STORY: 9
The story, while not exactly the most in-depth one, is insanely enjoyable. It's not too simple but it's not too complicated--Rally Vincent, the owner of a gunsmith shop in Chicago, is requested to help with a case being investigated by the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives) via the somewhat sleezy cop Bill Collins, and both her and her friend Minnie May end up in too deep. For only three episodes they make it through the entire story arc very smoothly--the first episode is getting involved with the overall case, the second is the rise of action and suspense, and the final episode is the peak. In general it never seems like there's too much going on due to lack of time despite there being only three episodes.
The main reason I give the story a 9 instead of a 10, though, is because despite it being a smoothly executed story...it does run into a few hiccups. My main complaint is the final bad guy. The man behind the conflict, so to say. It just doesn't work as well as it probably should. He just comes off seeming super hammy and forced, which is a real shame considering how well the story builds up to it. It doesn't help that said bad guy isn't introduced until the final episode so we aren't really too assed to care about him, especially since he doesn't really reveal himself until the last ten minutes of episode three. The overall short run also does serve to leave some background characters underdeveloped. So that does weaken the score.
ART: 8
I like this art. There's really not much for me to say about this besides that--I just like it. But I don't really LOVE it. It looks nice, and the faces have a pretty nice structure. These are based off designs from the manga made by Sonoda Kenichi, and in general his art is well done and well thought out. However, the women have a bad tendency to look alike. The male designs don't suffer from this, as each male character typically has a fairly unique facial structure, but the generic faces of the women does kinda hurt the art. The backgrounds looks fantastic, however. They've really captured the gritty look of Chicago here.
SOUND: 8
To start, the opening to this is something that I could just listen to all day. The song is completely free of lyrics, and stands out from your typical anime intro by being more focused around a jazzy feel as opposed to a pop feel (which is understandable considering the focus of the show). Comparisons to this choice in music have been made to Cowboy Bebop's 'Tank', and it's a suitable comparison. Both are fantastic earworms.
The rest is just kind of a hit and miss. The background music is more okay than it is fantastic. As for the voice work, the dub is surprisingly good for an ADV dub--most of the voices match the characters pretty well and overall they execute the lines pretty well. But it still has some typical early dub issues. Some lines don't match up to the lip movements, and while Rob Mungle does a pretty fantastic job on most of the sarcastic lines for Bill Collins...it's a little more hit and miss when it comes to the dramatic moments. He sounds just flat out kind of silly in dramatic scenes, and really tries to overplay it. Which is a shame, because the rest of the time his execution is perfect.
CHARACTER: 9
There is nothing I can really criticize about the charac...okay, there is. Let's start from the good points: Rally Vincent is an amazing protagonist. She's smart, sassy, and well equipped to handle the problems that face her but has a cocky side that can lead her into trouble. Minnie May is admittedly kind of a brat, but in a far more endearing way than your typical anime 'little bratty girl' archetype. You can tell she wants to help, she just isn't a very good judge of what is helpful and what isn't so her actions can either lead to great success or great disaster. I've heard a lot of badmouthing towards Bill Collins, the ATF agent, on other sites but I personally think he's a great character and oppositional force to Rally. He's just as cocky as she is, but with a thicker layer of sarcasm and sleeze. That said, he's not a complete ass anyways, since he does show a need to protect Rally and Minnie May as well as crack the case. Personally I think it makes him a really fun character and a lot of good dialogue comes from him.
Now let's get to the bad characters. Becky is obnoxious. I don't even know why she's in the show. She consistently serves absolutely no purpose besides balling out Rally and Minnie May. She just bitches and bitches and bitches and doesn't seem to have any helpful skills...I think she's supposed to be their accountant or something, but it's not too clear and it just makes her seem like an annoying space-filler. A lot of the side characters, like Roy and that one ATF chick who shows up in the third episode, don't really do much and probably could've been blessed to be expanded on more. Roy is built up as someone Rally has known for a while, but how? I guess there's only so much to be demanded out of a three episode anime, and they did really good with what they had.
OVERALL: I'd give this one a 9/10. It's a REALLY good anime, and I mean REALLY good. I wouldn't go for it looking for any deep or complex plotline but in terms of fun factors...this one should leave the majority of viewers satisfied, if not by the story than at least by the major characters. I'd honestly sit down and pop it in any day.
