Black Cat
| Black Cat | |
|---|---|
| Original title | ブ ラ ッ ク キ ャ ッ ト |
| transcription | Burakku Kyatto |
| genre | Action , shonen , science fiction , comedy |
| Manga | |
| country |
 Japan
|
| author | Kentaro Yabuki |
| publishing company | Shueisha |
| magazine | Weekly Shōnen Jump |
| First publication | 2000-2004 |
| expenditure | 20th |
| Anime television series | |
| Country of production |
Japan
|
| original language | Japanese |
| Year (s) | 2005-2006 |
| Studio | Gonzo |
| Episodes | 24 in 1 season |
| Director | Shin Itagaki |
| production | Masaya Shinozaki, Naoki Watanabe, Taito Okiura, Takashi Takano, Tetsuo Daitoku |
| music | Taku Iwasaki |
| First broadcast | October 6, 2005 - March 30, 2006 on TBS |
| German-language first broadcast |
April 9 - May 12, 2008 on Animax |
| Light novel | |
| Original title | BLACKCAT 星 の 残照 |
| transcription | Black Cat: Hoshi no Zanshou |
| country |
Japan
|
| author | Tomohito Ōsaki |
| publishing company | Shueisha |
| First publication | March 10, 2003 - October 24, 2005 |
| expenditure | 3 |
Black Cat ( Jap. ブラックキャット , Burakku Kyatto ) is a manga of the signatory Kentaro Yabuki , who from Studio Gonzo as Anime - television series was implemented.
The work is about the fight of the professional killer Train Heartnet against a powerful organization and can be classified into the genres of action , shonen , science fiction and comedy .
scenario
In the world of Black Cat there is a worldwide mafia organization called "Chronos" which controls a large part of world politics and economy. It has meanwhile become indispensable for the world and, with the help of its professional killer unit "Chronos Numbers", strives for global stability, eliminates risk factors. The Chronos Numbers are a unit of 13 professional killers who report directly to the Chronos Council of Elders.
The opposite pole of Chronos is a revolutionary group of Taoists, the "apostles of the planet". You plan to break the supremacy of Chronos and rule the world yourself. At the moment they are still in the development phase, they are trying to recruit enough members to seriously threaten Chronos.
Train Heartnet ( ト レ イ ン ＝ ハ ー ト ネ ッ ト , Torein Hātonetto ) is the formerly feared number 13 of the “Chronos Numbers” with the code name “Black Cat”. Once, when children were in the way of a target, he hesitated briefly, resulting in life-threatening injuries. However, the sweeper Saya Minatsuki ( サ ヤ ＝ ミ ナ ツ キ ) saved his life. They stayed together for a while, and Train found that he had never really been happy in his job. Creed Diskens ( ク リ ー ド ＝ デ ィ ス ケ ン , Kurīdo = Disuken ), once also a member of Chronos, but not good enough for the "Numbers", recognized Saya's influence on Train and killed them. Train still wanted to get out of Chronos, which the organization took as an opportunity to have him killed. But Train survived, which Chronos did not notice at first, and met Sven Vollfied ( ス ヴ ェ ン ＝ ボ ル フ ィ ー ド , Suven Borufīdo ), with whom he formed a small Sweeper group. However, he continues to hate Creed for killing his best friend. Train wears a chain with a golden bell around his neck and thus expresses his status as a “stray cat”, he also likes to drink milk and eat well and a lot.
The bounty hunter Sven , a former investigator with the International Bureau of Investigations, becomes his partner. During his work as an investigator, Sven had to watch as his former colleague Lloyd Goldwin sacrificed himself for him. Lloyd, who had already foreseen his death because he had the "visionary eye", bequeathed part of his cornea after his death, after which Sven can also look into the future in visions for a short time. Together with Train he often goes about his daily business while smoking. The two are approached by the master thief Linslet Walker ( リ ン ス レ ッ ト ＝ ウ ォ ー カ ー , Rinsuretto Uōkā ), who offers them a job in the Republic of Sapidoa .
action
For the assignment, Sven and Train have to break into the heavily guarded villa of an international gang boss named Rudman . He conducts research to develop a biological weapon, the results of which Linslet is commissioned to steal. Sven and Train launched a frontal attack on the villa, but when she sees the research results, she decides to blow up the laboratory and all of its findings. Meanwhile, Sven and Train succeed in catching Rudman and freeing the result of his research - the roughly ten-year-old Eve ( イ ヴ , Ivu ), who can deform her body and change its structure at will. However, out of consideration for Eve, they leave Rudman behind and forego the bounty. Instead, they take Eve with them, who, despite being created as a weapon, follows them of her own free will. She herself is very intelligent and never forgets anything she has read. However, she also has a large ego and is constantly putting herself in danger that she cannot deal with on her own. Linslet separates from the others here and travels on to her next assignment, the rest of the group decides to relax in El Cida , where the annual carnival is currently taking place.
Once in El Cida, Train is contacted by a member of a group called "Apostles of the Planet". The leader of this group of revolutionaries who want to take control of the world is Creed Diskens , a former colleague of Train, with whom the train still has an account. Now this group member offers him a meeting with Creed. Train appears to kill Creed, who had previously taken Linslet hostage. Train refuses the offer to become a member of the "Apostles of the Planet", and so it comes to a fight between Creed and Train. However, this ends without a winner, but shows that the group has magical abilities that can save the lives of even the almost dead.
