Gunsmith Cats |
Home Art Anime Reviews Articles Misc. Video Games Links Contact
|
Rally Vincent, "Minnie"
May Hopkins and Becky Farrah are three of Chicago's
toughest bounty hunters. Together, they are... The
Gunsmith Cats! ...Sound like a cheesy Charlie's Angels ripoff to you? Fortunately, I had seen the series before reading any cheesy promos for it. The directors of Gunsmith Cats set out to make an anime that would be just like an American action movie. After watching this three part OVA series, I can assure you, they did their job. They did it well. It's got everything a good action movie should have : villains with foreign accents, big explosions, gratuitous T & A, car chases, violence, and did I mention big explosions yet? I do realize that I'm a pretty big "mindless action movie" basher, but the fact that Gunsmith Cats is animated makes it all the more cooler. Story-wise, we have Rally, a tough gun fanatic, Minnie, a hyperactive teenage explosions expert, and Becky, the play-it-safe information girl getting involved in a case with the ATF. They end up being blackmailed by an ATF agent, Bill Collins, who pretty much knows that they're the only ones that can help him. They've got to deal with gun-running, drug smuggling, and evil Russian assassins to get to the bottom of this case. That's about all I can tell you without spoiling it. While some might have seen the ending coming up on them like a freight train, I felt that it was really a shocker. Heh, I mentioned I wasn't a big action movie buff. I haven't really had so much fun watching an anime in a long time. There are tons of laugh out loud moments, nail biting cliffhangers and your typical action movie fluff. The characters are great and likable. I always stress the fact that you can't have a good anime without good characters, and Gunsmith Cats proves this. My favorite would have to be Bill, the sleazy yet somehow likable ATF agent. His voice is also dead on. Which brings me to my next topic, the English voices(sorry about that rough segue). I've become sort of a "sub snob," meaning mostly I prefer the original Japanese language. Only in a few cases will I enjoy a dub enough to ignore the Japanese track. Cowboy Bebop is a prime example. Well, I just added Gunsmith Cats to the mix for having one hell of a dub. Maybe it's the fact that the series takes place in Chicago, but I tried the Japanese and it just didn't fit. Heck, that surprised even me! All of the voices are great, especially for being a dub that's a few years old. The show's art is excellent. Being only a three part OVA, Gunsmith Cats had a high budget and it shows in spades. Members of the Japanese staff flew to Chicago in order to "scout locations," talk with real police officers, and study and fire real guns(a real treat for them because of the strict Japanese gun control laws). I really respect the fact that they tried to make the show so realistic. Every gun you see in the show is a real gun, extensively researched and modeled. I can't recall the actual amount of guns used in this series, but the count is way up there. One interesting thing to note is that Rally's sweet ride is a vintage Shelby GT-500, who the staff got to ride in for "research." I now hate them. The music, which really resembles a movie soundtrack, fits the series quite nicely. This is one of the few times I've ever heard of an anime producer hiring an American to do a show's soundtrack. The opening theme is sweet and jazzy, while the closing theme has a "Hill Street Blues" kind of feel. Unconventional for the time it was made, and not your typical anime soundtrack. The video quality on this DVD is sharp, sharp, sharp. I was surprised, seeing as this OVA was a few years old. I detected a tiny amount of color bleeding in the intro, but otherwise we have a very clean transfer. Good job ADV! The sound is clear and crisp, as it should be. A typical front sound stage mix, although I'd love to hear a 5.1 mix of this someday(what with the explosions and gunfire and all). ADV used to be the anime company that would draw the most angry mobs with its DVDs. With Gunsmith Cats, however, I think they're really starting to get their groove on. The packaging has a sharp-looking cover, and manages to stand out using only a few colors. Simple is best, after all. The menus are animated, and fit in with the theme of the show. In fact, it probably has one of the coolest interfaces I've seen on an anime DVD this year. The best extra has got to be the forty minute making of special included on the disc. For anime fans like me who love to see exactly how their favorite shows are made, this special is solid gold. Also included are a non-credit opening(thank you!), Gunsmith Cats trailers and ADV trailers. Now this is what an anime disc *should* look like. Gunsmith Cats is a blast, and can even be shown to people with a passing interest in anime. With only three episodes, you won't need a massive attention span or a million bucks to follow the series. Although, I wouldn't mind if they released a second OVA set... - Bob Mackey |
|
| All text, original pictures and HTML © 2001 Bob Mackey. All rights reserved. |