Samurai Gun
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"I (Dramatic Pause) am Samurai Gun." |
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Samurai Gun is a manga series by Kazuhiro Kumagai, that was serialized in the Weekly Young Jump magazine. It has been adapted into a 13-episode anime directed by Hideki Sonoda.
The Samurai Gun are highly-trained and conditioned, pistol-packing rebel Samurai (though their modus operandi is more that of ninjas) who seek to avenge the misdeeds of the ruling Shogunate. They take their orders from a mysterious 'Council' whose actions and motives are questionable at best. The protagonist Ichimatsu suspects the Council was involved in the brutal death of his family when he was a child, and hopes to discover the truth through his activities as a Samurai Gun.
Tropes used in Samurai Gun include:
- Action Girl: Kurenai
- Anachronism Stew: Rebel samurai armed with automatic pistols fighting government forces equipped with repeating rifles, Steampunk technology, a Jet Pack and the inevitable gatling gun. And it appears that breast-enhancement surgery has been invented several centuries earlier too, as all Japanese women have very large breasts.
- Celibate Hero: Ichimatsu is a regular customer of Hooker with a Heart of Gold Ohana, but never sleeps with her. As a child he was forced to watch as his sister was raped and murdered (see Training from Hell) so he has major 'issues' with sex.
- Elite Mooks: The Anti-Samurai Gun Unit, lead by Watou.
- Eyepatch of Power: Several Samurai Gun have these. Losing an eye is apparently an occupational hazard.
- Faceless Goons: Inverted, as it's the good guys who wear face-concealing helmets.
- Front Organisation: Kurenai and Ichimatsu work in a tavern. Diamon is a schooteacher.
- Gag Dub: The DVDs include scenes spoof-dubbed by the voice actors.
- The Gunslinger / Gun Fu: Both the Samurai Guns and Watou have Improbable Aiming Skills. Watou can even dodge bullets.
- International Coproduction: The anime was co-financed by ADV Films.
- Jet Pack: Despite that "Samurai Gun" happens in the Tokugawa Era, Kaishu Katsu has a jet pack.
- Omniscient Council of Vagueness: The Council that controls the Samurai Gun's activities.
- Porn Stash: Diamon has one, and says Ichimatsu can have it if he dies.
- Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: "I...am Samurai Gun".
- Spy Catsuit: The Samurai Guns wear tight-fitting latex outfits.
- Steampunk: Steam-driven gatling guns, code-breaking machines, steamships, even tanks.
- Thou Shalt Not Kill: Ichimatsu has become weary of the killing and initially refuses to do any more. It doesn't last.
- Training from Hell: Via The Spartan Way Children selected to be Samurai Guns are brutalised by having family members murdered in front of them. The training itself consists of repeated poisonings (to build Acquired Poison Immunity), electric shocks, and live fire courses. The anime has a scene where the child trainees are forced to hold their breath underwater; those who come up for air too soon are shot.
- Unrequited Love: Between Ohana and Ichimatsu.
- Women in Refrigerators: The Samurai Gun exist to avenge the evils of the Shogunate -- in practise this comes down to avenging the deaths of large-breasted women. These include random prostitutes being murdered by a shotgun-toting killer to draw the Samurai Gun out of hiding, a spy's female contact subjected to Electric Torture, and a woman being used as a target to test a steam-driven gatling gun.