Huh? Those burning buildings in the background? Yeah, that happens a lot.
"The Strongest Cat Arrives!"
Kuro, mostly known as Kuro-chan, is a watch cat who protects his senile masters from petty thieves, and generally acts like a normal kitty, taking occasional naps.One day, he embarks to confess his undying love... For a dog, but suddenly finds, that an arrow had been shot through his head...
From cyborgs and robots, to aliens and demons, an ordinary watch cat turned cyborg, finds himself going on all sorts of wild adventures, with his friends and enemies, all while keeping the guise of a normal cat to his masters.
Oh, he also has a tendency to shoot things with his gatling gun. When that doesn't work, he uses his BFS instead.
Cyborg Kuro-chan is a manga by Naoki Yokouchi, which ran in the children's magazine Comic BomBom from 1997 to 2001. It's known for its quirky sense of cartoon style, frequent use of comedic violence, and gags, to the point of being described as "like Astro Boy and Felix the Cat on acid."
It was later adapted into an Anime series from 1999 to 2001, and any instances of death or blood from the manga were notably removed. Unfortunately it was ceremoniously cancelled after a Christmas Episode because Studio Bogey (which is the production studio for the anime) suddenly went bankrupt.
Tropes:
- Aliens Are Bastards: Romeo and Juliet fall into this sometimes, Shooting bullets at their friends while playing a game of Hanetsuki (Japanese Badminton without the net), Romeo kidnapping Mi and holding both Go and Kuro's masters hostage to okay a game, and threatening them with world destruction via their own child.
- Arm Cannon: Combined with Gatling Good, it's Kuro and Mii's weapon of choice.
- Abhorrent Admirer: Hirosue was supposed to be a robotic love bot dog made for Mi-kun's love sickness but obviously he didn't reciprocate...
- Ax-Crazy: Chieko nearly killed Kuro for ruining her relationship with a boy, kills a dog for scaring her- in the manga of course, and will use her powers to hurt/threaten those who annoy her.
- Badass Normal:
- Matatabi may not be a cyborg, but he has been able to par with Kuro and hold his own in fights, and is a carpenter that can make houses in one day.
- Suzuki is considered to be one at times due to the multiple feats he goes through, even if he is abused a lot.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Even Nana has her limits with Kuro, and will not hesitate to fight back with him.
- Bowdlerise: The anime adaption by the now-defunct Studio Bogey. While there are intense actions and numerous offscreen deaths, there are No nosebleeds, Never Say "Die", and no characters run though a bathroom filling with naked women. That being said, implied death is still shown, such as the couple who left a dog chained at a park early on, the viewers see their cars being blown up and they're not seen anymore afterwards.
- Can't Live with Them, Can't Live Without Them:
- Despite disliking Nana's constant affections and being outright cruel sometimes, Kuro has displayed many times that he would rescue/protect her without a thought and worries about her, even if he does continue being sometimes mean to her anyway.
- Kuro may pick fights or try to kill Matatabi (likewise with him) sometimes, but it is shown that he cares for him to a degree, they were close after all as kittens- almost brothers even.
- Cerebus Syndrome: The manga starts as just a comedy with a simple story, but as chapters pass on it starts becoming more and more serious (For example, the past of a big mayority of the characters qualifies as a Dark and Troubled Past) the last chapters are pretty emotional.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Pooly from the first chapter disappears and isn't seen again. Her name is referenced by Kuro in volume eight, but other than that... At least in the anime her disappearance was explained. However, she appeared in Extra Battle, a spin off of the manga.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Nana falls into this but only in the original. She was jealous of Megumi when she held Kuro.
- Dark and Troubled Past:
- Kuro known as Kid during his days as a kitten and Matatabi. From cat poachers, fighting off crows as well as cat gang fights that ended in a draw in the anime. Mi and Dr. Go as well.
- In the original version, those poachers were just plain sick murderers that killed the cats for fun who were then shot dead by Kid (Kuro) instead of dying by rocks falling on them. There's also the crows literally mutilating and mauling the cats to death instead of just injuring them and finally Kid (Kuro) having to come back to a mess of dead cats after a violent gang fight instead of a draw. Yeah, tragic.
- Mi as a little kitten had to watch his mother be torn apart by a dog literally, and eventually get his limbs torn apart from his body himself after trying to get revenge.
