First things first. Tonight, we had hoped to bring you 3x3 Eyes II, the second OAV series, which continues the story of Yakumo and Pai (ain't she the cutest?!?). However, due to poor planning on our part, and bad tape labeling on my part, we won't be able to continue 3x3 Eyes until next semester. Instead of leaving 30 minutes earlier tonight, we decided to find something that will hopefully replace the slots. Hence, starting tonight, we'll be starting the three-part OAV series -- Gunsmith Cats.

The first time I saw Gunsmith Cats was at CJAS three years ago, during my sophomore year (1996-7). None of the article writers at the time had really watched it, so nobody wanted to write an article for it. So, what did we do? We called up our ex-president (Doris Chan '96 CJAS President) and enlisted her help.

She had never seen it either, but loved the manga so much that she wrote the article anyway. Well, there's the history lesson, what about GSC?

So here's the dish from her:

Gunsmith Cats is based on a manga (of course) series by Kenichi Sonoda. Yup, the same guy responsible for Bubblegum Crisis and Riding Bean. I found this fact very surprising, since the artwork in GSC is drastically different from the story and art of BGC.

First of all, the setting for GSC is mid-80's Chicago, not mecha/powersuit near-future like BGC.

If you get a chance, take time to go to a manga-friendly bookstore and read a couple of volumes of GSC (published in the U.S. by Viz Comics).

The main character of the show is named Rally in this translation. According to the author, Rally is actually British-born and Sonoda had originally named her Larry, not Rally. But due to Japanese pronunciation ("Rarry"), and then the ensuing English translation, the name ended up as Rally.

What do I love most of all about GSC? The opening. In the simplest terms, it's the most original opening I have ever seen. If there are any Cowboy Bebop fans out there in the audience, you'll get to see what most likely gave the animators inspiration for their opening.

I'll leave you with the ex-prez's favorite quote from the GSC manga:
Burglar: Bitch! You shot John!
Rally: Just his leg and both shoulders.

Oh, did I forget to mention that? Rally loves handguns and never misses. And her partner loves explosives.

(Btw, she's much cuter than Pai.)