Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Gungrave: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie Review

The Millenion Falcon.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 16, 2011

Anime and videogames share a lot in common, and several best selling properties have traversed a course either from the broadcast world to a gaming console or vice versa. In fact a lot of the biggest anime projects of all time have become multimedia behemoths, churning out not just regular television (and film) fare, but moving into virtually every medium imaginable, from manga (whether or not the project started out in that published form) to music to just about everything else. Gungrave is one of the projects that had a reverse trajectory, starting out as a third person shooter game that became fitfully popular on the Playstation gaming systems, but which really seemed to attract attention not so much for its gameplay but for its interesting character design and its anime cut scenes. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out there was money to be made if Gungrave migrated over to the anime world, and though I’m sure this is just a coincidence, on my birthday of October 6 the show debuted in the fall of 2003 in Japan and ran for one season totaling 26 episodes. Produced by one of the most innovative and forward thinking production entities in the wild and wacky world of anime, the appropriately titled Madhouse, Gungrave is an interesting piece which, in true Madhouse fashion, manages to mix together a bunch of completely disparate genres into one fairly cohesive whole. Like the videogame which spawned the series, Gungrave may not be the most compelling thing to come down the pike, but it’s helped immeasurably by an interesting design aesthetic which aids the show in overcoming some of its loopy plot and overly convoluted storyline. The series spans several years in the life of its hero, one Brandon Heat who has been given the nickname Beyond the Grave. Without giving too much away for those who haven’t seen the series, we actually join the story late in the game, when Brandon has been, well, dead for a while and is being resurrected by the mysterious Doctor T. The bulk of Gungrave then flashbacks to provide the backstory as to how Brandon ultimately became “Grave,” his shorthand nickname.

To just slightly rearrange that disclaimer which accompanies most shows nowadays, in Gungrave any resemblance to Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America is purely intentional. Brandon’s backstory is the tale of a twisted friendship in the world of organized crime, and many will feel they’ve seen at least elements of this story before in any number of properties going back to old MGM and Warner Brothers gangster-district attorney “buddy” flicks from the 1930’s and 1940’s. Brandon’s best friend is one Harry MacDowel, and the two are petty criminals in a syndicate known as Millenion, an organization which pretty much owns the society in which Gungrave takes place.

But as mentioned above, Gungrave isn’t just a crime family drama playing out as the long character arc between Brandon and Harry (though that is of course a central focus of the series). About halfway through Gungrave’s 26 episode story arc, things get downright peculiar (nothing new for a Madhouse enterprise) and some significant sci-fi elements get mixed into the mélange which are in fact hinted at in the series’ first episode. It’s hard to describe this adequately without giving away several central plot points, but suffice it to say that several elements not exactly in your standard criminal syndicate enterprise enter the fray at this point and give Gungrave a very distinctive edge as it moves its way toward its endgame (no pun intended considering the show’s videogame genesis).

In fact it’s rather surprising that Gungrave is able to remake itself as a fairly compelling and visceral anime without the lethargy which often accompanies these ports over from videogame enterprises. While this is in a way a mirror image of the videogame, where the action sequences are in their own way the “cut scene” interstitials rather than the main menu offering, and the character development is what moves the series along, Gungrave rarely if ever feels slow or drawn out. That’s a testament to the clear-headed writing that helps to firmly establish Brandon and Harry’s characters and then puts those characters through several interesting paces, leading to some subtle changes in both of them as the series’ storyline plays out.

Gungrave tries hard—some might say too hard—to invest the two main characters with enough backstory to make the final third or so of the series pay off in an emotional waterworks of a finale. Unfortunately the series, while deserving kudos for spending so much time giving two characters so much breathing room to stretch out and develop themselves, ends instead on a kind of silly and overly hyperbolic note. I won’t post spoilers here other than to say lots of gunfire (as in lots of gunfire) ensues, and Harry is reduced to an almost hilarious screaming fool. The series does have a quite effective coda which plays out both during and after the closing credits which attempts to bring the entire story arc full circle, and actually succeeds, at least to a degree.

Ultimately, though, Gungrave is an interesting adaptation that in terms of the niche world of videogame source material which has migrated over to full anime series ends up being one of the better of its ilk, due largely to the fascinating history of the two main characters. On the other hand, when compared to any number of similar animes culled from either manga source material or written exclusively for the (small) screen, Gungrave may seem like a bit too much of the old déjà vu for some people to fully invest in. This is a series manifestly better than it really should have been. Whether that’s good enough will be up to each individual to decide for themself.

Gungrave: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Gungrave is the first FUNimation Anime Classics line I can remember having been offered on Blu-ray with a 1080i transfer, upconverted from an SD master. Encoded via AVC in 1.78:1, Gungrave isn't an overly colorful piece to begin with, and while its design aesthetic is really interesting and well done, it doesn't rise to the exaggerated levels of some other Madhouse productions, so anyone coming to this piece expecting a visual tour de force may be disappointed. This interlaced offering does present some problems, notably some brief transitional combing artifacts, which may bother some viewers, and the fact the source elements were SD means this is never going to be the most eye poppingly sharp looking anime of all time. But overall things are definitely above average, with very good to excellent line detail, great representations of the several disparate styles at work within the series, and an accurate reproduction of the series' sometimes drab and dingy palette.

Gungrave: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The first thing you might notice about Gungrave in either of its lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mixes (the original Japanese language track and an English dub) is the music. While you might think an actioner like Gungrave might be filled with amped up rock or techno beats like so many other anime offerings, we're instead privy to an opening theme which is virtually in the easy listening category, at least when compared to other scores in this basic genre. But be that as it may, the score is just one reason either of these 5.1 offerings is so appealing. The other is those very action sequences, one violent episode after another that fill the surrounds with shots and other mayhem and recreate a very realistic soundfield full of discrete directional effects. While some may prefer the English dub for the ease of not having to read subtitles, I personally wasn't a big fan of the man voicing Harry, and so my personal recommendation is to stick with the original Japanese track. That said, both of these tracks feature excellent fidelity, some awesome LFE, and an artful balance between all of the elements of the mix.

Gungrave: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Promo Videos (SD; 5:20)
• Textless Opening Song "Family" (HD; 1:37)
• Textless Closing Song "Akaneiro-Ga-Moeru-Toki" (HD; 1:32)
• Trailers for other FUNimation Releases

Gungrave: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Gungrave has several unexpected elements that keep it from being predictable, and it's one of the few putative action animes that actually spends some decent time exploring its main characters. The show is a bit off-putting in its opening gambit, but if you give it a chance, my prediction is you'll probably be hooked by the sixth or seventh episode, just in time for things to change radically once again about halfway through. The series has some issues, and while the ending is notable for not exactly tying everything up in a neat little bow, it also may leave some viewers a bit disappointed that they've invested so much time only to have it all come to this. All of this said, I found a lot of Gungrave quite compelling and it's especially provocative given its videogame roots. Though this Blu-ray doesn't sport the crispest image quality in recent memory, the show is interesting enough to come Recommended.