The story centers on a man named Train Heartnet who withdrew from an elite group of assassins called the Chronos Numbers to become a bounty hunter.
They meet and team up with professional thief Rinslet Walker in order to break into an arms dealer's home and obtain some data, but encounter a human bio-weapon named Eve that was created using nanotechnology.
The Apostles of the Stars launch their first attack on the World Summit, killing the leaders from 20 top nations, causing Chronos to declare war on them.
Jenos and the other two members of the special unit Cerebus launch an assault on Creed's lair, that results in it being turned to rubble, while Train simply rescues Rinslet and leaves.
However, Eathes was able to copy Tearju, gaining all of her knowledge, and Train, Sven and Eve finally decide to put a stop to Creed.
Separated upon arriving, Train, Sven and Eve each get involved in fights with members of the Apostles, while Chronos, who landed after them, get to Creed first.
Sven, Eve and Chronos then fight bio-warrior weapons fused with nanotechnology, while Train begins his battle with Creed.
[4] With Black Cat he wanted to expand on ideas he used in his previous serial Yamato Gensoki; an assassin betraying an organization, and the use of chi or life energy.
It is directed by Shin Itagaki, with Shūichi Kōyama handling series composition, Yukiko Akiyama designing the characters and Taku Iwasaki composing the music.
[34] Madman Entertainment distributed a box set of the series in the PAL region on September 17, 2008,[35] while MVM Films released it on November 15, 2010, in the United Kingdom.
[43][44][45] An internet radio program was broadcast from March 30, to September 28, 2006, by the Onsen and hosted by Takashi Kondō and Misato Fukuen, the voice of Train and Eve respectively.
[51][52] In Japan, various other types of merchandise were released, including action figures, plush dolls, key chains, clothing, cosplay pieces, and a trading card game by Movic.
[54] Volumes from Viz's English publication of the series have also featured in best-selling manga rankings such as The New York Times[55][56] as well as Nielsen BookScan.
[54] In 2006, Japanese television network TV Asahi conducted a "Top 100" online web poll, and Black Cat placed 93rd.
[62] Navarre Corporation cited the DVD releases of Black Cat as one of the reasons for Funimation's profit increase during the last quarter of 2006.
[65] Alexander Hoffman from Comics Village praised Yabuki for starting the story off with action rather than having a large amount of "info-dumps" for extensive character introductions.
[66] Writing for Manga Life, Michael Aronson commended it for having a restrained pace, layout and action scenes, calling it "more western" than Japanese because of it.
[67] Holly Ellingwood of Active Anime commented that Black Cat "knows how to pack the action and the excitement to good effect, visuals and nail-biting suspense.
[65][66][69] Leroy Douresseaux of Comic Book Bin called it "an easy going version of Bleach",[71] while Hoffman found it reminiscent of Cowboy Bebop,[66] and McNeil compared it to Dragon Ball Z.
"[72] While Aronson and Hoffman dubbed the characters "likeable" and "memorable,"[66][67] Douresseaux asserted Yabuki "create[d] a joyful jumble of motivations and backstabbing" for them.
"[77] Høgset and Harris praised the show's imagery,[76][1] with the latter claiming that it has a "story that in many ways improves on the original manga and fixes some of its problems.