Bubblegum Crisis is a remake of an OVA done in 1992 and can best be described as an excuse to put naked girls and mecha in the same show. The story is that after a major earthquake in Megatokyo (the real one, not the pedo one), robots called Boomers become a common place necessity around the world as replacements for manual and dangerous labor. Having rebuilt Megatokyo and made it into a colossal economic hub, boomers are heralded as both great helpers to man and also as subhuman trash. Little does the populace know that boomers can go mad and start killing for no reason. A small group of women, in “hard suits” known as the Knight Sabers, fight to defeat these mad boomers and protect the citizens.

Of course, thats just the first half of the story. There’s also a lot of butt rock, some badly thought out conspiracies that never fully materialize, constant PMS, random singing that can best be described as an alto cat being strangled, and a technological singularity. But really, the only reason to watch is girls with boobs in mecha outfits.

The characters in BGC2040 are all one dimensional. The moment you mean the character and note their peculiarities they will not change for the rest of the show. Silya will always be a fruit cake. Linna will never be sure what to do. Nene will be cute and a 5th wheel. And Priss will be a bitch (though she gets a soft side eventually, but you see it coming from a mile away). The men in the story either get killed, fall for one of the chicks, or run away so they don’t matter.

The realism of this show is hardly worth mentioning. At every turn there is something so impossibly ridiculous that even the best of us who can suspend their disbelief will, at least once, go “wait a minute, thats not possible!”. Thousand of gallons of liquid nitrogen freeze an entire building and its contents at one point in the show.. that is, the entire contents, minus the 5 humans who were directly below the tanks when they burst… Yeah. But to be fair, the whole concept of humans creating artificial intelligence that becomes its own species and finds itself into the world is pretty interesting and they pull it off quite nicely.

Honestly though, the show isn’t as bad as I make it out to be. Remember, this show was made in 1998 when cyberpunk was the style to have. BGM2040 is probably the definitive anime series of that era (the pinnacle being Akira). THe band, the bad music, the bad computer graphics, the annoying sound effects, the retarded episode titles and name plates, and the open, ambiguous ending they all make sense when you stop and think what the date was. I thought to myself at least once, “Were we really this weird 9 years ago?” And the answer is yes, yes we were. So taken in context, BGM2040 is actually a pretty good show.

Overall, even taking into account the context, concepts, and the amount of boobs, the show falls short of overcoming its mediocrity. But thankfully for people who love 1998 it just evened out. I am thereby giving Bubblegum Crisis 2040 a 2.5 out of 5 stars. “technological singularities are fun! so is impending nene + boomer rape” - From my notes on the show

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

The plot of Pani Poni Dash is best summed up as such: Genius Becky, an 11 year old graduate from MIT, teaches a high school class in Japan fully of weirdoes. Hilarity ensues. Really, thats the plot. Nothing else of significance happens in the show. There is no plot, at all. However, what it lacks in plot it makes up for in sheer amounts of funny.

The humor of this show is hard to pin down. Most of it comes from three sources: 2chan, anime and manga references, and obscure cultural references. All three of these make the show extremely unfriendly to people who have either never been near something like 2chan or 4chan or have little experience with the Japanese geek culture. There are so many of these references that there are whole wikis and documentation devoted to explaining them to the viewer. (some subbers put the notes at the top of the screen so have the pause button ready) Even so, there are enough weird antics to go around even for the connoisseur of pratfalls and bad puns.

If nothing else, this show has some great characters. Each main character has a unique trait that they keep through the whole show. There is no development to speak of, but this doesn’t mean you cant like them anyway. The traits all come into play in the seemingly weirdest places and add much hilarity to whatever situation the cast is in. Here are my favorites. Becky is a precocious preteen who is extremely tsun-tsun (look it up) but very cute. Himeko is a complete airhead who likes crab and saying “Maho!”. However, I would have to say the best character for me at least was Ichijou. Im a sucker for non-sequiturs and Ichijou is probably the queen of the unexpected. Her quasi-insanity coupled with her serious expression and calmness no matter what happens crack me up something fierce.

