Ranked #235

Gungrave

Betrayal can be a hard thing to swallow. Being betrayed by the very people you call your family--that's something you will take to the grave. And that's exactly what Brandon Heat does after his life crashes to a halt. Through conflict with the crime syndicate Millennion of which he was part, he seeks out those members who were the greatest friends he had ever had in all of his life. Friends who had betrayed him.

Gungrave is a bitter tale of revenge. It is also a story about the roles the people you love and care about the most in the world, and the power that comes with their position in your life. While the anime does play out as a mafia flick with crime, guns, gangs and living the life of criminal in a dirty town, Gungrave also has sci fi tones in which we see the creation of superhumans and monsters. The first episode opens in the present, where Beyond the Grave, Brandon Heat's alias, is preparing himself to exact his revenge on Millennion. The plot quickly changes, and we go back to the past, to Brandon's humble and violent beginnings. There we see his life with his best friend Harry MacDowell, two orphaned punks who run the streets committing petty crime. They are a duo, and wherever one goes, the other follows, though it's quite clear that Harry's the one doing the leading. After a chance encounter with Millennion's leader Big Daddy, the two are accepted into the mafia. The story then follows the rise of Brandon Heat and Harry MacDowell in the crime world.

Gears are eventually shifted once again, and the story returns to detailing the present. The build-up of the storyline is done extremely well. We're given a snippet of the present, wonder what are this man's motives and reasoning, and through careful plotting, we learn about the history of Brandon Heat and watch as the rest of the series chronicles the execution of his revenge. There are several themes that reign throughout Gungrave's storyline. Betrayal and loyalty, friendship and love, humanisation and inhumanity, poverty and wealth, power and weakness. While it does come off as the "big boss battle" type anime, in which after a few episode arcs, Beyond the Grave fights a big-name from Millennion and one of his ex-friends, Gungrave manages to handle this set-up very well.

I was rather sceptical about the character design. The art for it is not always the best. In fact, I thought Mika's look was downright awful. But for the most part, the characters are drawn with elongated faces, more gruff appearances, a little more realistic than say, cute. There are some great scenes of gun battles. Watching Beyond the Grave tear through swarms of enemies with his guns is something else. Hundreds of bullet casings drop, and you're left feeling satisfied that you've watched something rather decent and animated well.

The sound has some violin work. In more action-driven scenes, the score picks up and sweeps over the images. And there are the quiet scenes, the more peaceful scenes with music that is less powerful that suitable to the atmosphere set. There isn't any pop. There isn't any happy music. This isn't a happy anime.

Brandon Heat a.k.a. Beyond the Grave or simply Grave is one of the more silent protagonists in anime. He does not say much, but when he speaks, his words have the importance and weight of something grounded deeply into the earth. While he has the capacity to be a serene person, he does not know what it means to be a good person, as he commits numerous crimes and countless murders as a hitman for Millennion. While Brandon's societal morals have been shot to pieces by the only the lifestyle he knows, it does not mean his personal beliefs are that of a monster. He is actually rather honourable, though really, it may just mean he's nothing more than a good dog for Millennion--a theory which Harry takes to heart later on in the series. He is nothing more than a support man, and though he has the capacity to do or take whatever he wants, Brandon adheres to the rules and norms of Millennion. His only love, for example, was given up because of his loyalty to his boss. We watch him retain and lose some of his stoical nature while coming to care for his ward Mika later on.

Then there's Harry MacDowell. He is the best friend that breaks the time-honoured code of friendship. Harry is a charismatic, savvy man with the spirit of a leader inside of him. His ambition makes him a rather cut-throat person, and he'll stop at nothing to get what he believes is rightfully his. Harry doesn't want to reach for the stars--he wants to own them and get something better than that afterward. There is something special about the relationship he shares with Brandon. He is the best friend who slaved with him, who he ran the streets with, admired, shovelled crap with, and spent most of his life alongside. If such a thing existed, I would call them 'soul mates'.

The rest of the cast consists of members of Millennion and Brandon and Harry's close friends and co-workers. Each one of them are rather interesting, from the gluttonous technology whiz to the cynical, sociopathic ruthless killer, to the guy who idolises loyalty and guns more than anything. All the characters aren't archetypal, as there are very original ones such as Bear Walken, an aged man who lives only for the contentment of his only daughter, a man who would betray those who he was most loyal to as long as she was safe and happy. There are two important female members of the cast: Maria and Mika. One is Brandon's love interest and the other is a girl who he is obligated to care for because of Maria. They provide something lighter to the anime, reflecting innocence in an anime about darkness and corruption.

