So, now that summer is here, I can do what I do best; rant about pointless shit! Hey, like your hobby is any better? You're the one reading the ravings of a reclusive manchild during your summer, so I don't wanna hear it!
Allow me to tell you a sad little story. This is the story of a great artist of manga named Nobuhiro Watsuki, and his sudden dive in his work. A dive he has yet to recover from. Now, lemme me inform you of a work of his, a 28 volume series that takes place in the 19th century of Japan called Rurouni Kenshin. I won't go into much detail, but the series was great; it was epic, well-written and had many great moral themes. It had its flaws, for sure, but what doesn't?
After that series came to a close, is there any better way to follow-up then by shitting all over your own talent? This here is about his short-lived Western series, Gun Blaze West. The story is about a little bastard named Viu Bannes, taking place in America during, when else, 1880. He's striving to find the titular location of Gun Blaze West, which is supposed to... Actually, I have no fucking clue, it's never clearly explained. But his reason for it is to "get stronger and see how strong he can become." Ooooh, how original! Just like every OTHER FUCKING MANGA CHARACTER!
And speaking of unorginality, let's get to the biggest problem of the series (which is saying something); the protagonist. Now, Watsuki created a fairly interesting cast, ranging from a hulking armored man with a jetpack and a big black guy who can catch bullets to a Civil War cyborg. Why, in God's name, would you make your protagonist a dime-a-dozen, spiky-haired, happy-go-lucky-and-more-than-he-seems teenager? Just look at this guy!
You know what I said about Goku from Dragon Ball? Forget it. Goku has NOTHING on Viu Bannes. I mean, at least Goku had some unique features about him! This guy... what does he have that sets him apart? If you read as much manga as I do, you'll see nothing original in this character. Also, despite the fact that he has a gun that fires actual bullets, he doesn't kill. God, what is with manga artists and making characters with a no-kill policy wield lethal weapons? I mean, MacGyver doesn't wield a gun. Batman doesn't carry one either. Know why? 'Cause guns are fuckin' lethal! GAAAH!
Apparently, this character was created because Watsuki believed making the main character of Rurouni Kenshin in his late 20s was a mistake and he wanted to do a typical shonen protagonist. WHAT?! Dude, I don't care of the main character is 100! If he's likeable and behaves realistically and has a personality, then I'll have no trouble with him as a protagonist. I mean, if you can make the reader relate to a character who's nothing like them, then that's a sign of good writing. A 28 year old ex-assassin is more relatable than a soulless 14 year old with a revolver.
And the other part about this is the story. Motiviations don't and inconsistencies all around. What exactly Gun Blaze West is is never truly explained. Viu is told by one man that it's a violent place where only the most brutal and evil people survive. One volume later, a sadistic Civil War cyborg is told that someone who revels in violence has no place in Gun Blaze West, despite the fact that the people who wished to enter GBW had to fight their way to it.
Other nitpicky things include when the Civil War cyborg was defeated and he is told that "He was superhuman in name only." Uh, no he wasn't. Superhumans are humans taht surpass average human attributes. I don't know to many people who can shoot fucking grenades and flames out of their hands like the cyborg. Do you?
Oh and when a character was hitting on a 19 year old girl (yes, in the century where marrying a 16 year old was a-okay), he was accused of having a Lolita complex... The guy who accused him of that was obviously a time traveler, for Lolita was a written in the 1950s.
So, not much else I can say about the series other than the flat artwork; it got canceled after 3 volumes and only made it to the States because of the popularity of Rurouni Kenshin. The sad thing is the Watsuki talks about Rurouni Kenshin as if he's ashamed of it. What happend, Watsuki? You used to write great stories and that was mostly 'cause you took risks! This series took almost no risks and that was the biggest problem of all! Did you suffer a tremendous blow to the head or something?
Also what's really sad is that Watsuki went on to write an arguebly worse series than this called Buso Renkin (a subject for another time, perhaps) and then a nothing-special series called Embalming. All I have to ask is this: What happened?
Thus concludes our sad little story of a genius falling. I hope you all have a great summer! If you'll excuse me, I have to cry myself to sleep.
