Black Cat (manga)

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Black Cat
ブラックキャット (Burakku Kyatto)
Genre	Adventure, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Shonen, Comedy, Bounty Hunter
Manga
Authored by	Kentaro Yabuki
Publisher	Shueisha Chuang Yi Shonen Jump VIZ Media Glenat Star Comics Carlsen Comics
Serialized in	Shonen Jump
Original run	2000 – 2004
No. of volumes	20[1]
TV anime
Directed by	Shin Itagaki
Studio	Gonzo
Network	Animax, TBS Animax FUNimation Channel
Original run	6 October 2005 – 30 March 2006
No. of episodes	23[2]

Black Cat (ブラックキャット, Burakku Kyatto^?) is a manga and anime series by mangaka Kentaro Yabuki. It was serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump. The series has concluded in Japan at 20 volumes. It is also licensed by VIZ Media, and the English release started on March 7, 2006 and is currently up to volume 7. The Black Cat anime, directed by Shin Itagaki, aired in Japan on the anime satellite television network Animax and the terrestrial TBS network beginning on October 6, 2005 and ending on March 30, 2006. It consists of 23 episodes and is produced by GONZO. The anime series is is licensed by Funimation.

Black Cat is a balance between silly humor and serious moments, with an anti-hero cast battling somewhat stereotypical evil plots.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Characters 3 Glossary 3.1 Sweepers 3.2 Chronos 3.3 The Apostles of The Stars 3.4 The Taoshi War 3.5 Nanomachines, Eve, Dr. Tearju, and Dr. Kanzaki 3.6 The Zero Numbers and Eden (Anime Only) 4 Music (Anime) 4.1 Opening Themes 4.2 Ending Themes 5 Trivia 5.1 Licensing 5.2 Game Appearances 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Plot

Main articles: List of Black Cat volumes and List of Black Cat episodes

The story centers on a man named Train Heartnet who withdrew from an elite group of assassins called the Toki no Bannin (時の番人; the Chronos Numbers) to become a Sweeper (a bounty hunter).

In Train's world, there is a secret organization, Chronos, that rules one third of the world through underground control of almost every kind of business. To maintain the balance of the world, Chronos is essential, and therefore, there is the need to have people to protect Chronos. Besides all normal erasers, there are special elite assassins with Orichalcum-made weapons called the Chrono Numbers. Chrono Numbers have their numbers engraved on their body and their weapon. There were twelve total Chrono Numbers, but when Train Heartnet, an unsurpassable shooter, decided to join Chronos in their cause, the number XIII was founded. No one that was targeted by Train Heartnet, also known as Black Cat, for bringing "bad luck", and his extremely quick movements and attacks, ever survived. The name Black Cat was the most feared among assassins.

His only objective was "to be the best". In one of his missions, he had to kill a target but the target's child was at the scene. Train, recalling his childhood trauma, could not kill the target in front of his child.

Eventually, he met Saya Minatsuki, who was a sweeper. Through his contact with Saya, Train changed drastically, a change that culminated with leaving Chronos. However, a man that admired Train in an obsessive way, Creed Diskenth, did not accept that an elite assassin was being changed that way. Creed then set out to kill Saya, while Train was not there. Train reached the scene too late and tried to fight Creed, but he escaped.

Two years later, Train is a sweeper, traveling with his partner Sven Vollfied. Their life as sweepers is about to be changed when the present is invaded by the past - Creed Diskenth, after two years of being away, returns. And he wishes to meet Train, with a proposal - become his partner.

[edit] Characters

Main article: List of Black Cat characters

• Train Heartnet

Voiced by: Takashi Kondo (Japanese), Jason Liebrecht (English)
The protagonist a.k.a Black Cat. He starts as a ruthless assassin but learns compassion from Saya Minatsuki. After his change of heart, he works as a sweeper alongside Sven and Eve. He always wears a bell around his neck that Eve got for him. He has a gun made just for him called Hades given to him by the Chronos.

• Sven Vollfied

Voiced by: Keiji Fujiwara (Japanese), Brandon Potter (English)
A sweeper and Train's partner. He befriends Eve and treats her like a person instead of a weapon. He, Eve and Train work together. He has an eye that can see five minutes ahead but it puts a strain on him or it will drain all his energy. He has a good eye for detail's noticing Rinslet's gun and wig when he first met her. He never leaves a woman in need.

• Eve

Voiced by: Misato Fukuen (Japanese), Brina Palencia (English)
A genetically engineered bio-weapon. She uses nanotechnology to transform her body. At this point she can only change her arm, but she is supposed to be able to transform her body when she grows. She has to picture something to do it. Raised like a lab rat, Sven treats her like a real person and opens up her world.

