The technology to create powerful cyborg soldiers has been released for public use by the Berühren Corporation. Those outfitted with robotic parts are known as the Extended. Juuzou Inui, one such Extended, was created as a soldier and has no memories of his former life. But now, after the war, he runs a business that takes care of Extended-related incidents around the city.
Rumors of a renegade Extended that kidnapped a child reach his ears; lo and behold, as Juuzo returns to his office, a giant robotic man with a boy on his back crashes in, asking for help. While Juuzou could just turn the guy in and be done with it, something about this situation is too fishy to ignore. It seems that everyone wants hold of this kid and, whether he likes it or not, Juuzou must find out why this Extended is on the run, how it connects to the Berühren Corporation, and just how far the treachery runs in this city.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
Skarvalin
No Guns Life shines brighter than most of its surrounding competition thanks to its central themes of corruption and dehumanization, strengthened by it’s gritty noir style. But the execution casts a strong shadow on the whole show, loaded with mediocrity. It has a good foundation to improve from though. Most of the first season is dedicated to world-building and does so with modestly good results. But it often felt like it went all over the place and never really resolved many of the plot threads that it had built up. The characters especially took a bullet due to this. Most of them were blander than stalebread because of how severely lacking their development is as of now.
Our main protagonist Inui Juuzou is an Over-Extended and former gun slave unit that was used during a war. His backstory from that time is only mentioned briefly, teasing you to keep watching and find out more later. Other characters fall into this as well, which is quite frustrating since besides their backstories they have almost nothing going for them. They are at least not painfully generic like many of the villains turn out to be, who basically scream in your face about how evil they are. Though they only become a hurdle when the story needs them to be.
What ended up making me stay throughout its entire runtime was the same reason I picked this show up in the first place, it’s aesthetic. The bleak and gritty dystopian future the show throws you into is very refreshing. It’s heavily noir inspired which is something one rarely sees these days but I would gladly see more of. Aesthetics aside, the visuals are alright for the most part. There's a heavy use of CGI but it blends in with it's 2D counterpart enough to not become too distracting. Character movement was solid most of the time and they were very consistently on model throughout. The action scenes were the visual highlight and were pretty fast-paced and enjoyable. The CGI is also implemented well here and at times used to the show's advantage.
The noir style was amplified thanks to the smooth jazz soundtrack that really helped give the show it’s own identity. I can't say it did a lot for me emotionally, but was overall pretty decent for what it was. I feel pretty much the same way about the voice acting which was also decent and fitting to the characters personality. Not any outstanding performances but they did their job well and made the characters feel more real, aside from some of the villains that just sounded ridiculous.
But overall I can't say I'm satisfied at all when the characters and story haven't been properly fleshed out. I think the most harmful problem was the lack of story and character progression which makes it hard to recommend. If it’s style is not enough to make up for it then I can see many finding this quite dull. However, at the end of the day, I think it’s at least worth a shot.
Stark700
Walking down the dark metropolis is a man with a gun head. A man without conviction. A man filled with righteous. A man with unrivaled pride in his work. From the cyberpunk world where cyborgs exists, this man is a private detective and resolves to rid of it of corruption. He is Juzo Inui, a gun head who is here to help the helpless. Mangaka Tasku Karasuma is not fairly well known to most audiences although some of his work incorporates the usage of futuristic worlds and science fiction. No Guns Life is no exception as we are introduced to a cyberpunk setting. Humans are nowcyborgs and are called “Extended”. Crime is rampant and on the loose in the city. With such technology, you can just imagine how chaotic society has become. Juzo is an Extended problem solver who relies on his mental and physical skills to deal with other Extended. From the very beginning, the audience should pay full attention to Juzo’s character behavior. Despite being an Extended, he has the personality of a private detective and always seeks to complete his tasks for the right price. With the motto of “wipe your own ass”, Juzo prefers to work alone and isn’t afraid to take big risks. From a personal perspective, Juzo is not just the poster boy of No Guns Life but also a symbol. He is a symbol for people to take their own responsibility for their actions.
