Manga
The manga that were hits in Japan in the 1980s.
1980S HITS
About
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.
Character analysis
Hitomi runs a cafe with her two sisters as a cover for their real work, stealing back artwork that belonged to their long-missing father, a famous art collector. Her calm, composed leadership of the trio contrasts with the genuinely risky, high-stakes heists they pull off.
Rui brings a sharp, analytical mind to the sisters' heists, her careful planning a necessary balance to the riskier instincts of her sisters as they work through their father's scattered collection.
Ai is the youngest of the three thief sisters, and her relative inexperience compared to Hitomi and Rui adds a layer of real risk and growth to her part in their ongoing heists.
Toshio is assigned to catch the Cat's Eye gang without realizing his own fiancée is their leader, and that dramatic irony, a cop engaged to the thief he's hunting, runs through the entire series.
Status evaluation
Stylish, fashion-conscious character designs suit the series' glamorous heist-thriller tone.
The sisters' hunt for their missing father through stolen art gives the heist-of-the-week structure a personal throughline.
The detective's unknowing engagement to his own target is a reliable source of dramatic-irony comedy.
The sisters' search for their father adds real emotional stakes, though the series leans more on heist thrills.
This is a stylish heist comedy with nothing frightening in it.
Heists are played for style and tension rather than graphic violence.
The episodic heist structure stays easy to follow despite the ongoing mystery of the sisters' father.
This is a completed series. This figure has not been verified against a current source and should be treated as approximate.
“A detective engaged to the exact thief he's been assigned to catch, without realizing it, is such a good hook that it's a little surprising more heist stories haven't copied it.”