Train Heartnet was a member of Chronos’ Time Guardians, a team of elite assassins that carries out the will of Chronos. His nickname was Black Cat because of his skill, agility and speed, as well as the fact that he was designated number thirteen of the Time Guardians. This all changed for Train when he met a young Sweeper, or bounty hunter, named Saya, and was inspired by her to live a life by his own rules and to live for his own dreams, rather than the will of Chronos. His relationship with Saya, Chronos, and his partner Creed will change his life forever.
Fast forward two years, and Train Heartnet and Sven Volfied are two bounty hunters trying to earn enough money to pay back their debts and eat their next meal, but a series of events will lead them into the middle of a war between Creed Diskence and his Apostles of the Stars and Chronos, the secret society that controls a large portion of the world.
If I had to sum up Black Cat in one statement, I would call it, “What Cowboy Bebop would be if it were a shonen manga.” I’d be lying if I said there weren’t a lot of surface similarities to the famous anime. Two bounty hunters, one is a former member of a syndicate, the other a former cop. Add in a girl they happen to pick up and a buxomly purple haired thief, then throw in a sword wielding villain from the protagonists former syndicate and it sounds extremely similar, doesn’t it? Fortunately, the similarities are only surface ones for the mast part, as the style of the storytelling itself as well as the other elements of the story are very much its own.
Black Cat certainly has its share of distinctively shonen elements: Super powered villains, action, comedy, pretty girls, and hot-blooded men. However, aside from these things, Black Cat doesn’t fall into the usual trappings that you expect from a shonen manga, which helps keep things a little fresh. The primary driving forces behind the story are the conflict between the Time Guardians and the Messengers of the Stars, and the backstories of the main characters, which are revealed in small pieces as the manga progresses. The execution of the story is done in a way to keep the reader’s interest by going back and forth between the regular stories of Train and Sven trying to make their living catching bounties, stories that deal with the main story arc involving the Messengers of the Stars, Time Guardians, and how they relate to Train and Sven, and flashbacks that flesh out the characters’ backstories more. The manga tends to focus on themes of individuality and not becoming hung up with the past, again, similar to Cowboy Bebop, but it has a very different way of going about it.
The cast of characters includes both extremely likeable heroes and “love to hate them” villains. The primary cast of Train, Sven, Rinslet, and Eve are all very well developed, fully explored with their past, and develop quite a bit as the story progresses. The villains aren’t quite as thoroughly explored, except for a couple of exceptions. While the characters are all well designed and explored, a few of them fall into overused archetypes that you tend to see overused in manga. Again, this is really more the situation with the villains that it is the main characters, and a little unoriginality doesn’t hurt the manga.
Kentaro Yabuki’s work on the manga is very well done, and his characters come out very detailed and expressive in his artwork, and each character has a very distinct look. The panelwork done in the manga is also very clean, makes good use of space, panels, and direction, though nothing on the master level like Tezuka or Urasawa, but this kind of expertise only comes with experience. The action scenes are extremely easy to follow, and you’re never left confused, which is impressive considering many of the fights in this manga involve long-range tactics.
In conclusion, Black Cat is a very well put together and entertaining manga. With an English release coming within the next year and an anime already out, interest in the series is bound to rise quickly. Although I can’t speak for the anime, the manga is definitely one of the more interesting reads for shonen fans that want something a little different from bizarre comedy, sports, or fighting manga.
(The review was made by Musashi9X)