Gun Blaze West



Best short description: One Piece in the wild west. But thats a bit of a stretch. So heres a better description.

Gun Blaze West was the next mainstream manga from Nobuhiro Watsuki coming after Rurouni Kenshin in 2001. Set in the 19th century America, it tells the story of Viu Bannes on his quest to locate Gun Blaze West, a rumored place where only the roughest and toughest outlaws and cowboys dare to tread. The thing of it is though its very well hidden and only artifacts dubbed "Sign To West" are the only known objects to point the way. Luckily Viu has one of such (his prized gun from his mentor) and more then willing to risk life and limb to reach the legendary destination. Along the way he joined by two more allies, Will Johnston, a former bar bouncer who father left him a compass with the sign and Colice Satoh, a Japanese foreigner, acrobat and keened eye knife thrower from a traveling circus. Together they brave the wild frontier, confronting other desperadoes who seek the same goal.

An interesting wild west manga and one of the few that was actually set in America (a very rare main setting indeed in manga, let alone in the past) and depicted the 19th century very well. Sadly however it never caught on with its readers and was soon canceled within the year it began (six months to be exact resulting in three volumes of material). Still a very good shonen title while it lasted.

This manga provide the following tropes:
 * And the Adventure Continues...
 * Artificial Limbs/Arm Cannon: Sarge Thunderarm
 * Awesome McCoolname: Again, Sarge Thunderarm
 * Creator Breakdown: Nobuhiro Watsuki admitted in the final volume that the series started off rushed before he could actually tweak it and that he had difficulty keeping the story moving. Eventually Watsuki gave up on it, though by that point it was just as well. The series was canceled by Jump not long after due to low readership.
 * Deadly Game: Deadly Target, where one paints a target on himself and the opponents must aim for that area. Vu takes this challenge against Target Kevin and paints the target right over his heart.
 * Determinator: Vu of course. Its a shonen manga what do you expect.
 * Did Not Do the Research: As our heroes trek halfway across the US, the towns, topography, etc. don't vary much; it all just looks like what you'd expect in a generic Western movie. Of course, one can just accept this as the Western-themed fantasy that it is, but if, say, you've ever been to Illinois, seeing it drawn like it was Grand Canyon National Park is rather amusing.
 * Gecko Ending: Sadly we never do see the heroes reach Gun Blaze West. The last chapter his a Native American guide lead them to the next challenge. However its implied in the final chapter they do reach there.
 * Hoist by His Own Petard: The owner of the rival bar to Will's on leaving the multi-barreled shotguns behind the bar. Allowing free access for Vu and Will to shoot up and destroy the place.
 * Improbable Weapon User Will and his rope attacks
 * Knife Nut Colice's forte, justified as she the daughter of a samurai.
 * Knife-Throwing Act Colice again, this is how the heroes meet her actually.
 * More Dakka: Target Kevin and his Multiple Barrel Shotguns
 * No Celebrities Were Harmed: During the last arc, the trio meet a couple of cowboys named J.J, Jim and Myra. Who are actually fictional depictions of famous real life outlaws Jesse James, Jim Younger and Myra Maybelle Shirley Reed Star respectively.
 * One Bullet Left: Happens to Vu a lot.
 * Showdown At High Noon: No surprise this pops up, happens twice in the opening story.
 * Steampunk: The last few chapters features characters with this. Such as rocket packs and a cyborg arm.
 * Tear Jerker: Vu after his first gun duel.
 * Unexplained Recovery/Back for the Finale:
 * The Wild West: Duh
 * What Could Have Been: The third manga volume features sketches of unused characters that were meant to show up had GBW continued.
 * There's also an idea that's floated around for a while: GBW takes place in America in the latter 1800s. Sanosuke Sagara was in America in one point, as per the RK epilogue. Imagine the possibilities.
 * OH GOD YES