Gungrave is an excellent series. Granted, after my first viewing, I wasn't particularly moved. I was grateful I watched it a second time, as I picked up on nuances and themes and careful characterisation that I had not got from the first time. This series is moving, tragic, and shows a nastier side to friendship in a rather beautiful manner. It is touching, actually, to see human relationships given a second try with Brandon's return to Millennion. After a while, it isn't just about revenge anymore. This is about easing the pain by showing those who had hurt you what wounds they had caused.

Gungrave is not just about burying emotions and relationships after they've died. It is about digging them up, bringing them to light, and finally laying them to rest. A truly great anime that's worth a watch. read more

Based on the cult PS2 title by SEGA and Red Entertainment, this anime is an alternate retelling of that respective title which I own a copy of, and you can get it for like $5 at Game Stop. The anime tells the origin story of the main character, Brandon Heat, who is later re-named Beyond the Grave, and his best friend, Harry MacDowell. The organization of the presentation of the story feels as if it was perfectly structured as a 3-act play, each with its own unique theme and gimmick. Act 1 you can label as a story about rags to riches in which Harry and Brandon are teenage small timers just trying to survive. Act 2 is about how the duo is trying to establish themselves, and make it to the top of the mafia. And Act 3 is an epic conclusion about betrayal and redemption, which speaks for itself. But throughout the duration of the anime, the idea of family and loyalty will always be a consistent theme.

Even though it’s centered primarily around two characters, I felt a good majority of the characters had their own unique presence and contribution, and really made the themes and messages felt realistic and powerful.

What of course also stands out is Brandon’s characterization that comes across as cliché. In the original game, Brandon never speaks, and the anime is very true to this for the most part. Brandon is still quiet in nature, but with little words he says, it still gives a lot of what goes on inside his mind (of course through narration) and you truly see him start from being an innocent boy, to a contemplative man but yet still maintains his unique surface qualities of being quiet, but yet shows enough emotion to give the audience an idea of what goes on through his mind and find a way to relate to him.

And of course another feature with this whole mafia gig are the weird sci-fi elements. I felt it wasn’t really forced in a way that having sci-fi traits seemed out of place. But the nature of the sci-fi is what makes it bizarre, but yet unique and original. I don’t want to get into the details of that since I would also have to reveal spoilers, but it does add a unique kind of flavor that doesn’t turn you off from the series. The sci-fi part is properly introduced but I felt that the setting such as how far in the future it takes place which will be revealed which will conveniently make sense to make it work. Granted the anime will reveal what year in some parts it takes place in that will make it feel like it makes sense, but I think the anime should have established it from the start, and not 2/3 into it.

What also attracted me to Gungrave was the fact that Nightow Yasuhiro, the creator of Trigun, was the creator of this product as well. Obviously, some elements from Trigun are in this anime as well. Such as the design of Brandon’s guns are quite similar to Vash’s, and Brandon’s coffin gun is of course influenced by Wolfwood’s cross gun. But despite having the same creator, there are some distinguishing differences as well.

In Trigun, Nightow-sensei’s style was more kid friendly and generic, while in Gungrave, his style for the character designs are more edgy and mature which perfectly suits the nature of the story. For the most part, despite the time the anime takes place in, the architecture is quite modern. Though as the series progresses, there are vehicular designs that appropriately reflect the scientific and futuristic elements this anime has. And of course, I like how the anime approaches the aging of the characters throughout the duration of this anime, which I can’t ignore. It does it pretty effectively.

And before I get into the action, I’d like to talk about Brandon’s costume design. I must say it is pretty bizarre, but hey, in his situation by then, what the hell, huh? I think it’s still pretty cool, and really matches his artillery in a complimentary way in that sense, I guess. The action is pretty intense as well. For the most part, it’s just gun violence that does get pretty brutal, and does have some martial arts action as well that isn’t really exaggerated until things start to change into the sci-fi part. If you’ve seen Trigun, then you know what to somewhat expect, but this time, the main character will kill.

Even though I always associate Imahori Tsuneo’s name with his use of guitars, which was prevalent in Hajime no Ippo and Trigun, but hearing the way he composes this anime totally changed my opinion of his talent. The guy knows how to create an appropriate atmosphere with the elements this anime has with a sad blues and jazz kind of feel. Along with the presentation of the animation, I thought his music also brought a noir feature this anime has on all acts in this anime whether in the mafia or sci-fi moments so his presence brought an overall appropriate touch to virtually all scenes that had music.

