Due to creative disagreements and eventual fallout with AIC, Artmic & Kenichi Sonoda, Riding Bean unfortunately was cancelled just before it could fully become a proper anime series. However by the beginning of the 1990’s Sonoda had begun work on his manga, by taking elements and a few characters from Riding Bean and putting them in a different series that luckily managed to have a bit of a success and a longer life to it . Gunsmith Cats takes the masculine, testosterone filled, short-lived journey of Riding Bean and channels abit of femininity into it with a different and enjoyable result and with its 3 episode OVA it really had potential to be something.
The manga ran from 1991 to 1997 continuing on with a sequel, Gunsmith Cats BURST that ran from 2004 to 2008. The story focuses on the adventures of Bounty Hunter, Rally Vincent (now 19 years old) as she runs her titular gun store, assisted by her housemate, former prostitute "Minnie" May Hopkins as we see them trace the Chicago underground dealing with everything from bounty hunting to taking on the Italian mafia, the adventures are some of the most explosive and enjoyable in an action manga involving guns in America’s windy city.
The OVA manages to capture those elements telling 3 separate stories that are connected well each other.
Episode 1: "Neutral Zone" - focuses on Rally, May and informant/friend Becky Farrah as they investigate what an illegal gun smuggling operation run by Jonathan Washington.
Episode 2: "Swing High!"- picks up where we see Ex-KGB agent turned contract killer Natasha Radinov as she hunts down John Washington while the girls continue to investigate more about the Gun shipment in Michigan.
Episode 3: "High Speed Edge" – Focuses on a conspiracy involving the guns smuggling, Illinois state senator Edward Haints and a final showdown with Radinov and Rally Vincent.
Episode 1: "Neutral Zone" - focuses on Rally, May and informant/friend Becky Farrah as they investigate what an illegal gun smuggling operation run by Jonathan Washington.
Episode 2: "Swing High!"- picks up where we see Ex-KGB agent turned contract killer Natasha Radinov as she hunts down John Washington while the girls continue to investigate more about the Gun shipment in Michigan.
Episode 3: "High Speed Edge" – Focuses on a conspiracy involving the guns smuggling, Illinois state senator Edward Haints and a final showdown with Radinov and Rally Vincent.
The characters for Gunsmith Cats are really what sell this story and make this such an enjoyable ride. Rally Vincent, a much different version of the character than when we last saw her in Riding Bean is a little younger, of mixed ethnic background being both British and Indian and heavily into guns and an excellent marksman is a rather likable and fun protagonist. Armed with a strong moral sense of right and wrong she manages to come out of this story acting as the no-nonsense leader while still having some fun. "Minnie" May Hopkins is both mischievously cheerful and also equipped with a short temper, having as much fun as she can setting off explosives recklessly and managing irritate Rally in the process. Additional characters like Becky Farrah while not being too heavily involved in the action most of the time act as a good main source of information for the Gunsmith Cats such as finding missing persons.
Characters made only for the OVA are good to have as allies & enemies for the main protagonists such as A.T.F agent William "Bill" Collins, who comes across as a sleazy, nosy government agent who fancies himself as a modern Elliot Ness but manages to end up being very likable with a heart of gold and characters Natasha Radinov, who while not being very well developed have a long history of being involved with the K.G.B. and Spetsnaz and at times comes across as ruthless, sadistic at times and determined and acts as quite a force to be reckoned with.
Production for the OVA is just as good and manages to stand next to Riding Bean in how much went into making this look as authentic as it possibly could. Directed by Takeshi Mori (Vandread, Otaku no Video, Skull Man) and animated by Studio OLM, Inc. (Pokemon, Berserk, Guyver: The Bioboost Armor) Gunsmith Cats does a spot on job with getting the look of Chicago down accurately, much of the production relied heavily on photographers getting shots of the city both up and downtown as well as some of Chicago’s police academies and gun shops. Accompanied with Kenichi Sonoda’s love of Guns and Cars, each weapon and vehicle is carefully designed to match the specification of what goes on and how it’s used. Such as the Shelby Cobra GT500, a car that was originally used by the character of Percy in Riding Bean now driven by Rally Vincent specifically due to how cars in chase films from the 70’s were always Ford Mustangs. While the violence isn’t as over the top and inaccurate to physics as Riding Bean was or even the manga adaptation Gunsmith Cats manages to go all out with it’s gun fights and car chases, the action set pieces are carefully planned out due to the intense amount of research gone into the production, even when the action is slowed down to a level of intensity the moments begin to capture a small amount of neo-noir in parts. So everything about the production here is solid as can be.