Obviously this is not a normal review because of the lack of normal things I focus on in anime: story and characters. But that doesn’t mean that a show lacking in either or both of these areas cant be great. Pani Poni Dash! is something that every anime lover, internet fruit, or culture otaku (yes the descriptions are intentionally jumbled) should probably watch. Sure, you wont get half the references even if you are told what they are, but you will still laugh. I did, a lot. Therefore, Pani Poni Dash! receives a prestigious 4.5 out of 5 stars. MAHO!

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Jigoku Shoujo is a traditional Japanese ghost story with circumstances beyond anyone’s control but yet still under the control of other humans. There is a website, accessible only at midnight, called the Hotline to Hell. If someone who feels like they are a victim goes there, they can type in the name of their antagonist and to have sent to hell. Enma Ai then appears and tells them that they must untie the red string on the straw doll she gives them for the contract to be complete. However, should they untie it, besides their antagonist being taken immediately to hell, they too will be condemned to hell when they die.

Perhaps I should point out now that this show is extremely repetitive. The above scenario plays out in basically every episode. Victim shows up and feels wronged, they contact Ai, they wrestle with whether or not to pull the string, then they pull it anyway. Seriously, this happens in every episode. Even I, who ended up loving the show, almost quit watching at episode 3. It wasn’t until I made a crucial change of perspective in episode 5 that I began to love the show.

The real story in this show is not the people who appear for only one episode and act out their vengeance. The story in Jigoku Shoujo is all about Ai. From the start it seems she is an emotionless girl who just keeps doing the same thing over and over. However, this is her job, her duty, and her curse. Once you realize that, you begin to understand the gravity of the repetitiveness. It has a purpose: to make you empathize with Ai. In every episode you see something new about Ai, something subtle and small. Sometimes her eyes get big, she betrays a tiny bit of emotion, or she says something with a slight inflection that wasn’t there before (like when she asks the person if they would like to see death). In the wake of the overwhelming repetition of vengeance, the tiny insights into Ai’s feelings make her all the more mysterious and intriguing. When she does finaly display emotion explicitly it is powerful, beautiful, and terrifying. I personally began to question why Ai would follow her contractors around silently, why she contacted the Shibatas (the recurring characters who show up in episode 8), and why she seemed so sad all the time. Her character became an all encompassing mystery that I wanted to solve.

Ai’s sadness, and the overall theme of the show, is simple: the human desire for vengeance. Every episode you see the same tragedy play out even though you think “this time maybe they will see the error of their ways.” Before they are left to decide, Ai always shows the victim a taste of what hell will be like when they die. Despite this, they always pull the string anyway to exact vengeance on their antagonist. Trivial matters like stealing or betrayal seem to be far worse than an eternity in hell. Some victims are relieved of abuse for one lifetime to be carried to hell when they die. This trade off is a result of the delusion of vengeance, that nothing could be worse than the situation at hand. This is the driving force behind everything you see and everything Ai feels.

Is it right to send someone to hell when they have done wrong? This drama plays out between the Shibatas through the series. The daughter believes that the antagonist probably deserves it and that being sent to hell in the long run to be relieved of a temporary pain is worth it. The father disagrees and wants to stop Ai from continuing her work. Ai all the while stays silent about her feelings but betrays them in her actions. At the end of the season the point is made: no one is immune from feeling vengeance but we all have a choice to act on it or not.

Overall, the unraveling of the mystery of Enma Ai is what makes this show so good. Granted there is a fiercely repetitive nature to this show, but if you can get past that in get into the heart of the story there is a hidden jewel in the silent red eyes of Ai. The emotion and drama of Jigoku Shoujo (as well as the 2 nights of constantly restless sleep due to my mind trying to decipher Ai) garner this show a 4 out of 5 stars. Heres to an equally Ai-filled second season. いっぺん、死んで見る？

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Pumpkin Scissors is the tale of an army war relief unit. After a devastating war, the country is left in political and economic chaos. In order to combat the poverty and dissatisfaction within the population the army created Section III, Pumpkin Scissors. This elite section devotes it self to such tasks as: feeding the hungry, exposing drug rings, and digging up plot points that are never explored.

