Gun Blaze West

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Gun Blaze West

ガンブレイズウエスト
(Gan Bureizu Uesuto)

Genre

Author

Publisher

Other publishers:
Viz Media Elex Media Komputindo EMA

Demographic

Shōnen

Magazine

Weekly Shōnen Jump

Original run

June 4, 2001 – November 2, 2001

Volumes

Gun Blaze West (ガンブレイズウエスト, Gan Bureizu Uesuto^?) is a manga series by Nobuhiro Watsuki and published in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump in 2001. The story follows Viu Bannes, a young gunfighter on his journey towards a Gun Blaze West, the place where the greatest gunmen go to test their strength.

The manga is collected in three volumes and released in Germany and North America.

1 Plot
2 Characters
3 External links

[edit] Plot

"Gun Blaze West" is a place of legend where everyone, lawmen and outlaws, would be able to live in peace without fear of violence. The journey to Gun Blaze West may be undertaken at the end of every decade ("Zero Year"), but each hopeful must first earn the "Sign To West", an item with the Gun Blaze West insignia that is only valid on the year it is acquired.

[edit] Characters

[edit] Main characters

Viu Bannes

Viu is a cheerful, optimistic, and adventurous nine-year-old boy who dreams of becoming a gunman. He acts before he thinks and, because of his rash nature, takes on risky challenges without considering the consequences. Viu is determined to become Marcus Homer's apprentice in order to become strong enough to make the journey with him to Gun Blaze West. But after Homer is killed in a duel against Ken Brown, Viu is forced to train on his own and his journey to the West doesn't begin until five years later.

Will Johnston

First encounters Viu in a bar he was working as a bouncer in and throwing both him and Target Kevin out for causing a disturbance. Lives with his little sister in a small cabin (which got burned down by Kevin in retaliation for the earlier incident). Later on, joins Viu in his quest to fulfill his father's dream of finding Gun Blaze West. Is unique in that he uses a lasso as his weapon of choice, with his two named techniques being "Wave" (flicking a 'wave' of rope at Target Kevin's eyes) and "Tendril" (which he grabbed all four of Kevin's limbs and shattered them with a powerful tug).

Colice Satoh

Colice is the daughter of a family of samurai. She works as an acrobat and knifethrower for Robert Rodriguez's circus to repay him for taking her under his wing. Colice teaches Viu "Concentration One", a special eye technique to focus his aim better.

[edit] Allies

Marcus Homer

Viu's mentor who taught him the skills needed to make it to Gun Blaze West. Believed to have been gunned down by Ken Brown, he is revealed to be alive in the series' final page, where he is seen reading the note Viu left him in the hope that they both make it to Gun Blaze West together.

Robert Rodriguez

Circus owner. Robert is Guallaripa's former partner; their relationship ended when they caused a town's destruction and caused the deaths of a mother and daughter. Robert possess incredible strength as well as the ability to catch bullets with his bare hands.

Armor Baron

The First Messenger of Gun Blaze West. It is his duty to eliminate the weaker candidates to ensure the strongest make it to the next stage of the journey. His armor, Siegfried, is a special model with a built in rocket pack to give it short bursts of incredible speed, effectively turning him into a human missile. Viu manages to pierce his armor, thus earning his respect and a new Sign To West to continue his journey.

J.J.

A cocky gunman traveling to Gun Blaze West with his gang. Carries specialized bullets named Drill Rocks to penetrate the armor worn by Armor Baron's men. Watsuki describes him in his notes as being a "cooler version of Marcus Homer".^{[citation needed]} "J.J." stands for Jesse James.

Jim

One of J.J.'s Gang. His full name is Jim Younger.

Myra

One of J.J.'s Gang and one of the only two female Gunman searching for Gun Blaze West.In real she is Myra Maybelle Shirley Reed Starr(alias Belle Star)

[edit] Villains

Ken Brown

The first villain encountered in the series. Responsible for wounding Marcus Homer and apparently killing him, which set Viu off on his quest.

Target Kevin

An insane looking gunman who uses special sextuple-barreled shotguns to cause as much destruction as possible without regard for bystanders or property damage. Fought Viu in a special "Target Fight" match, where both participants paint bull's eyes on their bodies and win by hitting their opponent's bull's eye first.

Guallarripa

Uno and Dos

Guallaripa's twin grandsons who are determined to help their grandfather on his journey. Uno uses a pair of large spurs as a pair of roller skates which grant him increased speed and an added edge to his kicking attacks, while Dos uses a large circular disc as a razor edge frisbee for long range attacks.

Serge Thunderarm

As a United States Army Cavalry soldier, Serge was once noted to have fought nonstop for 3 days and 3 nights, averaging 10,000 rounds per day. He had no qualms about killing enemy soldiers even if they had surrendered or have been taken as prisoners of war. He was believed dead after he took from a cannonball, but was rebuilt as a cyborg in service of the U.S. government in order to find Gun Blaze West.He was meant to be the first Super Soldier