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From left to right: Train, Sven, Eve, and Rinslet.
Black Cat, by manga artist Kentaro Yabuki, centers around a pair of bounty hunters, also known as "Sweepers", Train Heartnet and Sven Vollfied. Perpetually struggling for cash and jobs, they each harbor a secret: Sven is a former agent of an international police force, and Train used to be XIII, a deadly assassin for the world-spanning organization Chronos.
They would be content to just live out their lives chasing bounties and living a carefree lifestyle, but Train's old life has a habit of catching up to him: former partner Creed Diskenth is attempting to overthrow Chronos and take over the world with his own group, the Apostles of the Stars. And Creed wants Train to join him, no matter the cost. And did I mention that Creed killed the woman who convinced Train to abandon the assassin's lifestyle?
Allied with world-renowned cat burglar Rinslet Walker and living bioweapon Eve, Train and Sven try to live a carefree life even as both Creed and Chronos attempt to drag both into an escalating global conflict.
Not to be confused with the same-named Marvel Comics character.
This series has examples of:
- The Abridged Series
- Absurdly Sharp Blade: Eve turns her hair into two of them in the final assault, but the first time she use it she overdid the work and render two mooks naked instead.
- Adaptation Decay: The anime, which removes whole arcs, completely rearranges the whole start of the series, and changes some of the characters (such as Jenos, Rinslet, and Sephiria) dramatically. Not to mention how they made Train less carefree and badass, constantly having him saved by Sven. Train's relationship with Sven isn't even nearly as close as in the manga.
- Because the timeframe of the characters meetings is changed the dynamic between them and relationships formed end up being different. Your Mileage May Vary on whether this makes for Adaptation Decay or simply a new take on the story.
- A Glass Of Chianti: Creed has one of these in the manga, complete with a rose in it.
- A God Am I: Creed does this after he uses nanomachines to make himself immortal.
- All Love Is Unrequited: This series really actually has very complicated romantic relationships, and pretty much every one of them is unrequited. Most of it is Stupid Sexy Train's fault, though...
- Ambiguously Gay: Creed is never stated outright to be gay... but... well, you know.
- Do you really need him to come out and say it?
- Angst What Angst: Train in the later half of the manga. He gets shot by a bullet that is known to transform people into monsters, yet just shrugs it off (despite everyone else including the Big Bad panicking). When he turns into a kid, his first thoughts are that it'll make meals and bus tickets cheaper. When asked if he's concerned that Creed is trying to bring about the End Of The World As We Know It, he answers no, and that he's mainly concerned with what's for lunch.
- Animal Motifs (Oh, have a guess. Here's a hint: It's right there in the title of the series.)
- The Antichrist: Creed, who compares himself to Lucifer.
- Asexuality: Train doesn't appear to have ever been romantically attracted to anyone. Yes, not even Saya, as it later comes out that their relationship was "not like that" and that she was only a close friend- he outright says that he "didn't fall in love with her, but with her way of life."
- This is rather unsurprising when one considers that in most ways, he seems to have reverted back to the age when he first became an assassin. His emotional puberty ought to be interesting.
- Ancient Conspiracy: Subverted, Chronos is actually out to ensure peace and prosperity and most of the members that are met are quite nice and caring.
- ...and played straight in anime where some members are trying to achieve an Assimilation Plot.
- Armor Piercing Slap: Sven to Train, Rinslet to Janus. Remember that the receivers are Chronos numbers.
- Ax Crazy: There are a number of these in the series. Creed has more than a bit of Ax-craze, Durham and Gyanza qualify, and two of the Numbers are obviously insane and bloodthirsty, and will even attack their own comrades. Neither Creed's gang nor the Numbers like their bloodthirsty comrades.
- Badass Beard - Many male characters have beards, and most that do are good guys.
- In the original pitch of the series, Sven had a beard, which was degraded into (still Bad Ass) Perma Stubble.
- Badass Bookworm: Eve, who reads hundreds of books and remembers each one.
- Badass Longcoat: Belze, Train (while still with Chronos) and Sven (while still with the IBI.)
- Bad Boss: Creed, although Chronos is rather Machiavellian at times, and Sephiria says that she'll become the devil himself if she has to.