Now I won’t deny No Guns Life is somewhat of a niche anime. Even as a paranormal detective show, the anime leans more into sci-fi and action. The story flows with each episode introducing ongoing problems in a city and corruption. We also meet characters who Juzo associates with including Mary Steinberg and Tetsuro Arahbaki. These two collaborates together with Juzo although they also have their own personal goals. (for instance, Mary hopes to reunite with her brother) Nonetheless, Juzo acts as more of an anti-hero throughout the series. Even though he performs heroic deeds, he’s also a mercenary who takes cases for money. For the right price, Juzo does his job regardless how difficult it may be. But on some occasions, he also helps the Extended in need with his own conviction. In essence, he helps the helpless and comes across as a fairly reasonable man. Some associates occasionally assists him in his tasks although the main course of his job is undertaken by the gunhead himself. Speaking of which, how likeable are the other characters? The bottom line is that Juzo overshadows them but they do possesses unique roles in the show. Mary works as a mechanic and is important to his well-being. Tetsuro has an ability to control other Extended’s bodies making an invaluable asset. Even Olivier Vandeberme, a law enforcer, provides freedom for Juzo so he can work without disturbance. The fact is, these characters are important to the core of the show and without them, Juzo would have a harder time to achieve his goals.
But an important question remains. What is your goal for watching No Guns Life? What are you hoping to get out of this science fiction story taking place in this deluded cyberpunk world? It’s ambiguous question because No Guns Life is an unconventional show with its own identity. Sometimes, you have to wonder what the author wanted you to experience. Juzo, the gun head reminds us how the potentials of Extended and their limitations. I mean, isn’t it funny how he can’t actually fire the augmented gun on his head without assistance? In fact, many Extended in the series carries some sort of burden in the aftermath of the great war. A major social issue relating to poverty also exists as some Extended resorts of violence to survive. On the other hand, we have mega corporations such as Behruen, standing as a symbol of power and bureaucracy. It reminds of the old classic 1987 Robocop where futuristic technological inventions are treated differently than others. Crime remains a major issue in the story as Juzo deals with corruption. He finds out the hard way after facing off against rogue cyborg Gondry, the very first Extended. Standing out as a powerful individual but also victimized by the result of the war, Gondry is a poster boy of experimentation. An arc dealing with him is one of the climatic clashes exploring the ethnics of technology. And to be honest, I think it’s one of the highlights in this season. Meanwhile, No Guns Life also gains support for eliciting emotional appeal to the audience. Characters such as Olivier has their own motivations and in one of the later episodes, we find out her purpose in the story. If you made it this far, then I can say it’s safe that you’ll be staying the rest of the way.
Serving as a celebration of Madhouse’s creative works, No Guns Life has distinctive elements in its artwork. The dark and noir-style backgrounds inspire a cyberpunk look for the main setting. Most noticeably, the backgrounds are animated with the Unreal Engine to make them as polished as they can be. By rendering the visuals and fuse them with the character models, it makes both parts stand out sharply. It’s not too often we get to see a game engine being used for an animated series so perhaps this opens doors more to future projects of similar nature. The Extended are also decorative with unique augmentations and modifications to the body, so much that you’ll see them more than regular humans. Characters that stand out the most includes Juzo, Gondry, and perhaps Olivier. Their character expressions sell a variety of human behavior ranging from comical, emotional, and diabolical. And if you’re in for some light comedy, there’s that too. Character interactions sometimes goofs around with their cartoony expressions. Then, there are also light jokes thrown around that pokes fun at technological themes with dry humor. We can’t also ignore how often Juzo needs help to fire his own gun, can we?
No Guns Life is a unique piece of work with its own identity. As someone who has read the manga, it’s easy to get used to even if you’re not familiar with its ideas. The more I watched No Guns Life, the easier it became to understand what the author wanted to show us. Trust me, go watch No Guns Life and experience a hallmark of unorthodox beauty.
KANLen09
I don't really get it why uninnovative cyberdunk dystopian stories always get the flak of it being unimaginative and impromptu of its massive storytelling coupled with world-building, but I'd can say that while No Guns Life is one of the more uninspired stories out there in a sea of mech stories both old and new, it's slow-burn and the entire plot universe around it is what keeps me glued to this show of infinite proportions of its many directions it could head towards, and it's sad that not as many people are as intrigued to the settings and such, and heck, this show still hasa 2nd cour (or more appropriately the 2nd half) to go!
Always been wondering about the editorial remarks on No Guns Life's cover? It says here: “SF hard boiled the gun smoke drifts muzzle talks” (just like that, without commas). To quote someone who knows the source well, it’s surprisingly accurate: Protagonist "Resolver" Inui Juzou, is a rogue private detective part of the "Gun Slave Unit" assigned to eradicate Extendeds, who's always smoking cigarettes, is smoking hot, smokes with gun smoke, because he is an (Over-Extended) cyborg made of revolvers, his head for a gun (revolver), and being the the spirit of the noire revolver embodied: bitter, badass, with a dark history, seeking to break away from the hands that try to subdue him, actually a weapon. And due in part of Juzou being half-human and half-weapon/tool, he always tries not to force a bad hand in situations that call for it in the best possible way he could, and his motto is to "wipe your own ass" i.e. clear your own shit the way you know how.
