3wibyobyv Eye (キャッツ♥アイ) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tsukasa Hojo. It was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1981 to 1985, with its chapters collected into 18. The story follows the adventures of the three Kisugi sisters — Hitomi, Rui and Ai, who are formidable art thieves trying to collect all the works belonging to their missing father. The manga was made into a televised anime series of the same name originally broadcast in 1983 to 1984 on Nippon Television, with a second season in 1985. It has also received three live-action adaptations; a TV movie in 1988, a theatrical film in 1997, and a French TV series in 2024. A crossover original net animation (ONA) with Lupin III produced by TMS Entertainment, titled Lupin the 3rd vs. Cat's Eye, premiered on Amazon Prime Video in 2023. A new ONA adaptation is set to premiere on Disney+ in 2025. Cat's Eye is one of Weekly Shōnen Jump's best-selling manga series of all time, with over 20 million copies sold.

Plot

Hitomi Kisugi, along with her older sister Rui and her younger sister Ai, run a café called "Cat's Eye" in Tokyo. The sisters lead a double life as a trio of highly skilled art thieves, stealing works of art which primarily belonged to their long-missing father, Michael Heinz, who was a famous art collector during the Nazi regime. Hitomi's fiancé is Toshio Utsumi, a clumsy young police officer who is investigating the Cat's Eye case. Despite being a frequent visitor to the café he is unaware of the double life of the girls. Hitomi regularly informs the police in advance about her next job using a signature "Cat's Eye" calling card, and then uses Toshio's research about the security surrounding the target to help plan the job. At the end of the series, Heinz leaves a note for his daughters stating that he cannot reveal himself yet because the mafia may kill him, but he may appear in five years' time. However, the "Heinz" turns out to be the sisters' treacherous uncle Cranaff, who betrayed Michael years earlier. After losing a final bet to Cat's Eye, Cranaff decides to atone for his sin by setting fire to the museum, killing himself. Hitomi eventually admits to Toshio that she is part of Cat's Eye and flees before he can arrest her. Toshio vows to track her down, attempting to "arrest" Hitomi at the airport with a wedding ring. He resigns from the police force and travels to America to find Hitomi, but finds that she has lost her memory due to viral meningitis. Toshio spends time with her until her memories come back, and the two rekindle their relationship.

Characters

Media

Manga

Tsukasa Hojo's Cat's Eye was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from September 14, 1981, to October 15, 1984, (an additional chapter was published on January 22, 1985) with the chapters collected into 18 by Shueisha. It was later re-released as 10 aizōban in 1994, 10 in 1996, and 15 between 2005 and 2006. The release was published by Tokuma Shoten. Coamix started publishing the manga digitally in English on the Imagineer's MangaHotto (MangaHot) digital platform. A remake manga of the series drawn by Shingo Asai, also titled Cat's Eye (キャッツ・愛) ("Eye" was spelled with the kanji for "love"; sometimes referred as Cat's Eyes), began publication in the debut issue of Tokuma Shoten's Monthly Comic Zenon anthology, which was published on October 25, 2010. It was serialized until January 25, 2014, and its chapters were collected in eight volumes.

Other books

In December 1996, a novel by Hideo Takayashiki was published. On March 22, 2000, Parrot: Blessed Person—Tsukasa Hōjō Short Story Collection (Parrot 幸福の人—北条司短編集) was published. It was written by Tsukasa Hojo with digital work by Futoshi Nagata.

Anime

Cat's Eye was adapted into an anime series by Tokyo Movie Shinsha and directed by Yoshio Takeuchi. 36 episodes were broadcast between July 11, 1983 until March 26, 1984. A second series was later produced that ran for 37 episodes from October 8, 1984 until July 8, 1985. In 2007, ImaginAsian broadcast the first season of the first anime on ImaginAsian TV, and then gave the first half of the series its first North American home video release. Right Stuf Inc. announced that they licensed the entire series in 2013 and will release it on DVD under their Nozomi label. The entire anime series was released in North American on two DVDs in July and November 2014. In April 2019, it was announced that the Right Stuf license has expired. In December 2021, Discotek Media announced the rights to the anime series for release on Blu-ray, releasing it on two sets on April 26 and November 29, 2022. In 2019, the Kisugi sisters appeared in the animated film City Hunter the Movie: Shinjuku Private Eyes as a crossover. Chika Sakamoto and Keiko Toda reprised their respective roles from the 80s anime series as Ai and Hitomi, with Toda also voicing Rui due to the 2018 death of Toshiko Fujita. On September 22, 2022, TMS Entertainment announced a CGI-based crossover anime with Lupin III: Lupin III vs Cat's Eye. The anime was directed by Kōbun Shizuno and Hiroyuki Seshita, with Keisuke Ide serving as assistant director, Shūji Kuzuhara writing the scripts, Yuji Ohno and Kazuo Otani composing the music, and Haruhisa Nakata and Junko Yamanaka designing the characters. Keiko Toda reprised her role of Hitomi Kisugi. On December 6, 2022, it was revealed that Chika Sakamoto and Yoshito Yasuhara would reprise their respective roles as Ai and Toshio, with Rika Fukami taking over the role of Rui. The anime premiered on Amazon Prime Video as a worldwide exclusive on January 27, 2023. In 2023, the Kisugi sisters appeared in the animated film City Hunter The Movie: Angel Dust, with Keiko Toda, Rika Fukami, and Chika Sakamoto reprising their roles. On November 21, 2024, a new original net animation (ONA) adaptation was announced. It is set to premiere on Disney+ as a worldwide exclusive in 2025.

Live-action film

On August 27, 1997, the live-action movie adaption Cat's Eye was released. The film is directed by Kaizo Hayashi and starring Yuki Uchida and Norika Fujiwara.

Live-action series

On March 9, 2023, the newspaper Le Parisien reported that a French live-action drama version of the series is being produced by TF1 and directed by Alexandre Laurent, with considerations to release the series overseas. The series is produced by Amazon Prime Video alongside Big Band Story; the former will stream the series outside of France. The series will consist of eight 52-minute episodes.

Reception

The Cat's Eye manga has had over 20 million copies in circulation. Allen Moody of THEM Anime Reviews gave the anime adaptation a rating of 3 out of 5 stars. He praised the story and how the heists were set up, comparing it to the Mission: Impossible TV series, however he noted that it gets very repetitive as the series progresses. He also handed out praise for the three main female leads and their character development, but criticized the poor treatment of the main male lead, Toshio. He also criticized the ending for not being as satisfying as the manga's, but over noted that "most of all, the oceans of guilt, and flashes of passion, that lurk just below the surface of the Hitomi/Toshio relationship, and very occasionally pop into view, are fascinating." Rebecca Silverman of Anime News Network handed out a B rating for season one, and a C− rating for season two. She praised the first season for its animation, voice acting, character development, and story, but criticized the plot for being too repetitive and the soundtrack for being too grating after a while. For season two, she called it "campy fun", and praised the increased role for Ai, the voice acting, as well as the catchy ending theme. However, she criticized the plot for being too repetitive like the first season, the lack of progression in Toshio and Hitomi's relationship, reusing animation clips in most episodes, and an uncomfortable episode about the Holocaust.