Perhaps the most notable point of this anime is the obvious lack of any real plot. If you look at the synopsis I just gave, thats the whole show. Besides the episodic nature of the unit helping those in need, there is virtually nothing else in the show. This wouldn’t be so bad if that was it. But the story eventually digs up several references to the war that was never explained, an on going military cover up of.. something, an arms and development conspiracy involving the corporal, and a masked society that is apparently running the post-war underground with ties in the nobility. But besides their hinting at, absolutely nothing is explained or resolved. The seemingly wise old Captain Hunks of Section III knows something is afoot and apparently knows what it is, but whatever it is is never divulged.

The characters in this show were also pretty boring. The Corporal is the most interesting as he comes from a mysterious Section IX and looks death in the face all the time. He also apparently was nothing but a killing machine created by R&D, which he wants to forget. He is weak minded and relies on everyone else for support in spite of the fact he is bigger and stronger than everyone else. The 2nd Lieutenant is hot, but thats about it. A noble by birth but a warrior at heart, she represents justice in the show between a corrupt aristocracy and the poor commoners. Unfortunately, she’s about as shallow a character as she is hot. She expounds long, annoying speeches which have the power to sway whoever is listening and never really develops as a character outside of that. The rest of the cast is generally inconsequential or are comic relief.

Really, the show lends itself to setting up for another season which doesn’t exist. The numerous plot threads and the lack of any resolution in any of them reminds me of the worst anime ever: Sword for Truth, only this doesn’t have any lesbian sex. To keep from being totally negative about it, Pumpkin Scissors does dwell a lot on the issue of commoners versus nobility; an issue that is brought up in several titles. If I had to take anything away from this, it is the sense of the animosity that dwells within the hearts of the Japanese people towards the traditional imperial court. Basically, luxury for them and poverty for the commoners (especially if you take into account the post-war sentiments of WWII). I could be totally wrong, but this is what i took from it.

Overall, unless there is a second season (I would have mixed feelings about this) of Pumpkin Scissors, the show was a tragic failure. Too many unresolved questions, shallow and annoying characters, episodic, the list goes on. I genuinely feel betrayed having watched this since September and having it end like it did. Because of this, Pumpkin Scissors gets a 2 out of 5 stars.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Mermaid forest is a series of short stories that center around a man named Yuta. It is said that if you eat the flesh of a mermaid you gain immortality. Thus, having eaten the flesh of a mermaid, Yuta has been alive for 500 years, searching for a way to return to his humanity. In the present day, meets another immortal named Mana who is about to be eaten by mermaids since they in turn eat humans to keep their eternal youth. Yuta saves Mana and together they search the land for answers to their future.

Unfortunately thats all there is to the plot. I have said before in my exposes on the last episode of Otogozoushi and all of Blood+ that the struggles of what true immortals must be going through is very interesting. If nothing else, Mermaid Forest focuses on this aspect of Yuta’s character. He hates his immortality and wants to just be human again. While he could die if his head was cut off, he wants to grow old and die peacefully. When he finds Mana he is told by a mermaid that it is impossible for him to return to normal. After the initial shock though, he seems to accept it and decide to build a future for himself and possibly Mana.

Character development is basically void in this saga. Since the only character to appear in all the episodes is Yuta and he’s been alive for 500 years already there isn’t much growth or quest he has to undertake. Most of the stories are short lived and don’t give him time to rise to any occasion or discover anything profound. Instead he mostly reminisces about the past and the hot women he never lived with as well as saving Mana from being killed/kidnapped/eaten (which she is constantly getting herself into).

