Gungrave – Beyond The Grave (Animé TV V.
1)
Picture: B
Sound: A Extras: B- Episodes: B (C for the first one, but an
A- for 2-4)
The first episode of Gungrave, I have to admit, didn’t impress me much. The main character was a dark, ambiguous
anti-hero with cool hair and a long trench coat, in an outfit hearkening back
to the old west, who wielded two guns, one light, one dark. I’d never seen that in an anime before. Or
two or three.
The episode proceeded to include two drawn-out gunfight
scenes, both with very little explanation, but ample shots of mysterious
chalk-white bad guys shattering like glass.
There was also a cryptic scientist and a weepy woman who’d lost her
mother to the mob – what mob? Some
mob. Several characters seem to go out
of their way to mention it, only to change the subject away from it again. If a viewer is very attentive, they might be
able to piece together the characters’ convoluted connections. A man formerly known as Brandon Heat is now
called by the unlikely name of Beyond the Grave, and it’s roundly hinted
that he’s been raised from the dead. Or
maybe just something like dead. The
woman’s mother knew him, and with her dying words, sent her daughter to him. A man named Bloody Harry, who personally
killed the mother, also used to be friends with Brandon Heat. Now, Harry wants him dead. Supposedly, Brandon betrayed Harry in some
way, years ago. And there’s still that
cryptic scientist, who remains unexplained.
The main point of the first episode seemed to be to shroud
every possible person, thing, or past event in mystery. The only problem is, there’s so much
mystery, there’s almost no concrete plot to go on. Who is this man named Brandon Heat? What’s his connection to the mob? What’s the mob’s connection to the whole show? What was the connection between Brandon Heat
and Bloody Harry, now head of the mafia?
Did the woman’s mother die years ago, or just last week? Why are the mob’s lackeys a bunch of
monstrous white creatures? The DVD case
claims that they’re undead, but no one in the show has actually called them
that yet. Instead, they’re referred to
as “Orgmen.” The scientist claims that
Brandon, once awakened, will be controlled by the past, but doesn’t
elaborate. Does his past involve killing
zombies? Why is anyone attacking
anyone? Why on earth was Brandon
brought back from the dead – or whatever they actually revived him from? With so many unanswered questions, the show
starts to feel like it consists solely of a man in a long coat, posing with his
guns.
However, my opinion turned around during the following
episodes. Suddenly, Gungrave became an entirely
different show. The first episode of Gungrave looked like the results
of Trigun, Hellsing, and Cowboy Bebop all thrown together. The second, third, and fourth episodes had a
more solidly Bebop feel
to them, but took on a life all their own.
In the second episode, we go back in time to the days of
Brandon Heat’s youth. He’s a small-time
criminal, one of a gang of street punks who stick together like glue. Harry, another boy in the gang, seems to be
its unofficial leader, and Brandon’s best friend. What follows is a well-paced tale of their delinquent lives. The characters are fleshed out, as well as
their situation – bored, angry kids in a crime-ridden city, where death has
become a matter of course. Suddenly
they’re forced to face the death of one of their own members. Other things happen, and they find
themselves in over their heads, with nowhere to turn. It’s everything that Cowboy
Bebop fans wanted to know about Spike and Vicious’ past, but were
never treated to. We can see the
friendship between Harry and Brandon grow and deepen, even while we know that
sometime in the future, they’re going to turn on one another. The intrigues between various criminal
factions, too, are compelling.
For once, an anime DVD goes all the way with sound. If you’re up for shoot-outs in the round,
the Gungrave DVD has a Japanese soundtrack in DTS
5.1. The DVD also has some pretty
decent special features, including a concept art gallery that would be
especially helpful to anyone planning a costume of one of Gungrave’s characters. Plus, it has the option of watching textless
opening and closing credits – not to be underestimated, given the gorgeous
animation of the opening sequence. The
cel-animated, curling gunsmoke is particularly impressive.
The English dub is very true to the Japanese, with only a
few tweaks for ease in delivery.
However, it follows the bizarre daytime TV trend of substituting
“destroy” for “kill,” and somewhat obscures the plot by constantly saying “the
organization” instead of “the mafia.”
While it has the common dub trait of “we’re talking too fast so all our
dialogue will fit,” the voices are well-matched to the character designs, and
the acting is on a par with the best of TV anime dubs. As an added bonus, for those without DTS
surround sound capacity, the English track is in Dolby Digital 5.1, and comes
out clearer and crisper than the 2.0 Japanese.
So far, Gungrave
is entertaining, and well-made, but inconsistent. The first episode is muddled and unoriginal, but the later
episodes show a world of promise. The
later episodes also have more cel animation, while the first episode overdoses
on computer graphics and effects. The
show has yet to flash forward again, to the time when Beyond the Grave
is fighting undead, and the fantasy aspects of the first episode don’t mesh
very well with the crooks-and-mafia story that dominates episodes 2-4. I’m curious to see how and when the
transition from realism to fantasy actually takes place.
- Anne Moffa
