By Kenichi Sonoda
Copyright © 1999 Kenichi Sonoda

Followup to the previous review in EX 1.5:

GUNSMITH CATS has been running for a while now in North America courtesy of Dark Horse, and for past looks be sure to check out our THE RETURN OF GREY and GUNSMITH CATS OVA reviews. Now seems as good a time as any to see where GUNSMITH CATS is at today.
KIDNAPPED is a new story arc continuing on the adventures of Rally Vincent (the gunsmith/bounty hunter with a love of guns) and her sidekick Minnie May (petite cute grenade master with an active sex life).
To start with, Rally has taken on a bounty for a man known as Mr. Smart, a famous magician who jumped a large bail. He was charged with involuntary manslaughter (in a traffic accident) and lost his parental rights due to apparent child abuse. However, complications arise as Rally discovers that all is not as it seems. The mother is strangely hostile to Rally, and Rally soon learns that the daughter still loves her father and Mr. Smart longs to see her. And why is he being chased by hoodlums?
Sure enough, guns will fire, cars will chase and we also get to see some flashbacks from Rally's childhood (and where she learned her love of guns). The art style is definitely Sonoda (GALL FORCE, original BUBBLEGUM CRISIS, RIDING BEAN), and it is very clean, consistent and easy to follow.
Due to the distractions of life and such, I have not had a chance to look at GUNSMITH CATS for a while, but upon reading this I feel like diving into the series again. The characters have been flushed out in their own quirky personalities, and the combination of humor and action is a good mix.
So if you have been following GUNSMITH CATS for a while, Sonoda has kept to his standards in this KIDNAPPED arc. Fans of Sonoda's works in general (in art or story) should definitely give GUNSMITH CATS a look, and while this is not an ideal starting point, KIDNAPPED is a fresh chapter split in the ongoing saga.

English version published in North America by Dark Horse Comics
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