There are two things about Mermaid Forest that I will always remember: If you find a mermaid, kill it before it kills and eats you (and try to eat it if you feel lucky) and that everyone in Japan has access to mermaid in some manner. Yuta is constantly running into people who have mermaid in a jar somewhere and are using it to gain immortality (which never works). The sheer absurdity of how many people he finds like this is overwhelming at times until you remember that he is 500 years old and we are probably only watching the highlights of his life.

Even so, the show was interesting. The fact that people year for immortality, but the one man who has it has been mourning that fact for half a millennium. The loneliness is a major theme in this show. Yuta has outlived all his friends and lovers and has only gotten close to a few people. Also, the introduction of the true legends of mermaids from Japan (and subsequently England since I went and looked it up) were a nice find. Ever since I was small I was under the impression that mermaids were good (Disney). But in fact, every culture that has a mermaid legend has them being murderous and harbingers of bad omens.

For 13 episodes, Mermaid Forest wasn’t that bad. But without a plot and no character development it wasn’t that good either. It had its moments but really it was something that was mediocre and dull. Thats why Mermaid Forest gets a score smack dab in the middle: a forgettable 2.5 out of 5 stars. I will never be able to look at Ariel the same way again.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Blood+ is a 50 episode series that is kinda-sorta the sequel to the Blood: The Last Vampire movie. It follows Saya, a anemic Okinawan girl who cant remember anything since a year prior, as she has her quiet life shaken by the appearance of horrible, blood sucking monsters known only as the chiropetra. Attacked by one while returning to school one night, she is met by a strange man who throws her a sword and tells her to fight. Without thinking she draws the blade and kills the beast. The remainder of the 49 episodes left is Saya’s quest to learn about her past and defeat the woman who caused chiropera in the first place: Diva.

For a vampire anime the show doesn’t actually have any vampires. It is hinted at that the chiropetra are types of vampires but nothing aside from the blood sucking is the same as a vampire. The chiropetra are probably one of the more original creatures created in an anime. They have a organized structure. The chevaliers who serve the queens have abilities and responsibilities beyond simply those who serve the pure-breads. Only two things can kill them: Saya’s blood and massive blood loss (total drainage).

The story was actually very straight forward. Saya and her adopted family along with the organization known as Red Shield fight to the end to destroy Diva and the reign of terror the chiropetra have been causing in the shadows of the world. But there was an underlying story that I think is what the actual intention of Blood+ was really all about. The real story is about the characters and their acceptance of who they are. Saya has to confront the fact that she is not a normal human being but is actually the sister of Diva. Her brother Kai has to accept that he is normal and that he is powerless when it comes to fighting for Saya’s sake. Haji has a silent but emotional battle with himself throughout the show between his loyalty to Saya’s wishes and his desire to do what’s best for her. Even Deva grows to have a little humanity by the time the show ends.

To say the least, the characters of Blood+ are what make the show so good. Saya holds great responsibilities on her shoulders despite knowing that she herself is too weak to hold them. She allows this because she knows that only her blood is enough to kill Diva and end the fight. She is elegant and beautiful while not being overbearing in either respect. She is the kind of person you fall in love with even knowing what she really is. Kai is the anchor to the rest of the show. His family is torn apart by the changes the fight is bringing and he wrestles with his own inadequateness in being able to fight as well. He vows to become the only non-changing person in the group so that Saya will have a safe harbor to call home when all is finished. The minor characters also all develop in marvelous ways. The Sif learn to trust, the Chevaliers all show their true colors, and David stops being so dense.

A few words here on Diva. One of the main reasons I watched this show again, aside from Saya being a prime example of what I would want in a woman, is the character of her twin sister Diva. Diva is perhaps the most insane character in any anime I have every watched. The things she says and does are so inhuman and un-calculated that no one can predict or comprehend her motives. She kills a man because she thinks his shoes are a pretty color. She rapes and kills people to make others despair. She tortures her own “family” of chevaliers. And through all of this she has a childlike demeanor. Her eyes are unspeakably beautiful and yet terrifying to the core. Yet once you learn her story and what was done to her by someone close to her (you learn about it in an off handed manner so pay attention) you start feeling sorry for her. By the end of the show I was torn by the wish for Diva’s defeat or the possibility that she might decide that having a sister was more important.

