Kentaro Yabuki made his manga debut with Yamato Gensouki, a short series about a young empress destined to unite the warring states of ancient Japan and the boy sworn to protect her. His next series, Black Cat, commenced serialization in the pages of Weekly Shonen Jump in 2000 and quickly developed a loyal fan following. Black Cat has also become an animated TV series, first hitting Japan's airwaves in the fall of 2005.