Train meets Linslet for dinner. She had promised to invite him. But it turns out that she had ulterior motives. Train is supposed to accompany her to the birthday reception of Madame Freshia , who presents a new treasure for each of her birthdays. Linslet cannot miss this treasure. Train is supposed to accompany her, since her cover identity is a married woman. So they both go to the reception while Eve and Sven wait in the car. There Train sees that it is actually worth it for him too, since the professional killer Rugart Wong is also at the party. He and Train then go into the corridor to duel, while the other guests go downstairs to view the Madame's new "treasure". Before their duel is decided, they are interrupted by a crowd of guests fleeing down the corridor. The Madame's “treasure” is a Tyrannosaurus Rex named Flora , brought to life by genetic engineering , who broke out of his cage and started to attack the guests. Eve, who has sneaked away from the sleeping Sven to the party, tries to turn Flora off, but fails. Just before she and Linslet are eaten by the dinosaur, Eve uses her ability to grow wings and saves herself and Linslet in the air. A little later, Eve asks Train to kill the dinosaur without killing him, as he, like her, was created artificially and cannot do anything for his deeds. Train agrees and pursues the dinosaur. He saves him from some of Madame Freshia's guards who want to shoot him and finally, after some time, manages to neutralize him with Sven's help. Meanwhile, Rugart kills Madame Freshia's guards, but lets her live because this murder would be too easy for him and he has to think about Train all the time. Flora ends up in the zoo and Train meets Wong again.
Origin and publications
Manga
In 1999, issue 46 of the Weekly Shōnen Jump published by Shueisha published the One Shot Stray Cat . This was then expanded into a series that ran from issue 32/2000 to issue 29/2004 as Black Cat in the Weekly Shōnen Jump . The individual chapters were summarized in 20 anthologies ( Tankōbon ).
Glénat publishes the manga in French, Viz Media and Madman Entertainment in English. It is published in Italian by Editions Star Comics. All 20 volumes were published in German by Carlsen Comics . The translation is by Claudia Peter.
Anime
2005 produced studio Gonzo , a 24-piece Anime - TV series for manga. Shin Itagaki , who is also responsible for the storyboard, also directed the series for the first time. The character designer was Yukiko Akiyama and the artistic direction was taken over by Shigemi Ikeda. For the anime, the plot was structured differently. The time Train Heartnet s on Chronos , which is only told in flashbacks in the manga , is dealt with in full at the beginning of the series, which means that the many flashbacks in the manga are omitted. The series was broadcast by TBS from October 6, 2005 to March 30, 2006, with BS-i , CBC and Mainichi Broadcasting beginning the same month .
The anime was broadcast in English by Animax in Southeast Asia and in Spanish and Portuguese in Latin America. Space power broadcast the series in Arabic, and it was also released on DVD in the US, Australia and the UK.
Black Cat was released in German on eight DVDs by OVA Films from July 2007 .
synchronization
| role | Japanese speaker ( seiyū ) | German speaker |
|---|---|---|
| Eve | Misato Fukuen | Katja Liebing |
| Linslet Walker | Yukana | Sarah Brückner |
| Train Heartnet | Takashi Kondo | Simon T. Roden |
| Sven Vollfied | Keiji Fujiwara | Stefan Schleberger |
| River Zastory | Nobutoshi Canna | René Dawn-Claude |
| Silphy Deacroft | Minagawa Junko | Rieke Werner |
| Gilbas | Akio Suyama | Dennis Saemann |
music
The music for the series was composed by Taku Iwasaki . Both orchestral and piano pieces, choral songs and simple crime thriller melodies are used. The biasing title Daia no Hana ( ダイアの花 ) derived from Yoriko as credits songs was used Namidaboshi ( ナミダボシ ) of PUPPYPET and Kutsuzure of Ryoji Matsuda.
radio play
In February, July and October 2005, three radio plays on Black Cat were released on CD.
Light novel
The light novel Black Cat - Hoshi no zanshō ( BLACKCAT 星 の 残照 , English Black Cat - The last rays of the sun from the stars ) by Tomohito Ōsaki was published in 2005.
Video game
March 2006 the PlayStation 2 game BlackCat - Kikai shikake no tenshi ( BLACKCAT ～ 機械 仕 掛 け の 天使 erschien ) and in June 2007 the Dreamcast game Black Cat - Kuroneko no kyōsōkyoku ( BLACKCAT ～ 黒 猫 の 協奏曲 ～ ).
reception
The "turbulent bounty hunting" and "action-packed story" is, according AnimaniA told varied and exciting thanks to fantasy and mystery elements. The chosen narrative elements appear innovative, but are partly reminiscent of series such as Get Backers and later Naruto . The joy of reading is also marred by the initially lower quality of the drawings, which only improve as the series progresses. The reinterpretation of the anime adaptation makes it easily accessible for viewers who have not read the manga. Animations on a good level and detailed backgrounds are offered. The staging of the fast and bloody battle scenes with fluid movements and still images in fast cuts does the material justice. The use of extreme color and light-dark contrasts, inspired by film noir , harmonizes well with the mood of the story. The character design looks a bit younger than in the original, but contributes well to the characterization. The credible development of the characters is also highlighted. The varied, interesting and complex soundtrack, the dynamic opening credits and the rather light, humorous ending are also praised.
According to the online magazine AnimePro, Black Cat is a rapidly narrated and “action anime peppered with a lot of slapstick” .
Web links
- Volumes published in German by Carlsen.de
- TBS for the anime series (Japanese)
- Black Cat in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Anime News Network about the manga and anime (English)