Gungrave

Original Title: ガングレイヴ
Romanized: Gangureibu
Literal: Gungrave

Plot Synopsis

The Millenion (sic) syndicate and its boss Bloody Harry are under attack by a man who looks and fights like Brandon Heat, the syndicate's top "sweeper". A man who was instrumental in the meteoric rise of his partner and childhood friend Bloody Harry in the ranks of the mafia. A man who died 13 years ago, executed as a man who betrayed the family. Appropriately enough, this enemy goes by the name of Grave, as in "Beyond the Grave". Based on the PS2 game of the same name.

Reader Review

Rating: 4 / 5
Reviewer: The M Man
Review Date: 2006-11-15

At first, it's easy to judge Gungrave as your usual super warrior with a vengeance anime, especially given its pedigree as a videogame adaptation and its action packed and somewhat misleading first episode. But it's much more deeper than that as you start watching the second episode and the true essence of the series begins to unravel itself. So keep on watching. Please.

The thing about Gungrave is that its almost two animes in one. Two distinct parts that can be easily told apart. The first episode abruptly puts the viewer in the middle of the action, leaving questions about who Harry and Brandon are and why there's a vendetta between them unanswered for now. The series then spends a good half of the episodes; the first part I was talking about, in what is essentially one big flashback. Taking us back to the beginnings of Harry and Brandon as street hoodlums with hearts of gold and chronicles their rise to the syndicate's highest tiers as its most ruthless, cold blooded and cunning members. Rags to riches, friends for life to bitter enemies. Basically a mob story that comes off as part Godfather and part Goodfellas. And a very good story at that which wonderfully touches on the themes of loyalty and betrayal, unfettered ambition and the guilt at its wake. Like all good mob stories it constantly switches from being touching and sentimental to being brutal and blood soaked. A story that I wouldn't mind seeing as a Sopranos style TV drama series, populated with wonderfully constructed characters that grow believably as the story progresses.

Then the story takes something of a 90 degrees turn as Brandon becomes Grave, the undead assassin with a score to settle. Gungrave then becomes your average clichŽd anime super human slugfest. Somewhat formulaic as Grave hunts down his enemies one by one. This is the part of Gungrave that shouts 'videogame adaptation' the most. You can almost tell who was a level boss during the 10 or so episodes. The wonderful character building that was going on in the first half comes to a screeching halt as the characters mostly become caricatures who serve only as flavor-of-the-week obstacles for our undead hero to remove in action packed ways. For a few episodes, Gungrave becomes more of an action romp than a character-driven drama, with only a few moments here and there dedicated to developing the storyline. Resulting of course in a drastic decrease in the quality of the series story-wise. Its not bad exactly, just very average and very very clichŽd. The series does redeem itself however in the last couple of episodes which go back to the full on story mode of the first half, giving us what is perhaps the series' most touching episodes. A fitting ending to the wonderful story of Gungrave.

Animation wise there's little to find fault with. The character designs are nice and crisp without being over the top. The fight sequences are somewhat short but brutal and always fun to watch. You can tell right away that the game that inspired the anime was in turn inspired by games like Devil May Cry; with plenty of somewhat ridiculous gun poses that you just know some impressionable kid with a pair of plastic guns is going to try to emulate. Some of the non-superpowered fights made me raise an eyebrow here and there, but that's probably because I've been reading up on real guerrilla tactics recently, making me want to shout things like "What's the matter with you idiots? That's not how you stage a motorcade ambush!". But it was only slightly annoying and of course this is anime and suspension of belief and all that jazz. Music wise however apart from the jazzy opening song is pretty much unremarkable and largely forgettable.

Videogame adaptations have a rightly deserved reputation as being at best bland with a few notable exceptions. Apart from a serious hiccup in the otherwise excellent storyline, a relic of its gaming roots, Gungrave manages to be one of those exceptions with flying colors. Just don't let the first episode fool you, it's much more than just a video game adaptation.

US DVD Review

Geneon's DVDs boast of anamorphic widescreen video, Dolby 5.1 audio in both English and Japanese, and by way of extras textless openings and endings plus conceptual art.

Content Guide

This is essentially a mob story. So expect plenty of violence; 16-up.

Violence: 3 - Grave/Brandon is an assassin, and a damn good one. Blood everywhere but not much more gore.

Nudity: 1 - A few swimsuits here and there.

Sex/Mature Themes: 1 - Nothing explicit on stage.

Language: 2 - Well, it is a mob story.

Notes and Trivia

Although it is based on a video game, not a comic, the concept was created by Yasuhiro Nightow, perhaps best known as the original creator of Trigun. The music is by Tsuneo Imahori, who also did the score for Trigun (and the Gungrave game).

Availability

Available in the US from Geneon on bilingual DVD, either 7 individual volumes or a thinpack box set of all 7.

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