yet simple) characters. Learning about Train's past is an interesting part of the journey, and it could have been developed even more (imo). Sven and Lily are archetypal side characters you could find in any decent shounen/adventure manga, and the villains, while not the most memorable, are not entirely one-dimensional and boring. The main villain of the story could have better motivations, and his obsession gets a little overwhelming towards the end of the manga, ...

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Jul 14, 2021

Resting_Bonfire

Not Recommended

Black Cat

I saw the anime adaptation of this manga for the first time in 2008 and I liked it as one of my first anime. I watched this series again 2 years ago and was mostly disappointed, especially with the rushed ending.

The only thought that occurred to me, why not read the manga to see how the series would really end? Curiosity is the death of the cat

The manga begins quite differently than the anime in that the 2 protagonists are already a team and many events from the anime are only part of the background. How the other characters are added is practically the ...

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