Gunsmith Cats - Bulletproof

5 reviews - 18.5 total score (Explanation of the rating system)
avg. score: (3.7)

5. Iodine

This action OAV is a three-part detective story that pits a pair of feisty female gun shop owners against a group of smugglers, after being blackmailed into helping a roguish detective. There's something very bizarre about the portrayal of the heroines here. Despite a fairly realistic setting and matching character designs for all the male members of the cast, Rally Vincent, Minnie May, and their techie pal Becky, look noticeably more caricatured and exaggerated than everyone else, as if pulled from a comedy anime. Even more bizarre is the combination of this aesthetic with the high level of gratuitous fan service in the show, where it's not uncommon to find Rally blasting her way through a shootout in nothing more than her underwear. Though the story is decent, and the girls are all portrayed as strong, smart, and capable, there's still the uncomfortable feeling that the creators felt titllating the viewers was more important than actually entertaining them.

The plot is pretty standard for a late-80s action flick and the art is about the same level, though there are some much appreciated visual details included from the crew's field trip to Chicago. Though ambitious, the OAV simply never manges to hit any high notes, imitating other styles without really capturing them. The snazzy opening credits sequence, for instance, was lifted directly from the older James Bond films. Ultimately it's all very nice to look at, but also pretty shallow and uninvolving.

4. Hybrid

Well if you take a pistol packing vixen named Rally Vincent, and pair her up with the granade happy Minnie May Hopkins, and you added in a wanna be Elliot Ness ATF agent named William Collins, and you added in a female assassion to the mix, well you simply get Gunsmith Cats. Gunsmith Cats is a 3 episode OVA series that is full of thrills, spills and kills. The animation for the show is very detailed and bright, as one might expect from a OVA series. The sound effects of the show are simply stunning, as all of the sounds effects used in this OVA series are taken from their realife counterpart. In conclusion, Gunsmith Cats is a fine OVA series, that is worth adding to your collection.

3. Dreamer

In the crime-driven city of Chicago, the Gunsmith Cats operate. Guns, A.T.F, cars chases and even a Spantez are things to expect upon watching this fine video. The design of the series, architecturally and mechanically, is very accurate. Every gun looks and sound the same and the buildings, streets and cars look so real enough to me. My problem with the show is in the characters design. It looks to me that the two female heroines, Rally Vincent and May Hopkins, doesn't fit the general atmosphere of the whole character design. To explain more, it is like taking a character from a shoujo-style anime and putting it in a serious violent anime. Complaints aside, this is a good guns and shooting anime and does what it aims at almost perfectly. SO if you don't mind the lack of background story and serious character development and you were shooting for something to give you your gun fix, you've found your prey.

2. cron

Thanks Kenichi Sonoda... I'm sorry I frowned upon Bubblegum Crisis. Gunsmith Cats takes place in Chicago with the main characters Rally Vincent and Minnie May and their scattered jobs in the life of bounty hunters. You might have seen Rally before as the character has appeared in the Riding Bean OVA and manga. The series is short with a lack of any character development, a typical episode recipe "A cool 70's influenced intro + Fanservice + Rally + Sonoda's Obsession with guns + Alot of cool shoot-outs = a fun 30 mins". While it's not bad in any sense the episodes lacks any development, but in whole it's enjoyable and fun to watch. I hope another anime series is produced based on the Gunsmith Cats manga.

1. Tempy

Gunsmith Cats is about 2 female bounty hunters in the city of Chicago, Rally Vincent and Minnie May Hopkins. Nicely detailed art combined with cute, but dangerous girls, high speed car chases, gun fights, explosives, and assorted goodies makes this quite an enjoyable ride. Unfortunately there isn't much in the way of character development, and it's just too short. I'll definitely check out the manga now though.