Sleep Is For the Weak

PG-16, for violence, including repeated pistol whippings of underage boys (not a euphemism); official series website

It’s impossible, I think, for the well-read manga nerd not to look for similarities to Rurouni Kenshin when reading the first volume of Gun Blaze West. This was the next project from Nobuhiro Watsuki after he completed that 28-volume samurai epic, and some of us (read: me) can remember eagerly awaiting the Japanese release of his new western. Kenshin had a profound effect on many of that slightly-earlier generation of otaku (read: me again) – it was a typical shounen in a lot of ways, but the main character’s pacifist philosophy and mild-mannered personality set it apart. Once you slogged through all the filler crap and the main plot kicked in, it was pretty much impossible not to get hooked. We (I) couldn’t wait to see what the creator would come up with next.

Unfortunately, what he came up with was a big pile of suck.

Viu, a kid living in a little town in 1875 Illinois, wants to prove he’s tough by training a lot and making his way to the legendary Gun Blaze West, the place where only the manliest manly men can go after proving how manly they are. And in this case, “manly” means screaming a lot and thinking with your muscles. There’s nothing wrong with this setup per say – it’s basically the exact premise of One Piece only with less awesome pirate adventure and more running through the desert – but the only reason Viu wants to be the toughest guy ever is because of some lame “masculine spirit” or “manly pride” excuse. Apparently, Gun Blaze West is the place where masculine pride catches fire or some such nonsense, but if “being a man” means not having a brain, I’ll stick with the women and cowards, thank you.

Long serialized works live or die on their characters (and although this comic only lasted 3 volumes, I’m sure it was intended to be longer), and Viu is enough to kill a much stronger plot than this. He’s basically a much-amplified conglomerate of all the most annoying character traits for shounen leads – where other shounen heroes are content to be dense, zealous, and courageous, Viu goes further, managing to be brain-dead, shrill, and completely lacking of any kind of survival instinct. He screams every line and runs straight into every dangerous situation. Never have I been more convinced that the lack of an internal monologue is actually because no thought is taking place.

Okay, I’m probably being too hard on this comic. A lot of what I’ve talked about in this review are nitpicks – isolated incidents in an otherwise inoffensive story. But that’s the thing; while a lot of this story is okay, it’s never good enough to distract from all the annoying bits. Despite the fact that I’m not a 12-year-old boy, other shounen series have managed to capture my attention despite my distance from the target audience. Rurouni Kenshin was one of them.

I guess it’s time to give Buso Renkin a try.

Initial impression: Only read this if you really, really enjoy being annoyed. (NotHayama)

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