- Bald Of Awesome - Nizer
- BFG: Beluga's rather large bazooka, "Verethragna."
- BFS: A very subtle subversion. Creed's Chi sword can easily slice through helicopters, but doesn't actually have a blade. It's only the hilt of a blade broken by Saya.
- Big Eater: Train actually manages to use up millions of dollars from hard earned bounties on food.
- Bishie Sparkle: Charden when he takes off his glasses, Train a few times in his more lighthearted bits.
- Bishonen : Train
 ◊, Creed◊, and Jenos◊ may all fit this description. The winner of them all is chipper assassin Lin Shaolee◊, who is the prettiest person in the series (including the girls).
- Bland Name Product - the Playcube video game console that Train and Eve use to get a message from Glin.
- Blasting It Out Of Their Hands: Train does this a lot.
- Bloody Murder - Charden's Tao power is the manipulation of blood, usually his own.
- Boat Lights: Sven has one eye that is orange and one eye that is green (yellow in the anime).
- Considering that his right eye (the green/yellow one) is a transplant, it's not surprising.
- Bounty Hunter: The three central characters, plus a lot of secondary ones.
- Captain Ersatz - Many characters appear to have been borrowed wholesale from other manga. Train is a lot like Himura Kenshin, Spike Spiegel, and Vash...
- Care Bear Stare - In the anime, apparently Train's Orihalcum bullet from his railgun shot against Creed acted as this, causing Creed's sudden Heel Face Turn.
- Cat Smile - Train, during more comedic moments, and Kyoko, occasionally.
- Celibate Hero - Train isn't attracted to Rinslet, Kyoko, Creed, or pretty much any girl or guy he ever meets. And even with Saya, it is revealed canonically that he only saw her as a close friend.
- The Charmer: Jenos Hazard tries hard with this. He goes out of his way to charm and flirt with pretty women literally every chance he gets (especially Rinslet), even dribbling about how hot Kyoko will be in a few years. Alas, his low success rate implies that he'll never be a Chick Magnet.
- Chick Magnet - Train, on the other hand, IS one. Kyoko, Saya (what "close friend" invites a guy to a romantic evening of looking at fireworks?), and even Rinslet. You just know that Jenos wouldn't even have a chance with Rinslet if Train would show any slight sign of reciprocating Rinslet's feelings. Too bad for them that he's a Chaste Hero who's reverted back to eight years old.
- Jenos Hazard likes to think he is one, but I don't think we ever see him actually having any luck. His pal Shaolee probably would have more luck.
- Classy Cat Burglar - Rinslet.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander - Apostle of the Stars member Kyoko Kirisaki, who seems to have only the vaguest idea what is going on around her at any given point. It's cool, though, she doesn't let that get her down.
- Contract On The Hitman - Train Heartnet.
- Crystal Dragon Jesus - Given the alternate-universe nature of the world it takes place in, this is surprisingly averted. The first scene of the anime (ignoring the foreshadow sequence that precedes the opening sequence) explicitly takes place in a church, with a man praying to Jesus for mercy.
- Cute Bruiser - Eve is tiny, adorable, a bookworm, and she can kick your ass.
- Cute Little Fangs - Train, again.
- Little Miss Snarker: This trope is Eve.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Whenever Train or the other main characters beats one of the Apostles of the Stars, they convince them to give up their life of crime and some even come back to help later.
- Disposable Woman - Saya was pretty much introduced just to give a reason why Train is at odds with Creed.
- More so in the anime than in the manga, where her spirit visits Train and helps him out.
- Does This Remind You Of Anything - Quite a few fight scenes between Train and Creed, and the dialogue between them doesn't help. "That's it... my Hartnet..."
- Dog Food Diet: Train and Sven have this (especially in the anime, where it's shown they rely on eating bread crust leftovers from a waitress).
- Draco In Leather Pants: Many fangirls excuse Creed's sociopathic tendencies because of his Dark And Troubled Past, despite the fact that Train's had it even worse.
- Also Shaolee, who spends his time deceiving people, is actually one of the cruelest Numbers and is quite creepy when you think about it, but looks just so pretty.
