This was good but not really as good as I wanted it to be. At first sight of the cool and stylish OPhttps://www..com/watch?v=3CpI5ocupT8 I thought whoa this walked so Cowboy Bebop could run Like Bebop Gunsmith Cats takes a western influence and has main characters that operate alongside yet just outside the law. Episode 2 even has the concept of an action sequence driven by music. But with generic music and goodbutnotgreat editing this didnt quite pull it off whereas it became Bebops signature. Regarding the western influence this was quite a faithful recreation of the crime/freelance investigator/internal affairs corruption that Ive seen A LOT from Hollywood at this point. I think something would really have to work hard for me to find it distinctive and interesting. For example scifi series like Bebop The Big O and Bubblegum Crisis do very well to take those American/Hollywood influences and transform them into an interesting direction with a unique setting. But Gunsmith Cats is tied to the real world and a real America by choice. Perhaps its a sense of realism that doesnt really appeal to me. I was hoping for more kickass girlswithguns and this did deliver with likeable leads stylish and playful character design attention to detail with several chic outfits and a great supporting cast of women characters... elements that I love and look for from the girlswithguns subgenre. But something was a bit off. I think the writing wasnt quite there May was cute but needed a character arc of her own and Rally was a bit too sensible and mostly irritable about the incompetence around her. There was also a bit too much male gaze with our leads in various states of undress/humiliation at least once an episode. Bubblegum Crisis and Dirty Pair are better examples of depicting heroines with more depth and dignity. To note Kenichi Sonodo that character designer of Bubblegum Crisis is the original creator of Gunsmith Cats which I think is what lead me to want to watch this originally. And he definitely didnt disappoint with the character design. Because of the American setting I tried the English dub which was fine but I really didnt like Mays voice actor so I switched back the the Japanese dub. But after hearing the English dub I realised just how young Mays character was meant to be... she wasnt just petite shes juvenile On a more personal note the depiction of gun culture especially in ep 1 made me a bit uncomfortable which surprised me as I hadnt really felt that way about guns on screen before. Maybe it was the sense of realism the uncritical casual tone and depiction of guns as a source of independence for the female leads through their gunsmith expertise and business. Overall this is a very stylish wellexecuted series that delivers a fun tale of crime and corruption but ultimately its a lesser entry in the girlswithguns subgenre. You can comment on my review herehttps://anilist.co/activity/899290472