May 7, 2014
Gungrave is a show which is almost completely about the buildup for two very powerful and dramatic moments which rank up there with some of the best episodes I've seen in anime. There's a catch though, the rest of the show rolls around in mediocrity with redeeming moments placed in such a way as to keep the audience sucked in just enough to think that the show will make an upturn. Let's start from the top, shall we?
The first episode is a failed attempt at dramatic foreshadowing which is not only unnecessary but a huge spoiler for the first dramatic moment and great episode which
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occurs about halfway through the series. Worse yet, the first episode is completely retold with a few additions later in the show, making it a definite skip for anyone watching Gungrave for the first time.
The first half of Gungrave revolves around two street punks rise from the streets through the ranks of the mafia. If you can buy into the protagonists Harry and Brandon, then the ride is probably worth the waiting. Gungrave commits the cardinal sin of boring it's audience on a regular basis. Plotting and depth of character are talked about a lot but rarely shown but it remains a character oriented show.
I felt for the self-inflicted plights of Brandon and had a growing distaste for the ambitious Harry, as the writers wanted, so when the drama started to kick in I lapped it up. I managed to overlook the zombies as they served a point in the progression of the plot but they really should have been replaced with something non-science fiction.
After their introduction, the zombies take a backseat for some solid character drama, the first real high point of the anime. After the first climax we have more zombies then a jump to the future where the show takes a major nose dive. Word on the street is that Gungrave is a tie-in to a PlayStation 2 game of the same name and these episodes make me believe it. The drama is mediocre and the action is awful. The zombie helicopter is the low point of the show, it makes no sense and the character who transforms into it has been such a background player that I couldn't care less about his death.
A mess of episodes focusing on characters who we are supposed to care about but who never had any development ensues. Unfortunately one character who was developed and did have a shot at having an interesting arc is thrown away in the series of game tie-ins. Finally we can leave the carnival of pointless zombie "science!" for good and go back to the core of the show. The conclusion to the show is epic and one of the most satisfying, and tear jerking, conclusions that I've seen in a long time. If it didn't require all of the build-up of the non-zombie episodes I'd recommend just watching it but unfortunately it's a package deal.
Gungrave makes an excellent candidate for a show to be remade with better writing and the crap flushed out.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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