And in this post-apocalyptic world, the seemingly formed relationships are barely legal depending on which side of the case it leans on: the "righteous" side of Juzou and his workhorse people, or the retro-futuristic cyberpunk setting, which in turn is also a proper one – with an evil cybernetic corporation, a brutal police force tasked with keeping the modified Extendeds in check, with questions of transhumanism and alienation, along with the punk part – bodies being spliced and spruced up in backdoor-alleyway undercity clinics, body horror and brain hacking. So the world in No Guns Life literally has not both start and end lines, but rather, everything is a process in and of its end onto itself. To sweeten the deal, the anime's background of a war does best to interlink both sides, where due to the war happened before the world ever came into a consensus, humans and mech Extendeds are like owners and tools before all rules and regulation broke down.
In essence, it's the interesting characters that both make or break the series in accordance with the many issues at hand, and here's where Juzou's life gets more exacerbated from Tetsuro Arahabaki, the son of the CEO of the evil Berühren Corporation, who is heavily wanted for experimentation for a device that is heavily implanted within him that could control and take over Extendeds in range to amass their reach beyond areas of influence. Add in Tetsuro's annoying and bratty behaviour, along with company associate-cum-mechanic Mary Steinburg and the EMS agency which regulates Extended and Over-Extended beings like Juzou and keeping them under check that they don't flout the law, all this becomes one massive problem that Juzou just couldn't afford to shrug under the rug.
To commend this show on the storytelling and the over-arching plot, it is pretty much a perfect 100% 1-to-1 adaptation of the manga into the anime, which says a lot about fans not wanting to lose out on anything even remotely minor, and No Guns Life definitely benefitted from series composer Yukie Sugawara taking no liberties and adapting the manga's entirety to good use. And sure, the story will not win any awards with some of its cheeziness, but for pretty much creating hidden crannies and hooks that'll intrigue us to dive even deeper, I'd say that it has done its job well. Not great mind you, but not bad for a valiant effort.
And who to bring that classic 90's stylized feels and visuals other than Madhouse, I truly love it when such works like this call back the old aesthetics that give seasoned studios to stretch on their legs for visuals that have been long gone in time past. The modern world, made old with the entire cyberpunk. scrapyard setting really gives it a feel for some of the older classics that we've come to know and love (i.e. Trigun, made by the same studio). Coupled with the great animation, I'd say that Madhouse has done a good job in replicating the entire world to its core. Factor in the great music with the background music and especially the OST, which was a complete surprise that the entire ED is done in Unreal Engine 4 by Cyclone Graphics to aid that gamer-futuristic look. That's superb and unheard of by any standards, with the cool jazzy OP and ED that made up the experience overall.
This show's truly boring you say, and I'd agree to an extent, but take a deep dive under the rabbit hole and you'll see that No Guns Life truly is a fascinating show with as many of its layers waiting to be delved into a story that is initially hard to pick up but even harder to drop. Can't wait for the 2nd half to drop in Spring 2020, and if you need a binge, do pick this up before the 2nd half commences if your interest hasn't waned yet.
theRealGuyFieri
No Guns Life? Yes, no guns should ever be brought to life. Spoiler warning but I'll just give you one small one, it's not good. Don't bother watching this series because it is downright awful. I know for a fact that at face value this show seems 'cool' and 'radical' with the main character having a head of a revolver and the world taking place in the future. I know this because that was my initial thoughts when going into this show, honestly, the show was fine until everything changed when that Tetsurou annoyance entered the scene. Right away that kid alone just place this showin the negative zone, he is literally the embodiment of kid Naruto and that's not a nice thing to see. This is literally his format for his character for scenarios, Juno is busy with an issue, the boy's a busybody and has to 'help', in turn of 'helping' Juno he fucks up and gets beaten up, Juno saves him and the boy just apologies, then the cycle continues. This is utter trash writing from the people behind this series, even if is a copy from the books, they do not even try to make scenes or plot interesting.