The subject of eternity creeps up in this anime as well. I mentioned in my review of Otogizoushi that the last episode examined what it was like for immortals to live forever and what kind of thoughts they had. Blood+ has the same thing only in more depth. Not only do Saya and Haji have to deal with the pain of living forever, but more importantly Kai and the rest have to deal with Saya’s immortality coupled with her 30 year periods of sleep after 2-3 years of activity. The end of the show was a subtle but deep cutting sentimental act on the part of Kai that I don’t think I would have the strength in me to do. I cant say here what it was, but all I can say is he is a stronger man than I.

In all honesty, the hype surrounding Blood+’s greatness is ridiculous. The hype being that after the end of the Red Shield arc (the first 32 episodes) the show suddenly fails at being good. I find this to be absurd. The 32nd episode was a huge watershed moment and the events after the year break are consistent with the impact the events had had on the characters and the character’s personalities. So say the show stopped being good is a display of ignorance of what the show was about. Yes, the action slows down a lot. Yes, the characters’ emotions take precedence in the plot. This is intentional and it is the essence of what the show is about: what it means to be a family and what it means to come to grips with one’s self.

Overall, the show was fantastic. I honestly tried, because of the hype, to find something wrong with the show (only thing I could really find was that the 4th OP sucked). However, I knew from the time of episode 30 what rating it would probably have due to the fact I didn’t want to keep watching because I knew it would make me end the show sooner. I honestly didn’t want the show to end. Even now it is hard to think about Saya to keep from getting emotional. So, it gives me great pleasure to bestow on Blood+ the second ever Tsunami.No.Anime perfect score.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Fafner is the story of an island that has constipation. No one on this island laughs or smiles willingly unless they are female, weak, and have a crush on the mecha pilot who hates himself. Everyone is serious and those who are not serious are not in the show, or dead. I was able to get through 6 episodes before I realized that I wanted to watch every single “good guy” get shot in the face and quit watching before I went insane.

The plot, from what I was able to watch, is that of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Im not kidding. People accuse RahXephon of being an eva knock off, but Fafner actually is, down to even minor details. Angels, I mean, Solomon’s Prophecies show up every now and again to blow up Toky… this island. And the only way to stave them off is to raise giant barricades in the town and launch the mecha. The mecha synchs with the pilot in his plug suit and head bands and they defeat the prophecy only for another to arrive shortly there after. The commander’s son is the pilot. Later, all his classmates become pilots too (one actually looks like Kensuke) and oddly enough they are all missing a parent. There is even a girl kept locked in a secret vault in the basement of the command center. I didn’t catch her name, but I bet its Lilith.

At any rate, as I only got through 6 episodes before wanting to tear my eyes out and pee in the empty sockets, I can’t give an actuate review here. If anyone, anyone, can give me 3 good reasons why I should watch the remaining 19 episodes I will pull the series back out and watch it. Until then, it will remain a blight on an otherwise good run of anime watching.

Rating: 0 out of 5 stars

Peace Maker Kurogane is the story of a young boy named Ichimura Tetsunosuke who wants to join the Kyoto Shinsengumi police group with his brother who is an accountant in order to become able to avenge his parents’ death. Once proven worthy by the vice-chief of the clan, Tetsu-kun must learn to live with the demands of the chiefs, the captains, and his own fears for him to gain what he most desires.

The main plot of the story is actually the biggest spoiler of them all now that I think about it. So in a sense, the funny spoiler in the intro was actually a spoiler. The plot is the story of the Ideka Inn Affair in 1864 when the Shinsengumi foil a plot by Choushu rebels who want to burn down Kyoto in order to over throw the emperor. As well known in Japan as say the Untouchables are in the U.S., the story of the Ikeda Inn and the Shinsengumi are extremely famous and so for the Japanese the plot of the show was really the back burner.