- Epic Flail: Baldor from Chronos not only uses a flail, but one that is powered by rockets for additional awesomeness.
- Estrogen Brigade Bait: Creed likes to wear chest-baring shirts a lot, and even has a long lingering pan of his body as he lounges naked in a bathtub with only strategically placed roses. Not to mention the shot of him getting OUT of the bath.
- Even The Guys Want Him - Train has many female admirers and one very obsessed male admirer who refuses to take "no" for an answer.
- Evil Eye - Sven's right eye, which can see up to 5 minutes into the future (and eventually speed up his perception of motion). Comes with an Eyepatch Of Power.
- Evil Has A Bad Sense Of Humor
- Evilutionary Biologist - Tao, nanites... whatever can give him power, Creed wants it and wants to use it on his followers.
- Extreme Doormat: Train in the anime was this for quite a few episodes during his time in Chronos.
- Eyepatch Of Power: Sven's eyepatch isn't there because he's missing an eye, but because he has a magic seer's eye that can see a few seconds into the future.
- Is that really a spoiler? The big reveal happens halfway-ish through the first episode.
- Eyes Of Gold: Train's eyes.
- Fainting Seer: Early in the series, since Sven never really used his precognitive powers much and doesn't have much control over them, he gets noticeably exhausted no matter what he sees. As the series progresses and control over his abilities becomes more important, he gradually starts to get over the Fainting Seer syndrome.
- Fatal Attractor: Train isn't very lucky when it comes to love interests... this might be a contributing reason to why he isn't interested in romance.
- Foe Yay - The romantic / sexual tension between Creed and Train. Though it's rather one-sided. Overlaps with Ho Yay.
- Fountain Of Youth: Creed wants to use nanites to make himself immortal forever. Also Train gets temporarily deaged by nanites... which is less fun than it seems, since he can't fire his gun properly.
- Elegant Gothic Lolita: Eve has a particular predilection for black lace dresses, tights and silver cross jewelry.
- Gentleman Thief: Rinslet could be seen as a female version of this.
- Green Lantern Ring - Eve's shapeshifting powers wind up turning into this as her imagination develops and she thinks up new ways to make herself useful.
- Gun Kata: Train's fighting style.
- Guns Akimbo: Kevin's fighting style.
- The Gunslinger: Mostly Train, but Durham fits the classic Western image (minus the beast mask).
- Heel Face Turn: Eve, Kyoko and in the anime, Creed.
- Hellish Pupils: Train's eyes, even in their normal state, are this. Presumably to maintain the "cat" theme.
- Heterosexual Life Partners: Sven and Train are definitely this.
- Hitman With A Heart: Train, definitely.
- Describes most of the Numbers, actually. Except for the Axe Crazy ones, the Numbers tend to be rather nice compassionate people (Belze, Jenos, Shaolee, Sephiria) who still kill their targets.
- Err... in the manga at least, Shaolee seems kind of nice and caring, especially to River and the Sweeper Alliance thing, until you finally see him fight... and gratuitously dismember one of his opponents, leaving him alive long enough to tell him basically "well, aren't you just unlucky to fight me." Then he kills him. Jenos is freaked out, which tells you something for a Number. And Jenos is a guy who uses Razor Floss for a weapon!
- Hot Shounen Mom: Professor Tearju, Eve's creator and therefore her technical mother.
- Also her biological mother of sorts, since Eve was cloned from her.
- Ho Yay - The romantic / sexual tension between Creed and Train. Though it's rather one-sided, as Train clearly has zero intention of returning Creed's affections.
- Hyperactive Metabolism - Train manages to eat huge amounts of food (including a giant plate of deep-fried bread crusts) and still remain stick thin.
- I Am Not Left Handed - During his fight with Creed, Train reveals that he's not right-handed, but left-handed, and that by switching hands, he can increase his speed.
- Actually, it is revealed that he is ambidextrous, but was born left-handed and that the increase in speed is minimal and, thanks to the fact that he was willing to let Creed slice his hand off, was actually him trying to lessen any chance that his plan would fail as, due to losing a hand, it was the only shot he had.
