Black Cat (manga)

ブラック・キャット (Burakku Kyatto)
Black Cat
Cover of the twentieth English volume of Black Cat, published by Viz Media on May 5, 2009
Genre	Action, adventure
Manga
Written by	Kentaro Yabuki
Published by	Shueisha
English publisher	^AUS Madman Entertainment ^NA Viz Media
Demographic	Shōnen
Magazine	Weekly Shōnen Jump
English magazine	^NA Shonen Jump
Original run	July 10, 2000 – June 14, 2004
Volumes	20 (List of volumes)
Anime television series
Directed by	Shin Itagaki
Produced by	Masaya Shinozaki Naoki Watanabe Taito Okiura Takashi Takano Tetsuo Daitoku
Written by	Shuichi Kouyama
Music by	Taku Iwasaki
Studio	Gonzo
Licensed by	^AUS Madman Entertainment ^NA Funimation Entertainment ^UK MVM Films
Original network	TBS
English network	^AUS Cartoon Network ^SEA Animax ^US Funimation Channel ^ZA Animax
Original run	October 6, 2005 – March 30, 2006
Episodes	24 (List of episodes)
Light novel
Written by	Tomohito Ōsaki
Published by	Shueisha
Demographic	Male
Original run	March 10, 2003 – October 24, 2005

Black Cat (Japanese: ブラック・キャット, Hepburn: Burakku Kyatto^?) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kentaro Yabuki. It was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine from July 2000 to June 2004, with the chapters collected into twenty tankōbon volumes by Shueisha. 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.

The series was adapted into a twenty-four episode anime series by Gonzo studio, which originally aired on Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) channel from October 2005 to March 2006. The manga was licensed for English-language publication in North America by Viz Media and by Madman Entertainment in Australasia. Funimation Entertainment licensed the anime for an English dub and North American broadcast on their own Funimation Channel, with Madman releasing it in Australasia and MVM Films in the United Kingdom.

In Japan, the Black Cat manga sold over 12 million copies, while in North America several volumes have been featured in weekly top ten lists of best-selling manga. The anime has also been popular in both Japan and North America. Manga and anime critics had praise for Black Cat's action, differing views on the artwork and characters, and mainly negative comments for its plot which has been criticized for having common shōnen manga elements.

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Wikipedia