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R2 DVD Reviews
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Written by maehara
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Thursday, 21 August 2008 16:00 |
 One threat is dealt with, but a new one is about to reveal itself, as Eve's creators decide that it's time she fulfilled her intended purpose. With that purpose being potentially devastating for the world, it's time for Train and his allies to head into action once more...
21 - The Lost Cat
With Creed and the Apostles defeated, everyone's assuming that peaceful times are ahead - but that may not be the case. Rinslet's been digging into something called the Eden Project, a top-secret programme involving nanomachine research. It was discontinued after a terrorist attack some time previously, but the project's prototypes were never found - now, a number of them have set themselves up to replace Chronos as "protectors" of the world, the Zero Numbers. Meanwhile, Sven is wondering what the gang's own super-weapon, Eve, wants to do with her life now that the fighting is over. Just like the others, her desire is for a peaceful life - but as one of the missing parts of the Eden Project, fate may not be so kind...
22 - The Cat Bares Claws
Eve began life in a tank in a research lab, and for now she's back to where she began - firmly back under the control of her masters, who profess to be trying to create a new paradise, although that no doubt means a paradise where they get to do what they like while the world's normal people are thoroughly controlled. For Train and the others, Eve's "betrayal" is hard to take - they don't fully understand what's happened to her or where she's gone, and while both Train and Sven are determined to get her back, they've got different views on how to go about it. Rinslet's own investigations, meanwhile, have led her to the scientist who should know more about Eve that anyone, but the mere mention of Eve drives her into an uncontrollable rage...
23 - The Cat's Paradise
Project Eden has been unleashed - a nano-machine rain that absorbs those it touches into the formless mass that Mason apparently hopes will be humanity's peaceful future. Shame he never bothered to ask if that's what humanity wanted. There are plenty of people who'd rather keep their individuality, thank you, and it's falling to Train, Sven and their allies to make sure they get the chance to - something the military have so far failed to do. With Eve being at the centre of Eden, and the only person who can really stop it, she's the one they need to reach and persuade - but they're running out of time...
24 - The Carefree Cat
Battle with Eden has been well and truly joined, and thanks to Tearju's help Train's identified a way into the construct that hopefully won't be too heavily defended. Inside, Eden is still trying to persuade Eve that there's more for her to gain by following her predestined path than by returning to the outside world, while outside the fight rages unabated as the Chronos & Zero Numbers face off. Train and the Sweepers, meanwhile, have managed to infiltrate Eden's main control room, where Kanzaki awaits - but they may have reached there too late...
So after four good, enjoyable volumes, Black Cat began to fall apart a little last volume, when most of the good stuff all the character work went out the window in favour of action, as the Shonen Jump roots of the original manga began to shine though. This volume sadly continues that trend it's a new situation and a new battle, but after the setup that episode 21 provides we're back to the same story as the gang come together to deal with the threat posed by Project Eden.
"The gang" includes essentially everyone that Train has fought with or against during the Apostles arc of the story, which makes for a rather unwieldy string of battles as time is somehow found to shoehorn in a little fight scene for them all, however short at times there's just too much going on in too short a time, making it very difficult to get into the story. The use of flashbacks and flashforwards doesn't help, either, and instead of a properly enjoyable climax to the show, we get a horribly confused mish-mash of scenes that barely even feels like a coherent story. For all that this is meant to be an end-of-the-world battle, it rarely feels that there's that much at stake.
There are a few good scenes scattered around the disc, at least. The final conversation between Sven and Eve before Eve is recaptured, some rather surreal scenes with Eve facing the decision over whether to let Project Eden proceed as planned or return to her friends, and the final "where are they now" scenes of the series which try to give a sense of closure all work well, and it's probably no coincidence that these are most of the scenes that don't involve fighting.
The Eden Project arc is unique to the anime the manga apparently ended with the defeat of Creed's Apostles and it does feel very much tacked on to the end, to help the series reach the number of episodes it was scheduled to run for. As an ending to the story, it's real disappointment.
Black Cat closes out with a volume that it really didn't need the previous volume provided a decent enough ending to the series and other than a few good moments, all that this volume adds is a disjointed series of fight scenes. After the show's decent start, it's a real disappointment of an ending.
Watch the trailer for this release
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