The voice acting in the Japanese version I thought brought the noir feel to the anime as well, and utilizes most of the voice talent from the original game which was in Japanese. I tried watching the English dub, but it didn’t give me what I was feeling in the Japanese version. Personally, I feel overall the dub isn’t worth watching since there was no dub in the game to begin with to give me some expectation of how it could work. If you’re the kind of person that prefers dubs at whatever levels, I still say it’s good enough for you. But if you’re someone who prefers straight up Japanese no matter how good or bad a dub is, I felt the portrayals in Japanese were best. I felt watching it in English just didn’t have the same level of seriousness that the Japanese had and kind of felt more like a dark comedy, which I feel Gungrave isn’t. I really like how in the Japanese version, which was also done in the English version was how they did Harry’s voice throughout the duration it takes place in. In his younger years, he has a voice where he sound really easy going and sarcastic like Spike from Cowboy Bebop, but when he’s old, he’s as evil as Mori in Flame of Recca. And Brandon was appropriately played by a big favorite of mine as you all know, Seki Tomokazu, who is no stranger to playing quiet and somewhat isolated characters such as Miyata in Hajime no Ippo.

Well, all I can say is if I had to put this anime in a nut shell: try to mix Scarface, The Godfather, Versus, the Yakuza PS2 games, Skullman, Cowboy Bebop and Trigun, then you got this anime. Speaking of Versus, I can actually imagine Kitamura Ryuuhei doing a live action version of this movie, and I could imagine the leading role from that movie playing Brandon. I say anybody who likes those animes, games, or movies individually will certainly enjoy Gungrave and you don’t have to be a fan of all of them just to watch it. Heck, anime fans in general who have no experience with what I described or even the original game despite some significant changes will probably love it. As you can tell from this review, I think it tells an excellent story with characters and themes we can all relate to despite its edgy underworld setting.
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Main
Let me start out by saying this......I'm not into this type of show. I love shoujo anime [and now manga], I also like shounen-ai stuff and I'd say it's pretty much guaranteed that I'll watch just about anything with bishounen. So if someone were to tell me about this show, Gungrave and all I had was his word-of-mouth to go on then I wouldn't have bothered watching it. The only reason I watched it was because they used to play it on Tech TV [now G4] back when they used to be a cool TV station and they played anime on the weekends @ midnight. I remember they used to play Gad Guard and this other show, Gungrave. Frankly, I was mesmerized by this show...simply because this story was that good. It had me hooked and I watched it religiously every weekend but I never got to see the ending so I bought the series and even one of those giant wall scroll posters, I loved the show that much......this coming from a person that's a self professed yaoi fan-freak that mainly watches shounen-ai and all other shoujo-type anime. So if I can like this show, I don't see how anyone else can't. What's not to like?

Art-Style
I liked the art in general, but I had issues with the overall character design. The guys' bodies were too big, they're always too big...so big that it seems disproportionate to their heads. Big arms, big shoulders, big chests, big ripped abs, stick legs and tiny head. And I'm not talking about the orc-men or whatever they were called no, this is Brandon, this is Harry, this is Blood War, Bungee and the rest. This happens all the time, not only within this series Gungrave—no—this is somewhat of a phenomenon occurring with all of shounen anime in general. But speaking of the orc-men mutants, how is it that they can get all big and mutated, bust out of their shirts bust out of their shoes.....but the pants and belts stay in tact, WTF!!! Other than that I had no issues.
The art was definitely shounen with all the bold, heavy lines and bulky silhouettes but even so there was this hint of a more grown-up aesthetic to the art that speaks out....”This ain't no little boys' cartoon.”

Sound
This is one of those shows that will always hold an indelible spot in my mind because of the music they used for the OP and ED. The OP theme is a melody aptly named “The Family”. There's no singing, it's just a jazz-like piece on keyboard [I think] but either way it's very cool sounding and mellow. I also liked the OP sequence that went with it; the gritty filmstrip effect used for the flashback to the days when Harry and Brandon were young but you also say elements to their dark side in the OP as well.

The ED I liked strictly for nostalgic reasons. I wouldn't say it's a spectacular song but it suits the show nonetheless and with the ED sequence with Harry and Brandon running towards the sunset......well, that speaks volumes [since nothing anime is coincidental, they have to plan it before they draw it].

The show was watched in English and they did one helluva job!

Story
The only term I can think of for this show is.....badass! But not just badass, It's Tarantino badass. Scorsese badass! It's a little bit Good Fellas, a little bit Reservoir Dogs, a little bit God-Father. Some people may not see it as such because of the zombies and mutants and whatever but that's only if you allow yourself to become distracted by that. I admit it's pretty hard to ignore a bloated 500 pound helicopter mutant zombie-dude firing skull faced torpedoes out of his big belly, but it's just a fight scene....and a fight scene is just a fight scene. Just like when Uma Thurman went ballistic with her sword against Go-Go Yubari, Lucy Liu and the rest of the Krazy 88 gang in Kill Bill, awesome as it was it was just a fight scene.

