Date: 2001
Type: series
Length: 3 vol. (28 chap.)
Availability: Jap, Ger etc
Last updated:
2007 June 28
Author: Kaeli
Gun Blaze West
After the end of Rurouni Kenshin, Watsuki was in a certainly disadvantageous situation. His second series would have to live up to the expectations, which means that it would have to rival one of the most popular Jump manga ever. At the same time, Watsuki was adamant to depart from the serious tone that Rurouni Kenshin had adopted near the end, and wanted to do something different, more upbeat and also more typically shounen.
He chose a wild west setting, but treated the historical backdrop just as casually as he had done with Kenshin, probably more so. He did not have historical accuracy in mind, but an entertaining, action-oriented story, with a simple structure and a positive atmosphere.
Fighting scenes defy the laws of physics in favour for coolness and effect, and who really cares that history books tell us that Jesse James was shot a few years before the story is set?
Viu Bannes is very much a typical shounen manga hero, determined to grow up to be an excellent gunman, very much to his big sister's misery. The siblings' parents were killed years ago, and Cici would very much prefer her little brother to be happy with a peaceful and safe life.
The friendship with Marcus Homer, a rundown but experienced gunman who stumbled into town one day, motivates Viu only further, and gives him a more specific goal:
Gun Blaze West, a legendary place located somewhere far to the west, is now the place of his dreams: only the strong reach it, and only the strongest survive there.
When Viu is fifteen, he considers himself ready and departs towards this place. He does not travel alone for long: Soon he meets Will Johnston, who also dreams of Gun Blaze West, influenced by his late father, whose entire life was dedicated to the search of Gun Blaze West.
Will has spent his years studying and preparing for the search, but is very reluctant to finally leave. Unlike the simple-minded Viu, Will is much more cautious, probably too cautious as it restrains him too much.
Of course, Viu and Will are a perfect match: much bickering takes place between them.
The next to join them in their battle is Colice Satou, a quirky and cheerful girl who works at a wandering circus but decides to join Viu and Will on a whim. Colice is actually from Japan, and it says a lot about her character that she decided to smuggle herself onto a ship set for America, just because she felt like trying it.
Despite this carefreeness, Colice, also a few years older than both Viu and Will, is occasionally the voice of reason in the small group.
It is true that none of this is thoroughly exceptional, but the characters, without being breathtaking, were not without potential. I would have liked to see what Viu, Will and Colice would have grown into. Sadly, the Jump readers were not so patient. Quickly, the series was cancelled, an abysmal failure and a great disappointment, considering it came from Rurouni Kenshin's mangaka.
But sad as it may be, the cancellation was the logical consequence: Gun Blaze West was deadly flawed to begin with, due to a too short conception phase. As Nobuhiro Watsuki explains in the afterword, a deadline had been moved forth and he had made the mistake of presenting a half-finished concept which he himself was not too certain about yet.
It is kind of hard for me not to wonder what Gun Blaze West could have been with a little bit more time, some more thoughts and changes. Maybe Watsuki would even have scrapped the simplified drawing style in favour of a more detailed, more elegant style.
Even though the artwork fits GBW and is by no means of low quality, it is just an unlucky choice, making comparisons to other standard shounen manga, most notably One Piece, much too obvious than needed.
The creation of Gun Blaze West was not a happy time for Nobuhiro Watsuki. Reading Gun Blaze West today still makes me a bit sad due its history, but at least I now have the soothing thought that after this catastrophic failure, Watsuki did manage another success with Busou Renkin.
And when you leave aside all this chaos and the high expectations, Gun Blaze West is a solid, fun shounen manga which only really suffers from one thing, the sudden ending. It is nothing special, but a fun read, and the characters, without being stunningly fascinating, are lovable enough to keep me wondering what their future adventures might be like.
Not one to abandon an idea once it has settled in his mind, Watsuki reused a lot of elements from GBW in his later manga, Busou Renkin. This includes both used and unused character designs - one of the results is none other than Papillon.
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August 17th, 2002 - 2007 by Kaeli (kaeli@gmx.de)
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