Customer Reviews

Gunsmith Cats: Burst, Vol. 1 (v. 1)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After a long absence, I was excited to see the return of my favorite manga series, Gunsmith Cats. As much as I loved the original series, it was admittedly running out of steam by its final story arc, Misty's Run. Sonoda seemed to have exhausted his well of clever gunplay and unthinkable car stunts, and his increasingly streamlined artwork had begun to appear simply not very well detailed. While the series had once prided itself on extensive visual references so that even American pay phones were depicted accurately in this Chicago-set manga, the final book was so sloppy that a Japanese-style pay phone even found its way in.

I had hoped that the hiatus would have given Sonoda time to recharge his creative batteries; that he would return with a renewed enthusiasm for the subject matter and perhaps some new tricks. Unfortunately, that is not quite the case. "Burst" contains, well, some bursts of excitement and action, and it's a pleasure to see Rally and the crew back in action. But the undetailed art is, in many ways, lazier than ever -- Sonoda doesn't even bother to draw some of his dialogue scenes, instead just dropping word balloons in empty panels once the stage is set. Trouble is, when the dialogue is between mobsters we've barely met and is meant to set up some rather convoluted plotting, this isn't just lazy, it's also confusing, and makes the story needlessly difficult to follow in parts.

The first story in the book is from the GSC special that appeared after the regular run of the series, and was also included in the original collection of the Misty's Run story arc.

I wish I could recommend the book more highly. Granted, the story arc is not yet complete, so it is difficult to judge, but the old GSC collections were about this size and they still managed to pack a bigger punch than this one does. I'm happy to see Rally Vincent back in action, I just wish she had returned in better form.

American fans of Gunsmith Cats have been waiting for new stories with our favorite gunslinging girls since 2001. Sonoda put Gunsmith Cats on hold to work on the very entertaining sci-fi series, Cannon God Exaxxion. After he wrapped up Exaxxion he came back to present day Chicago for more girls, guns and grenades. Needless to say - all of us Rally and Minnie May fans were excited.

Gunsmith Cats Burst is a compilation of three short stories and the beginning of a longer story arc. I for one think that Sonoda does his best stuff with the longer story arcs, but his one-shots are fun too (one of my personal favorite stories is "Jamming" from way back when Gray was still the main villain).

The first two stories are not new to old timer fans like myself. These were originally compiled in "The Gunsmith Cats Special" back in 2001. The first story deals with Rally attempting to help a prostitute stay alive long enough to testify against a senator. The second is a "how to" session with Rally modifying a gun for a special client. The final story (and first new story for us American fans) has Rally running into some small issues with a hidden gun.

The first short story is the best one. It's entertaining and moves along at a quick pace. The second story is really more of an instructional guide for gunsmithing: interesting but not necessarily entertaining. The last story is too short to really make an impression one way or the other.

The long story arc starts with a chapter called "Burst". The story opens with Minnie May finding a horrible surprise! The scene switches to Rally stranded in the desert with Bean Bandit and the criminal she was sent to catch. Turns out someone didn't fill up the tank before they left and now they are sweltering in the Texas sun. Then starts a "How did we end up here?" flashback that carries over into the next chapter. The main plot kicks in after the flashback ends. Typical stuff here, mafia hitmen, stolen cars, drugs, large amounts of money, fire fights and a potential bomb threat. No car chase this time, but I'm pretty sure we'll get one in the next book (Why else would Bean Bandit be in the story?).

As far as entertainment goes, this story is pretty good. So far it seems to be lacking the propulsive power of my favorite story arcs (Goldie or Mister V). The flashback at the beginning causes the story to stutter a bit at the beginning. All of your favorite characters are back: Rally, Minnie May, Misty, Becky, Bean and even a quick glimpse of Ken. And fans of the girls with guns genre are going to be pleased.

The plot and art work are entertaining, but they don't seem to have the bite of Sonoda's earlier work. The story is a bit convoluted and Gunsmith Cats is usually better when it's lean and mean. Because of the complexity of the plot, there is a lot of dialogue in this book, and since Sonoda doesn't want to use endless talking heads, we end up with panels of stills with lots of talking and no identification, making it a bit hard to tell who's saying what. The best moment in this book is the tense stand off at the Monroe Inn, but the rest of the book seems to spend time getting from one plot point to another.

In terms of the art, the characters have not been redesigned, even if you get that impression from the covers. The action scenes are pretty solid, I was only a little confused during one moment in the motel.

In addition the translation here is a bit on the bland side. The older versions of the translations gave each girl their own character. It was probably less accurate to what was actually being said, but it gave Rally, Minnie May and Becky distinct personalities. In this book they don't seem as distinct.

This book does include a few interesting bonuses. New fans will appreciate the "Character File" section which gives a quick update on who is who in the Gunsmith Cats universe. You also get two "Sonoda Specials" which are little blurbs about ammunition - interesting for you gun nuts out there. There is also a page about a special model gun that Sonoda ordered.

On the whole, this is an average story so far. I'm hoping that with most of the exposition out of the way, we can go into some great Gunsmith Cats action and fun in the next book. New fans will probably be fine with this (but the story starts assuming you know who is who). Older fans might find this to be a bit of a disappointment, especially with two stories you've already read.

Quick Note: Ah, Bean Bandit - source of comedy for Gunsmith Cats fans. In this book we are once again shown just how tough Bean really is. Not since the day Bean ate ribs has GSC made me snicker like that. In addition Bean gets a new and not very flattering nick name. Take a look at Rally's license plate on her Mercedes. This continues the fine tradition of fun plates Sonoda loves to use.

This book volume 1 out of 5 volumes follows after the originol gunsmith cats (Available in 4 Omnibus edditions). Gunsmith cats is a great manga, in my opinion, one of the best. I highly recomend all of the Burst volumes 1 - 5 in addition to Gunsmith Cats Revised Edition Volumes 1 - 4 (The original Gunsmith Cats manga in Omnibus).

I Love this series.

Great series. Great artwork. Great storytelling. Recommended for any one who likes anything about bounty hunters, guns, muscle cars and manga.