From the back cover:
Train’s mortal enemy Creed summons his followers, the Apostles of the Stars, and sets his grand scheme in motion. Creed plans to launch a global revolution by attacking a summit between world leaders and the executives of Chronos. But if the police and secret service can’t stop Creed, does Train have any hope of taking him down?!

Review:
This volume, despite its status as the fifth in the series, is full of exposition for what I can only assume will be a fairly involved story arc. Creed gathers his forces—including a few characters that haven’t been seen previously—and carries out a deadly attack on a world summit, ensuring the whole world sees his group as enemies. Chronos mobilizes its “Numbers,” commanded by a young woman, and wants to hire Train on to help them to go after Creed.

So far, Chronos seems to be forgiving Train’s treachery because he is useful to them, and this is twice now its emissaries have approached him as a sweeper rather than as an assassin. I personally find plotlines of the “temporary alliance” variety to be a lot of fun—like the fabulous Kyoto arc in Rurouni Kenshin—and will be interested to see whether there comes a time when Chronos turns against Train again.

Meanwhile, while this is going on, an imposter is posing as the Black Cat and, though Train is personally okay with this, he ends up having to step in and protect the fellow when another gunslinger decides to challenge him. This is kind of a lightweight subplot, but it was just the right length to be amusing and not tiresome. I also really liked the way the rival gunslinger, Stamper, is drawn. He’s one of the more facially realistic manga characters to appear in the series so far.

There was something that bothered me, though. In early volumes, Train is seen dispatching his enemies with little regret. Now, though, he tells Lugart, “And if I can spare the life of my enemy, I’ll do that too… even if the bounty is offered dead or alive.” I wonder whether someone objected and wanted him to fit more easily into the mold of “the hero that doesn’t kill” or something. I don’t own the volumes to compare, but this certainly doesn’t seem to’ve been his philosophy from the beginning!

From the back cover:
Persuaded by the promise of a gourmet dinner, Train accepts coy cat burglar Rinslet’s invitation to be her date at the birthday bash of a prominent socialite. But Train may have bitten off more than he can chew because among the guests at the party is a murderer who believes that killing is a fine art!

Review:
After a couple of simple yet effective chapters that fill in part of Sven’s past as an employee of the International Bureau of Investigations as well as the origin of his right eye, we get into what could’ve been a supremely silly story. A wealthy woman named Madame Freesia, who has amassed her fortune by dealing in exotic pets, is holding a birthday gala and Rinslet has managed to wrangle an invitation. Madame Freesia is notorious for showing off newly acquired “treasures” at these parties, and Rinslet is eager to get her hands on the newest one. To support her cover story, she needs Train to pose as her husband and promises that he’ll see something that interests him, as well.

This “something” turns out to be Lugart Won, a notorious assassin who prefers the purity of hand-to-hand combat. Although untrained in this area, Train’s cat-like reflexes make him a worthy opponent for Lugart and they have quite a fun brawl out in the corridor until Madame Freesia’s latest “treasure” causes a stampede. Why? Because it is a dinosaur, of course.

The inclusion of a dinosaur in the story could’ve been ridiculously stupid but it actually turns out to be rather fun. I was inexplicably delighted that it heralds its entrance by tossing a battered car into the ballroom, for example. It also gives Eve the opportunity to protect people with the abilities she’s been given while also preserving the life of the artificially-created dinosaur, with whom she feels kinship because of their origins. She can’t quite manage it on her own, but she’s been practicing (inspired by seeing Train do the same earlier in the volume) and shows impressive control of her abilities.

This volume also provides a clue as to the setting of this story. In volume three, there was a sign for Charing Cross and here, we’re informed the party takes place in Loire Province, which is in France. So it would seem we’re looking at a European setting. However, Saya Minatsuki, whose name is unquestionably Japanese, doesn’t seem to know the name of the “far east country” from which her kimonos hail and one of Creed’s minions is described as coming from “Jipangu,” so I am all confused. Is this an alternate world or is it Europe?

Still, that’s a pretty minor quibble. I can’t complain much about a series that’s able to include a dinosaur and not have it be too dumb for words.

From the back cover:
Train Heartnet, also known as “Black Cat,” was an infamous assassin for a secret organization called Chronos… until he abandoned that cold-blooded existence to live life on his own terms as an easygoing bounty hunter. But is Train’s past as far behind him as he thinks?

Train receives a desperate plea for help from Karl, the mayor of Rubeck City and one of Chronos’s top brass, because a serial murderer with mysterious powers is terrorizing Karl’s town. Eve offers herself as bait to lure the killer out, but will she be caught in a deadly trap?!

Review:
Ugh, what a garish cover. That red background is actually supposed to be bricks, but you can’t tell from the image. At least the contents are more pleasant.

After nabbing a pair of jewel thieves—and experiencing a few flashbacks involving Saya, the woman who convinced him to give up the assassin’s life and become a sweeper instead—Train is contacted by his former boss from Chronos who needs help getting rid of a serial killer who’s terrorizing the town of which he is the mayor. The bounty will be enough to cover Train and Sven’s debts, so they eagerly accept.

It turns out that, through a bunch of silliness involving drinking a forbidden elixir that brings out one’s potential Taoist powers, an escaped convict boxer has achieved invincible strength thanks to Creed’s band of revolutionary minions. Because this is shonen manga, battle between Train and the boxer ensues. It’s not bad, but more interesting is the subsequent fight between a Chronos assassin and Creed’s people. I’m always a sucker for unusual fighting powers, which Creed’s folks definitely possess, and I also like how I ended up unexpectedly rooting for the Chronos guy. Hooray for shades of grey!

Also cool? Eve is sticking around and has ambitions of sweeperhood and we see Sven’s eye-related power for the first time. The latter causes me to make another mental tick mark in the tally of series involving eye exchanges. They’re surprisingly popular.