For the Audio, everything is a 10/10 with a few niggles. For the score you have former drummer of the band Weather Report, Peter Erskine providing the music and what’s put out here is rather good but at times can be a little flat. When the action scenes kick in the music really does a good job at keeping with the beat and manages to slow down just fine when the characters are just having time to recuperate, but if anything the score feels just a little incomplete and at times feels overshadowed by how Riding Bean’s soundtrack was able to be both a pounding and upbeat score accompanied with some excellent lyrical insert songs. So this score feels as though it’s on a second tier compared to its predecessor, however the opening song really fires you up and drops you into the mood with its upbeat jazz tempo and exciting rhythm. Another part of the audio that makes this stand out is the well put together sound design done by Brian Risner, a veteran who’s been involved in works such as Army of Darkness to Liar Liar etc. Risner’s sound design makes everything in this feel as though it’s real, when you hear a car start up you can tell it’s a car start up, when you hear a gun being fired and cocked back you can honestly tell that it’s a gun being fired and cocked back. So it’s amazing how real and authentic a great deal of what’s being used is here is.
The English Dub by ADV films is perfectly casted and not a single degree of talent is wasted in here. Amanda Winn-Lee does a great job with playing Rally Vincent and brings an energetic as well as lively persona to the character compared to what Brennan MacKenzie did in Ridng Bean, but what Amanda does well here is just bring something different to character mostly because of how she has been re-written but does it flawlessly, no-nonsense at times but still managing to have fun. Kimberly Yates as Minnie May plays the character just exactly as she is written, mischievous and cheeky armed with a temper and still you find her likable, along with talents like Tiffany Grant as Becky Farrah she comes across as worked up by the antics the Gunsmith Cats put her through and still manages to give a solid performance.
Rob Mungle plays Bill Collins spot on, a sleazy guy with a heart of gold and makes the character believable and adds weight to what’s there. Marcy Rae who would later end up being type casted as the grandmother or parent in later titles in Anime does a nice job at playing Natasha Radinov, both intimidating and threatening and just to add some length of threat to her character she also does a pretty good Russian accent that while it may come across as silly at times can work when it wants to.
Additional talents such as Brett Weaver, Aaron Krohn, Allison Keith, Matt Greenfield etc each provide something good to leave behind throughout this as well.
Rob Mungle plays Bill Collins spot on, a sleazy guy with a heart of gold and makes the character believable and adds weight to what’s there. Marcy Rae who would later end up being type casted as the grandmother or parent in later titles in Anime does a nice job at playing Natasha Radinov, both intimidating and threatening and just to add some length of threat to her character she also does a pretty good Russian accent that while it may come across as silly at times can work when it wants to.
Additional talents such as Brett Weaver, Aaron Krohn, Allison Keith, Matt Greenfield etc each provide something good to leave behind throughout this as well.
Overall while the OVA of Gunsmith Cats is a fun and enjoyable little series, The only negative that I feel towards this series as a whole is that it’s just too short. The groundwork for this has been laid out perfectly, the characters are fun and likeable and the story is engaging and worth following and the amount of passion and attention to detail gone into this as with Riding Bean feels like it doesn’t live up to what it could a promising series, this is the kind of story that really can and should be right for adapting to TV. But as with everything else this is a series that’s been overlooked through the years and worth picking out and watching as there is so much here to offer.
This is a series worth checking out, it's too good to be ignored and it's presence in the Anime industry feels underappreciated.
Highly Recommend.
This is a series worth checking out, it's too good to be ignored and it's presence in the Anime industry feels underappreciated.
Highly Recommend.
Sami Sadek is a lifelong Transformers and Anime fan, and can often be found propping up bars or appearing in the background of Auto Assembly vids. He has also talks on Youtube, Tweets on Twitter, doodles on Deviantart and is a regular co-host on this very site's Cyberritz. He has never had a swordfight atop a church whilst a crow watches. Honest.