I am going to be straight, the reasons why I didn't give this series a 1 because I love the concept and I like Mary and Juno, that's all. The music sucks, the art sucks (especially coming from you Madhouse), plot uninteresting and unfocused, just the show is a complete mess. Like if they just focus the whole plot on Mary and Juno alone, I bet it would come for a much enjoyable series, 'Mary and Juno's Bizarre Adventures'. That I would dig. It is so obvious the studio is placing this series out for the sake of filling the anime seasons slots, I know for a fact that Madhouse is not using the full production team due to them also working on Chihayafuru 3. Either this shows the saturation of anime titles the NHK demands to studios or that Madhouse just got lazy and they decided to just shit out series without any dazzle on them. This doesn't come off super disappointing as I can clearly see the show's flaws at the near beginning, so it really shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that this series is bad. I do want to call out the ambitious aim the show was trying to go for, like the issue with robots living aside humans and the struggle to maintain peace after a long war. However I just think the studio didn't actually understand the sheer size of what they were aiming, there were tons of technological gaps in the show, not very innovative ideas despite the place being in the future, social system is like messy and politics are just obsolete. I am going to stop here, but if you watch it through yourself you would be able to intake this pile of under-produced crap.
-SCORES-
Characters- 4/10: Fuck the kid and almost everyone else, Juno and Mary are the only acceptable ones.
Art- 3/10: Boobies are big but the physics is so bad that every oppai seems dead to me. In majority of the scenes, especially when the characters turn or look somewhere else, it looks as if the turning animation was made on Windows XP. Face are fucked, environment's boring and the whole show is just trying to mimic shit. Only thing to praise them for is the use of Unreal Engine 4. It's true though, some of the visuals are pretty 'unreal' to believe in.
Writing- 2/10: Ooooweee did this part had a blast, since there is so much bad shit to ramble about I'll just say one good thing. Which is errrrrrrrr... Nevermind I can't think of anything. The show is bad at choosing whether this scene should be serious or that scene should be funny and whatnot.
Sound- 5/10: For the most part is fine, everything does it's job but not super well nor super bad. Everything is alright except the god awful outro, like seriously what is with that outro. It feels as if the singers just muttering a script with the beat off some Eurovision song.
Overall, trash. Plus there is a second season coming up, what a joke. I guess the only way Madhouse and the writers can prove themselves is by delivering their utmost best in the next one. But to comeback from a ditch as deep as this would take a miracle.
Strong 2 to a light 3
Thicc_Ink
This show has no sauce. The first episode tricked me into thinking this might be good. Stylish MC, a looming megacorp that owns people's bodies, and a unique mystery. Unfortunately, all three of these points get dropped in like... episode 2. You are promised a hard boiled detective series, but then fails to have the detective do any sloothing. No villains are uncovered, they are all happy to explicitly state that they are evil. The mysteries, if you could even call them that, basically solve themselves with the answer just falling into the lap of the b-plot character for that episode so they can showup to the main plot and actually do something for exactly one scene before taking the background to sauceless action sequences.
The aesthetic is interesting on a surface level with next to nothing lying behind it. Dudes just have fucked up bodies that look evil if they are evil or cool if they are good. There's no consistency or themes.
If I vaguely state stuff that happens in the story it almost sounds interesting. A megacorp makes all the cybernetics (called extensions in this series) and own the world. There's an anti-extend group killing innocent people who have cybernetics. The main character was made to be a weapon in a war and is now a private eye. Sometimes extends (people with extensions) experience discrimination (despite literally everyone we see in the series being extended.)
The problem comes in on how these aspects are executed. The megacorp is just comically evil, because if they weren't then the show would actually have something to say. Idk how you have a corporation that owns everyone's physical bodies without even the slightest attempt at commentary on capitalism. The anti-extend group is also just evil with no subtlety, they just kinda hate extends and just like to murder people to make extends look violent. Don't think about how stupid that is. They don't really have any philosophy besides just cyberpunk racism. The main character is just op in the most boring way possible, there's never any tension because literally nobody could ever threaten him in any meaningful way. He gets on the megacorps bad side and the only consequences are like one attempt to spite him and a minor inconvenience.
The discrimination against extends bit never actually has consequences for anyone. The main character is never denied entrance somewhere because he looks like a gun. At most a few characters act slightly shocked at the fact he looks the way he does. Best we get is a girl in the final arc who won't talk to him, but it's all hand waved by the end of the episode with the main characters just stumbling into the thing that progresses the plot.
The story is painfully passive. Nobody does anything. Things just kinda happen to the characters and then the resolution just kinda happens in the same way the conflict just kinda happened at the start.
The music is forgettable. I genuinely can't recall how a single track sounds and I literally just finished watching it.
The sound is bad, half of everything in this show sounds like stock audio effects.
The action is lame, it's a slideshow with no weight or consequences.
Visually you get everything from the first episode with no actual variety in the locations, colors, or sets. Nobody interacts with the world, it's a wholly unappealing backdrop (and not in the intentional way that cyberpunk likes to do)
A remarkable lack of sauce on display. Don't waste your time.