- I Didnt Mean To Turn You On - Numerous times, Train unknowingly causes Creed to be aroused when he kills. In the anime, he even gets turned on when Train smashes his sword with his orichalcum gun. Train even SITS on Creed with his legs spread, and belatedly realizes that Creed is practically having an orgasm over Train's awesomeness, and moaning "Oh Train, you are the best!" (In the English dub: "That's it... my Hartnet..." which is arguably even worse).
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming
- I Dont Know Mortal Kombat - Train is lousy at video games - even first-person shooters and light gun games (the latter particularly perplexes him, as he notes the similarity between them and target practice).
- If I Cant Have You - Creed eventually tells Train that, if Train is unable to "break away from that woman's curse" and join him, he will kill him.
- Improbable Aiming Skills - Train can shoot down bullets in midair with ease.
- Improbable Weapon User - Sven's attache case, which basically contains whatever he needs.
- Its also a Swiss Army Weapon with all sorts of useful gadgets.
- Several of the the Chronos Numbers also use some really odd weaponry, including a Razor Floss glove and some kind of bizarre rocket-powered flail. The winner would have to be Number X, Lin Xiao Li, who uses what can only be described as a weaponized blanket. It has Orichalcum fibers woven into it to make it bulletproof and razor-edged... but it's still a blanket, and he still uses it as a weapon. Somehow.
- In Love With Your Carnage - Creed gets really aroused whenever he sees Train go berserk and kills. Uh, REALLY aroused.
- Its Personal: Train's reason for wanting to kill Creed. He gets over it.
- Eventually Train turns out to want Creed to redeem himself and "rebuild this world as a human." Creed actually pays attention to this, which could be seen as a baby step.
- Just In Time: Train does this a LOT when rescuing people. Quite a few times on purpose, as it is later revealed in a few instances that he had arrived earlier but wanted to wait for dramatic effect.
- The Klutz: Professor Tearju, who also has elements of the Lethal Chef.
- Knife Nut: Kranz from the Chrono numbers wields a vibrating knife as his primary weapon.
- Lady Of War (Chronos Number 1, Sephiria Arks. Quiet, dignified, wields a relatively small, ladylike weapon, and one of the deadliest people in the series.)
- Like An Old Married Couple: Eve points this out to Rinslet and Sven at one point in the anime, much to Rinslet's irritation (and Sven's pain).
- Love At First Sight: Creed is revealed to have fallen for Train at first sight (as shown in a short excerpt in the manga, where the scene of their first meeting is shown). This also cements Creed's status as a masochist, considering that his first interaction with Train consists of Train glaring disdainfully at him and basically telling Creed to shove off because he's useless to him. And Creed, being Creed, ends up getting aroused by this and becomes Train's Stalker With A Crush.
- Love Dodecahedron: This trope happens to go hand in hand with the All Love Is Unrequited trope. It's incredible how intricate and complicated the character's romantic feelings (or lack thereof) for each other are.
- Love Martyr: Echidna is this way for Creed. How she can put up with Creed's obsession with Train and insanity is a mystery.
- She does end up getting him in the end, albeit as a nurse/mommy substitute.
- Magic Bullets: Train never misses his target, or fails to do damage, except when his shooting is used as a Worf Barrage.
- Master Of Disguise: Lin Shaolee can convincingly make himself look like Train, Creed and a number of other people. His disguises are so good that even when minimal, Train didn't recognize him as Glin
- Moral Event Horizon - Creed murders Saya simply for the humanizing influence she has on Train. And after suffering a nasty injury that might have made people sympathize with him, he then tries to turn Sven into a mindless monster.
- Considering the hole of wangst he devolves into, can ya blame him? When you work with someone that long, you just notice these things, and can tell immediately if the change will be bad or good..., now if humanizing him had begun to turn him into say, Spike or Roy, then there'd be appropriate room to complain!
- Murder The Hypotenuse: Creed plays it a little too straight in his murder of Saya (I've killed her, see, now you can join me!), and when Train still doesn't come around, he attempts it on Train's Heterosexual Life Partner Sven.
- Names To Run Away From Really Fast: Jenos Hazard, Chronos' VII, who is depicted as a very dangerous fighter armed with Razor Floss.
