Gunsmith Cats

Gunsmith Cats. The original Cowboy Bebop. Almost. There's a jazzy OP with simple 70's style split-screen graphics madness, bounty hunters, western sensibilities. The prototype for Shinichiro Watanabe's version which maxed out everything this franchise has. Unfortunately it doesn’t have Watanabe.

What it has is Rally Vincent and Minnie-May causing havoc in Chicago in their Mustang GT500 via their trusty guns and bombs.

Watching this OVA after reading the manga is preferable as if you dig the manga then watching it animated after 9 volumes of guncrazy magic, is nice. Another reason is that 9 volumes doesn’t translate into 3 episodes, so you're only getting a small percentage of the glorious fun that is Gunsmith Cats.

The OVA feels like its set either during or after the manga and doesn’t bother following anything in the source material or setting up character relationships. It just jumps right into the lives of Rally and Minnie-May, so casual viewers will either fall on board or check out swiftly, and manga readers will begin enjoying it immediately, just to keep Gunsmith Cats alive for a bit longer.

Unfortunately there is a noticeable lack of certain characters in the manga, such as Roy the friendly cop who is relegated to a cameo, Misty the thief who is absent, and there's a gaping black hole where Bean Bandit should be. Becky's way too nice and Minnie-May appears much younger here also, like a ten year old which makes her hijinks with bounty hunter Rally even more ludicrous, and with absolutely no hint of sexual deviancy that was so rampant in the manga.

So yeah, this is filler but like the manga it has an attention to detail with the city of Chicago as a backdrop and other miscellaneous aspects that at least keep the anime somewhat in reality, when every scene with Minnie-May threatens to blow it into fantasy. The OVA is also full of call-backs to the manga that uber fans will recognise and grin at (prosthetic guns anyone?) so the OVA is going to be an acquired taste.

The animation is pretty average but the design is good, cars, guns, gorgeous Rally herself, it’s all watchable so don’t let the year of release put you off. The music is nothing to shout about unfortunately, as is the direction, editing, writing, ok so other than the brand name this is just standard entertainment.

But then the OVA at least does something that the manga did excellently. That is to say: have an awesome car chase! A definite highlight of the OVA and one of the best in anime, with kinetic visuals, edge-of-your-seat thrills and all based in reality, with no physics-breaking stunts.

And finally the story. Oh yeah, story? Bunch of generic bad guys shooting and blowing crap up, what else? If you're going to watch this, watch it because you're a completist, and watch it for that car chase. They say cats have nine lives, well the gunsmith cats just lost one with this OVA; time to reload.

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Girls and guns - a combination that can't go wrong! In the mean streets of Chicago, Illinois, Rally Vincent, a beautiful young woman with a mean aim, and "Minnie" May Hopkins, her streetwise explosives expert partner, do their best trying to keep the city clean by rounding-up bail jumpers.

This anime, a good vision of Kenich Sonoda's manga, is unique because of the production team's eye for detail, making many trips from Japan to get accurate locale scenes - even going as far a visiting the Illinois Police Academy and an actual gunshop, a rarety in gun-controled Japan.

The only sad thing about this that it's not a FAITHFUL version of the manga - no Misty Brown or Goldie Muso. But hopefully, with the release of the manga series 'Gunsmith Cats BURST', that might change.

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Overview:

Time to review a nostalgic classic! Be warned that this anime is VERY cheesy, but it is also quite fun! This is what you might call a "guilty pleasure" anime. Gunsmith Cats almost entirely revolves around 3 fetishes: guns, the 1967 Mustang GT, and tits. I have never seen an anime that seemed to try SO hard to pander to American rednecks. This is basically the anime Dukes of Hazzard! Too bad Rally's car isn't as cool as the General Lee. Firstly, the 69 Dodge Charger is cooler than the 67 Mustang. Secondly, Rally's car isn't painted an absolutely garish orange featuring the Confederate flag. Lastly, no Dixie horn. sad face.


Plot and characters: 3/10

Our heroes are 2 chicks that illegally sell guns in "gun free" Chicago in order to combat oppressive gun control laws. They are also bounty hunters, because hired guns are better than a police force. Small government FTW! The Cats must protect a crooked DC politician (aren't they all) from an evil Russkie Commie named Natasha Radinov. You may be wondering why she would incorrectly have a male last name and not the feminine form Radinova, but this actually isn't a mistake. She is also a "bull dyke" stereotype in addition to being a dirty commie! Did I mention this was a redneck anime? What happens next are plenty of ridiculous car chases and shootouts. The Gunsmith Cats jump off many ramps, but unfortunately it never cuts to commercial break mid jump ala Dukes of Hazzard. Speaking of crazy driving scenes...why was this set in Chicago where it is physically impossible to drive fast without hitting another car? Dukes was set in rural Appalachia BECAUSE it is a region with virtually no speed cops and you actually can drive really fast! This is actually still true in 2015, which I know because I live next to Hazzard country Kentucky, where Dukes took place until the county sued the TV studio for defamation and the studio changed the setting to a fictional Hazzard county in northern Georgia. Gunsmith Cats: the only anime EVER that will make you say, "this is pretty good, but I think I might rather watch Dukes of Hazzard re-runs.

Art and Sound: 5/10

The art is pretty good for an early 1990s OVA, but will obviously look a tad dated by today's standards. Be grateful that all the porn from the original manga was cut out! You won't have to watch the loli character suck a single dick in this anime...unlike the fucking manga! The soundtrack is almost entirely Jazz music, which creates mood whiplash and was honestly a terrible decision.

Entertainment: 7/10

Dropkick your brain out the window and enjoy this ludicrous bullshit! Don't question anything. Just be amazed that this fucking idiotic show somehow exists for your endless amusement!

Overall: 6/10

Why would I rate a show like this so high? Because it's hilarious! Gunsmith Cats is a great little hidden gem and highly enjoyable for people that like old school anime from the 80s and early 90s.

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Overview: Gunsmith cats is a good anime cop show. With bounty hunters, ATF, local cops and gunrunners, its hard to go wrong with this anime if your looking for a good action fix that is grounded in reality.

Story: the story is great, at least as far as cop stories go. gun runners, a Russian assassin, and a dedicated ATF agent back up the two main characters in making this show both fun and intriguing to watch. Im not going to lie though, the story is simple and you will probably figure it before the end, but thats really not why your watching is it?

Art: When you watch old anime you have to judge the art by its day and not overall. If you were to judge gunsmith cats art to modern shows like macross frontier your just being unfair. I give art a 9 because for its day, and compared to other shows (like AD police that some one mentioned earlier) gunsmith cats really blows other shows of its day out of the water. Its in the detail. I also live in Chicago and they did do a very accurate job.

Sound: This show has a good music score along with appropriate sounds throughout the show. Its hard to judge sound, but suffice to say if you dont notice anything wrong they did a good job.

Charecters: Theirs just something about old anime and stereotypes. That said they knew how to make them work. Every character in gunsmith cats is about as cliche as you can get, but they are worked into the story and with a cliche story the charterers fit right in.

Enjoyment: You may be wondering why I rate it as highly as I do when iv already said its very predictable and cliche. The reason is that gunsmith cats knows what type of anime it is, and they know that there story is cookie cutter, and that there characters are very stereotypical. This all said, in our age its about presentation, not originality. Gunsmith cats is an excellent example of how to take a tried and true story and make you love the characters and engross yourself in there world if only for a little while.

If this show cant at least entertain you, your standards are way to high. This show sets a standard for presenting old material in a fun way.

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