×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Forum - View topic
REVIEW: Gun Blaze West GN 3


Goto page 1, 2  Next

Note: this is the discussion thread for this article

Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Fronzel



Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1906
PostPosted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 12:01 am Reply with quote
...

How did a trainwreck like this even get licensed? Some kind of hold-over from the license-anything-with-Japanese-words days?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Heretic



Joined: 06 Mar 2007
Posts: 177
Location: Laurel, Maryland
PostPosted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 12:54 am Reply with quote
I'm a big Watsuki fan, but yeah not his best work...at least Embalming is strong so far.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
teh*darkness



Joined: 16 Feb 2007
Posts: 901
PostPosted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 2:51 am Reply with quote
This was probably licensed solely on creator name alone. I was apparently smart enough to stay away from it, as a precursory glance through volume one quickly kept me from buying it. Now I find out it was only 3 volumes. At least Zombie Powder has awesome art throughout it's 4 short volumes. When will Watsuki achieve another high akin to Kenshin? I shall await the day...
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message MSN Messenger
Shadowrun20XX



Joined: 26 Nov 2007
Posts: 1935
Location: Vegas
PostPosted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 3:02 am Reply with quote
Fronzel wrote:
...

How did a trainwreck like this even get licensed? Some kind of hold-over from the license-anything-with-Japanese-words days?
Probably the same thing with BUSGAMER.It sounded good at the time.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Lord Geo



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 2530
Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey
PostPosted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 8:43 am Reply with quote
Quote:
Churning out superhero-ripoff characters without any regard for plot, trying to guess what the target audience wants instead of telling one's own story from the heart, and generally flailing about without a creative direction—is it any wonder this one got axed?


Well, in Volume 2 Watsuki does explain that GBW's serialization schedule was made while he was still finishing Kenshin. So in the end it's obvious that a lot of GBW was rushed mainly because he had no choice and had to think up a lot off the top of his head.

Going off of that, though, he still made a fun to read manga in the end, so I'll give him that. If he had the time to really think this manga out, though, it would just be amazing.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
belvadeer





PostPosted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 12:21 pm Reply with quote
WHAAAAAAAAT!? They're putting the hatchet into this already? Dang, that sucks. I was actually enjoying it (I'm a fan of the Wild West).

At first, I thought they were cancelling it because people answered some kind of poll and didn't want to see American-anything in a manga, only Japan. I was very close to mumbling, "Damn weeaboo Japanophiles" but then I see that he was simply told the series is being cancelled, so he had to cut it short. Don't worry folks, I ain't that shallow lol.

I'll be honest. I liked this series. I did want to see how Watsuki planned on portraying this legendary spot of land he deemed Gun Blaze West and I was looking forward to seeing a huge cast of villains in future volumes and some more out of place things in the 1800s. What a heck of a downer to wake up to on Saturday morning.
Back to top
ConanSan



Joined: 13 Jun 2007
Posts: 1818
PostPosted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 1:04 pm Reply with quote
belvadeer wrote:
WHAAAAAAAAT!? They're putting the hatchet into this already? Dang, that sucks. I was actually enjoying it (I'm a fan of the Wild West).

At first, I thought they were cancelling it because people answered some kind of poll and didn't want to see American-anything in a manga, only Japan. I was very close to mumbling, "Damn weeaboo Japanophiles" but then I see that he was simply told the series is being cancelled, so he had to cut it short. Don't worry folks, I ain't that shallow lol.

I'll be honest. I liked this series. I did want to see how Watsuki planned on portraying this legendary spot of land he deemed Gun Blaze West and I was looking forward to seeing a huge cast of villains in future volumes and some more out of place things in the 1800s. What a heck of a downer to wake up to on Saturday morning.
The Anime Industry, ******* up your Christmas since 1960.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Agoston



Joined: 22 Aug 2008
Posts: 225
PostPosted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 2:01 pm Reply with quote
Shadowrun20XX wrote:
Fronzel wrote:
...

