is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by

Sōsuke Kaise is a Japanese manga artist, who is best known for the manga '' Grenadier''. He also created a number of one shot manga prior to that, also published in Kadokawa magazines. ''Grenadier'' started with two one-offs in November 2000 and Februar ...

, published by Kadokawa Shoten's '' Shōnen Ace'' in 2003. The manga was adapted into an

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...

in 2004. The anime series aired on WOWOW from October 14, 2004 to January 13, 2005, totaling twelve episodes.

Plot

''Grenadier'' follows the travels of Rushuna Tendō, an expert gunfighter, and the

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

Yajirō Kojima, a mercenary swordsman. A Senshi or "Enlightened" is one who is skilled to some degree in the use of guns. The series begins with Yajirō and a small army of samurai launching a

frontal assault The military tactic of frontal assault is a direct, full-force attack on the front line of an enemy force, rather than to the flanks or rear of the enemy. It allows for a quick and decisive victory, but at the cost of subjecting the attackers to ...

against a

fort A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

in an attempt to free their lord, which was taken over by a group of gunners. The assault fails. Yajirō orders a retreat, but is spotted by the enemy and chased to a small cliff, which he jumps off of to escape. With his pursuers still following, he follows a nearby hot-water stream upcurrent where he finds Rushuna bathing in a

hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by c ...

. She seems undisturbed by his presence or her own nudity and hides him in the hot spring with her ample

breast The breast is one of two prominences located on the upper ventral region of a primate's torso. Both females and males develop breasts from the same embryological tissues. In females, it serves as the mammary gland, which produces and sec ...

s as cover until the enemy passes them by. After this, she introduces herself as a traveler and reveals the ultimate battle strategy to Yajirō; to avoid battle by removing an enemy's will to fight. Hearing the gunfire of the renewed assault upon the fort, Yajirō leaves Rushuna to rejoin combat. He arrives in time to see the leader of the gunners use a Gatling gun to decimate the samurai. Rushuna also arrives at this point and shows her considerable gun talent and effectively ends the battle by defeating the lead gunner and rescuing the lord by herself. Something in him changing, Yajirō decides to become Rushuna's partner and travel with her. During their travels, Rushuna and Yajirō face a mysterious masked figure known only as "The Jester" who is responsible for a weapon called "Enlightened Evil". Then they discover that Tenshi, who sent Rushuna to travel in order to learn the "Ultimate Battle Strategy", had apparently put a price on her head. Joined by a young girl named Mikan Kurenai, a balloon maker, Rushuna and Yajirō make their way to the capital of Tento. Along the way they overcome many of the Juttensen, Tenshi's elite personal bodyguard. When the three reach Tento they discover the truth and the final showdown against the Jester begins.

Media

Manga

''Grenadier'' was published in Kadokawa Shoten's '' Shōnen Ace'' in 2003. In North America, the manga was licensed by

Tokyopop Tokyopop (styled TOKYOPOP; formerly known as Mixx Entertainment) is an American distributor, licensor and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa and Western manga-style works. The German publishing division produces German translations of licensed ...

and its first volume was published in August 2006. The manga was licensed in Taiwan by

Ever Glory Publishing is a Taiwanese publisher of manga. It was founded in June 1991. In October 1992, the company obtained the Chinese license for Akita Shoten's '' Weekly Shōnen Champion''. However, the magazine stopped publication in 1998. Controversy There w ...

Anime

was adapted by Studio Live into an anime television series comprising 12 episodes. It began airing on WOWOW from October 14, 2004 till January 13, 2005. The opening theme is "Kohaku" and ending theme is by

Mikuni Shimokawa is a Japanese pop singer and songwriter. She is best known for her songs used for anime theme music, particularly the opening and ending themes of the Full Metal Panic! series. In addition to her vocal talents, Shimokawa can also play the pia ...

. When the series was later re-broadcast, opening and ending themes were replaced with and by

Hiromi Sato Hiromi may refer to: * Hiromi, Ehime, city in Shikoku, Japan * Hiromi (given name), unisex Japanese given name (including a list of persons with the name) * Hiromi (comedian), Japanese comedian *Hiromi (model), Japanese fashion model *Meitetsu Hiro ...

Reception

;Manga :"If you prefer your action stories free of humor and completely serious then this series isn't for you. But if you like the idea of a skimpily-clad lead female character who reloads her revolver by bouncing six bullets out of her cleavage and loading them into her gun in midair then you should check out this title." — Matthew Alexander, ''Mania''. :"Yes, Rushuna is eye-candy and there are plenty of upskirt shots to keep most otaku happy, but she's also a complete badass with a gun. Hopefully future volumes will develop her character more so this isn't all we have to judge her on." — A. E. Sparrow, ''

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

''. ;Anime :"The character of Yajiro is a refreshing change from the typical male sidekick seen in this genre. Rushuna's character is not quite as appealing at the start, but her ties to the underlying main plot, along with the plot itself, have great potential." — Luis Cruz, ''Mania''. :"Well, Rushuna seems to have a penchant for baths and hotsprings, which means nudity of the non-explicit variety. There are also a lot of battles and fights, which does lead to red shirt death and bleeding wounds. Things never get really messy, though, so the show is probably fine for teenagers." — Stig Høgset, '' T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews''.

References

External links

Tokyopop's ''Grenadier'' website
via the

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...

Kadokawa Shoten pageWOWOW page
* {{Group TAC 2004 anime television series debuts Anime Works Anime series based on manga Comedy anime and manga Girls with guns anime and manga Group TAC Kadokawa Shoten manga Shōnen manga Tokyopop titles Western (genre) anime and manga Wowow original programming