Anime/Manga Review
“Gunsmith Cats” by Kenichi Sonoda

I recently got permission from Possum to post reviews of manga series at the Ayeka Fan Club. With the people already watching anime and giving opinions about them, not many know that many of the top anime series started out as manga (one of the few exceptions is Tenchi Muyo). Many times the characters will change when taken from their manga and placed in anime due to censorship, time limitations and a change in the artist/writer’s own opinion of the characters. This is true of the series I’m going to review, “Gunsmith Cats”.

In 1991, “Gunsmith Cats” burst upon the Nihonjin scene with an instant success. Created by Kenichi Sonoda, the series reflects his experience as the character designer for two of the top anime series, “Gall Force” and the original “Bubblegum Crisis”. Unlike many manga series, you have a highly detailed background that you usually only get in U.S. comics. The characters are highly developed and very complex with a mix of hard-nose reality and sly humor. There is one thing I should warn you of: this is an ADULT MANGA. Subject matters like sexual relationships, violence and nudity are talked about and shown. The American publisher of the series, Dark Horse Comics, has always kelp censorship down to almost non-existence for its comics so the readers can get the full impact of the creator’s vision.

The series is basically about two female bounty hunters in Chicago, Rally Vincent and Minnie-May Hopkins and a group of friends/assistants: private detective Becky (the best nose money can buy), ex-cat burglar Misty (on probation to Rally) and retired bomber Ken Takizawa (Minnie-May’s lover). Along with this group are Rally’s Chi-Town police connection (Chief Detective Roy Coleman) and sometime friend/rival, professional getaway/delivery driver Bean Bandit (a huge man who wears about a hundred pounds of high-tech armor from his headband to his shoes). When not hunting felons, being chased by vengeful criminals or have frank discussions over guns, cars and sex, Rally and May run a gun shop called Gunsmith Cats.

The only errors in the series appear early because of Sonoda’s limited knowledge of Chicago and the criminal elements within that city. Since most of his knowledge came from books and movies, its not until he gets a chance to visit Chi-Town does many of these errors clear up. The series also reflects Sonoda’s love for guns and classic muscle cars (he has a monster collection of model guns and cars).

Again I must stress the nature of the characters are complex. Rally is an eighteen-year-old virgin, who used her bounty-hunting license to search for her missing father (a daddy’s girl whose father instills in his daughter a love for guns and cars). Sixteen-year-old Minnie-May was one of the best prostitutes in Chi-town’s Chinatown but it’s her skill as explosive expert (trained by Ken) that gives this team its big bang. Becky is Rally’s friend but it does not stop her from charging Rally big bucks for information and Ken is eighteen years older than Minnie-May (Lolita complex maybe but Minnie-May is a sex maniac). Misty shows signs of being a lesbian and Roy is a substitute father for Rally (it is the only way I can figure out how a minor can have a bounty-hunting certificate, a gun license and a driver’s license). Bean Bandit may project himself as a mercenary-for-hire but he has a soft side for kids and a friendship slowly developed between him and Rally (which might become something else).

This series is about to end later this year but you can get the graphic novels from Dark Horse. I would recommend getting them, this is a great series.

Horosha