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