The real art is in the storytelling and the flow of the narration. Gungrave starts in the middle, rewinds to the start of everything then goes back to the middle of the action and ends at the climax. It's not nearly as confusing as it sounds, Pulp Fiction was more confusing. With Gungrave, the story may have also been out of sequence but it was very easy to follow. One of the main reasons for it being easy to follow was that it was told from mainly one perspective which was that of Brandon Heat—the main character. Mika, another main character that really doesn't show up till the 2nd half, does the introduction as well as the narration for the latter part of the series.

Cast/Characters
Brandon Heat is supposed to be all cool with his badass big machine guns a blazing and eye-patch and killer cosplay outfit but the truth is you can't help but feel sympathetic towards the guy. It's like you feel protected with him next to you with his cold stare, quick moves and big guns but also you get the sense that he's this really meek and sensitive guy that's really the one that needs protecting. You just want to reach out and hold him and tell him everything is going to be OK.........well, I guess you can't if you're another guy, but you get the idea. Tho I don't think he's the type to care if the guy is Harry or even Big Daddy....ha-ha, that's the crazy fangirl in me coming out. Not that it would require a great stretch of the imagination, mind you, the devotion Brandon has for Harry [and vice-versa] is pretty legendary.

Harry is as beautiful as Brandon is profound. Harry dazzles with high-wattage smiles, designer suits and fast cars. I love his dark hair, piercing blue eyes and square jawline, the man is a shark....a very beautiful and deadly shark. He's no doubt a ladies-man, but say what you will....a piece of his heart belonged to Brandon, and that's why they held so much sway over each other. I call this “The Straight-Guy Crush Syndrome” it's a phenomenon where two dudes, even tho they are not gay, they kind of hold the other guy's balls in their hands due to unforeseeable emotional reasons, making each guy...the other guy's bitch. That's the long and short of it. Harry and Brandon's relationship with each other.

Gungrave also has one helluva supporting cast, take your pick, there's bound to be a favorite for you in there.

Worth it or NOT?
It goes without saying, if you don't already own it....go out and buy it! If you liked Bebop then you'll like this one too and if you didn't like Bebop.....well, I don't wanna know you! read more

For me this anime, with no exceptions, is the greatest of all time. If you haven't seen this, don't be put off by the fact that it was based on a video game, because this is a unique experience, and something you can't miss.

While the action in the show is plentiful and exhilarating, the action is not the be all and end all for this show. The story is deep and touching. Love, hate, greed, betrayal, it's all there. You will see the entirety of these men's lives from beginning to end. You watch as they go from nobody street thugs to top dogs. And let me tell you the ending is wonderful. When I say that, I don't mean it's a happy ending, because it isn't. It brings closure. No cliff-hanger. No ending that leaves you with nagging questions of "what just happened?" The ending was so good that I must admit, I did cry a little. Yeah, I know, I'm a guy and I cried.

It's hard to convey the greatness and epic-ness of this anime without telling you too much, so just watch it. You won't be disappointed. read more

This is one of the few animes that I regard as a perfect work. Sadly, I almost missed it due to the first episode. I watched episode one and then got distracted because it seemed to be generic somehow but after some time I started watching from the second episode and everything changed. I honestly can't even begin to describe how awesome this series is, I can only say that you MUST NOT BE TURNED OFF BY THE FIRST EPISODE or you will be missing a legendary anime.

This anime is amazing!!
Important note: you MUST watch past the first episode, and if you do, you will be sucked in!!

The story is amazing. It focuses around the themes of betrayal, loyalty, and brotherhood. Minor themes include coming of age, and love. The fights are great. If the synopsis of the anime does not sound appealing, you still have to watch it because the story is SO much more and is impossible to put into a short paragraph. In short: what would you do if your best friend killed you?

The art is quite good. I really like anime art when it goes away from the conventional eyes and chibiness. The art fit the story well, and people were more realistic. The fight scenes were brilliantly animated.

The OST is great for the anime. The style is somewhat jazzy, and fits in with the intensity of the storyline. The OP is special and it has no words, which is rare in today's more recent anime. However, this creates a great mood for the amazing rollercoaster coming up.

