Archive for the Gunsmith Cats Category


Yuri Manga: Gunsmith Cats Burst, Volume 5 (English)

May 17th, 2010

Gunsmith Cats: Burst Volume 5Last year, I was so very pleased to review the final volume of Gunsmith Cats Burst. Now, just a little bit over a year later, it’s my double pleasure to read and review the final volume of Gunsmith Cats Burst in English!

My belief that this was the end that GSC deserved has not changed. The story has a little bit of everything that made GSC a classic series – one that actually stood the test of a few decades of time. Guns, car chases, sexy women…none of this goes out of style.

For this English-language version, Dark Horse provides the kind of work we expect from them – great reproduction, good quality pages, solid translation.

So what is there to say about the English edition that I did not about the Japanese? This. Sean Gaffney asked me to talk about the drug Goldie is selling. It enhances people’s susceptibility to “persuasion.” It’s not a brainwashing drug, just one that makes it easy to convince people to see your point of view, especially when it fits their already preconceived beliefs.

Some of you may not know this but I work in the pharmaceutical industry and I thought I’d tell you that there is *already* a pill like this. In fact, I smiled through the entire book knowing *exactly* what Goldie is pushing. You know what it’s called? It’s called…a placebo. No, seriously. If I give you a pill and tell you that it’s going to make you relaxed (or tense or hot or full or whatever) chances are, your brain (which is no doubt a finely honed instrument, capable of great feats of imagination) will immediately set you to feeling just that way.

Don’t believe me? Let’s do a little experiment.

Imagine that you are outside in the cold. It’s cold and dry and you enter your home and are greeted with a blast of cinnamon-flavored warmth. Someone is baking in the kitchen. Perhaps it’s cinnamon bread or muffins. You walk into the kitchen where the air is redolent with the smell. You open the oven door and a puff of warm air hits you in the face, and the room is once again filled with the scent of cinnamon.

Now…notice that you are salivating. You are, more than usual just sitting here. (Except for those of you who HATE cinnamon, hah on me.) I know you are, because your mind was imagining eating delicious cinnamon bread and when you do that, you start to salivate.

So, the power to persuade? Give a person a pill or a shot and tell them that it’s going to help them be convinced of your point of view and most people will be *thrilled* to give up their responsibility and let you make the choice for them.

In any case, with May married and in the role of a new mommy, Misty assuaging her desire for Rally with Goldie and Roy moving out to the suburbs, it’s no real shock that Rally decides it’s time to move on.

And now, so can we. With no lingering regrets, the book finally closes on a series that was one of the first to really make an impact here on Western shores.

Farewell Gunsmith Cats – it was loads of fun.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Characters – 9
Story – 9
Yuri – 6
Service – 5

Overall – 9

Today’s review was sponsored by the kindness and generosity of new Okazu Hero Ariella M! Thank you and welcome to the team, Ariella – email me to receive your Okazu Hero badge for proud display on websites and social media profiles. ^_^





Gunsmith Cats Burst, Volume 4 (English)

November 14th, 2009

GSCB4What were you doing in 1996?

I was working in an ad agency, studying Martial Arts, and was just about a year away from diving head first over a cliff into the chasm of anime and manga that would ultimately take over my life.

Rally Vincent was already neck-deep in crazy cases as a bounty hunter with her partner May and their researcher Becky. And, in 1996 or so, she met the Evil, Psycho Lesbian mafia donna, Goldie Musso.

13 years later, in Gunsmith Cats Burst Volume 4, Rally is not older, although she is much wiser. And she is doing the same thing she was then – bounty hunting.

In the course of a case, even though she is certain that Goldie is dead, Rally sees her. And in a sense, Goldie’s henchman later assures her, Goldie is dead. She has no memory. Dennis begs Rally to help Goldie regain her memory and, after much shooting and many deaths, she does just that. In a close one-on-one fight, Rally breaks through the barriers Goldie’s own mind had erected, to awaken her memories.

In the chaos, Rally loses contact with Misty. Although Becky is really concerned about that, for some reason, Rally is less so, sure of the thief’s ability to land on her own two feet.

This will all set up the final, fabulous end to Gunsmith Cats Burst.

It was not quite two years ago that I first got my hands on this volume in Japanese. I’m even more thrilled to read it in English, if only because I long for excruciating details of guns and cars. (No, not really. It’s just easier than reading kanji, duh.)

And once again I’m thrilled to the point of squealing that you get to watch heads blown off all so Rally can be the most important person in Goldie’s life – again. Poor Misty. Hell, poor Dennis.

In any case, this penultimate volume is *exactly* what one looks for from Gunsmith Cats. And the end, when it comes, will be just right this time around. See you once more, in Volume 5. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Characters – 8
Story – 8
Yuri – 3
Service – 5

Overall – 8

These good times brought to you by Okazu Superhero Bruce McF! Thanks for sponsoring today’s review and letting us relive the madness all over again.