• Rinslet Walker

Voiced by: Yukana (Japanese), Jamie Marchi (English)
A world class thief. She works for everyone from the government to mob bosses. She says she can steal anything and manipulate any man. She sometimes works alongside Train and Sven. She appears in the first book.

[edit] Glossary

[edit] Sweepers

In the world of Black Cat, Sweeper is a profession that consists in capturing criminals and receiving rewards for it. Sweepers are not unlike bounty hunters, they are licensed by the government and free to move about as they please, however unlike real-life bounty hunters sweepers are internationally accepted and endorsed by the governments of the world and respected for their contribution to maintaining justice. The pamphlets with information on criminals are spread throughout the world in public places like bars, where Sweepers use to hang out. Sweepers vary in their appearance and style of fight, and many times conflict among themselves upon a certain target. The criminals that sweepers have to capture are classified in levels, which range from F to SS, F being the least dangerous and SS the most dangerous. Legendary criminals who are almost bound not to be captured are considered SS, the most violent and dangerous kind of criminals. An example of this is Creed Diskenth.

[edit] Chronos

Chronos is the secret organization that rules one third of the world through underground business in various areas. Though despite being a shadow society most characters who spent at least some of their time digging into the underworld know that they exist. Incidentally almost all speaking characters in the series seem to know of Chronos and the Numbers. Most of the Chronos members occupate high positions, such as mayors, politicians, among others. To protect Chronos, there are assassins in the command of the three wise men in charge of Chronos, the highest of them being Willzark. Willzark commands a secret force of the best assassins in the world, sworn to protect Chronos, called the Chrono Numbers, which range from No. I to No. XIII (More information on the Characters Section). Lower in the hierarchy are the Chronos Erasers, which are assassins in service of Chronos. An example is Creed Diskenth. Other members of Chronos play important roles in the story in the manga, such as Carl Walken, which is the mayor of a town that raised Train and asks him personally to take out a Taoshi who has been causing considerable damage in his city, Gyanza Rujike. In the Anime, the Zero Numbers send a swarm of nano-machine beasts to destroy the Chronos Headquarters while the Numbers were away on Clarken Island, killing the three wisemen. Financial support from practically all sources is cut, but Sephiria, No. I, and the remaining numbers decide to continue in Chronos, although they will have to raise it from its ashes.

[edit] The Apostles of The Stars

The Apostles of the Stars are a revolutionary group led by Creed Diskenth. Their aims are to "clean the world of filth", that is to say, kill people who cannot achieve the Power of Tao. Naturally, every member of the Apostles of The Stars has a power of Taoshi origin, which are awakened through the Shinkitou, a drink only concocted by Master Taoshis, such as Shiki. Another member of the Apostles, Maro, is also from the forbidden Continent, and together with Shiki, they bear the most traditional Tao power, such as controlling and summoning bugs (Shiki), using ink marks (Shiki) and controlling gravity (Maro). Other members of the Apostles rely on more "deviant" powers, such as Creed's "Imagine Blade" in the manga, which is a sword that can expand for miles depending on Creed's mental power, even though in the Anime Creed's power is just the materialization of a small invisible sword, in replacement for his old Kotetsu, broken by Train. Other Tao powers include Kyoko's "Fire", Charden's "Blood", Durham's "Shot" or Echidna's "Gate". The Apostles do not just wish to bring about a world revolution, but they seek revenge against Chronos. Creed due to his expulsion after killing Saya, and Shiki and Maro due to the war that happened between the Taoshi and Chronos long ago, which decimated the Taoshi from the Secret Continent. Although Tao has been the primary source of the Apostles' power, Creed also relies on Doctor's investigations on Nanomachines to grant him eternal power and elevate him to a god.

[edit] The Taoshi War

Many decades in the past, there was a war between the Taoshi and Chronos. Chronos eventually won, even though not all Taoshi were killed. In the current Chronos, the only Number that witnessed this War was Mason, which himself became a Taoshi, granted with the Sacred Technique. However, he had kept this from everybody in Chronos, planning the Eden project for a long time (More information below). The survivors among the Taoshi that make an appearance in Black Cat are no more no less than Shiki and Maro, which upon meeting Creed grant him the power of Tao in exchange for an alliance which objective was to destroy Chronos and bring about a revolution to this planet, which would choose the Taoshi among the people, and rid everyone else.