How did a trainwreck like this even get licensed? Some kind of hold-over from the license-anything-with-Japanese-words days?
Probably the same thing with BUSGAMER.It sounded good at the time.

Yeah except Bus Gamer is actually.. good. I enjoyed it and it was interesting, the characters even got some development despite the very short story. But Gun Blaze West (judging from the review) sounds like one big train wreck with cliched characters and a meaningless plot.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
slickwataris



Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 1334
Location: Carol Stream, Illinois
PostPosted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 3:48 pm Reply with quote
Agoston wrote:
But Gun Blaze West (judging from the review) sounds like one big train wreck with cliched characters and a meaningless plot.


I've gotten used to this from Watsuki manga. He is the definition of "hack."
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
Ari-chan



Joined: 05 Feb 2005
Posts: 215
Location: Florida
PostPosted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 1:39 am Reply with quote
[quote="Agoston"]
Shadowrun20XX wrote:
Yeah except Bus Gamer is actually.. good. I enjoyed it and it was interesting, the characters even got some development despite the very short story. But Gun Blaze West (judging from the review) sounds like one big train wreck with cliched characters and a meaningless plot.


Gun Blaze West and Bus Gamer are no different in terms of quality. I enjoyed both Bus Gamer (until that horrible ending), and Gun Blaze West, but both were full of hack characters with no true development and a rushed plot. Not to say Gun Blaze West didn't have some character developement either, as it did indeed, it just wasn't the body of it's work and with time constraints couldn't quite get anywhere with it, just like Bus Gamer. I ended up just thinking of both as meaningless shounen fodder meant only to be enjoy by devoted fans of the author.

slickwataris wrote:
I've gotten used to this from Watsuki manga. He is the definition of "hack."


I have to disagree with you. There are plenty of authors out there that better fit being the definition of "hack" than Watsuki. Even in his more crappy storys Watsuki can still manage to get something right every now and again.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
vashfanatic



Joined: 16 Jun 2005
Posts: 3489
Location: Back stateside
PostPosted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 12:22 pm Reply with quote
slickwataris wrote:
I've gotten used to this from Watsuki manga. He is the definition of "hack."


I'd call him the definition of "one hit wonder;" he did Rurouni Kenshin, probably the best fight-heavy shounen manga I've ever read, but what since? Nothing has had the spark that made RuroKen work.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Iritscen



Joined: 25 Apr 2006
Posts: 793
PostPosted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 9:34 pm Reply with quote
Yeah, I don't understand the inconsistency either, although I admit that I haven't followed Watsuki's every move post-Kenshin -- I did read some of Buso Renkin and was quite let down, though, and now I hear about this property.

I had a such a high opinion of Watsuki after watching RuroKen (and then reading the manga). But RK felt like it was a step (or two) above typical shonen fare (which I also enjoy, BTW), more classy and grown-up. From what I saw of Buso Renkin and what I just read of GBW, it sounds like he's somehow regressed to writing your standard cocky-punk-sets-his-sights-on-impossibly-high-goal-and-achieves-it-through-perseverence stuff. It's hard to see how this is the same guy who wrote RK.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Fronzel



Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1906
PostPosted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 1:48 am Reply with quote
It happens somehow. Rumiko Takahashi has been all downhill since Maison Ikkoku, and I never liked any of Kevin Smith's films after Clerks.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
rankothefiremage



Joined: 16 Oct 2003
Posts: 514
Location: Michigan
PostPosted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 10:36 am Reply with quote
Personally i liked Buso Renkin, and as far as Takahashi, i always have liked Ranma..........

-G
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address Yahoo Messenger MSN Messenger ICQ Number My Anime My Manga
mrsatan



Joined: 06 Jul 2005
Posts: 907
Location: Olympia, WA, USA
PostPosted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 3:14 pm Reply with quote
Fronzel wrote:
It happens somehow. Rumiko Takahashi has been all downhill since Maison Ikkoku, and I never liked any of Kevin Smith's films after Clerks.


I firmly believe that a person's creativity is a finite resource. Some people just burn it all up in one or two projects.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page 1, 2  Next
Page 1 of 2

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group