This concept threw me for a loop because for the whole time I was watching it I was wondering where the plot was. Had I known the Japanese knew the story pretty well to begin with I would have focused more on the characters in the story. But what will be will be. The historical accuracy of the show is actually pretty good. All the major players in the affair were present and their fates were shown to full detail. Of course, there were many liberties taken with the personalities of the characters and some plot elements but for the most part, the story and characters are close to history.

As a histories major (lol ¯\(º_o)/¯), I love seeing historical figures brought to life and Kurogane delivered. As the wikipedia articles on all the figures were stuffy and boring, I felt like I got to know Okita Souji and the other famous people pretty well. I know they probably were not like how they were depicted but watching how the Japanese currently view their heros of old made me feel pretty good. They haven’t yet lost the sense of honor that we here in the States have. The swordsmanship shown is also really great. No one has any special sword move that is insanely impossible. In fact, without the nutty lord saga, there is no magic or super power in the show at all. Its all just talent and hard work.

At any rate, the show itself is very good. The characters all have depth that extends beyond the reach of the show (btw, while bishis without a doubt, they are not gay. Men cried and relied on eachother back then). The plot is interesting. But the best part I think is Tetsu-kun’s personal growth within the Shinsengumi and his learning to face his fears and grow without changing his core values. The group itself changes in face of a great loss in the middle of the show and shows what true loyalty to friends and relatives is all about. Tetsu’s ability to face his fears finally and the group’s maturing as a whole is really the point of the show more than the historical raid on the Inn.

Of course, the show had a few down sides. There were extraneous plot elements that didn’t really add anything to the show and took up time. The magical lord is the main one. There was no real reason for the side story other than to take up time. The second was the dangling plot thread at the end with Suzu. I don’t want to give much away since Suzu is a purely fictional character, but they left his story up in the air.

Overall, Peace Maker Kurogane is a very well made show thats historical and believable. The characters all show their humanity in differing and refreshing ways. Despite the extraneous plot points, this show earns a solid 4 out of 5 stars.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Mai-HiME is the story of boobs with super powers attached to girls who goto a school. Really though, its about a girl named Mai who transfers to Fuka Academy with her sickly brother on a scholarship and finds herself part of a select few girls at the school who are endowed with incredible power. She finds she is a HiME, a girl blessed by the red star only they can see with the power to defeat the Orphan, creatures from another world who have invaded the earth. Mai has to come to terms with her new power and how it affects her relationships with the people she cares about most.

From a plot perspective, Mai-HiME is kind of lacking. The premise certainly isn’t new and the elements of the show have been done before. It took me about 7 episodes to finally discern a plot beyond “you have powers, fight these creatures.” However, the character building that takes place in the first half comes to bear in the second plot arc: the carnival. While not spoiling anything for anyone, the carnival is pretty much where the plot actually starts to come out. Plot twists abound during this period and while I was able to spot most of them before they happened, there were several that caught me off guard. The love story aspect of the show did enhance the plot to some extent, especially for the carnival, but I did thing that there ended up being too much love drama and tension that kept the show from moving on beyond what it was giving us.

The comedy of the show is basically two things: eechi and tsundere. The first half of the show has a lot of the former. There are boob jokes everywhere and one episode is entirely devoted to the humor of underwear. The second element, tsundere, is exhibited mainly by Mai and another HiME, Natsuki. The latter is probably more tsundere and most certainly is more enjoyable to watch than Mai but both of them have their moments of being the funniest bit of the show.

The characters were pretty good. While they were all girls and I couldnt really relate to them, as most had a girly attitude towards fighting, I was able to bond to some of them through empathy. Out of the bunch, I think Natsuki was the most likable despite her initial persona. Mai was too wishy-washy for my liking, but during the carnival I think her character development grew at a rapid pace and was much more believable than other’s reactions. Certainly all the characters had some form of development, but mostly it seemed like a stereotypical transformation: loner to friend, weak to strong, undecided to decided.