Yuri Manga: Gunsmith Cats Burst, Volume 5

February 4th, 2009

Finally, the ending that Gunsmith Cats always deserved.

**Warning: This review is one big spoiler, so don’t read it if you don’t want to know how the series ends.**

In Volume 4 of GSC Burst, we were treated to the return of Goldie Musou, Mafia boss and one of my personal favorite Evil Psycho Lesbians. After many gunshots, chases, hand grenades and other typical mayhem, Goldie regained her memory, which had been lost (a decade ago our time) after she had had her own drug administered to her in large, brain-killing quantities.

In Volume 5, some time has passed and Rally is wrapping up a few things, as she prepares to close Gunsmith Cats and leave Chicago. May and Ken are just returning from a honeymoon in Japan. Loli fans will be pleased to wallow in a chapter where May tries on many stereotypical cosplay outfits, as long as they don’t think about why she has them in the first place.

Rally hasn’t heard from Misty – except through a short, tense message from Roy, in which the former thief expressed her desire to not see Rally for a while. While out in town, Rally accidentally sees Misty, who consents to at least talk to her. Misty explains that she’s living with Goldie now. Rally’s asbolutely horrified, sure that Misty is being brainwashed, but she says no, it’s honestly her own choice.

We see that Misty, Goldie and Goldie’s maid – with whom Misty had struck up a pretty friendly sort of relationship in Volume 4 – are living together in a cheerful threesome. Misty’s big issue is her concern that Goldie might be using her as a replacement for Rally. Despite Goldie’s insistence that Misty is Misty, her fears are confirmed when she finds a secret room in Goldie’s mansion that is clearly a shrine to the bounty hunter.

Becky obtains some information that leads her to believe that Goldie is selling a powerful new drug. Rally and May decide to rescue Misty, despite the former thief showing up and telling them flat out that that she does not need – or want – to be rescued. A lot of running around goes on – utimately we learn that yes, Goldie is selling a new drug, it is not terribly harmful and may actually be beneficial and honest-to-god, Misty is with Goldie by choice. (There’s also some Bean Bandit stuff going on through all this, but he bores me, so I am skipping it. Here’s the synopsis: Bean drives, car chase, guns, someone throwing up, bad guys lose, Bean’s chin remains pointy.)

May consults with the madam at her former brothel, who explains that Misty is an adult and they should butt out. May thinks back on everything she knows about Misty and realizes that they’ve know since the beginning that she’s a lesbian, and if you think about it, this really is none of their business.

Rally gives up trying to rescue Misty, who calls and asks if Rally will meet her. They go out to dinner, where Misty says that she was worried about Goldie’s feelings. Rally asks, aren’t you doing the same thing – using Goldie as a replacement for me? Misty agrees that she is, and has come to a place of balance with herself about it. She really, honestly loved Rally and wanted her, but Rally was never interested. So, she has Goldie and she’s pretty happy with that – after all, Goldie is a powerful leader, filthy rich and a good lover. And, she admits, she’s a thief, from a long line of criminals. Being at Goldie’s side isn’t a bad fit for her.

As she and Rally part, Misty asks for one favor, which Rally correctly guesses is a goodbye kiss. (It is made very plain in this book that Rally, despite what most fans have assumed, has never been clueless about Misty’s feelings.) She and Misty kiss for three pages – Rally even goes so far as to grope her ass a bit (maybe just getting a better grip? ^_^) It was a hell of a goodbye kiss. They part with a wave and a wish for the best.

The epilogue shows us Goldie, still a Mafia don, and Misty, living together. May and Ken with a child, Roy moved up to a nice position in a pleasant part of town; Becky has switched her info skills to the more lucrative world of finance and nothing at all changes with Bean.

Rally packs her bag and heads off to parts unknown to work on her shooting/people hunting skills, maybe to return to Chicago one day.

The End.

I could not have asked for better.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Characters – 9
Story – 9
Yuri – 6
Service – 5

Overall – 9

I think we can safely put the period on this series. But my hat’s off to Sonoda for allowing us a glimpse of what we’ve always known about Rally and for Misty and Goldie together as an actual lesbian couple.

Here’s a toast to the recovery of the economy and to Dark Horse eventually putting out Volumes 4 and 5 in English.

And thanks to Nettogrof for pointing out that the flag that was puzzling me in the manga is the flag of the City of Chicago.





Gunsmith Cats Burst Manga, Volume 4

January 28th, 2008

I know I’ve said it before, but I adore evil, psychotic lesbians. Maybe because most real lesbians are so damn *bland* and want to “help” and for people to “be nice.” Makes me want to spit. Pah. No, give me a EPL with a weapon and no morals, and I’m a happy Erica.