Marinate1016
No Guns Life is a series that I am grateful to have discovered. It's not a show that I normally would watch and had I not been introduced to it by a friend one night, probably never would have seen it. I'm not normally a person who watches hard broiled detective series or movies, however I am a sucker for a good story and when I go into evaluating any anime/manga/LN I prioritise the story and world building. No Guns Life excels in that department and even if you aren't a person who normally likes this genre, you'll most likely enjoy the show because of theworld, characters and mystery.
The gist of the story is that humans were genetically modified in order to fight as soldiers in a war, now that the war is over, those "extended" or modified humans are struggling to readjust to society amidst discrimination, mental and physical health issues, etc. The protagonist Juuzo, who is quite literally a smoking gun, is basically a PI who takes on cases from the biggest players in town, until he bites off more than he can chew by taking on a case involving the city's biggest corporation who will stop at nothing to keep their secrets in-house. Juuzo's latest case sets off a chain of events that could lead to the very unravelling of society.
The mystery, character development, action scenes, etc are all well done and given it's madhouse, this really shouldn't come as a surprise. It's a seinen story and it feels seinen. The topics explored, the reoccurring motifs and character interactions feel mature and I appreciate that. The first season left a few things to be desired with pacing towards the end, but overall I was more than satisfied with this series and it will certainly be one of the hidden gems of 2019.
Overall, No Guns Life is certainly worth a watch if you enjoy Cyberpunk, Sci-Fi thrillers, Mysteries, detective dramas, etc.
LordLight6
No Guns Life is a good anime... that's all. It's not great, it's not bad, just good. The writing and execution is alright, but there's that sense that it has potential for a lot more, and it's a bit of a shame. Still, I enjoyed watching this the whole way through, and I'm willing to concede this slow start for a strong comeback in the form of season two. I personally really enjoyed it, even if I know it's only a 7/10 at best. It's hard to describe, but I managed to stay engaged and interested the whole way through. I think people should eventually watch it,but I wouldn't go out of my way to tell them it's a priority or that it's the best.
I'm ready for season two. Do me proud!
OVERALL 7/10
inknote
I thought this was gunna be some edgy bs, but its actually great! A hard-boiled detective type who plays the straight man, but makes gun puns and is absolutely hilarious without ever acting as if he did anything funny. There are very few times he emotes (and only then in the form of a flustered, chibi-style face), but the acting is so well done, and the animation so excellent, that he never felt like a stiff character. Great female characters, interesting episodes, though the over-arching plot left some to be desired. The last two episodes are my favorite for this season, not because they're plotheavy at all, but just a fun, interesting 2 episode plot about robot ghosts. It gets a little silly but has its heartfelt, genuine, tense moments as well.
ktulu007
No Guns Life is an anime from last year. The manga started in 2014 and is still ongoing. The anime version came from Madhouse. Let's just hope it came from their division that works on quality projects instead of their one that makes complete tripe. Story: Inui Juuzou is an Extended. Which is basically the term this series uses for cyborgs. He has a gun for a head and is able to function in normal society solely through cooperating with the authorities and he makes a living by taking on jobs involving other cyborgs. The anime basically covers a series of these jobs and Juuzou's struggles withthe large, world ruling corporation Berühren.
There are some pretty significant flaws. First off, we find out that Juuzou can't fire the gun on his own head because the trigger is in the back of his head... in a spot you could reach with a normal range of motion.... with no indication that he's hampered in that regard. And you can't say that someone needs special authorization, because we see it fired once in this series and it's by a kid. The ending is also pretty shit. Usually when you have a series like this, they'll try to make the ending satisfying even though they're going for a sequel by answering some big question, showing a major antagonist brought down or otherwise wrapping up some ongoing plot thread. In this one, they decided to give you a really boring case and leaving everything important to be wrapped up later.
This also suffers from the same problem as a lot of 90s comics where they feel the need to constantly and quickly introduce the next thing so you can get into the action and the few moments where they take a break and could, potentially, work on character development end up being kind of rushed set ups for the next bit of action.
About the best I can say for the series is that there are a few moments that are kind of interesting and none of its faults are so egregious that they absolutely ruin it or get obnoxious.
Characters:
Hard bitten detective, naive kid with a mysterious power, girl in a supporting role who jokes around with the hero. It sounds clichéd because it is. The series also has one of those trans women characters who looks really masculine and acts flirtatious with men in a way that makes them uncomfortable. Because that's such a great trope.
