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Train Heartnet, known as the Black Cat, is an efficient, conscienceless
assassin. He's very good at what he does and what he does
is kill people. When he meets Saya Minatsuki he starts to
question his destiny, enough to give up the life of a killer
to become a bounty hunter...
Black
Cat: Volume 2 - The Catastrophe contains episodes five
to eight of this twenty-four episode show. Directed by Shin
Itaggaki for the Gonzo Studio (Afro Samurai) it was
an adaptation of the manga by the mangaka Kentaro Yabuki.
The
show remains a quirky combination of quick-fire fight scenes,
brooding conversations and oddball comedic interludes. At
the moment I'll reserve judgement until I see more of them,
but my gut feeling is that the various elements don't dovetail
together to form a coherent whole. It's as if they wanted
to make a dystopian anime but thought that they had better
throw in a bunch of funny faces to expand their audience base.
Episode
five, The Departing Cat (or if you go by the subtitles
Cat Makes a Decision), and having set the scene with
opening episodes, we're finally starting the story proper.
Sven's decision to rescue the bio-weapon Eve is starting to
have consequences. Chronos is on the move. Meanwhile Train
is having serious doubts about his masters' wishes and, when
they push him, he leaves. Chronos sends Creed to retrieve
Train, but Creed has his own agenda and asks Train to join
him in overthrowing society.
Episode
six, The Cat under Fire (Targeted Cat), and
Chronos sends more men to bring back Creed and Train, but
of course Creed and Train are the best. In truth things get
a little confusing. Train is apparently rescued by a Taoist
during his fight and escapes. I think part of the problem
is that neither the personalities of Sven and Train, nor what
they look like are different enough not to cause some confusion,
especially during fight sequences. When Creed cannot capture
Train he goes after Trains one weak spot, Saya.
Episode
seven, The Wounded Cat (Badly
Wounded Cat):
Sven takes Eve to a firework display, something she has never
seen before, whilst at the same time Creed and Train battle
it out under the exploding display. Train is rescued by Sven
and Eve only to discover that Saya might be dead. Train takes
his time to determine the future course of his life as does
Eve. Another good episode, now that the story has got underway
each episode is building up to form an interesting story.
Episode
eight, The Sweeping Cat: Sven, Train and Eve are now
a team bent on capturing bad guys. The team heads off to capture
Igor Planter as they are desperately short of money.
The
disc comes with an English 5.1 and Japanese stereo sound options,
with English subtitles, a textless opening and closing sequence
and some trailers.
Now
that the show has hit its stride it's shaping up much better
than the first few episodes.
Charles
Packer
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