| Cat's Eye | |
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| キャッツ アイ (Cat's Eye) |
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| Genre | Action, Drama, Crime, Shonen |
| Manga | |
| Author | Tsukasa Hojo |
| Publisher |  Shueisha Star Comics Tonkam Comics House |
| Serialized in | Shounen Jump Starlight Édition Français |
| Original run | 1981 – 1985 |
| Volumes | 18 |
| TV anime | |
| Director | Yoshio Takeuchi Kenji Kodama |
| Studio | Tokyo Movie Shinsha |
| Network | NTV France 3 RTL II Italia 1 GMA 7 BTV-10 Imaginasian |
| Original run | 11 April 1983 – 8 July 1985 |
| Episodes | 73 |
Cat's Eye (キャッツ アイ Kyattsu Ai?) is a Japanese manga by Tsukasa Hojo. The manga was made into an anime series which was originally broadcast in 1983, and is seen as a classic by many Japanese viewers.[1] Cat's Eye has also aired in a number of countries outside Japan, including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Philippines and China. On April 16, 2007, ImaginAsian announced that they will broadcast the first season of Cat's Eye on ImaginAsian TV, and will thereafter give the series its first North American home video release.[2] Cat's Eye was released as a live-action film directed by Kaizo Hayashi in 1997.[3] The storyline basically follows the anime, though the outfits now resemble the black vinyl Catwoman costume from Batman Returns. This film is not currently available in the United States, though it may be purchased through some Asian DVD retailers.
Contents |
Plot
The protagonists of the series are the three Kisugi sisters—Hitomi, Rui and Ai—who run a café called Cat's Eye. The sisters lead a double life as a trio of highly skilled art thieves, leaving cards with the name "Cat's Eye" at the scene of their crimes. They steal works of art (mostly paintings) that belonged to their long-missing father, Heinz (who was a famous art collector during the Nazi regime), in the hopes of him contacting them. Toshio, the police officer investigating this case is the fiancé of Hitomi. He also swears to capture and bring down the Cat's Eye Gang. The protagonists are somewhat modeled after the titular characters of Charlie's Angels, though they are more robbers than cops. Cat's Eye first aired 36 episodes in 1983. The final episode involves the trio departing for Paris after hearing Heinz is there. In 1985 thirty-seven new episodes of Cat's Eye were aired. Although the title remained the same, it has been renamed "Cat's Eye Second Season" on home video releases. The second season sported a change of character designs and consisted of formulaic episodes without advancement to the overall plot or character development. The final episode, "Love's Curtain Call", has Toshio and Hitomi acting out a play of Cat's Eye with Hitomi revealing to Toshio that she is a member of Cat's Eye (although since it during a play Toshio does not see it as also reality). The anime series ends without resolution. The manga ends very differently. Heinz leaves a note for his daughters stating he cannot reveal himself yet because the mafia may kill him, but he may appear in five years' time. Hitomi admits to Toshio that she is part of Cat's Eye and flees before he can arrest her. He vows to track her down, but upon finding her later he discovers she has had an accident and has lost her memory. Toshio spends time with her and her memories come back. Finally, Toshio "arrests" Hitomi with a wedding ring.
Trivia
In episode 17 of Lucky Star, Konata Izumi refers to Cat's Eye, and then there is a cutaway gag parodying Cat's Eye's famous first ending "Dancing in the Sunshine" , with Kagami, and Tsukasa Hiiragi, and their sisters.
Distribution
Like other popular series such as Candy Candy, and Heidi, Girl of the Alps series, Cat's Eye has had very little exposure in North America (with the exception of French Canada) due to the lack of an English dub version. It also has received little exposure in South America due to a lack of a Spanish/Portuguese dub version. The first anime series will be released on DVD in North America beginning in August 2007.[4] The first theme of this anime, "Kanashimi ga Tomaranai" by Anri, remains popular to this day through its Dance Dance Revolution remix and was one of the first hit J-pop anime theme songs.
See also
References
- ^ Sapora, Alessio. Cat's Eye (English). Tapanime. Retrieved on 2007-05-24.
- ^ Broadcast and DVD Release of Orguss, Nobody's Boy Remi and Cat's Eye coming from ImaginAsian. Anime News Network (2007-04-16). Retrieved on 2007-08-05.
- ^ Cat's Eye (1997). Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 2007-08-05.
- ^ CAT’S EYE. TMS Anime Classics. Retrieved on 2007-08-05.
External links
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