I also have to talk about the evil corporation. In something with strong writing that has an evil corporation, you'll see humanity from the people who work there and the company's evil actions will have some kind of profit-based motive behind them. In this one, there's an effort to do that but they just go too far with the evil deeds. We see them use children for cyborg experiments. We also see them decide to sacrifice a bunch of innocent civilians for very flimsy reasons. Which basically makes them Republic Serial villains without the sense of fun.
Art:
This is another aspect I'm going to compare to bad 90s comics. A lot of the cyborg character designs, including gun head, look to be going for the "extreme" aesthetic rather than looking good. The non-cyborgs tend to have some bizarre characteristic that just makes them look weird like Olivier's lips or Cronen's eyebrows. The action sequences are pretty good. They flow fairly well. The backgrounds are detailed. Maybe a bit too drab but detailed.
Sound:
The acting is well done. Suwabe Junichi, Numakura Manami & Ymashita Daiki all deliver their lines well. About the worst performances you get are from Ebara Masashi & Ueda Youji. Ebara because the series has that typical, exaggerated, overly masculine trans character and that character always sounds awful. Ueda's performance is meant to sound like a slimy corporate man but he just comes across as hammy.
Kawai Kenji's music is fine. It's not the best I've heard from him by any means but it's basically functional.
Ho-yay:
There's really none to be found.
Areas of Improvement:
If Juuzou has limited range of motion and actually can't reach the back of his own head, illustrate that instead of just having the characters act like it's impossible to reach back there. It's awkward, but it's well within a normal person's range of motion.
Don't make your corporation so cartoonishly evil.
Better pacing with more time to develop your characters and their relationship dynamics would do wonders.
Final Thoughts:
This anime is a lot like a mediocre 90s comic, maybe a bit worse. With an extreme aesthetic, under-developed characters & pacing that wants to rush anything character-based because they're worried that any atmosphere or character building will bore the audience. I'm giving it a 4/10.
RauLeCreuset
No Guns Life. This is probably one of the worse reviews I have ever wrote/given an anime. But, here it goes and not everyone is going to agree with what you say or do, that is just how it goes. I thought this anime was awkward and boring from the start despite the action and somewhat comedy, something about this anime just didn't really sit well with me. Which is why I am saying what I am about this rushed, not thoughtful, and embarrassing excuse for an anime. As well as a total disappointment. To me at least as I thought it would be great.I mean nothing is at all whatsoever perfect but, I thought it would be better then what it was. Just some food for thought.
spacecraft555
TL; DR Review No Guns Life isn't bad at any means, but neither is it amazing. In fact, it could be a lot better. However, I think that other release of exceptional anime has impacted my view on No Guns Life. For example, I enjoyed Demon Slayer or Fire Force a lot better than No Guns Life. The main problem I see in this anime is that there's not a lot of variety. Some of the episodes are kind of similar and there are really no "haha, gotcha" moments. I do have to say, the opening is a banger and the character design is pretty cool.Unfortunately, this anime starts off on an amazing first 3 episodes and just doesn't live up to its expectations.
-Spacecraft555
ajaxdin
No Guns life and its universe show great potential to develop in something great and truly meaningful. Potential on its own can't justify show short coming , its is important to keep big picture in mind. On surface it can be seen and watched as action packed, noir show about Dude with gun on his head, beating up bad guys and being overall awesome and cool. If someone sees this show like that, its fine cause thats what show is about. However it can also be seen as gruesome depiction of late-state capitalism where everything and everyone is a product. Extensiondon't exist to help people, but are used as schemes to get people dependent on medicine, maintenance and constant improvements. People are tools meant to be exploited for wealth.
It also can be seen as show about Post war soldier. Juzo being born to be nothing more than killing tool for military which created him and see how he struggles to find purpose in civilian life as well as battle against this idea that he just a tool meant to be used.
What makes these themes even more appealing is that , show combines them well with its light hearted moments and action scenes that it doesn't come out as surface level preaching and virtue signaling.
At what layer you decide to watch the show is upto to the viewer, although understanding that there is more to the show when just some action scenes, would let one enjoy the show to another level.
Although there are things which nag me.
1. Characters over all well designed , their appearance is distinctive and fit well into over all art style of the show. However, it might be age thing, turning 22 that surface level fan service rubs me the wrong way. Fact that out of 5 female characters, 2 are ninja nuns who were undersized triangle bra and stocking as their uniform, Olivier having massive and over exposed rack and even Scarlet being given standard large anime breasts. Was bit off putting. If show has to flash half naked women in first 10 minutes of show, it gives you certain expectation about then show.
2.Story in S1 isn't really that good. S1 seemed a lot more of an introduction to the world of No Guns Life, so there where a lot of few episode long arcs which didn't really go another, mainly served as character introduction and world building. However there is second season coming out in 2020, so depending on how good it is , viewing experience of overall show might be a lot different from just first season.
Those 2 nit picks aside show is pretty flawless. Art design and great, action scenes are directed well. Whenever juzo fights , you can feel the raw power and metalic hardness behind his blows.
all of this is support what I'd day pretty amazing osts, Opening has become one of my favorites.
When you get depressed anime fan to watch Opening for majority of episodes, thats job well done in my book.
TL;DR great looking show, with potential of exploring some interesting themes. You can watch it now and wait for S2 or wait until S2 comes out and watch both seasons back to back
ggultra2764
No Guns Life explores a near future where humans undergo cybernetic enhancements to become cyborgs called Extended and one of these Extended, Juzo Izui, is a Resolver who is hired to handle cases related to Extended. He finds himself having to protect a boy named Tetsuro Arahabaki who was forced into illegal experimentation where he has a device called "Harmony" stored in his throat that allows him to take over the bodies of other Extended. As No Guns Life is confirmed to be a split-cour with its second half confirmed to be airing in the Spring 2020 season, I'll just be focusing on what has beenexplored thus far. This first season is mostly used to explore the near-future world of the series and dabble into mysteries concerning Juzo's past and the shady criminal underworld that dominates the city the series is set in, as many of the episodes have their relevance for further fleshing out the world of No Guns Life and dabbling into said mysteries. For the world building piece, No Guns Life does a solid job depicting the underworld that Juzo dabbles into as the city he lives in is rife with criminal syndicates fighting over territory and exploiting Extended technology for personal gain, while a powerful corporation has influence over the city's affairs as such to interfere in any investigations of the city's criminal elements. In addition, a major war that affected the world of the series has many Extended who fought in said world resorting to criminal activity in order to survive and much of the public has a negative perception of Extendeds as a result of said war.
As for the mysteries within the series, No Guns Life features a complicated web of questions concerning the seedy elements of the city and Juzo's origins. The former has several ongoing story elements connected to the corporation that influences the city's affairs within No Guns Life, including the experiments performed on Tetsuro and a pair of mercenaries trying to track down Juzo in the show's second half. The latter half involves Juzo seemingly being connected to events from the war in spite of having no memory of his past during that point. These mysteries remain largely unresolved by season's end (especially as the show's final episode focuses on a case Juzo takes on instead of dabbling more into its mysteries) and mostly serve as a hook to interest fans into seeing the second season of No Guns Life.
Whatever the series has to offer up with its mysteries in its second season will likely determine if I think it's worthwhile as a whole or not, but it has done well with its world building, mysteries, and gritty mood thus far to keep me engaged to it. So more than likely, I'll be revisiting the world of No Guns Life when it resumes its run in April of next year.
KneelingAngel
I started watching this because of the main character Juzo who has a revolver for a head! (It is probably the same reason why many others started watching this.) Super cool design! I also adore Juzo's voice actor, so I had to watch this when I found out that Suwabe Junichi would be voicing him. I love the art style of the serie and all the character designs, so a pretty high score on that part. However, for me the rest was kind of dissapointing. Because a lot of the characters dont move their lips while talking, like Juzo and Tetsuro, the animation is ratherstiff in my opinion. Of course there are action scenes that make up for it, but it wasnt anything spectacular. Story wise, I had to watch this anime twice (i dropped it the first time). I felt there was a storyline missing. It was there in the beginning when Tetsuro first appeared, but then that storyline kind of faded. Because this anime was only 12 episodes I ended up picking it up again and started getting into it. It's just cool to watch a walking revolver doing a bunch of action stuff! A new storyline kind of picked up the last couple of episodes and I figure it is where they will pick up in season two. So even though I didnt think this season was that amazing, I still want to watch season 2 and hope it will be better. I'm curious where it will go next.
silvio_aliatis
the main character has a good story and deep, they show you how the life would me if we are like cyborgs and no cyborgs in a post war. the opening is one of the best anime opening i've ever heard. you can't stop watch this anime because at the end of every episode there is to much suspense. if you want to watch a mature anime check it. the art is pretty good, with very details. it's a good anime, the second seasson is even better, you would love this anime if you like a good trama and fights. who ever say this anime is not goodis because they just watch animes ecchis or dramas.