[edit] Nanomachines, Eve, Dr. Tearju, and Dr. Kanzaki

The nanomachine investigation by Dr. Tearju Lunatique allowed her to achieve the knowledge that might allow her to create a prototype of a human that could transform and eventually become the ultimate weapon. In the manga, Creed Diskenth financed the research of Dr. Tearju, hired by Torneo Ludman, to create Eve, which would be the perfect weapon for him to use, while in exchange Torneo promised to have Dr. Tearju research nanomachines in the areas that were of Creed's interest, such as the legendary immortality nanomachines. Eventually, Dr. Tearju realized she couldn't do that and quit, for the world's safety, but due to blackmail from her former assistant, one of the Apostles, Doctor, or Dr. Kanzaki, she passed him the nanomachine research documents, which allowed Doctor to perfect them in order to make Creed a God. Worth noting is that in the Anime, Dr. Tearju didn't pass the documents on to Doctor, which stole them instead. In the anime, he also used them to produce the Eden machine that would work when combined with Eve.

[edit] The Zero Numbers and Eden (Anime Only)

The Zero Numbers are the Chrono Numbers gathered by Mason to aid him in the Eden project, which he planned since Eve was created by Dr. Tearju. The Eden project consisted of bringing "World Peace", which would actually consist of turning every single person on the Earth into creatures without mind of their own, only capable of obeying the Zero Numbers. The Zero numbers were also implanted with nanomachines that allowed them to be immortal within Eden's energy field, created by Doctor. For Eden to work, however, it was needed that Eve entered it, in order to combine with the program inside Eden, Adam, to put into motion the giant creature, which was Eden combined with Eve. Mason had gathered people from Chronos, from the Apostles of The Stars, in order to aid him when the time to retrieve Eve came. That is because Eve needed to be raised well in order to be "perfected", and since the day she met Sven and considered him the ideal "father", Mason decided it would be of best interest to the Zero Numbers that Sven and Train raised Eve, and they would retrieve her, like happened in the story.

[edit] Music (Anime)

[edit] Opening Themes
Title	Transcription/Translation	Artist	Episodes
ダイアの花	Daia no Hana (Diamond Flower)	Yoriko	1-23
[edit] Ending Themes
Title	Transcription/Translation	Artist	Episodes
ナミダボシ	Namidaboshi	PUPPYPET	1-12
くつずれ	Kutsuzure (Blisters)	Matsuda Ryouji	13-23

[edit] Trivia

• From the information taken from the Black Cat Matatabi Character Files Book, it would seem that all of the Chrono Numbers are born on the day of month that corresponds with their number. That is to say, Train was born on the 13th, Sephiria was born on the 1st, Jenos was born on the 7th, and so on.

• So far several characters from Black Cat have made at LEAST cameo appearances in Kentaro Yabuki's latest manga, To-LOVE-Ru. Kyoko appeared as a TV character (a fire breathing magical girl!) and Eve has garnered a pretty substantial role as a supporting cast/ main character. The cat appears pretty often too, in various forms.

• Many seiyu who voiced characters in Get Backers also voiced characters in the anime version.
  • Nobutoshi Canna
  • Mitsuki Saiga
  • Takahiro Sakurai
  • Hideyuki Hori
  • Shinichiro Miki
  • Katsuyuki Konishi

• Other interesting GB connections:
  • In Get Backers, the characters who Saiga, Sakurai and Hori voiced (MakubeX, Kagami Kyoji and Kurusu Masaki) were also allies (albeit for a short while), like their characters here (Lin Xiao Li, Jenos Hazard and Belze Rochefort).
  • English actor Jason Liebrecht who did the voice of Ban Mido in the dub version of Get Backers also voices Train Heartnet.
  • Xiao Li's weapon resembles the bales of cloth used by Kakei Sakura, MakubeX's aide. Xiao Li and MakubeX both have links to the letter X: Xiao Li is Chronos no. 10 (X in Roman numerals) while MakubeX's X represents his "unknown" name.
  • Jenos Hazard, like Kagami, is handsome and a bit of a womanizer. Also, his Chronos number is 7, which, of course, is the number of years of bad luck you get if you break a kagami (mirror in Japanese), according to the superstition.
  • River's spiky hair and sometimes reckless behaviour resembles that of Mido Ban (also voiced by Nobutoshi).
  • Sven, like Fudou, wears an eyepatch over his right eye and has the ability to see a few seconds into the future.
  • In Dr. Lunatique's name, Lunatique is french for Luncatic
• Akira Toriyama, creator of the Dragon Ball series, was one of Kentaro Yabuki's most relevant influences. One of the characters of Black Cat, River Zastory, might be a tribute to a Dragon Ball character, as he has spikey hair and a very developed musculature.

[edit] Licensing

During Anime Expo 2006, Funimation announced the licensing of the anime. The first volume release is December 19, featuring the first four episodes.

[edit] Game Appearances

Black Cat characters appeared in Jump Super Stars, with Eve as a playable character, while Train and others are support or help. Train and Eve are also battle characters in the sequel, Jump Ultimate Stars.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• FUNimation's Official Black Cat site (English)
• Black Cat official site (Japanese)
• TBS's Black Cat anime official site
• Black Cat Anime Gallery