So, when I saw the cover of Gunsmith Cats Burst Volume 4, I leapt (gracefully, of course) across the store shouting, “Wahoo! Goldie! Yippee!” or something equally as befitting my status as an adult.

In GSC 4, Rally is approached by Dennis – you remember Dennis, don’t you? Goldie’s devoted henchman? Dennis has a problem and he thinks that Rally may well be the only one to help him with it. If you recall, when Goldie died so tragically, so young, she had been injected with her own ridiculous drug. And of course, she didn’t *really* die. She and Dennis just plunged off a unfinished road into the water. But we didn’t ever see the bodies – so you know what means in manga-land. No bodies – no deaths. And even if you see the bodies, they probably still aren’t dead.

So Goldie is alive, but has no memory. And Dennis thinks that Rally, as the person who most captivated Goldie’s thoughts, the person she obsessed about, would be the one person who could stimulate those memories. And stimulate is exactly the right word. Anyone who read the original volume of GSC will remember that a huge chunk of Goldie’s time was taken up by turning Rally into an obedient sex slave.

Of course nothing is simple, and while Goldie is hosting Rally and Misty, another group of gun-bearing thugs attack. Lots of shooting and explosions and Misty running around pantsless and other important things happen.

Does Goldie get her memory back? What do you think? Those were some good memories…  ^_^

Goldie gets her freak back on, and Dennis continues to be devoted and…the end.

Yuri is mostly recovered memories, but there is one cute maid that Misty hits up (with positive results until a grenade sort of puts a buzzkill on that.) And of course both Goldie and Rally’s memories of those good times they had in the past. But, now that Goldie’s back in the saddle, I can hope that some day she’ll return to kidnap and drug Rally again. In the meantime, when Dark Horse gets this volume out in English, get it!

Ratings:

Art – 8
Characters – 8
Story – 8
Yuri – 3 Good times, good times.
Service – 5

Overall – 8

Goldie’s back! Yay!!





Yuri News This Week – November 1, 2008

January 1st, 2008

Yuri Events

As you read this, I am at MangaNEXT along with a bunch of the Yuricon staff, Rica Takashima and a host of awesome con guests!

Here is my Panel schedule for MangaNEXT:

Friday – 7PM – Writing for Manga

Saturday – 2PM – Yuri Panel
6PM – 10 Steps to Impressing a Publisher

There’s loads of other great stuff, too. Mari Morimoto will be discussing Gay Manga 101 on Friday, and the Manga Library will be hosting a Book Club discussion of Rica’s works on Sunday. In between there’s tons of stuff for fans of every genre, so I really hope you’ll pop by to say hi and stay for the great panels and people.

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Yuri Manga

Okay, the news is out, at last. Sometime last spring I learned that Tokyopop licensed Yamaji Ebine’s Love My Life, but was asked to not say anything. Well thanks to Amazon’s advance listings, I no longer have to take the rap for being the leak. Hah.

Probably no one cares about this but Amuria in Star Ocean, which had tons of almost-but-not-really-Yuri ends its run in the December issue of Dengeki Daioh.

Nakamura Ching, creator of Gunjou, wrote me to say that she’s getting a lot of overseas requests on how to purchase copies of Morning 2 magazine. Because she’s a really lovely person, she’s gone and created a guide to purchasing back issues from Kodansha’s website. It’s a step-by-step process, with key things translated into English for your benefit! She’s asked me to pass on the information that back issues that contain chapters 1-3 of Gunjou are no longer available, but chapter 4~ are. I seriously think we need to thank her for that effort – it’s completely above and beyond the call of duty, don’t you?

Sean writes in to tell us that Gunsmith Cats Burst is coming to an end in Japan. And the most recent chapter includes a kiss between Misty and Rally. A kiss that is lovingly detailed over *3* pages. It’s a damn good kiss, I have to say. lol Sadly for Misty x Rally fans, it’s a good-bye kiss. But all I have to say is “I knew it!” (That’s sort of a joke, based off my recent GSC fanfic. Just saying. lol)

For Aria and Aqua fans, Amano Kozue has announced a new manga series to begin in March, called Amanchu. The art has two girls, so undoubtedly there will be fans who see it as Yuri. :-)

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Yuri Anime

Once more Crunchyroll offer free, legal streaming Yuri-ish suff. This time Toei announces, among other things, streaming piles of PreCure. :-)

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Other News

I just wanted to take a moment to thank three gentlemen for their kindness and friendship. 828-san, Yuki-san and Komatsu-san. Komatsu-san, particularly, sent me a huge pile of books, all of which I will review here (including the surprisingly Yuri PreCure manga.)

All three have sent me beautful art and/or books and all three offer support to both myself and to Yuri-dom at large. Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart.

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Another Yuri-ful week. How cool is that?