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Plot Synopsis

Gungrave (TV Series)
No plot synopsis available for Gungrave.

Gungrave (Game)
Brandon Heat was apart of the biggest ubercorparation in the world, the Syndicate. They ruled over basically everything in their giant stratoscraper (think the Heavens in Ah! My Goddess!). One day, while riding up the HUGE elevator to the stratoscraper, Brandons best friend, Harry, had made a plan to kill the boss and take over the company. But then he made on wrong move...He told Brandon that he could have the bosses wife, and although Brandon loved her, he was sickend of the idea. So he punched Harry, and Harry put 12 caps in his stomach, and then shot him in the eye, sending him falling from the very high elevator. After Harry took over, he started the Necrolization project, which was supposed to bring people back from the dead as super human zombies and help Harry take over the rest of the world. Once again, Harry did something very wrong. He used the project to ressurect Brandon and use him as part of his army. Now Brandon was a deadman. He had no memories, or emotions. He was just one badly dressed killing machine. Brandon was no longer...Brandon had become Beyond the Grave, or Grave for short. Grave, clad in really weird clothing, with his twin guns Cerberus and his coffin(which also doubles as a missle launcer/machine gun, and also might be the third head of Cerberus) went out into the world to find and kill Harry, for all the trouble he has caused in the world. Now that Grave is a super human, nothing will stop him until he finds Harry, and finishes him off for good

Gungrave: Overdose
Back again, Grave is on a new mission, this time, he has friends. Juji Kabane, a swordsman with a fire aura coming from his right shoulder, and Rocketbilly Redcadillac, a ghost who uses his guitar to fight the baddies. After the destruction of the Millennion, (aka the Syndicate) the seed, a powerful force that gave Grave a hard time in Gungrave, has returned, and is starting something wicked on earth. Its up to Grave and his new friends to stop the seed once and for all.

Story & Characters

When I first saw previews and ads for Gungrave years ago, only one thought crossed my mind, "Hellsing ripoff."

When I first saw previews of Gungrave three to four years ago in magazines like Animage, I snubbed it off as a Hellsing ripoff. That was my first impression, which I believe many others share, and how utterly wrong I was. I did not bother to check out gungrave until three years after its first airing in Japan. The two shows, Gungrave and Hellsing, were not that far apart in terms of release date, and since Hellsing got a good deal of positive attention in its time, Gungrave was in a bad situation to follow on its heels.

Gungrave, in terms in character depth, relationship development, plot, animation, art, and even music beats Hellsing in every department, and stands as one of the most overlooked, epic shows in the last 6-7 years. Do not be misled by the first episode, which puts the show off as a typical Monster shootout; the real cream of the story lies in the 18 episode long flash back leading up to events in the first episode, that is the present time. Overall, the story was strong from almost the start to the finish, and where the intensity of the plot weakened (a little), the magnificence of the action scenes more than compensated.

Gungrave owns the unenviable title of Most Underrated Anime Since the New Millenium.

Plot: A (Excellent)
Character Depth and development: A+ (As Good As It Gets)

Rating

10 (excellent)

Art

The artwork in Gungrave surpasses the drawn version in its cleanness; colors are vivid with great depth provided by painstaking light effects with a general tone of darkness throuh the show. Character designs themselves are subjective to individual taste, but the style is generally mature, as in accordnance with the show's atmosphere; you won't see any chibi versions of the characters in Gungrave acting out slap stick humor.

The Animation is one of the high points of the show, especially when justaxposed with other shows in the same genre. Gungrave was obviously a high budget production with visuals and graphics that approached OAV quality for the majority of the show. This comes across especially clearly in the intense battle scenes.

Art: B+ (Very Good)
Animation: A (Excellent)

Rating

9 (very good)

Sound

Gungrave's OP theme, "Family," and OST is done by Tsuneo Imahore, who did the now classic Trigun opening as well as music for Hajime Ippo; along with the excellently styled animation, Gungrave's OP constitutes a work of art, and I found myself rewatching and relistening to it several times simply for the pleasure of it.

The ED by Scooby-Do is to this date one of the 10 most played tracks on my playlist; the tune is catchy and contrasts against the generally grim mood of the show in a sublime fashion which impresses deeply upoon the viewer. In conclusion, The OP and ED for Gungrave is proably the best I've seen yet for any single show.

The BGM of Gungrave is a showcase of Tsuneo Imahore's versatility as a music producer, ranging from upbeat electric tunes that drive the viewer's adrenaline or haunting guitar/string solos that tug at the viewer's emotions; the music is a powerful emotional component of the show. That said, I did not find myself inclined to listen to the OST as often as I do other shows, where the tracks stand alone as pleasant music themselves; this is largely due to a matter of personal preference however.

ED/OP: A+ (As Good As it Gets)
OST: B+ (Very Good)

Rating

8 (good)

Presentation

Perhaps the most controversial thing about Gungrave--aside from how little publicity it has recieved-- is its structure. Whenever I recommend this show to others, I invariably advise to put aside their judgements until after the second episode, for the first episode is completely misleading, and takes place, chronologically, well after the meat of the story has happened. The confusion that arises from the time jumps in the story-telling is evident in the amount of questions raised towards this matter by viewers on forums. This however does not pose a serious problem when compared to the overwhelming merits of the show.

Rating

8 (good)

Final Verdict

8.83 (very good)

Reviewed by cal-reflector, 2y 22wk ago