Product Description: Uber-babe bounty hunter Rally Vincent is on the trail of counterfeiters, but vengeance-minded killers are on the trail of Rally. And they've got her pal Misty under wraps. Rally has to team up with a pal who happens to work for one of Rally's bounty targets! Round and round Rally goes, but where she stops...you'd better believe she's heavily armed! Duck and cover! Gunsmith Cats is gun-blazing, tire-screeching, eye-popping manga as only Kenichi Sonoda can deliver. Includes two special Gunsmith Cats short stories.
Collection #1 of Kenichi Sonoda's Chicago crime series Flipping through the first collection of Gunsmith Cats it becomes very obvious that Sonoda has three main obsessions; guns, cars and hot girls. He lavishes detail on all three of his subjects with glorious detail. Guns are highly detailed: including angles on spent shell casings and notes about the types of weapons used. Cars are drawn in loving detail and Sonoda loves showcasing his cars in action. Then there are the lovely ladies. Sonoda's character design is definitely old school (he worked on the original "Bubblegum Crisis" and "Gall Force") but his character design is appealing and he doesn't hold back on showing his ladies is various stages of undress.
But what about the story? The framing plot involving the deadly brother and sister duo of Bonnie and Clyde Dorman reminds me of 80's action movie madness. It's a simple tale of revenge with Bonnie coming across like a complete nut job and Clyde the dedicated brother. The ending is a bit of an anticlimax, but it acts as a warm-up for the following confrontation with Gray.
There's plenty to love here though. The initial story "Feeding Trouble" introducing our girls and Bonnie captures the feel of the series right off the bat (even if the girls obsessions are over the top). Rally's pursuit of Clyde and the smash up in the alleyway are classic. I also love Bonnie's various weapons and the look on her face when she's taking out her enemies (nut job!). The one shot stories are good too, but Gunsmith Cats seems to work better with the story arcs revolving around one villain or plot.
One thing is obvious from the beginning, Sonoda can draw action. He frames it well, and its pretty easy to follow what's happening, who's shooting at who and how a car ends up upside down wedged between two walls. He only gets better at this creating some of the best shootouts and car chases I've ever seen in manga form.
For me Gunsmith Cats is like a fun popcorn movie. It's a great read between brainier material, and it never lets you down. "Bonnie and Clyde" was the first episode. It's good stuff, but it was going to get better. Overall a solid beginning to a great series.
*** A Note *** If you've seen the anime one shot "Riding Bean" you may notice that a woman named Rally appears in it. She loves guns and helps Bean out when things get rough. Interestingly enough Bonnie looks a lot like that version of Rally. I always wondered if Sonada was unable to use that design because of rights issues, so he turned his original Rally into Bonnie and then had a new Rally take over (with Minnie May of course). In any case we get Rally vs. Rally in this first book. Weird, eh?
If you loved the anime... then you'll love the manga. Rally, with her love of guns, and Minnie-May, with her love of bombs, are the most dangerous bounty hunters in the Windy City. In this first volume they run into Bonnie and Clyde, a sister-brother team of hired guns, the most dangerous killers working for the mob in Chicago. A couple of one chapter stories plus a interview with Kenichi Sonoda at the start makes for interesting 'extras' in this volume. Because of the blood and some scenes in a brothel this is not for kids. Cool guns, cool cars and cool cats. Gunsmith Cats, of course!
If you enjoyed the DVD, buy the manga! While the animation pays more attention than your typical anime to the details of guns, cars, weaponry, and Chicago, the manga does even moreso. The creator's earlier creation, Riding Bean, shows up later in the series. Some of the action scenes are over the top and there're more nudity and sexual situations in the comic. However, this only further distinguishes Gunsmitch Cats from other anime and manga. If you've only seen the DVD, you've barely seen Gunsmith Cats!
Bullets, Bombs, and Bombshells! This book makes no effort to hide what it is - a no holds barred male fantasty hodgepodge of guns, girls and grenades.
Gunsmith Cats is the story of Rally Vincent (a teenage gun wizard) and her trusty nymphomaniac sidekick Minnie May Hopkins. Together they work as bounty hunters on the streets of downtown Chicago, running into some rather nasty customers from time to time.
Despite the kinky and mature subject matter, this is quite an excellent book on multiple levels. First, the sheer artistic talent of Kenichi Sonoda is a sight to behold. Whether he's showing you a Shelby GT or a Baretta 9mm, the detail is all there, down to the very last lugnut or safety catch!
Also, the narratives of each episode are quite clever. Sonoda could have easily let the series turn into mindless, violent shoot-em-ups. But what is presented in this book are finely crafted stories, each with their own twist and crafty resolution.
The earlier Gunsmith Cats books (there are 9 total) are better than the last 3, but even those are excellent in their own right.
I highly recommend this manga for anyone even remotely interested in it!!
Great Action Manga This is the first volume of the manga series. At the time of this writing, there are only two issues left of the manga to be published, and that will be it unless Kenichi Sonoda decides to write more.
Rally Vincent and Minnie-May Hopkins are bounty hunters in Chicago plus they own a gun shop. Rally is the gun and car expert while May knows how to make explosives. There is also Becky who can dig up any information that might be needed to get a job done.
This volume deals with basic development of the main characters and later, Bonnie becomes the focus as she tries to get revenge for the injuries she blames Rally for. Compared to later volumes, this one is more graphic than the others, and I would consider this R-rated material.
There is much information in the series about cars and guns. I'm not an expert on either, but based on what I read in the letter columns in the individual issues, it seems to be very accurate. None of the letters are published in these volumes.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Not Available Comics
Trevor
