Gunsmith Cats

Nineteen-year-old Irene "Rally" Vincent operates the titular "Gunsmith Cats" gun shop but also works as a bounty hunter, which is the impetus behind many of the stories. She is assisted in both activities by her housemate, and former sex worker "Minnie" May Hopkins. Rally is an expert combat shooter and marksman with an array of weapons, as well as a brilliant driver. May is an explosives expert, knowing the inner workings of and many uses of all manner of explosive devices. Teenage ex-burglar and lock-picker Misty Brown later joins the team and there is also Becky Farrah, a top, if expensive, source of information on underworld activity.

Bounty hunting has of course led Rally to make many enemies, most notably Gray, the leader of gangsters whose use of armaments, including bombs, has likened them to terrorists; and Goldie Musou, a leading figure in the Mafia who uses drugs to manipulate people to the point that they can be brainwashed into killing their nearest and dearest. Bean Bandit, a man who specializes in delivering illegal goods, often features as an alternate ally or enemy—depending on the behavior of his clients, most of whom are being hunted by Rally.

After leaving anime production company Artmic to work as a comic artist, Kenichi Sonoda presented some of his story concepts and illustrations to Kodansha. These did not impress the editors but an illustration of two girls caught the attention of one of them, who suggested Sonoda develop a concept for it.[3] Sonoda stated in an interview that the drawing was the genesis for the series.[4] At the time Sonoda did not have any plans for the illustration but decided to expand his Riding Bean concept into a developed story.[3] Due to licensing issues, Sonoda was originally unable to use the Riding Bean concept or character around the time he was creating Gunsmith Cats. However, during the run of the series the rights were returned to him and he added Bean Bandit into the series.[5] Although Sonoda was a fan of the Japanese police drama series Taiyō ni Hoero!, he decided the show did not fit his preferred Western style.[3] The story is influenced by American gun-action movies such as The French Connection and The Blues Brothers.[6]

Sonoda chose the Shelby GT500 as Rally's car after realising that the cars in driving movies from the 70s were often Ford Mustangs. He researched the various models and selected the GT500 because it was the most powerful rather than any attraction to the car itself.[7] When drawing guns, Sonoda would use a combination of magazines and his own replicas.[6]

Character names were taken from American TV shows such as Bewitched and The Fugitive. The character of Minnie-May was the result of a compromise between Sonoda and the publisher.[8]

The series was nominated in the "Best American Adaptation of Foreign material" category of the 1997 Harvey Award.[40]

In Manga: The Complete Guide, Jason Thompson is critical of Sonoda's depiction of women as "thin-hipped plastic toys with pubic hair" and some "frankly pedophilic" plot elements. However, he praises the "skilled storytelling" and describes the English localisation as "excellent".[41]

Mike Crandol of Anime News Network was critical of the final volume Misty's Run, believing the previous volume would have been a better end and the "true climax" to the series. He highlights a lower quality of art in comparison to earlier volumes as a sign that Sonoda may have been losing interest in the series. However he notes that despite this, the story is still "smartly executed and action packed".[5]

Manga Mania described the anime adaptation as "colourful, crazy stuff" and "a highly enjoyable feast".[42] Comparing the manga and anime they noted that despite Sonoda's attention to the cars and weapons in the series, the setting feels more like a generic American town than Chicago. However they praised the attention given to the anime adaptation's more accurate portrayal of the city.[43] In The Anime Encyclopedia, Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy call the adaptation "good fun" and observed the lighthearted approach to the series in comparison to the manga. They believe it deserved a version for TV. However they conclude that the low demand for pulp crime in the 1990s was a problem.[25]

Mike Crandol of Anime News Network was largely positive about the anime adaptation but noted the simplified gunplay compared to the manga. He praised the attention ADV paid to the DVD package compared to their other titles and the quality of the English dub. In summary he called the anime adaptation "an excellent introductory piece of anime" due to the familiarity of the setting for those new to anime and called the adaptation a "solid piece of fun filmmaking".[44] In another review on the Anime News Network, a reviewer praised the series for looking and sounding "like a gritty, grey suburb of modern Chicago," the impressive quality of the anime, action, and artwork.[45] Raphael See of THEM Anime Reviews praised the series for delivering on "much of what its manga predecessor offers," having a "fairly intelligent story, smooth animation, furious action, and continued humor".[46] He only complained that the series is too short, hoping that more will later be in production.

• Gunsmith Cats (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia