Manga / Gun Blaze West

Bang, your move, partner.

Gun Blaze West is a short-lived shonen manga by Nobuhiro Watsuki, which was serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump from December 2000 to July 2001. Set in 19th century America, it tells the story of Viu Bannes on his quest to locate Gun Blaze West, a rumored place where only the roughest and toughest outlaws and cowboys dare to tread. The thing of it is though it's very well hidden, and artifacts dubbed "Sign To West" are the only known objects to point the way. Luckily Viu has one of them (his prized gun from his mentor), and is more than willing to risk life and limb to reach the legendary destination. Along the way he is joined by two more allies: Will Johnston, a former bar bouncer whose father left him a compass with the sign and Colice Satoh, a Japanese foreigner, acrobat and keen-eyed knife-thrower from a traveling circus. Together they brave the wild frontier, confronting other desperadoes who seek the same goal.

One of the few Wild West manga actually set in America and depicted the 19th century very well. Sadly, it never caught on with its readers and was soon canceled within the year it began (six months to be exact, resulting in three volumes of material).

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This manga provide the following tropes:

• And the Adventure Continues: Viu, Will and Colice prove their mettle and are shown the way to the next path to Gun Blaze West. The story ends there however.
• Artificial Limbs / Arm Cannon: Sarge Thunderarm who has a cyborg right arm and, not surprisingly, a cannon within it. Doesn't help him against Baron Knight however.
• Atop a Mountain of Corpses: Kenbrown, the leader of his gang, sits on top of a pile of people he's killed, and threatens to add his men to the pile if they fail.
• Blunt "Yes":
  • Viu does this after risking his life to try to get his gun belt back in Chapter 2.
    Marcus: Charging at a horse is going too far, friend. You want to trade your life for your gun belt?
    Viu: Yeah!
    Marcus: Not "Yeah."
  • The ringmaster does this with his old partner.
    Ringmaster: Gualarripa, are you still hung up on a dream you can't fulfill?
    Gualarripa: Darn right! This time, I'm getting to Gun Blaze West for sure!
• Cut Short: Sadly, we never do see the heroes reach Gun Blaze West, as the manga was cancelled due to low popularity rankings. The last chapter has a Native American guide lead them to the next challenge but that's the last we see of the protagonists. However, it's implied in the final chapter they do succeed in reaching there.
• Deadly Game: Deadly Target, where one paints a target on himself and the opponents must aim for that area. Viu takes this challenge against Target Kevin and paints the target right over his heart.
• Determinator: Viu of course. Its a shonen manga, what do you expect?
• Dirty Coward: Sarge Thunderarm calls for reinforcements when Armor Baron proves too difficult to defeat on his own, much to his opponent's disgust.
• Hanging Judge: The judge of Fort Smith is notorious for rounding up anyone remotely suspicious and sending them to the gallows.
• Happily Adopted: Colice who reveals she's actually hails from Japan but was shipped from the country and wound up under the care of a circus manager.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: The owner of the rival bar to Will's on leaving the multi-barreled shotguns behind the bar, allowing free access for Viu and Will to shoot up and destroy the place.
• Idiot Hero: Viu isn't particularly bright and tends to solve his problems through sheer determination. Will often finds this annoying.
• Impossible Task: The ringmaster, who hopes to discourage Viu from seeking Gun Blaze West, tasks him with shooting a bullseye at 15 meters, three times the accurate range of his gun. His goal is to either get Viu to give up or drive him to achieve the inhuman level of skill he'll need to succeed.
• Improbable Weapon User: Will and his rope attacks.
• Knife-Throwing Act: Colice again. The heroes meet her when they come across a traveling circus she's a part of with knife throwing being her main act.
• More Dakka: Target Kevin and his Multiple Barrel Shotguns.
• The Mountains of Illinois (literally!): As our heroes trek halfway across the US, the towns, topography, etc. don't vary much; it all just looks like what you'd expect in a generic Western movie. Of course, one can just accept this as the Western-themed fantasy that it is, but if, say, you've ever been to Illinois, seeing it drawn like it was Grand Canyon National Park is rather amusing.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: During the last arc, the trio meet a couple of cowboys named J.J, Jim, and Myra, who are actually fictional depictions of famous real life outlaws Jesse James, Jim Younger, and Myra Maybelle Shirley Reed Star respectively.
• One Bullet Left: Happens to Viu a lot. In the battle with Uno and Dos, he has to use the bullet to defeat one of them and the casing to defeat the other.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Armor Baron gives one to Sarge Thunderarm when the latter calls for reinforcements.
  Armor Baron: Just as I thought, you are unqualified to go to Gun Blaze West. You don't hold back or show mercy to those who are weaker than you. But against one who is stronger, you try to win by resorting to numbers. You are "super-human" in name only. You are a typical human being. A weak, pitiful human being.
• Showdown at High Noon: No surprise this pops up, happens twice in the opening story.
• Steampunk: The last few chapters features characters with this, such as rocket packs and a cyborg arm.
• Training from Hell: Viu decides to train for several years before he sets out on his journey. He begins after he's satisfied.
• Unexplained Recovery / Back for the Finale: Marcus Homer, Viu's mentor and friend from the opening story. Thought dead when he fell into a river after a failed gun duel. The last chapter shows that he did indeed survive and found the broken gun he had given Viu which Viu left for him to follow their trail.
• The Wild West: Duh.

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