Gungrave

Television series
German title	Gungrave
Original title	ガングレイヴ
Country of production	Japan
original language	Japanese
Year (s)	2003 to 2004
length	25 minutes
Episodes	26th
genre	Action, drama, horror, science fiction
idea	Yasuhiro Nightow
First broadcast	October 6, 2003 (Japan) on TV Tokyo
German-language ; first broadcast	September 19, 2005 (four episodes) on VOX
synchronization

Gungrave ( Japaneseガングレイヴ) is a Japanese anime series and is an adaptation of the video game of the same name for the Playstation 2 . The series was animated by Madhouse .

action

The first part of the series is about the friendship between the petty crooks Brandon Heat and Harry MacDowell and their way into the criminal organization Millenion . This organization was founded by Big Daddy and particularly emphasizes the loyalty of the members to one another. However, Brandon's and Harry's friendship is put to the test by Harry's lust for power. In addition, the relationship between Brandon and his great love, Maria, is illuminated. It is revealed why Brandon and Maria couldn't get together. Brandon did not feel worthy of her love because of his work as a killer (called Sweeper in the anime). After Maria's adoptive father, Jester, a former Millenion member, was shot dead, she moved in with Big Daddy and, after Brandon rejected her, got closer to him, eventually married him and had a daughter, Mika, with him.

In the first half of the series, the circumstances of Brandon's death and his resurrection through necrolysis are revealed. Necrolysis was one of Dr. Tokioka developed a process to transform the dead into zombie-like, hardly to be stopped fighting machines ( called orc men ). This technique was first used by a rival organization, the Lightnings, in the fight against Millenion. Blood War and Cannon Vulcan , the leaders of the Lightnings, are killed as the series progresses, however, and Harry brought research into the process of necrolysis under his control.

The second half of the series begins 13 years after Brandon's death when Dr. Tokioka uses necrolysis to bring him back to life so that he can protect Maria's daughter Mika and take revenge on Millenion . Mika falls in love with Brandon over time and asks him to leave his past behind so the two can live together in peace. Brandon refuses, however, and makes his way to the final fight against his former friend Harry. Meanwhile, Harry's opponents at Millenion have started a revolt against Harry after Brandon knocked out the four strongest fighters, the Big Four, and after giving them the special ammunition that Dr. Tokioka developed to quickly render orc men harmless, which fell into their hands.

Brandon and Harry finally meet in the old bar where their first gang always met. Brandon still has strong friendly feelings for Harry and reveals why he didn't kill him when he got the chance: Because he believed in his friend. In the end, Harry and Brandon commit suicide together as friends by shooting each other so as not to fall into the hands of their enemies. The series eventually ends with a look back at Brandon's and Harry's childhoods when they met and became friends.

Characters

Brandon "Beyond the Grave" Heat was a petty crook who was in a street gang along with Harry and three other members. After the other members were killed, Brandon and Harry Millenion joined. Brandon was trained as a killer by Bear Walken and became the organization's top sweeper over the years. When Harry finally seizes power over Millenion and Brandon accuses him of treason, he is unable to kill his friend and is instead killed by him. 13 years later he is resurrected with the help of necrolysis to protect Maria's daughter Mika and to take revenge on Millenion .

Harry "Bloody Harry" MacDowell was the leader of the street gang that Brandon was a member of and his best friend. After he and Brandon had been members of Millenion for five years, they were accepted into the family, that is, the inner circle of the organization. Harry did business behind Millenion's back, however, pulling the strings behind the scenes to bring himself to the top of Millenion and not shrinking from murdering Syndicate members. When Brandon confronts him with the charge of treason, Harry kills his former best friend and becomes the absolute ruler of Millennion. The guilt of killing his best friend almost drives him insane throughout the series. He is married to Sherry Walken, the daughter of Bear Walken.

Maria Asagi was Brandon's girlfriend from a young age. She lived with her adoptive father Jester. After Jester was killed, she moved in with Big Daddy and, after Brandon's rejection, got closer to him, eventually married him and had a daughter, Mika, with him. Maria was later killed on behalf of Harry over the course of the series.

