Asakomi

I really liked both the song and the animation. Very well done!

When we return we are brought to a mysterious church where the white-haired man stands in front of a giant stained-glass window. A cat races through a moonlight night with the boy with glowing eyes hot on his tail. There’s a fight where even the nuns break out their guns, but the boy’s target is a specific man. Apparently the boy is a “Chronos”, whatever that is. The white haired man watches the fight and expresses great glee when the boy kills his target. He calls the boy Black Cat.

Cut to the next day and a parade for a man named Lib who’s running for governor. Sven, a bounty hunter who wears a patch over his left eye, watches him and plans how he’ll capture him. But he’s interrupted by his growling stomach and goes to buy some food, except it’s all too expensive and heh doesn’t have much money. At a restaurant he orders a coffee and tosses the waitress a coin, telling her to keep the change. However, he paid with exact change. ^_^v. The waitress is none too impressed. His stomach growls embarassingly loud. The waitress asks if she can get him any food, but he says he’s on a diet. His stomach growls again and the waitress laughs.

With the ice broken they strike up a conversation wherein he learns that Lib’;s presence has caused alot of troublemakers to show up in town. As they talk Sven notices a pretty girl standing next to the governor and smiles. I wonder if he knows her or if he’s just admiring her attractiveness.

Another girl in the restaurant is being bothered by the roughians, but the waitress run to her aid. When they still don’t stop Sven steps in and saves the day. The waitress brings him a heaping pile o food as thanks - but puts it on his tab.

Our Black Cat, Train Heartnet walks through the cheering crowd. We see various scenes which I assume are flashbacks. He enters an apartment and pours some milk for a white cat. The mood and music are all dark and moody as he reflects upon the previous night’s kill. Then the flashbacks again until we cut to the next day.

Sven watches Lib and waits for an opportunity to strike. He’s distracted briefly by a blonde girl who seems to be watching him. But then the lights go out and Lib introduces his fiancee Joanna to the crowd. (The pretty girl from the day before, who looks way too young for him, btw). The lights come back on and a drunken partygoer spills wine all over Sven. He goes to the washroom to clean himself up and takes off his soaking wet eyepatch. As he’s towelling his face a bunch of security guards come in with Lib.

Sven’s un-patched left eye goes a little nuts, and he sees a vision of Lib being shot to death by Train. Apparently his eye can see five minutes into the future. Unfortunately the guards notice that Sven is following them and rough him up a bit. Sven is further weakened by using the power of his eye, which I assume is why he keeps a patch over it most of the time. He opens up his briefcase and sleeping gas comes out and makes the guard pass out. He then rejoins the party and frantically scans the crowd for Lib’s killer.

Lib takes the stage to make a speech when Train bolts through the room in a blur. Sven tries to stop him but to no avail. Lib is shot in the back by Train. His fiancee screams as his body hits the floor.

Sven follows Train outside and demands to know why he killed him, but before he can answer one of Lib’s cronies shows up to avenge his boss. Train kicks his ass but leaves him alive, then walks off into the darkness. Train’s partner shows up and finishes the guy off. We end with a flashback of Train finding his parents’ dead bodies, which turn into the face of the man he killed at the beginning of the episode, which causes him to run away, grab a gun, and shoot Lib. A sign that Train doesn’t exactly like being a killer perhaps? As the memories flash through his mind Train sees a girl standing on a rooftop singing a melancholy song.

I didn’t really like the ED song or animation, it just seemed too…peppy, to me and didn’t seem to fit somehow. Maybe it will grow on me.

So, ok, the boy’s name is Train Heartnet, he works for an organization named Chronos, his number within that organization is XIII, and his nickname of sorts is Black Cat. Yikes, that’s a lot to keep straight!

I didn’t find anything particularly mind-blowing in this first episode, but there was enough there to keep me interested at the very least. I want to know about Train’s past, who that blonde girl is, and the significance of the girl singing on the rooftop.

But man I hate first episodes. They take too long and are too much work. I’ll probably keep blogging Black Cat as long as the subs come out reasonably fast, since I don&’t think too many others are blogging it. What can I say, I like Gonzo. They’re far from perfect but they’ve put out some really good stuff (Last Exile and Gankutsuou being two of my all-time favourites), so I’m always willing to give their series a go. I hope this one doesn’t disappoint!