GUNSMITH CATS BURST VOLUME 2

"FINDING SHELBY" | "EXPLOSION" | "GT 500"
"SHOOTING RANGE" | "BREACH OF CONTRACT" | "GET OUT OF HOSPITAL"
"INRUSH" | "THE PRICE TO PAY" | "MACH 1 COP"
Presented by Kenichi Sonoda
Translation and Lettering: Studio Cutie

GUNSMITH CATS BURST's first story arc wraps up somewhere around the midpoint of this second volume. As described last time, the mob had stolen Rally's Shelby Mustang and threatened to use it in a terror attack if she didn't hand over their errant accountant, Howard. This book sees Rally gather her team to stop the attack. Becky locates the car, May and fiance Ken (making his first real appearance in the series here after a cameo in volume 1) work together in an attempt to defuse the bomb, while Rally keeps watch.

But of course things go awry -- Rally is forced to start the car before May and Ken have finished disarming it, then learns that the bomb is set to explode if she drops below eighty-five miles per hour, so she's forced to drive it into an abandoned construction site where it explodes. No one is killed, but Rally is down one dearly beloved automobile.

Other stuff goes on here, but like I said last time, it all feels very repetitious from stories we saw in the original series. The mob, a bomb, Rally and Bean on opposite sides of a situation -- it's like Sonoda threw some darts at a board spelling out his standard plots and then ran with whatever result he got. I suppose it's possible that with GUNSMITH CATS out of first-run circulation for a few years, he wanted to ease readers back into the story with something familiar, but I can't help feeling he misfired (no pun intended) if that was the idea. Familiar it is, but because of that it's also kind of boring.

Fortunately, the next story arc makes up for that! The remainder of volume 2 is comprised of a five-part Bean Bandit serial. Aside from a cameo from Rally at the story's end and a bit where Bean buys some info from Becky, this storyline is all Bean, all the time -- a "RIDING BEAN" adventure within the confines of GUNSMITH CATS. And again, Sonoda may have wanted to stick to the familiar to kick off BURST -- but that idea seems to be done here. A full-fledged Bean solo story is something we never saw in the original GUNSMITH CATS, but it's a great way to make the sequel series stand out from its forebear. And why not? Bean is essentially a main character at this point, rather than the occasionally-seen antagonist he was during his earlier appearances in the first series or even the uneasy ally he became later on. He has as much right to headline a few chapters as May or Misty.

Charlene, Bean, Percy.

His story begins with a pair of clients breaking their contract with Bean -- as seen in the original run of GUNSMITH CATS, thanks to a bet lost to Rally, Bean agreed never to run drugs again. So when he learns that two guys he just chauffeured around town have cocaine in their cargo, Bean demands compensation for breach of contract. But instead, the men's boss -- a typical Sonoda Bad Girl (TM) named Charlene -- shows up and shoots Bean -- then runs him over for good measure before driving off with her men and the drugs. Bean comes to in a hospital, breaks out, and begins a one-man war on Charlene and her gang -- but along the way, he's pursued by Detective Percy Bacharach, recently transferred to the Chicago P.D. from Detroit, where he's had prior run-ins with Bean and formed an unhealthy fixation on the Road Buster as a result.

All in all, it's a great change of pace for a series which typically focuses its spotlight on other characters. I mean, the entire thing is only one night -- just a few hours, really -- in Bean's life, but it still gives an idea of what a complete RIDING BEAN manga storyline might have looked like, had that series ever made it off the ground. Sonoda even throws in a nemesis for Bean in the form of Detective Percy, who we'll see more of before BURST reaches its end. The story itself may be typical fare for GUNSMITH CATS, but presenting it as a Bean Bandit solo adventure elevates into new and exciting territory.