Heavy-duty fists, firearms, and Taoists to pick off at leisure and plenty of them!
Black Cat, the nickname of Train Heartnet, is about Train and his ragtag band of bounty-hunting “Sweepers” as they work to undermine the plans of Creed and his Apostles of the Stars. Both Train and Creed have been at odds for years, since their leaving the Chronos Numbers (an organized group of assassins), and now Creed has set his sights on conquering the world using his Apostles and the power of the Tao.
In this volume, the group has been split up into three fractions as they push to infiltrate Creed’s main base of operations. Each group is pitted against formidable Tao users and killers with super-human abilities, such as the ability to control ice via atmospheric moisture. One by one the enemies fall to the Sweepers, when at last it’s Train’s turn. He, along with his companion River Zastory, is faced by Shiki. Possessing immeasurable Taoist control, Shiki summons a sentient demon insect to take care of the pair, but Train and River slowly begin to push their way forward. All is building into the crescendo of the final battle to come against Creed himself, to avenge old losses and to save the world.
Average isn’t necessarily bad.
Sometimes simpler art styles can make for a quicker read and really give you a feel for the action. That’s how the artwork for Black Cat comes across. It’s fairly standard and formulaic in shounen manga to use a lot of action lines and close-ups to hastily move the story along. I usually attribute this to the artist wanting to get to the good stuff—namely the huge boss fights. It does lend impetus to the fast pace of the action-oriented storyline. Aside from that, in between chapters you get treated to character sketches, small bios, and even a brief summarized map of this fictional world just to show where all this action is taking place. And, because Viz loves us, they decided to include this volume of Black Cat with a special sticker located in the back of the book for the up-coming Stateside release of Slam Dunk. It’s a modest package, but worth your money.
That’s all she wrote.
I have to say, Black Cat was easy to fall into. It’s easy even if you don’t know a wit about any of the characters aside from the brief bios given in the front. This volume was more action-oriented rather than story, so I found myself wound up in the heat of the battle and itching to turn every page. Black Cat’s story is fairly deeper than run-of-the-mill shounen titles as well, making it a unique addition to any collection.
