TV PROGRAM | TF1 – 9:10 p.m. The Cat’s Eyes series ends this Monday evening on TF1. Is a sequel planned despite the criticism? A date for season 2 remains pending…
“Three lively panthers, who in a flash take on all challenges.” Yes but until when? While the series Cat’s Eyesthe end-of-year event on TF1, arrives at its final episode this Monday, December 9, fans are already wondering if the live-action adaptation of the cult manga will be entitled to a sequel. The very daring bet of the first channel, which put Camille Lou, Constance Labbé and Claire Romain in the fitted and shiny costumes of the three Chamade sisters, ends in any case on a huge cliffhanger this evening, Tam, Sylia and Alexia, being more than ever in search of the truth about their father. In the final jolts of the series, they got closer to the goal by going to Dalembert Castle. In this magnificent 17th century building, the Cat’s Eyes find themselves stuck between the odious owner and the police in the 8th and final episode, just as they are on the verge of finally discovering the whole truth about their father. Will this fierce struggle and these moments where they risked their lives to achieve their goal remain in vain? You may need a sequel to Cats’ Eyes to find out more.
Cats’ Eyes has in any case aroused curiosity since its launch at the beginning of November. It attracted around 5 million viewers for its first episodes on November 11, even ahead of Love is in the meadowgenerally leading on Monday evenings on M6. On D+7, the launch of Cat’s Eyes even reached 6.7 million viewers for episode 1, a record of the year for a French drama, excluding HPI. This audience, however, declined from week to week. These Monday, November 25 and December 2, episodes 5, 6 then 7 of the fiction brought together an average of between 4 and 3.5 million viewers, ahead of this time by the amorous adventures of the farmers of the Six, who were, it turns out, It must be said, at the time of taking stock.
Once curiosity had passed, would amateurs have grown tired? Opinions on this adaptation of Cat’s Eyes with Franchouillarde sauce are mixed. Particularly among 40-50 year olds, clearly targeted by the project, based on nostalgia for the cartoons of their childhood. Associated with the creation, the mangaka Tsukasa Hōjō, author of the original saga, was the first to be won over by the series which, according to him, “found its own identity to touch people”. Some fans also praised the “risk-taking” of the producers, the “alchemy of the trio”, or the respect for the original work and even admitted to having watched TF1 for the first time in a long time thanks to Cat’s Eyes.
Already a date for season 2 of Cat’s Eyes?
But others are disgusted. “The atmosphere of the cartoon is ruined, it’s flat and soft, not at all sexy. In short, it’s rubbish,” says a fan of the manga in 20 Minutes, while others point out “a sort of Julie Lescaut with the label Cat’s Eyes to attract nostalgic people”. Others did not understand the choice of the origin story (trying to imagine the origin of the Cat’s Eyes rather than resuming the story of the 1980s) or the transposition of the manga to Paris, interpreted as “betrayals” amid the “gaps in the scenario” and the “multiple repetitions”, indicates the Huffpost.
Success or not, TF1 began to make fans languish last Monday, with a single unpublished episode of Cat’s Eyes instead of two. The 8th and final episode will therefore be broadcast this December 9. And a sequel should indeed hit the screens. As Télé 7 Jours indicated last year, the three main actresses signed from the start for three seasons. However, it is impossible to know when season 2 of Cat’s Eyes will come out. Numerama is counting on “the very end of 2025 or the beginning of 2026, at the earliest”, which would make the prequel last “until 2028”.
17:04 – Cat’s Eyes: a profitable blockbuster for TF1
TF1’s bet was rather daring from the start. The series will have required a substantial budget, worthy of a blockbuster (we are talking about a budget of 25 million euros). Seven years of development and years of discussions with the manga’s author, the Japanese Tsukasa Hōjō, were necessary to launch this project. On the character side, 200 actresses tried out to land the main roles before Camille Lou (Tamara), Constance Labbé (Sylvia), and Claire Romain (Alexia) slipped into the shoes of the three heroines. Impossible to leave such work after a single season.
16:32 – For those who missed the Cat’s Eyes phenomenon in the 1980s
Cat’s Eyes was first a popular manga in Japan, published from 1981 to 1985 and adapted for the first time into an animated series by Tokyo Movie Shinsha in 1983. Its 73 episodes were broadcast in several countries from 1986, marking an entire generation of viewers, including fans of Club Dorothée in France in particular. The manga follows the adventures of the Kisugi sisters, who became the “Chamade” sisters in the French version: Hitomi (Tamara Chamade), Rui (Sylvia) and Ai (Alexia). During the day, the three sisters run a café in Tokyo. At night, they become expert thieves, known as “Cat’s Eyes”. Their goal: to recover works of art that belonged to their missing father. Inspector Toshio Utsumi (Inspector Chapuis), as clumsy as he is in love with one of the sisters, tries to get his hands on these elite burglars.
16:06 – Why was the ending of Cat’s Eyes delayed?
The channel has decided to broadcast only one episode on Monday December 2, instead of two in previous weeks. The 8th and final episode is scheduled for Monday, December 9, from 9:10 p.m. TF1 explained this upheaval by the broadcast at 10:10 p.m. of the series Escort Boys, which arrives on the channel a year after being unveiled on the Prime Video platform. The real reason is more trivial: TF1 simply wanted to slow down the broadcast in order to keep fans of the series in front of their small screen, in prime time, for one more week.