ガンスミス キャッツ Ep. 01 (OVA)
Gunsmith Cats 01 anime review

SPOILER Summary:

Minnie May Hopkins and Rally Vincent work their part-time job as bounty hunters to bust one Jonathan Washington, who’s supposedly wanted on drug charges. At their main job, where they run a gun shop called Gunsmith Cats, they are paid a visit from ATF Agent Bill Collins, who attempts to blackmail them into helping the ATF on a case, using their lack of a proper license to sell the weapons they sell plus the taxes they owe as leverage. He reveals that Washington is actually a gun smuggler and he wants them to arrange to make a buy. Being bounty hunters, it is apparently believed that Washington will still sell to the women who busted him, especially if it means paying his bail.

That night, Rally and May’s home is burgled by a group of guys who’ve been tipped off to a large weapons store. Rally is excited to get to deal with this and grabs her 9mm. She has to restrain May, who’s come out with an arm full of various grenades, even if they won’t destroy the house. As the burglars excitedly begin to gather Rally and May’s extensive cache of weapons and explosives, Rally shoots two of the three guys. The third tries to escape but walks into a tripwire set by May, which results in a large number of grenades dropping and knocking the man out. Agent Collins arrives, having staked out their home, leading Rally and May to realize this was a setup. Now they have no choice but to go along with Bill’s scheme and work for him.

Rally pays Washington a visit in prison and agrees to pay his bail as a down payment on the weapons purchase. After he gets out of jail, she, May, and a woman named Becky head over to the warehouse to meet Washington. Rally has May bound to keep her from going bomb-happy and charges Becky with babysitting May. Rally is let into the warehouse and has to give up her weapons to Washington’s men before meeting Washington. He has a surprise for her when she meets him — a bound and beaten Bill. Rally states that Bill had blackmailed her to make the weapons purchase and so Washington wants her to kill Bill. He hands her a gun, but based only on the weight, she knows it isn’t loaded. Washington gives her a bullet and she takes a shot, which cuts the ropes that have Bill bound.

Taking advantage of the surprise, Rally and Bill knock out some thugs and grab some weapons. A fire fight ensues with the two separated and pinned down. Rally ends up losing her shirt when a thug working a crane snags her by her shirt. Meanwhile outside, May has freed herself and finds a way into the warehouse with her explosives. While Rally and Bill have managed to overcome most of the thugs, a single one remains and finds himself on the receiving end of May’s grenades. Amazingly, no one is killed from the fight and so all of the thugs are taken to the hospital before going to prison. Bill decides that May and Rally need to help him further. Realizing he’s not joking, the two young women beat a hasty retreat.

Thoughts/Review:

I’m not sure where I first heard of this 3-episode OVA, but after seeing the “Life’s Gonna Suck” AMV, I decided that I really should take the time to watch the series. That time is now.

The series looks good even though it is over 12-years old. The art and animation will likely score very highly when I do my CAR review. Too bad most modern OVA’s with their CGI graphics can’t even compare.

I was impressed with how the writers worked to make this feel like it was set in America rather than some Japanese impression of America as happened in You’re Under Arrest in America. I read that the production team did indeed visit Chicago a few times. If true, it was time and money well spent IMO.

Story-wise, there’s nothing that special in the first episode and yet I was very much entertained. I liked May and Rally, being pleasantly surprised that the blonde May isn’t an airhead. May is a hoot with her overkill on grenades. I think what made if funnier is that we get to see a whole lot of custom-colored grenades dropped, yet when we pull out of the house or building, the unexpected happens and that was funny to me.

The puzzle for me was Becky. I was never quite sure who she was based on the first episode.

I’m looking forward to watching more of this. Being a short series, it will be easy to knock off the backlog list. ^_^