- Nanomachines: The main Deus Ex Machina of the series. They can heal, turn body parts into weapons, mutate people into strange creatures, and in the final battle turns Creed into an indestructible god-man.
- Nice Hat: Sven's. After it's destroyed, within a page he has it back (cited as an "emergency spare").
- Nietzsche Wannabe: Creed
- Noble Demon: Charden, the blood-controlling Apostle who realizes that he doesn't approve of Creed's methods. He's still determined to do the right thing for the world, but he has to do it alone. He also jettisons his sidekick Kyoko because he doesn't want her to get hurt.
- Numerological Motif: the top operatives of Chronos are the Chrono Numbers. Train, the titular Black Cat, was XIII.
- Additionally Jenos Hazard VII can be considered very lucky. Not with the ladies, but professionally speaking.
- The Obi Wan: Saya, complete with Obi Wan Moment.
- Oblivious To Love: Good god, Train is oblivious to many character's romantic feelings for him. Rinslet's feelings, and especially Creed's.
- He's not so much oblivious to Creed's feelings as he is unwilling to deal with them. Even someone as dense as Train couldn't ignore it.
- Older Sidekick - Sven, to Train.
- Older Than They Look - Sven, who is comfortably within the Competence Zone, ages from 28 to 30 over the course of the series. He looks a bit closer to mid 20s, but that doesn't stop him from getting called an old man more often than he'd like.
- The Omniscient Council Of Vagueness - Chronos.
- Perpetual Poverty - Train, Sven, and Eve are almost always strapped for money (if it's not because they can't claim the bounty, it's because Train destroyed things or eats too much).
- And when they do actually score a large bounty, Train will often turn down all but around 20% or less of the reward money...
- Pistol Whipping - Train's gun even has a cord on it to let him do this from a distance.
- Posthumous Character : Manga-verse Saya and Lloyd, both only seen in flashbacks (or ghosts/hallucinations on Creed's part...)
- Razor Floss: Jenos' weapon Excelion uses this. He's capable of slicing stone pillars into rubble and defeating dozens of opponents, although he can also snatch people out of the air without harming them, or tying them up.
- Shapeshifter Weapon: Eve's modus operandi in combat. She starts out only able to turn her hands into blades on account of the lack of imagination that comes with her initial Tykebomb status, but as the series progresses she starts to branch out into other types of transformations, like turning her body into steel, growing wings, turning her hands into shields, and turning into a mermaid. Her ultimate technique turns her hair into a mass of monomolecular blades.
- Shower Scene - In episode 14, Train is seen having a shower at the end. When he comes out, he is only wearing a towel◊
- Rinslet gets a shower scene as well in the tenth manga volume, with her bare butt quite visible, as if to reward readers for sticking so long.
- Single Target Sexuality - Creed is "Train-sexual." Train could be a man, woman, cat, three-eyed Martian and Creed would still be hot for him.
- Soundtrack Dissonance - At the end of the first episode, Train is having a flashback about when his parents died, to the tune of Konoyo no Uta (the song Saya sings).
- Sprouting Ears - Again, Train in more lighthearted moments.
- Stalker With A Crush - Creed is reeeaally interested in Train and refuses to accept that Train just ain't interested. If Train says no, Creed thinks he must be being influenced by someone evil. Kyoko becomes a more humorous example after her Heel Face Turn.
- State Sec: Chronos has got this one covered.
- Suck My Rose - Creed carries a rose many times, and sometimes even puts it in his wine (in the manga). This is exaggerated in the anime, where he even lies in a bath of roses.
- Team Dad - Sven
- Technical Pacifist - Train, which is why he will occasionally throw his gun instead of firing it. Even when he does fire, it's usually something like a "freeze bullet" that doesn't kill but immobilizes.
- All the sweepers go to extreme lengths to avoid actually killing anyone, regardless of how much they deserve it. This is explained by a rule that says if anyone dies during the capture, they only get half the reward.
- Even some of the Chronos Numbers, who are assassins, avoid killing. Jenos manages to slice up and pile up a large number of attacking thugs without actually killing them, and Shaolee prefers to slice off hands or guns rather than actually kill (and he likes manipulating people bloodlessly even more).
