Black Cat Volume 1

Details

 Director:
 Catalogue Number: MVD2203
 Certificate: 12
 Date Released: October 1st 2007
 Screen: Widescreen 16:9
 Languages: English - Dolby Digital (5.1)
 Additional Languages: Japanese (Dolby Digital 2.0)
 Subtitles: English
 Duration: 100 minutes

Special Features

• Textless Opening
• Textless Closing

Synopsis

Death stalks with the stealth of a cat

Train Heartnet is known as the Black Cat for his quick reactions to attacks and his title as Number Thirteen as member of the secret society Chronos. He is an unbeatable master gunman, a cold and unfeeling killer until he meets Saya, a bounty hunter, or "sweeper". She teaches him the value of a human life, and that one should live in order to repent for one's mistakes rather than die because of them. Through her, Train learns to love and care for other people as he too becomes a sweeper and travels with his partner Sven and the mysterious girl Eve.

Sven is your run-of-the-mill sweeper (aka bounty hunter) - down on his luck, haunted by the perpetual grumbling of his stomach and looking to make enough cash to get by. Oh, and he can see the future, but only about five minutes into it. When a dirty politician lands a price on his head, the sweeper jumps at the chance to earn a quick buck. But as he's working to secure the target, his vision reveals an assassination that will cost him the job. A confrontation with the mysterious killer, and Sven has no idea that he's brushed up against the worst possible luck.

Episodes Comprise
1 - Lonely Cat
2 - Confused Cat
3 - Cat in the Darkness
4 - Smiling Cat

Cover

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Review

Assassins and bounty hunters and little girls with strange powers, oh my… Black Cat takes us into the world of the Chronos organisation’s most lethal killer, Train Hearnet, and the people who find themselves caught up in his business. But is the life of a killer really the life for him..?

Audio:
Audio comes in Japanese 2.0 and English 5.1 versions – I listened to the Japanese track for this review. There’s a decent amount of direction used, particularly noticeable during the action scenes, while dialogue and effects are nice & clear. There were no obvious problems.

Video:
Video is presented in its original 1.78:1 aspect, enhanced for anamorphic playback. Presentation has always been one of GONZO’s strong points, and this series is no exception, with fluid animation and detailed background combining to produce a show which really does look good. Even the night-time scene – of which there are plenty – manage to look good, with some nice use of low-level lighting that highlights the scenes nicely. There were no obvious problems with the transfer.

Menu:
The main menu is a simple white screen, with an image of Train offset to the left and the various options listed down the right-hand side – Play All, Select Episode, Setup and Extras. There are no transition animations, so it’s all quick and easy to use.

Extras:
You get creditless versions of the opening and closing sequences. That’s all, folks.

Content: (please note that content portions of a review will contain spoilers)
The underworld organisation Chronos controls a group of deadly assassins, each marked by a number on their neck. Number XIII is the Black Cat, Train Heartnet, and his latest job is to take down Lib Tyrant, the new Governor of Bracchio City - and a former gang lord who looks set to live up to his surname. Also in town is Sven Vollfied, a 'sweeper' (bounty hunter to you & me) with the power to see five minutes into the future, thanks to his "vision eye". When he forsees Lib's death he vows to stop it (mainly as it's his own job to capture Lib alive), bringing him face to face with Train.

It’s not the last time their paths will cross, either, as when Sven unwittingly teams up with master thief Rinslet Walker to rescue young girl Eve from arms merchant Torneo Rudman, he finds that Train has already been assigned to deal with Eve – although his orders don’t include rescue. But a chance meeting with charming young sweeper Saya, who’s not so quick to take life as other in her profession may be, has encouraged Train to think about his career…

There’s a lot of ground covered in these opening episodes – maybe a little too much, as some of the scenes don’t seem entirely relevant to the main storyline, yet – but I’m pleased to say that come the end of episode four, it all made sense and I had a good idea of what was going on. Train has been brought up from a young age to do as Chronos tell him – and they’re not the sort of organisation who will tolerate any disobedience. Sven’s a true gentleman, sweeping aside, but that means he’s usually very short of cash. He’s also got a neat line in gadgets that come in very handy in his line of work. Rinslet is meant to be a master thief, but doesn’t really come across that way – there’s too much of a sense of fun about her, and she’s too quick to rely on others (witness her reliance on Sven to rescue Eve). Saya’s an enigma – standing on rooftops at night, taking her own morals to a job where many don’t have any, and somehow working her way into Train’s thoughts with very little effort, she’s one of those characters where you just want to see more of her. Put them all together, and you have a core cast that covers a wide range of personalities that each have their own appeal – and all likeable in their own way. That’s a good start.

On the surface, these episodes mostly revolve around efforts to get Eve away from her ‘captor’, although there’s more going on that Rinslet initially leads Sven to believe. The “twists and turns” in the story aren’t really surprising in any way – they’re more there to provide a way for the various characters to come together than as ways to genuinely surprise you, and to set up a few good set-piece battles that let everyone show off their skills. The important stuff is running underneath the main action, and it’s about Train and the beginnings of a desire to break away from Chronos – a desire that’s been put there by his meetings with Saya. When I started the series, I’d been expecting a story about the unbeatable assassin and the people who were going to eventually bring him down – but that’s not what Black Cat seems to be about, and I was pleased to see that.

In summary:
The opening episodes of Black Cat introduce an interesting bunch of characters and given them a chance to show off a little, while giving you enough information to see where the story is going without really getting too meaty. There’s a reasonable amount of light comedy thrown in as well (usually around Sven’s permanent lack of cash) that helps to keep a fun atmosphere about the story. The end result is a show that’s going in an interesting direction and is simply fun to watch, and that makes it one that’s worth keeping an eye on. (Anime-on-DVD)