GRENADIER (2004-05)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *cosmological, sociological*   

"The ultimate fighting strategy is to erase the enemy's will to fight."

I read a few of the seven volumes of the 2002 manga GRENADIER, but since I didn't finish the series, I can't say if this 12-episode TV anime captures every nuance of the source material. But since the twelve episodes possess a well-defined conclusion, there's a good chance that the anime represents the main plot-threads of the manga, especially since it only lasted about three years.

GRENADIER-- and no, the title doesn't have anything to do with the modern military term-- takes place in what is presumably a far-future world, but one that has no ties to any aspect of human history. There's no attempt to establish a distinct backstory for the world, either. The first episode implies some clash of cultures between the older, honor-bound samurai-like ethos centered around the sword, and the newer practice of a limited technology, mostly focused on hand-held guns, cannons, and a few specialized technologies, all of which create a "steampunk" vibe. In that first episode, samurai-type Yajiro seeks to use his blade-- with which he can perform a few marvels-- to liberate one of his group's leaders from a heavily armed fortress. But then he finds out he's a support-character in the story of Rushuna Taro, who's more or less the "grenadier" of the title.

Rushuna, a big-breasted female with a cowboy hat, is a practitioner of a discipline one might well call "gun-fu" a la John Woo, but with a much greater range of fantasy involved. As Yajiro mostly watches, Rushuna invades the fortress using nothing but her inimitable skill with a single pistol. I frankly lost track of whether or not the heroine used sci-fi ammunition. However, the emphasis of the overall story is that Rushuna can perform miracles with simple ballistics-skill. For instance, she can penetrate the "steampunk-mecha" armor of one opponent by firing a brace of bullets that hit the armor in the same place and thus rupture it. Yajiro is captivated by the busty blonde, at least partly because she has her own unique ethos. Rhusuna follows the teachings of a female perceptor named Tenshi, located in a distant city, and Tenshi's credo is that of erasing the will to fight amongst the various cities and countries. Apparently, Rushuna means to lead by example, for thought she shoots a lot of enemies, she's so infallible about hitting them non-fatally that the Lone Ranger would be jealous. Rushuna also projects the unfailingly sweet demeanor, and though she often cradles men to her ample breasts, she seems to have no erotic tendencies whatever and never gets mad even if she thinks Yajiro peeps at her in the bath. I don't know a Japanese word that might mean "anti-yandere" but such a word might fit Rushuna. (The duo does however acquire a third member, a young, boyishly-dressed girl named Mikan, and she supplies some of the saltiness absent in the main character.)

It would be nigh-impossible to depict a mission as long-range as Rushuna's unfolding in real time. Thus after Rushuna and her two aides quell a few minor bullies in small towns, the heroine is informed that there's a bounty on her head, and that it was put there by her beloved teacher Tenshi. Being a total innocent, Rushuna bends her path to Tenshi's city in order to plead her case. As the trio travel overland on foot-- I'm not sure we even see anyone using horses or similar mounts at all-- they're attacked by various members of Tenshi's honor guard. All of these warriors have highly specialized pseudo-scientific attainments and Rushuna has to use her brain to figure out how to counter each of their powers, with some incidental aid from Yajiro and from Mikan (who has the rather original talent of fashioning useful tricks out of balloons). Naturally, once the three good guys show up in Tenshi's court, they find (not surprisingly) that Tenshi is a prisoner of a conspiracy that has abrogated all of her ideals.                 

There's a lot of strong fighting-action in GRENADIER, though Rushuna uses only very minimal hand-to-hand maneuvers. Her amusing gun-trick is that the heroine can use her bounteous funbags as a makeshift bandolier, storing ammunition in her boobs and popping out bullets every time she needs to reload. This is about as racy as the show gets most of the time, though one of Rushuna's passing allies is the madame of a brothel (who also has special martial powers, BTW). Yajiro and Mikan get their own B-plots and these are nicely executed, though they remain secondary to Rushuna's quest to root out the threat to her idealistic philosophy. I see a few possible parallels-- not influences as such-- between GRENADIER and the samurai-drama RUROUNI KENSHIN. But KENSHIN possessed a deeper cultural resonance despite its metaphenomenal content, while GRENADIER is just a pleasant but ad hoc fantasy-world with some memorable gimmicks.