- Technicolor Eyes - Notable in that for the most part, Black Cat is pretty good about using realistic hair colors. Eye colors, however, not so much.
- Teen Genius - Professor Tearju Graduated from university when she was 14. With a double Ph.D.
- Thirteen Is Unlucky - Train has the number 13 etched on the side of his custom-made gun. He also has this number tattooed on his collarbone. His catchphrase? "I'm here to bring some bad luck."
- Took A Level In Badass - Eve is a textbook example of how to do this the right way through character development. At the start of the series her shapeshifting powers are largely undeveloped and limited to turning her hands into blades, and Eve herself is an emotionless tykebomb taking orders from a scumbag weapons merchant. By the end of the manga she's taken a bullet and lived to tell about it, used Heroic Resolve on at least one occasion, thrown down a gauntlet or two, and her developing imagination has shown her dozens of other ways to use her powers. She ends the series as the strongest of the main heroes aside from Train (...maybe) and arguably the most badass.
- Trigger Happy - Train, although, being a pacifist, he's the non-lethal kind.
- Truffaut Was Right - Anime-only: How Train was shown to be much cooler and Badass before he became a pacifist.
- Tsundere - Rinslet is reduced to this in the anime, rather than the kickass thief out for herself. Not to mention that she, instead of having dere moments for Train, has them for Sven or Jenos.
- Train himself is definitely one as well ( though most notably in the anime).
- Tykebomb - Eve and little Train
- Unobtainium - Each Chrono Number has a weapon made of indestructible Orichalcum. These weapons bear the Number of its user, and have a mythological name. Train's gun is called "Hades".
- Villainous Breakdown: Creed. The breakdown's so bad that in the end, he can't even move or talk, although both Echidna and Train imply that he can get over it. He does seem to improve a little just at the thought that somebody cares about him without his power.
- I think that this is not a breakdown. Since Creed's sword was telepathically linked with his mind and was destroyed, it rendered Creed unable to do anything without help.
- Well, since Creed's sword is actually as much as it is a useable sword, is also representation of his state of mind. The reason it got destroyed is precisely because of the breakdown.
- Villains Out Shopping: Kyoko does this a lot.
- We Can Rule Together: Creed spends the ENTIRE SERIES telling Train this. Train doesn't seem tempted.
- What Beautiful Eyes: Train's cat-like, yellow eyes. Both Creed and Saya mention how beautiful they are.
- What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: The series is littered with mythological naming and imagery that don't really seem to have a purpose.
- What If: The anime works as a What If story to the manga in some ways, starting with "What If... Train had met Sven while still an assassin and was sent to kill Eve?"
- White Haired Pretty Boy: Creed is very effeminate looking; this troper wasn't actually sure of his gender until he realized the "That Man" mentioned earlier was Creed.
- Wicked Cultured: Creed is definitely one of the more "cultured" characters in the series.
- Lampshaded by the author in a side story where he's enjoying a glass of wine in rich surroundings... and goes bananas because of a cockroach.
- Yandere: Creed certainly goes crazy whenever anything has anything to do with Train. He loses all sense of rationale despite normally being a calm, Manipulative Bastard.
- You Cant Fight Fate - Sven may be able to see the immediate future, but he's never been able to actually change the outcome. Although given the very limited timeframe he can actually see, it's debatable whether it's because You Cant Fight Fate, or because it just happens too quickly for anyone to be able to do anything about it.
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Most hair colors in Black Cat are fine, as it's set explicitly not in Japan. Leon's and Jenos's dark green is probably just stylized black and Echinda was blonde before her Tao mutation, but Sven's green and Rinslet's purple just deny explanation.
- Also, Kyoko, who is explicitly stated as being from the in-universe equivalent of Japan ("Jipangu"), does have black hair and dark eyes.
- The eye colors, however, are considerably less realistic... (Orange, red, yellow, gold, pink, purple...)
- You Have Failed Me: Happens to various people like Durham whom Creed killed because he left on his own, screwed up and vowed to kill Train and Gyanza who wasted all his power until he died. Also happens in a much lesser way to Train during his Chronos days, when he was imprisoned for awhile because he stopped killing his targets.
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