[BOOK REVIEW] Black Cat: The Promise Volume 11 by Kentaro Yabuki

Title:  Black Cat: The Promise Volume 11


Author:  Kentaro Yabuki

Genre: Action / Adventure / Comedy / Crime


Year Published: 2007


Year Read: 2014


Series: Black Cat #11


Publisher: VIZ Media


Source:  Library


Content Rating:  Ages 14+ (Gory Violence)


Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

After reading the NAIL-BITING, GRIPPING and SHOCKING tenth volume to Kentaro Yabuki’s famous “Black Cat” series, I just had to pick up the eleventh volume to this series called “Black Cat Volume 11: The Promise” and I was just as blown away by this volume as I was with the previous one!

When Creed accidentally shoots Train with a new nanotech bullet that would have transformed anyone into a monster, it turns out that the effects of the bullet transformed Train into a young child instead.  So, in order to get Train back to normal, Sven, Eve and Rinslet would have to find the mysterious doctor, Dr. Tearju who was responsible for creating Creed’s nanotechnology, and convince her to change Train back.  Unfortunately, since Kyoko and Charden have left Creed’s Apostles of the Stars and Charden decides to leave Kyoko in Train’s care, Chronos is more determined than ever to take down Kyoko and Charden and it is up to Train to protect Kyoko at all costs!

But, will this cost Train his only chance to get back to normal?

Kentaro Yabuki’s writing continues to amaze me as all of the characters are written extremely well and the character development done with Kyoko was done brilliantly! I have always loved Kyoko’s ditzy and carefree personality as it brings so much humor to an otherwise dark series. But in this volume, we get to see a side of Kyoko that we had never seen before as she is shown being determined in keeping her promise to Train to not hurt anyone out of anger, even though it is obvious that she is having a hard time with keeping this promise. I loved seeing this intense side to Kyoko as it made her into a fully dimensional character who was taught to unleash her anger through her powers, but with Train’s help, she was able to learn how to control her emotions without hurting anyone.  It was also interesting in seeing that two of Chronos’ members, Number IV and Number VIII, were so bent on destroying Kyoko and Train, that they had no concerns about harming innocent people as it showed that even though the Chronos organization ruled over half the world and are trying to keep everything in line, they are possibly no better than Creed’s Apostles of the Stars who also want to shape the world into their own vision of a world with no corruption.  Kentaro Yabuki’s artwork is fantastic as all of the characters are drawn realistically and also glow off the pages, which brings life to the artwork.  I especially loved the way that Kentaro Yabuki drew the characters’ facial expressions as they reflect the characters’ emotions extremely well, especially whenever the characters are being threatened or are being serious in a situation.

For those of you who do not like gory violence, there is some violence in this volume, especially when Train fights against the Chronos numbers IV and VIII.  During that battle, there are many scenes where the Chronos numbers slash at Train with their daggers, cutting into his body and drawing lots of blood and that might disturb some readers who do not like seeing blood in books.

Overall, “Black Cat Volume 11: The Promise” is a brilliant volume about redemption that anyone who is a huge “Black Cat” fan will enjoy immensely!