【Cat’s Eye】Classic crime/mystery manga series by Tsukasa Hojo!!

2022-06-06

What is Cat’s Eye about?

Cat's Eye (stylized as CAT'S♥EYE) is a manga series written and illustrated by Tsukasa Hojo. It was serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump by Shueisha from 1981 to 1985, with a total of 18 volumes. Since its release, Cat’s Eye has been one of Weekly Shonen Jump’s best-selling manga series of all time, with over 20 million copies sold.
The manga was adapted into a 36-episode anime series by Tokyo Movie Shinsha and directed by Yoshio Takeuchi. All episodes were broadcasted from July 1983 to March 1984 on Nippon TV. In October 1984, a second season was produced and aired for 37 episodes until July 1985. Cat’s Eye also inspired two live-action adaptions: a TV movie in 1988 and a theatrical film in 1997. In 2019, the main character of Cat’s Eye – the Kisugi sisters, appeared in the animated film “City Hunter the Movie: Shinjuku Private Eyes” (original manga also created by Tsukasa Hojo) as a crossover.
A remake manga of the series by Shingo Asai, also titled “Cat's Eye”, began publication in the debut issue of Tokuma Shoten's Monthly Comic Zenon anthology, which was published on October 2010. It was serialized until January 2014, with a total of 8 volumes. In December 1996, Cat’s Eye novel written by Hideo Takayashiki was published.
Cat's Eye

The three dynamite sisters

That fateful night, a police man named Utsumi Toshio was tasked with guarding a valuable painting named “Lady of Rome”, which an infamous group of art thieves under the name “Cat’s Eye” had declared that the painting shall be their next target.
Thus, the police department had mobilized all of their manpower to guard the perimeter. Thanks to that, Toshio and his partner were having it easy. They were having snack and drinking the coffee that Toshio’s girlfriend had made. Toshio even offered it to the other two policemen at the scene.
As soon as the promised time struck, Toshio and his partner fell onto the ground. They had been drugged with strong sedative. The two policemen at the scene then revealed themselves as two beautiful girls – members of Cat’s Eye.
The two then disappeared with the painting, leaving only their signature calling card with their name and a red cat emblem adorned onto.
The next day, Toshio was on his way home after receiving the wrath of the police chief. He stopped by his girlfriend’s coffee shop, coincidentally named “Cat’s Eye”. He was mumbling alone how annoying the name was to him when his girlfriend showed up right behind.
The coffee shop belonged to the Kisugi sisters; with the eldest sister Rui, the youngest sister Ai and the middle sister Hitomi – Toshio’s girlfriend. They were the same girls who appeared the night before at the art gallery heist. As the name suggested, they were indeed the infamous Cat’s Eye. However, Toshio didn’t make any connection and never doubted his girlfriend.
After having his coffee, he asked Hitomi out to the movie. Before Hitomi left, Rui whispered to her about their next target – a jewelry store named “Tobu”. Rui was hinting at Hitomi to gather as much information as she could from her clueless boyfriend.
After the movie ended, Toshio took Hitomi to Tobu jewelry store. He was excited to tell her all the details about his police work.
The police was tasked to guard a 100-carat diamond nicknamed “The king of diamonds”. Without Hitomi having to ask, Toshio was going on and on about the exact location of the diamond and how many people would be on duty that night.
After that, Hitomi tried to cut Toshio off by acting mad about him always rambling about his job. Little did she know, Toshio’s main goal for taking Hitomi to Tobu wasn’t because of his work. He wanted to buy an engagement ring for Hitomi and wanted her opinion on it.
That night, the Kisugi sisters gathered to discuss their plan for stealing the diamond. Rui and Ai heard about Toshio’s proposal and teased Hitomi about it. Hitomi firmly said that she would never accept Toshio’s proposal because they were enemies, even though the two had been together since high school.
Rui signaled the other two to stop their chatter as it was time for them to moved out. Rui and Hitomi would be on the mission that night but Ai had to stay home to prepare for her exam.
It was a stormy night with the rain raging on. Many policemen had been sent out to guard the diamond, even more than the previous heist. But all of their preparation was useless against the claws of Cat’s Eye.
Since they knew exactly where all the policemen were and the location of the diamond, Hitomi and Rui quickly got their hands on the prize and blended into the night on their escape, leaving the police and Toshio breathless while trying to chase after them.
Toshio and the men were once again being scolded by their chief. The chief was furious and didn’t mince his words but he stopped when having a look at Toshio’s face. Filled with rage and desperation, it was written on Toshio’s face how much he wanted to catch the thieves.
Cat's Eye

The wavering maiden’s heart

Rui and Hitomi was discussing their next target. It was a 150-carat ruby named “The Queen’s tear”. Hitomi went out with Toshio again to extract information from him. Toshio, like always, was readily to tell Hitomi about the police’s plan – they would replace the ruby with a fake one to trick Cat’s Eye.
However, this time Toshio had a different expression on his face. He told Hitomi he would turn in his resignation if he was to fail again, which caused mixed feelings within Hitomi.
Knowing that the police had prepared a fake ruby to bait them, Hitomi kept that fact to herself and insisted Rui and Ai to go on with the plan. As the heist started, Hitomi quickly got inside the art museum with her cat-like movements while her sisters stayed outside.
After sneaking behind the guards, she blew up the fuse and took out all the lights.
Before the police could turn on the emergency generator, Hitomi had already sneak up to the ruby. Right then, Toshio jumped out of the fake pedestal and pin her onto the ground.
When pinning Hitomi down, Toshio accidentally put his hand on her breast, not realizing that she was a woman. Embarrassed from being touched, Hitomi slapped him across the face and called him a molester. She then escaped the scene with the fake diamond in the confusion.
The next day, the Kisugi sisters were discussing how Hitomi was fooled by a simple swapping trick. Hitomi acted like she didn’t know and admitted that she had made a mistake. Toshio barged in their shop and told them about how he had managed to protect the ruby. With his big mouth, he told everyone the fact that he had told Hitomi about his fake ruby strategy.
Hearing that, Rui and Ai looked at each other in understanding. Apparently, Hitomi wasn’t as cold-hearted toward Toshio as she pretended to be. She purposely stole the fake ruby to save Toshio from losing his job.
As Toshio continued with his story, he told them about how he had gotten his hands on Cat’s Eye’s “bosom”. A slap flew across his face as the words left his mouth. Hitomi then vowed that she would never marry such a pervert like him......
Cat's Eye

Related Articles

Popular Articles