Grenadier

[DB]

Thanks to a DSL, I can now download things and actually watch them *before* they get licensed. One of the first I targeted was a little something I caught a half epsiode of at a con. and was interested in. So I downloaded the 12 eps and watched them over the span of two days.

Grendier, Senshi of Smiles. But this is no Sailor Moon rip off, and for all the smiles, there's a ton of gunplay. Now, how to best describe it.

Trigun, with boobs. Big ones, and what is probably the most fanservicey method of reloading a revolver around.

This isn't a bad thing, since, amazingly, despite the fanservice, it's not about the fanservice. They could have done away with it and the story wouldn't have suffered much.

What we have as in alien world, where we're informed early on that many wars have wracked the lands.  This seems a bit of an overstatement. It's more like bandits roam at will, since there really aren't  any organized armies, and only one city is even shown.

Through this land of bandits comes out heroine,  Rushna Tendo. She's been sent on a journey by the local princess  (who seems to rule only a small kingdom in actuality).  Rushuna was taught by the princess that they best way to defeat an enemy is to take away their will to fight., and the first step in this is smiling. If that fails, shoot them, but only to wound.
(Rushuna also occasionally buries her foes face in her huge cleavage, this seems to have an even better effect than smiling, and even shooting, in some cases.)

Rushuna can do this because, like Vash, she's an uberhero. Normal run of the mill bad guys don't stand a chance against her anymore than they did him. Luckily, uberbadguys start popping up to offer a challenge, and a lot more quickly..

What appears to be a standard villain of the week plot disappears by the fourth episode or so, when Rushuna learns the queen has placed a  considerable bounty on her head, and for the life of her Rushuna can't figure out why. So begins her quest to return to the queen and find out what's going on.  The journey is frought with peril, and the while Rushuna does tend to fight a new bad guy every episode, there's a clear goal in mind.

She doesn't journey alone, she has a sword wielding companion, Yajiro, who actually is a co-lead, despite his inferior abilities.  Much of the series is through his eyes, and despite him not being as powerful as Rushuna, he has a very important  role to play in the story.

Oh yeah, they pick up the obligatory little kid, but not until the 5th or 6th episode. Luckily she doesn't get in the way too much.

The good points. An actual plot to this. Is it very sophisticated? Not really, but it's only 12 eps, and the emphasis is on action.  In that end, it succeeded for me.

Two: Rushuna is not really that bright. Not stupid, but she definitely qualifies as someone who reacts to situations, rather than plotting ahead. In this respoect, Yajiro is a good companion for her, despite his taking a backseat in combat abilities, by being the brains of the duo. And he's no useless hanger on like Meryl or Millie. ^_^

Three: This one is ambiguous. There's loads of fanservice. Rushuna loves to take baths in nearly every episode. So if you're a fan of er, service, then you'll like it. If you aren't then you'll have disdain for it.

Four: Unlike many anime women, She actually shows a great deal of affection toward Yajiro, while not really coming on to him.  He's a bit on the denial side when it comes to admitting he's interested in women (he is supposed to be a samuraii with a bad past), and since in the early going he's uncertain of Rushuna is a friend of enemy by her associations, he's wisely cautious of her.

Five: some of the bad guys are actually pretty cool. Some are lame, but others had interesting abilities, primarily toward the end.

Downsides to this: There's only 12 eps, so the story is a bit brief. The plot isn't complex. You can pretty much figure out what's going on about halfway through. Obligatory kid sidekick that should have been done away with.  

Other good points. I like the character designs, especially Rushuna's outfit (No, I don't mean her breasts. I honestly liked the design. Music moved well, and the main characters, while not breaking any molds, seemed to be ineteresting in their actions and behaviors.

Final tally: 6 out of 10. Definitely worth watching once, and maybe again a few years down the line. Should they put out a sequall, I'll definitely give it a chance.

[thepanda]

I wish I could give a point/counterpoint for this one, but I never managed to get past episode 4 and deleted it all off my computer as quickly as possible. The fan service alone was enough to drive me up the wall, and Rushna's physical design was just painful to look at. Were those supposed to be breasts? I thought she might be hiding some skin-colored ballons in her clothes. I honestly couldn't get past this, which is sad, because what little of the story that I did see was kinda interesting.

*Sigh*

If only she'd been in some kind of proper proportions.