Manga Review: Gun Blaze West Volume One

[Jason]

Name: Gun Blaze West
Volume: One
Mangaka: Nobuhiro Watsuki
Originally Serialized in: Weekly Shōnen Jump
Genre: Shonen, Western
Publisher: Viz
Rated: Older Teen (16+)
Price: $7.99/US

Gun Blaze West is the story of Viu Bannes, a nine-year-old boy with dreams of being a gunslinger in the West. It’s 1875 and Viu lives in Southwestern Illinois. As the story opens, Viu wants to win an arm wrestling contest in the teen division because he covets the gun belt grand prize. Naturally he wins and thus begins his big adventure. Viu and Cissy, his older school teacher and sister, live together after the death of their sheriff and deputy parents. Whether Viu wants to be a lawman isn’t clear but he’s like a typical young boy: he’s very loud and he wants his gun.

Viu’s path crosses that of Marcus Homer, underdog and a broken-down gunslinger, and it’s a good relationship for the two of them. Viu revitalizes Marcus and the gunslinger helps train Viu. In the background is the Ken Brown Gang out of Kansas causing problems around town: problems Cissy wants Viu to stay well clear of.

Viu and Marcus train to get stronger and better. Marcus confides in Viu that he has a map to the legendary place called Gun Blaze West and it becomes their Mecca, a place for the best, most rugged gunslingers. Naturally the good guys and bad guys will inevitably meet.

The final arc of the volume is five years later and Viu finally starts heading west to find his fortune in Gun Blaze West. First stop, the gateway to the West, St. Louis. It doesn’t take Viu long to find a down and out young lady and decides to help her. She doesn’t need much help. Her older brother, Will, is an expert lasso man. Together he and Viu make a reluctantly good team (Will being the smarter and not having too much patience, Viu admittedly being less brains and more enthusiasm), each possessing an odd compass that points to the west. They need to be a good team to get out of the cliff-hanger ending.

Viu is sort of the exact opposite of Nobuhiro’s iconic Kenshin. He’s a young boy trying to make a name for himself rather than trying to live down his past. Viu is good-hearted and bratty but for most of this volume he’s nine so you expect that. He’s a bit two-dimensional at the moment, but he does seem to be growing as a character. The females so far exist to be saved, but then again in the 1800’s this isn’t too unrealistic. There is a girl on the cover and in the splash art that hasn’t been introduced yet but I’m expecting her to do more.

On the subject of art, it’s a bit cartoonish, odd thing to say about a comic, I suppose, but you know what I mean. There are all sorts of humans-freaks of nature. If you’re the type who looks for pretty boy/girl art in your manga, this isn’t for you. They’re all rather average-looking.

The story is well written and coherent, if a bit boggy in some areas. Sometimes the training gets a bit slow and overdone, as it’s not that interesting. Mostly it’s like track and field. Apparently Viu plans to run to Gun Blaze West. It’s a very male oriented book and the humor isn’t afraid to go to the lowest common denominator, including fart jokes. The sound effects have been stripped with the English translations in their place. If you like westerns, you’ll probably enjoy this.

Reviewer: D.M. Evans
Proofer: Eduardo Menendez
Editor: Lissa Pattillo