Nobuhiro Watsuki's Rurouni Kenshin is regarded as a classic in the genre, so much so that his next work would naturally struggle to escape its predecessor's shadow. Unfortunately, Gun Blaze West falls far short of the bar, as a mediocre and short-lived cowboy series.
The plot is about a pirate named Luffy... I mean cowboy named Viu Bannes. Viu, influenced by his friend and mentor Red-Hair Shanks- er, Marcus Homer, decides to search for the One Piece- or rather, Gun Blaze West, the promised land for adventurous cowboys. The premise isn't terribly original, and inevitably inspires comparisons to One Piece. Of course, the two are like night and day in other regards- One Piece is one of the longest-running shonen battle series with some of the best worldbuilding in the genre, while Gun Blaze West ended as it was getting started.
The cast isn't terribly deep. Viu is a bog-standard Idiot Hero who tends to solve problems through sheer determination and occasional thinking outside the box, and none of his companions are much more interesting, although that could be because the series didn't have much time for Character Development.
The battles are reasonably entertaining and have a good amount of variety. Not only are there standard gun battles, but the climax of the series features a Cyborg fighting a knight with a jetpack. One only can imagine what the series would have included had it gone on for longer.
Perhaps the greatest problem with this manga, as well as what causes(or at least exacerbates) most of the other flaws, is that it ends too soon. The series lasts 28 chapters, collected in three tankobon volumes, and concludes just as the protagonists begin the real journey to Gun Blaze West. Neither the plot threads nor the characters' arcs achieve anything resembling a resolution. The story ends with a somewhat surprising twist regarding a certain character's fate but doesn't have time to do anything with it.
I understand that Watsuki had some personal problems, and the series was cancelled, but that doesn't make the end result any less disappointing. In the end, I can only recommend the series to hardcore Watsuki fans, or people who want a quick shonen fix and don't have the time for a longer series.
Manga Ended Too Soon
Nobuhiro Watsuki's Rurouni Kenshin is regarded as a classic in the genre, so much so that his next work would naturally struggle to escape its predecessor's shadow. Unfortunately, Gun Blaze West falls far short of the bar, as a mediocre and short-lived cowboy series.
The plot is about a pirate named Luffy... I mean cowboy named Viu Bannes. Viu, influenced by his friend and mentor Red-Hair Shanks- er, Marcus Homer, decides to search for the One Piece- or rather, Gun Blaze West, the promised land for adventurous cowboys. The premise isn't terribly original, and inevitably inspires comparisons to One Piece. Of course, the two are like night and day in other regards- One Piece is one of the longest-running shonen battle series with some of the best worldbuilding in the genre, while Gun Blaze West ended as it was getting started.
The cast isn't terribly deep. Viu is a bog-standard Idiot Hero who tends to solve problems through sheer determination and occasional thinking outside the box, and none of his companions are much more interesting, although that could be because the series didn't have much time for Character Development.
The battles are reasonably entertaining and have a good amount of variety. Not only are there standard gun battles, but the climax of the series features a Cyborg fighting a knight with a jetpack. One only can imagine what the series would have included had it gone on for longer.
Perhaps the greatest problem with this manga, as well as what causes(or at least exacerbates) most of the other flaws, is that it ends too soon. The series lasts 28 chapters, collected in three tankobon volumes, and concludes just as the protagonists begin the real journey to Gun Blaze West. Neither the plot threads nor the characters' arcs achieve anything resembling a resolution. The story ends with a somewhat surprising twist regarding a certain character's fate but doesn't have time to do anything with it.
I understand that Watsuki had some personal problems, and the series was cancelled, but that doesn't make the end result any less disappointing. In the end, I can only recommend the series to hardcore Watsuki fans, or people who want a quick shonen fix and don't have the time for a longer series.