This anime is extremely enjoyable, and you will get hooked till the end!!
(just dont be thrown off by the first episode)

enjoy =D for i know i did immensely. read more

Of all the animes I have ever watched I call gungrave the most under appreciated. The reason why is because whenever I try to ask somebody about it they have no clue what it is which makes me angry because this is a really good anime I mean I seldom give out a nine and when the moon is blue I give a ten so as you can understand this is an exceptional anime. My advice don't knock this anime until you've watched the whole thing and whatever you do don't skip episodes each episode is a necessary key in understanding the end.
Story- The words to describe how I feel about the story don't exist yes it was that unbelievable. It is so absolutely perfect there are such few holes in the storyline as to why anything is happening or what caused a certain person to end up a certain way to the point where I was impressed.
Art- Okay the art wasn't perfect but it was pretty dang good considering when this anime was made. The animation was sometimes shoddy but one thing I noticed was that the bullet firing shell drop ratio was perfect (this impresses me so much).
Sound- Sound was good the only bad part was that I couldn't stand it when characters cried (it wasn't in a bad way though I mean it was tear jerking when they cried sometimes) the only real complaint I had about sound was that I sometimes felt a sound wasn't right to the situation.
Character- Character development was flawless in order to understand what I mean watch it and you'll agree.
Enjoyment- I enjoyed this anime because it took me for a lot of twist and turns and heart tugging moments. The overtones of vengeance, trust and friendship were to die for (pun). read more

Ill keep this short, but I just had to add my opinion about this masterpiece.

I agree with the other reviewers. Seriously, what were they thinking with the first episode? They just recap t later on, so you could probably skip it and still be able to follow the story. The rest of the episodes pick it up a notch so much that you wonder if the same people wrote the first episode.

This was an excellent anime dealing with mafia-like syndicates and brotherly friendship. I dont want to spoil it, but it is emotionally moving and really made me cry toward the end. Not many other anime capture the friendship of a best friend as well as Gungrave has done. Despite Brandon's almost excessively quiet character, I still thought he was one of the best characters ever. Do yourself a favor and watch this now. read more

It took me a while to get into the show. It didn't pick up for me until at least halfway through. I kept on seeing it as a poor man's Cowboy Bebop. But there was a moment and even as my head started going, "Wtf, seriously?!? Seriously?!?" I started sitting up a little more and watching the screen more intently. I think if you can get past the slow start (which I thought lasted way longer than just the first episode), I think the end is a worthwhile payoff.

The story gets more interesting as the show goes on and the storytelling itself becomes better executed as well. The heart of the story here is really about loyalty and friendship and how those ideas actually manifest in real action and real practice in the gritty, dirty lives of people just trying to survive. In a odd way, I feel like you could even make an argument about how this is a microcosm for civilization (but I won't take it that far here -- lucky you! ;D ).

There's an... interesting sci-fi-ish bent to the story that adds something interesting to the story, but at the same time creates all this extra fuss that I don't think was strictly necessary. But it's probably gravy if you like that sort of thing and easily overlooked if you don't.

The art was fine -- not necessarily quite my style, but fine overall. It sort of worked for the nature of the story, I thought. A style that was overly polished or glossy wouldn't have worked with the tone and atmosphere. And I thought the action sequences were pretty well put together.

The music gets a bunch of attention from some people. I thought it was okay: probably just slightly better than average. I liked the way it sounded and I thought it was well used. It just wasn't brilliant. I think if you landed here because you were told that the music here was like Cowboy Bebop's, it's a little disappointing. I also think that if you're not actively comparing them and you're just watching Gungrave on it's own merits, it's good enough.

The characters were definitely interesting. The primary focus being Brandon Heat and his relationship with Harry McDowel. ...It's hard to figure out what to say without giving the storyline away. I will say that I think that there's a surprising simplicity to the characters -- despite the twists and turns of their interactions and their relationships. In a way, I think you can argue that you can boil down a bunch of the major characters into short, concise phrases. And I like that in this context. It seemed convincing in a way, because I kind of think that when you're struggling for everything, you end up focused on a few things and complexity is kind of a luxury that they couldn't really afford.

Overall, I enjoyed the second half considerably more than the first half. I thought that everything after the clear turning point of the story (you'll know what I mean if you've seen it) was a clear step better than anything before it. I particularly enjoyed the end, I thought that was a neat way of conveying what they wanted to convey without getting melodramatic. I do think that if you enjoyed Cowboy Bebop, you'd probably enjoy this too -- despite the differences; they're similar in very broad strokes. read more

Gungrave is another fantastic anime to watch. It's a short one and is easy to follow. It's FILLED with action scenes and you'll absolutely love the characters. I only saw the entire series once (on G4 TV), but I would definitely watch it again given the chance. This is one show that you would want as part of your DVD collection. I also have the soundtrack to the show, and that is great as well. This show has action, romance, betrayal, an exciting plot, and some sad parts to it. It's a MUST see!!