Sonoda KenichiThe unmistakable art style fueled my initial fascination with anime and manga. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, as apple seedsof Masamune Shirow and Akiraof Otomo KatsuhiroSonoda’s bubbly girls, with their giant eyes and gravity-defying hairstyles, epitomize the “look” of anime and manga in the minds of many Western fans. Sonoda’s character design bubblegum crisis and Courage is iconic, so when dark horse When he launched his first major comic series in Western comic shops in 1995, I jumped straight to the first issue, despite not, uh, qualifying for a “mature” age rating. Thankfully, my local comic shop didn’t care, and my parents had no idea what type of comics I was reading. It can be said that gun smith cat A far cry from mainstream British children’s comics Bino Hotel and playboy…
Sonoda claims to be a car and a gun otakuwhich is no more evident than in his 1989 chicagoset crime OVA QidouThe protagonist is a nearly unkillable driver/deliver Bean Bandit who owns his beloved custom Porsche chassis/Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray engine “Road Buster”, and his capable, sharpshooting female assistant Rally Vincent. Although Sonoda is eager to continue further Qidou An adventure in comic book form, he was unable to obtain permission to use the titles or characters he created due to complex copyright issues. He revamped his premise slightly, redesigning Vincent Rally from a blond Caucasian to a dark-haired mixed-race Indian, giving her a gunsmithing business, a side job as a bounty hunter, and a diminutive “bomber-crazy” assistant named Minnie Mae Hopkins. From there, gun smith cat Eventually, they were soon joined by Bean Bandit.
familiar Qidou Definitely not required, but worth seeking out from the Blu-ray animal (USA) or Multidimensional virtual machine (UK) Because it’s a 45-minute B-grade action movie that’s very entertaining. Originally published as 66 separate issues on floppy disk, by: dark horse Until the end of 2001, gun smith cat Nine trade paperbacks were collected along the way. This version is published in a mirror image that reads from left to right, like the vast majority of comics from the 90s. In 2007, a four-volume “unreprinted” revised edition using the same translation was released, reinstating some of the previously censored sexually explicit scenes. It is worth noting that the fourth and final volume specifically contains some previously untranslated material Qidou story. physical copy gun smith cat The revised volume 4 is selling like crazy online right now, so I’m grateful that the entire uncensored, unreprinted series is republished in this new, thick three-volume omnibus edition.
Comprehensive one covers chapters 1-21 (issues 1-22, or the first three volumes), while comprehensive two covers chapters 22-46 (issues 23-47, or volumes four to six and part of volume seven). Since each of the three collections is over 600 pages, its contents are not exactly the same as the previous 450-page revision, but at $30 each, it is by far the most economical and easiest way to experience the entire book. gun smith cat comics. If you like crime dramas with exciting car chases, tense shootouts, and very cute women, then you should definitely do this.
Sonoda’s art remains as clinically clean and draftsman-like precision today as it did in the 1990s, especially his depictions of muscle cars and weaponry. Modern artists might use digital models or altered photographs, but Sonoda’s almost painfully precise line work actually shines. His character designs are as appealing as ever, even if he strips away one or more female characters every few chapters for sometimes unbelievable reasons. There are many examples of full-frontal female nudity, but it doesn’t always happen in a sex scene. Sometimes the girls just shower or change clothes together. Other times, it’s because Lally was attacked by a burglar who grabbed her pants, which inexplicably fell down, leaving her half-undressed to fend off a break-in.
The most controversial part of the story, which has always been a sticking point for readers, is the relationship between Minnie Mae and her “boyfriend” Takeru Takizawa. Minnie Mae ran away from home at age thirteen and almost immediately fell into the trap of child prostitution. During this time, she met Ken, who was about thirty years old at the time. Their relationship was sexual. One of the main plot points of the first volume is the reunion between May and Ken (who are on the run from the mob) and the rekindling of their relationship. When localizing comics for publication in the United States, dark horse Minnie Mae had to be aged up to eighteen, whereas in the original Japanese novel she was only seventeen because she was depicted engaging in explicit sexual activity with older men. Multiple other female characters do criticize teenage Minnie Mae’s relationship with thirtysomething Ken, so their situation isn’t seen as normal, but its prominent inclusivity is a bit off-putting, to say the least.
Additionally, Sonoda does seem to be obsessed with the sexual predator lesbian trope, as starting with Omnibus II, Rally’s main “enemy” is gangster drug dealer Goldie, a gigantic woman obsessed with enslaving, brainwashing, and sexually abusing young girls. Qidou An archetypal version of this character is presented in The Terrible Semmering. Goldie is an effective and appropriately terrifying antagonist, although I wonder if modern audiences might not appreciate her character.
Integrated One begins with a handful of mostly self-contained adventures that set the tone and establish this version of the ’90s chicago19-year-old Rally Vincent has somehow become a respected gunsmith and bounty hunter, and can still afford an extremely expensive Ford Mustang Cobra and a custom-imported CZ 75 pistol. It’s best not to worry about the details, though, because this is a silly but exciting wish-fulfillment fantasy. Rally first clashes with criminal siblings Bonnie and Clyde, then faces an even more powerful enemy in Grey. Whenever she fights an enemy, she usually tries to avoid killing them and just maim them, so each time they come back with less intact body parts than before. It’s funny in a morbid way.
The first omnibus is an excellent introduction, with some spectacular action sequences, expertly arranged and paneled by a master artist who clearly has animation experience, as the action flows smoothly and has a cinematic fluidity. Omnibus II was even more successful than the first, especially when Goldie showed up and the plot became more complex and more serialized. The reformed thief Misty Brown becomes more prominent, as does the Bean Bandit, somewhat diverting Minnie Mae’s attention. I have mixed feelings about this – it means less of her explosive expertise, but also less of her creepy age-gap relationship. Some lengthy car chase sequences almost disappear from the printed page; they’re easily imagined in animated form. Then this is a tragedy gun smith catThe only foray into animation so far is three episodes OVA Back in the mid-1990s.
At times, Sonoda’s love of guns and cars can stray into didactic territory, with characters curious about the details of obscure weapons or engine modifications, which can alienate readers who want to continue the plot, but as the story progresses, this becomes less of an issue. Often, characters’ obsessions influence their life choices in interesting and strange ways – it seems Minnie Mae chose a partner at least partly because he smelled like gunpowder…
There are many reasons why Sonoda gun smith cat It’s constantly being republished, which is why it remains one of my favorite comics of all time. It’s a very entertaining, fast-paced, and often funny story with extraordinary art and iconic characters. They’re a more satisfying way to satisfy one’s love of girls, guns, and cars in these comprehensive, 600+ page books. Since I missed the 2007 revised edition, I’m eagerly awaiting the third and final comprehensive collection, containing all the interesting extra material, which will be published in December.