That all being said, the show had some big drawbacks. First, the show had a lot plot elements that were never explained fully. While the mystery of what an HiME is was good at first, even the explanation in the second arc of what they truly are didn’t satisfy all the questions raised during the first arc. Second, there was some pretty inexplicable Deus Ex Machina used at the end of both arcs. I don’t mind it so much except when there is absolutely no explanation for how or why someone died or didn’t die, but doing like they did left a sour taste. Finally, the plot, for me anyway, foreshadowed enough that I was able to tell a few episodes beforehand when things would happen. I guess thats to be expected, but for a show known for plot twists and on edge action, it wasn’t all that spectacular to be able to see the result before it occurred.

Regardless, Mai-HiME was fun to watch and raised some interesting questions in me such as “What do you truly want?” I was able to laugh quite a bit as well as have some action while I was at it. There were plenty of pretty women and a plot that gave just enough depth to keep me interested. Despite the qualms I had with the story and characters, the show was good enough to earn it a 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Gungrave is a tale of bloodshed. It follows the lives of Brandon Heat and Harry MacDowel, childhood friends, as they move through life in the big city’s underworld. Beginning from when they were part of a small time street gang the story tracks their progress as they rise to the top of the mafia syndicate. Along the way, they leave bodies, friends, and bodies of friends in a world where betrayal means death and loyalty means life.

As simplistic as the plot seems, the story is actually a very well made one. The very first episode you are shown the same events as you will later see in episode 18. However, all you are told is how things will turn out later. You are introduced to Beyond the Grave, a beast of a man, who has inhuman strength and who, according to a doctor you meat, used to be named Brandon Heat. You meet Mika, who’s mother was killed by someone named Harry. All you know is Harry killed Mika’s mother, Maria, and that some time in the past, Brandon betrayed harry.

Starting with the second episode, the series flashes back to 20 years prior and the rest of the series is from that point to back to where we see the same events in 18 to the end. You see how Brandon and Harry were best friends and how their lives were shaped and molded by the syndicate. By the time you get back to 18, its like seeing it from a completely different angle. The power of Gungrave is in the way you don’t relate to any character, but in the way the characters are completely washed in a fate of blood and their own making. Sympathy, pity, whatever you want to call it is where Gungrave shines.

Even though the story is about mobsters and everyone killing everyone else without a second though, you see how the Japanese sense of mafia, even of loyalty, is different from ours. The syndicate becomes their family and underlings are so loyal to their “Aniki” that they are willing to die for, and even be killed by, their superior. There is an unquestionable sense of family for these (as we would put it) scum. Discounting the crime aspect, you do get to witness, for once, a definite sense of what the Japanese consider to be true male friendship. Not a sense of “buddy” but a sense of “brother”. Regardless your stance on the mob, its hard to say that these men do not have a true sense of what it means to stay true to each other.

I would love to say more about the show, but as the plot is so simple and the story is all about how all the characters’ lives and deaths impact all the others’, saying too much would give away crucial developments that would lessen the effect of the show. Suffice to say, the show is not for the fain of heart. People die left and right. There is never a time in the whole show where I laughed or chuckled. You will occasionally smile when good things happen to the characters or when they have a revelation that you knew they should have had long ago. However, this anime is one of the most heavy shows I’ve come across. Do not watch this for mere entertainment.

Overall, Gungrave made me wonder if there was anyone I had ever betrayed. Having been betrayed myself and having lost people I hold dear in the past, I could empathize with several characters at some points. I was genuinely distressed when characters I had watch grow up over multiple episodes die like they did. I cheered for Harry and Brandon’s rise to power despite knowing from episode 1 how it would turn out. The whole experience was heavy, but good. Because of this, Gungrave gets 4 out of 5 stars.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars