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Anime has an ever growing fanbase and is gradually making it's way to becoming more mainstream. One of the more recent Anime series to come out of Japan is Black Cat - which is based on a series of Manga comics.

I've seen a fair bit of Anime in the past, but nothing like this. My viewing of Anime is a little more mainstream with having seen ones like Akira and Princess Mononoke. This DVD is the first volume of the Black Cat story, an anime series based on the manga comic books of the same name.

So let's start with the content, there are 4 episodes on the DVD which is about normal for a TV series, and also barely any extras. In fact, the extras are barely worth the effort - there are two versions of the opening sequence and a trailer.

The quality of the animation is generally quite good, and is typical of pretty much any Anime series that you might watch. The first episode, "Lonely Cat", introduces us to the titular character, "Black Cat" as he completes an assassination for Chronos; and then moves on to set the scene with a new governor, Lib Tyrant (a former mobster) being the target of both Train Heartnet (aka Black Cat, aka Chronos 13) and the sweeper, Sven Vollfied. The initial focus of the story is on Sven and how his job as a sweeper earns him very little pay, but his "bad eye" can see into the future, which can help him on jobs. He uses this ability fairly early on, warning him Lib Tyrant, the person he's sent to save, is going to die within the next 5 minutes. It then ends with Black Cat killing Lib Tyrant before Sven can stop him, with a short skirmish outside the building between Black Cat and a bodyguard. We don't really learn much this episode, other than that Train's parents died when he was young and that was when he took up a gun to kill people. It then ends with him meeting Saya Minatsuki, a female sweeper, who is singing on the rooftops whilst he is feeding his cat.

The next episode, "Confused Cat", is a slower start, far less action and it introduces Elena and Eve. Elena (aka Rinslet Walker) tells Sven how her little sister, Eve, has been kidnapped by Torneo (a weapons dealer) and "hires" Sven to go after her. Again we see Train and his cat on the rooftops talking to Saya who at this point seems to be set up as a possible love interest for Train in future episode yet we still know very little about her other than her being a sweeper (a mercenary out for hire) who's on the trail of a psychotic killer (what other sort is there?!). Overall the episode is better than the first with better dialog, imagery, and story. In this story Train also seems to be a little more of a hero (albeit a darker anti-hero), and less of an assassin as he goes to the rescue of Saya.

"Cat in the Dark" continues the story of Rinslet's kidnapped sister as Sven and Rinslet are on their way to try and save her.They arrive just in time to see Train (aka Black Cat) pointing a gun at Eve (which is where the previous episode ended). As they are interrupted by Torneo and his goons in what looks like a typical 3-way shootout. Though Train decides to help and let Eve live, which gives Sven and Rinslet the chance to escape but without taking Eve with them. Finally Rinslet's true identity is revealed, and it is explained that Eve is actually a bio-weapon containing nano-technology. Between the voice performance and the animation of Eve, regular science fiction viewers may find similarities with River from Firefly (the series by Joss Wheedon) especially in the scenes when Sven finds her in the park, but it doesn't take long for Torneos goons to show up and "kidnap" her. Train also starts to reconsider his position as an assassin for Chronos after being told by Eve that she sees blood on his gun.

"Smiling Cat" starts with Sven and Rinslet once again trying to get into building by using a rather unique method of distracting the guards - they make a number of cats make enough noise for the guards to go investigate. At this point Sven and Rinslet split up to try and find Eve before Train can make another attempt to kill her. To try and find Eve before Train, Sven uses his eye to see the future so he can reach her first. Trying to get a child that's a bio-weapon to move doesn't prove to be an easy thing and Train arrives before they can escape. Again whilst his gun is pointing at her head, Train is told by Eve that she sees blood on his gun. Again, before anything can happen they are interrupted by Torneo who tries to use Eve's abilities to kill the Black Cat. Train flees the scene with Eve in pursuit, but Sven is captured by Torneo's goons. Finally Sven and Rinslet escape to see Eve attacking Train until Sven intervenes and reminds her that she's not a monster. The place where Eve was "made" turns out to be trashed, and we're left contemplating whether it was Black Cat that was responsible.

Although it may be unfair to judge a series from it's first few episodes, it may not by far the best of the anime out there, but it's certainly better than some of the recent series they've aired in the US and UK. One of the major problems with the series though is some of the over the top scenes that would be better placed in a children's cartoon series rather than a dark series about assassins that is aimed at adults. Yet it still manages to redeem itself with great imagery with excellent "camera angles" adding drama to the important scenes.

The first volume was released in October 2007 for the UK by MVM, priced at £15.99. Surprisingly, despite some of the violence (though mostly implied) it is only certificate 12.

Rating: 3.0/5