Dr. Tokioka is the scientist who discovered the process of necrolysis and is responsible for the later resurrection of Brandon. He later dies of an injury while fighting Balladbird Lee .

Big Daddy is the founder and leader of the Millenion organization . The organization was originally founded by him to protect those he loves. He and Brandon become friends over time and often go fishing together. When he later confronts Harry with Brandon's death, the latter shoots him in a fit of blind rage.

Balladbird Lee is a member of the Big Four and is Bob Poundmax's best friend . Although he was a member of Millenion , he worked in secret for the Lightnings , in which his brother Cannon Vulcan was one of the leaders. Harry saw through the duplication, but forgave Lee, making him one of Harry's most loyal friends. In the course of the series, his personality changes dramatically: if he is a friendly person at first, he later develops into the ice-cold psychopath and most brutal member of Millenion. When his friend Bob Poundmax runs the risk of losing his life to obesity, Balladbird Lee has the procedure to transform into a superior (which is a further development of necrolysis ) tested on himself and thus becomes the first superior. He is the second member of the Big Four to stand in Brandon's way and can only be killed by them thanks to special ammunition.

Bob Poundmax is a member of the Big Four and Balladbird Lee's best friend. Bob can always be seen eating and so he gains significantly in size over the course of the series. At the risk of losing his life to obesity, he becomes the second superior after the procedure is successfully tested on Balladbird Lee. He was the second superior and the first of the Big Four to attack and was killed by Brandon.

Bear Walken is an organization killer and one of Big Daddy's oldest friends. Like Brandon and Big Daddy, Bear Walken wants to protect his loved ones and friends, especially his daughter Sherry. Because of this, he stays in the organization when Harry takes power. He is the third member of the Big Four that Brandon is fighting.

Bunji Kugashira is a killer originally hired by a rival organization to kill Harry MacDowell. However, after Harry was able to convince him that his clients are playing a double game with him, he joins Millenion and becomes a member of Brandon's Sweeper unit. After Brandon's death he takes over the command of the unit and kills or chases away each member in order to be able to work alone. Unlike the other members of the Big Four, he only became a superior in the course of the series and is the last to attack Brandon. However, after a tough fight, Bunji loses the fight due to Brandon's special ammunition.

synchronization

role	Japanese speaker ( seiyū )	German speaker
Brandon Heat	Tomokazu Seki	Gregor Höppner
Harry MacDowell	Kenji Hamada (Young) Tsutomo Isobe (Old)	Markus Pfeiffer (young) Bernd Kuschmann (old)
Maria Asagi	Kikuko Inoue	Susanne Dobrusskin
Dr. Tokioka	Motomu Kiyokawa	Hans Bayer
Big daddy	Iemasa Kayumi	Matthias Haase
Balladbird Lee	Takehito Koyasu	Stefan Schleberger
Bob Poundmax	Hirotaka Shimasawa	Daniel Werner
Bear walking	Ryūzaburō Atomo	Jürg Löw
Bunji Kugashira	Fumihiko Tachiki	Rolf Berg

Publications

For the first time in Japan, the series was broadcast on TV Tokyo from October 6, 2003 to March 29, 2004. In the United States, the series was first broadcast on G4 television in October 2004. In Germany, the first four episodes of Gungrave were broadcast on the television channel Vox on September 19, 2005.

Gungrave was released on DVD in Germany on eight volumes at Panini Videos .

Computer games

The series has two video games for the Playstation 2: Gungrave , which was released on July 17, 2002 in Japan and on which the series is based, and the sequel GunGrave OverDose , which was released on March 4, 2004 in Japan. Both games are third-person shooters . There are big differences between the game and the anime, so the world in the anime is far less advanced than in the game and there are no alien technologies. Some story elements have also been changed in the anime: For example, Harry and Brandon die together in the anime, while Brandon kills Harry in the game.