mkzxwing
Does not contain spoilers So, as you can see i gave this a rather mediocre score, therefore, let's start with the good, especially since there's not that much of it. Its studio madhouse. That's good i guess. The drawing is their iconic style, which looks great, especially on the main character, although weirdly enough, in this show even that style doesn't seem to be able to fill the picture with anything to stop it from feeling lacking. The design of the cyborgs is pretty neat. Overall picture (but not animation) quality is decent. Sound's good, the opening's great... That's about it really. What's the rest then? Dreadful.Without even joking, at least a third of the show you'll be greeted with the main character staring into space, usually while smoking. Another third you'll be listening to huge, shameless exposition bombs about the world and the relations between factions, other characters staring into space or saying/doing something cryptic that only they understand the significance of in the moment, you might understand it later too if you bother investing into understanding the poor lore, for whatever reason, because its honestly not worth it. Now, i'd be lying if i said the last third that consists of the fights and interactions isn't kind of nice, which it is, but in the end, there's just so little of it, and the plot barely goes anywhere too, but i guess there's another season announced to (not) look forward to!
Honestly one of the most average, even nearly below average and generic shows I've ever watched, would not recommend it to ANYONE, even not to pass the time or huge fans of studio madhouse.
13ad
Hey, gunhead! I'm talking to you, when will you start thinking with your caliber? Stylish detective in noir style, the anime is drawn very well. The character design and their detailing are at a high level, and the general entourage of the analogue of the near future looks good. It all starts quite boringly and uninterestingly, this is about the first episodes, the main mix occurs with episodes 5-6. The advantages of this anime include the plot, it is very interesting here, since initially you are thrown into the thick of things and nothing is really explained. The peculiar main character stands out well. And only as theplot develops, you begin to understand who the extends are? Who are the terrorists from Spitsbergen? Why do they not like each other? Etc. You can also praise the atmosphere, the authors managed to convey the atmosphere of a detective story, full of despair and post-war time.
If you like cool main characters who effectively take out enemies, then this is for you.
Blue_Maroon
An anime that should be action-packed interesting that ended up being a slog to get through. The concept of the world has promise, but it never delivers on that promise and potential. Yeah, in an anime landscape dominated by cute anime girls, ecchi, and isekai trash this may seem like a breath of fresh air. However, that’s all it is. A brief flash of interest before you watch a few episodes and are somehow bored of an anime where a man with a gun for a head fights other cyborgs. Literally everything about this anime is either run-of-the-mill or below average. The art and directionwere surprisingly subpar quite often and there were many instances of poor CGI.
Remember how I said this anime seemed like a breath of fresh air from the abundence of ecchi in contemporary anime? Well it turns out that thought was misguided because every woman needs to wear some revealing article of clothing and there needs to be dedicated camera angles to highlight it. Why is this even something that must be shown for an anime set in a dark, distopian world? Am I supposed to get hard from this? Is this supposed to keep me interested because the creators know the story is ridiculously boring?
Oh yeah, about that story, this was pretty much just 12 episodes of exposition. This is most evident when the final episode is pretty much separate from everything that happened earlier in the season. The entire season, characters and plotlines are introduced only to disappear until later in the series (most likely). But this means that the season has nothing it is building to, so it just says “fuck it” and uses the final episode to set up more characters and plotlines instead of giving a satisfying conclusion.
The characters are pretty much all characters you have seen before and the bad guys are just portrayed as irredeemable evil with no real psychology behind their actions.
The music was forgettable, but the OP was good if that matters for anything (it really doesn’t).
Also there was some awful editing at points. Like, people didn’t even watch it before approving it bad. Maybe somebody at Madhouse did screen it but were put in a trance by how boring it is so they didn’t even notice it.
Anyways, I know this review is long and makes it look like I hated it, but like I said before, it was just disappointing and subpar the majority of the time. I will not watch the sequal unless it is supposed to be REALLY good. Like above 8.20 good.
It is closer to a 4 than a 2.
CrackisBae
Use a gun. And if that don't work, use more gun. I've really enjoyed this show. Art style is great, helping truly capture the feel of the environment created within the is world. The story/plot uses this dystopia like world to help create a battleground for many unique clashes between the light and the dark. A somewhat darker story helps drag you deeper into this ruined world. Characters seemly molded by their surroundings, boost this atmosphere. Sounds of No Guns Life do leave something to be desired, but don't be mistaken. This show does achieve the criteria its trying to fill and quite well atthat.
While watching, I've taken quite a liking to it. It has this eerie charm to it that I haven't really found anywhere else. Plot wise, the show is quite original with world building. Presentation is well-done with execution falling somewhat to the way side. After watching this show, I've come to understand its flaws but it doesn't truly take away from the overall enjoyment that this show can provide.
If you're looking for a artsy, original piece of work then this is for you. Let the presentation around you, draw you in.