- Go also had his hand torn off by the same creature more noticeably in the original than the anime in his and Mi's past.
- Goro who is only in the original has this too, his drunken father abuses him and even abandons him under a tree when there's a fire, forcing Chieko to transfer his soul into a medium to save his life and lives as a robotic child for the remainder of the series until the final volume.
- Enfante Terrible: Romeo and Juliet spawn a small ball formed child that is able to conjure lasers capable of destroying buildings with a clean swipe and can go as far as into space and destroy a satellite, have sneezes that can cause small explosions and a demonic laugh and smile to boot.
- Eye Scream:
- Unintentionally, Kid (Kuro) gourged out Matatabi's eye with his claw in a struggle after he tried to stop him from going to his death in a fight with another group of cats after they had killed Riki (who was only injured in the anime) and wounded Grey, the surrogate father figure to both of them.
- In addition, another flashback chapter had Kid clawing out a grown dog's eye in defense of Marie.
- Fanboy: Kotaro. He even wears a costume that looks like Kuro.
- Hyper Space Arsenal:
- Although his default may be the boomerang and sometimes chainsaw, Matatabi has a whole stash of weapons that are impossible for a small cat to be carrying from within his cape.
- He even uses an indestructible toothpick to destroy Kuro's Gatling gun, by shooting into it from a distance with his mouth, in the anime version.
- Interspecies Romance:
- Mi-kun and Lily, though it ended in a farewell. Kuro and Pooly as well, but it was one-sided on his part, considering that we never really get to see what she thought.
- In volume 8 on a camping trip, it's implied Kuro still had feelings for Pooly, after saying out her name in his sleep. Of course Nana is displeased, and demands to know who she is.
- It's questionable how either romances could have worked out, though considering that both male cats were shorter, than the taller female dogs, and not to mention cyborgs.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Although Kuro's temper is awful, he's got a heart of gold, and will rescue his friends out of pinches.
- Lighter and Softer: Although the anime still has the same comedic violence, just compare it to the multiple deaths, injuries, and amount of blood shown the original has.
- Mad Scientist: Dr. Go, Dr. Whitewoods, and Tendo. They all use only animals (mainly cats and dogs) for their work.
- Precision-Guided Boomerang: Before getting litteraly stabbed in the back (in the original only), Matatabi as a kitten used an angle plate corner brace, to behead several kittens to save Kid (Kuro) from getting killed.
- Psychic Powers: Chieko has ESP, and is able to make people lose their bladder control, conjure up fire, and cause things (even animals and people) to explode.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: The only three female dogs Pooly, Lily, and Marie (manga only) shown in the series fall into this, comparing them to the
males. - Self-Proclaimed Love Interest: Nana proclaims herself to be Kuro's girlfriend / wife despite his objections. Let the games begin.
- She Is Not My Girlfriend: Kuro in regards to Nana, everyone else teases him about it to his fury. It is made clear, that Kuro does not share the same feelings for Nana, but he does care for her anyway. It's almost like another relationship.
- Stalker with a Crush: In the anime version, instead of talking to Pooly, he always watched her from afar from a fence, until that one day where he was going to confess... But was interrupted.
- Talking Animal:
- Kuro and Mi due to cybernetics. Matatabi although still a "normal" cat with no cybernetics is able to do this too. Fukakyon as well, who showed up for one episode in the anime.
- Dunk could qualify but he doesn't speak, he communicates through words on a board, that come from his head.
- Those Two Guys: Yoshino and Kazuma are the only two out of Suzuki's class (until Chieko comes along), who are seen more frequently than the others. They appear together in the last chapter of the manga as well before it ended.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Kuro as a kitten named Kid, used to be more naïve like than anything. Before his first two shots of a gun
◊ that is. - Vitriolic Best Buds: Nana and Megumi are friendly with one other, but in the original Nana initially disliked Megumi. Both also have no problem with ramming their vehicles, into each other in what used to be a simple snowball fight. The anime has none of this though.
- Violently Protective Girlfriend: Nana. When she thought Kuro was in danger, she rammed her bus into Megumi's firetruck, causing it to crash into a train stairway. Yikes.
- Wild Hair: Chieko has voluminous hair, she is teased at first for this.
