Black Cat and Naruto
Posted on | April 26, 2006 | No Comments
Every now and then I’ll try to step outside my typical shojo reading habits and try a few action titles. I recently picked up the first volumes of Black Cat and Naruto.
Black Cat by Kentaro Yabuki 
(amazon
The manga openes in an alley with a spiky haired moppet pointing a gun at a criminal. His name is Train, and he’s a sweeper or bounty hunter. He hunts down criminals for the bounty and then uses the money to dine at expensive restaurants. Train’s partner is Sven, an older and more sensible man who accessorizes his suit with an eye patch and a fedora. Train is a legendary assassin named Black Cat who turned his back on the mysterious Chronos organization that used to employ him. When operatives from the Chronos start interfering in his new life as a sweeper, Train’s new life is disrupted. Black Cat features plenty of improbable gunplay, shadowy organizations, and characters with mysterious motivations. Train’s character design and facial expressions match his identity as the famous Black Cat. He has feline eyes, and he wears a collar with a bell around his neck, which would seem to me to be a bit of a impediment to successful bounty hunting. How does he sneak up on his prey? I guess the bell must be muffled.
Black Cat was ok, but I feel like I’ve read stories about brash bounty hunters with mysterious pasts and their older sidekicks before, so I’m not sure if I’ll sink in any more money into buying the manga. I might read further volumes from a library. In addition to the original manga, an anime series of Black Cat was produced in Fall 2005 by Studio Gonzo.
Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto 
(amazon
I decided to check out the first volume of Naruto since it is so wildly popular. I can see why publishing Naruto is like printing money for Viz, because the storyline hits on a very appealing formula for an action series. Plenty of manga focus on stories where the protagonist has to work hard against insurmountable odds to become the best. Naruto is a story about an irrepressible outcast boy who is cursed, who wants to be the best ninja he can be. He’s hampered in his ambition because he’s treated as an outcast by everyone in his village and he’s a total class clown at ninja academy. Naruto opens right after Naruto has taken some paint and defaced the Mount Rushmorelike statues of historic heroes that loom over his village. He then proceeds to mess up in class. He’s supposed to use his ninja abilites to demonstrate his mastery of subterfuge by producing an image of his teacher, but Naruto’s transformation involves looking like a sexy naked woman with strategically placed whisps of smoke.
Naruto is an orphan and he’s treated as an outcast. When he was a baby a fox demon preyed on his village, but a hero sealed the demonic spirit in Naruto. He’s grown up ignorant of his history, and doesn’t know why everyone treats him so oddly so he resorts to pranks to get attention. As Naruto finds out the truth, he finds an unexpected ally in one of his teachers.
While I was reading the first volume of Naruto, I could see why it has become such a best-selling title. Ninja school is a great setting, and there are plenty of places the plot can go as the author explores Naruto’s tragic past, current ambitions, pranks, and relationships with his fellow students and teachers. Kishimoto provides plenty of entertainment by switching back and forth between emotional scenes, action sequences and slapstick humor. I don’t think I’ll be buying all 31 volumes of Naruto, but I’ll probably pick up a volume occasionally.
If you want some thematic manga reviews, Cathy looks at two titles that belog to the babysitting manga genre, Aishiteruze Baby and Baby & Me. She also includes a helpful list of manga babysitting tips.
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