The DVD is a collection of four episodes of the dark show. The main character is a being called Grave (his longer name is Beyond The Grave as given to him by the man that reanimated him but more on that later), a nearly indestructible "man" armed by the twin guns Ceruberus after the mythological character from Hades and a coffin full of even more destructive weapons. The opening episode, Destroyer In The Dusk, shows this guy fighting a host of weird demons with his weaponry. His motivations are not mentioned in the episode but it becomes clear that he is single-minded to the extreme and not about to feel the need to postulate his desires to passerby's. As a mass of killing muscle and sinew, the show makes it clear that Grave is on a mission and nothing will get in his way or stop him.

The second episode, Young Dogs, jumps back in time to a place before Grave was what he became, focusing on a small gang in a slum of a major city somewhere where life is cheap and evil in no short supply. The leader of the gang is a talkative schemer, Harry MacDowel, and his right-hand man is a quiet fighter, Brandon Grave. Harry has bigger plans than the others and Brandon is a willing follower, doing whatever it takes to just get by in life. As best friends, the two are bonded on many levels, with almost a psychic link between them to guide their actions. Brandon is shown as no less intelligent than Harry but on a different level with the surroundings they share (Harry always wants more and Brandon is always satisfied with what he has). The other gang members fit the personalities of these two as well, always scratching out a living and willing to put their lives on the line at the drop of a hat. As events transpire, they soon find that the best laid plans don't go the way they had hoped, with tragic consequences on the horizon.

The following episodes, Rain, and Go, detail Harry and Brandon's trials at the hands of a local mobster and his gang of professional thugs. The thugs are strictly small time too but at least a few steps up the food chain from the youthful protagonists. When things go wrong, they really go wrong, and soon enough we find the men with a choice to make that will set in motion the events of the rest of the show. Essentially, and without killing the surprise for you, they take their shot to get into the big time, although for very different reasons (one for ambition and the other for the love of a girlfriend). The stage is thus set for the rest of the series to begin.

Okay, if you've seen High Plains Drifter and Spawn, you've seen the later episodes of this show although it does manage to offer some twists and turns to make for a fun show. The concept here is one of a man so possessed of a need for revenge to come back from the grave in order to destroy the group responsible for his demise is actually pretty common these days so you know Yasuhiro Nightow, the creator of Trigun, had to do something special in order to make this a winner. Suffice it to say that later volumes will greatly expand on exactly what I'm talking about (I'm not going to get too far ahead of this initial release) but if you enjoy seeing carnage and mass destruction done in a way that'll give your neighbors many headaches (cranking this up on your stereo makes it even better), you're going to cherish it a lot. The technical values combined with the fantasy elements and complex story make for a great ride that will come to an end all too soon, going far beyond the cute playstation shooter game it started off from. Rather than bore you with lots of spoilers and gibberish, I'm just going to tell you I think the show was worth a rating of Highly Recommended, even before the grand action truly begins.

Picture: The picture was presented in 16:9 Anamorphic widescreen color in the originally shot 1.78:1 aspect ratio. It looked crisp and clear with the kind of darker color scheme that suits the material. I saw no compression artifacts and the only grain seemed intentional as it signified a flashback of importance (helping me to keep track of the key plot elements). The animation style used was sometimes minimalist in how little movement took place or in how many frames per second were employed but unlike the videogame, such moments often, if not always, convey more than the overly busy styles of other shows.

Sound: The sound was presented with several choices for the consumer, including an English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround track, a Japanese 2.0 Dolby Digital track, and the superior 5.1 Japanese DTS track that really shined as I listened to it on a friends top of the line set up. There were the usual English subtitles available on the Japanese tracks and I honestly enjoyed the dub as much as the original (although enhanced) Japanese tracks. The show really made great use of the back channels and the special effects employed were good enough that a blind person would've been appreciative of the care that went into it. As far as the dub track went, the voice actors seemed talented in how they handled their roles too; something that many anime lovers find rare these days. Try both of the 5.1 tracks and you'll see why I liked them so much but I had no problems with either.

Extras: The only extras were some trailers, conceptual art, and a textless opening and closing. While I would've liked more extras, I can't argue that the show itself carried the day far more than most current releases, making extras less important.

Final Thoughts: Gungrave is one of those rare anime shows that starts off with tremendous entertainment potential and employs top notch production values to enhance the DVD experience. As the show continues, I can only hope the multi-layered textures employed by Madhouse to animate this show will continue to please the fan in me. While the story concepts have been done to death in the past, there are many reasons to believe it will get better as time goes on, making me froth at the bit to see the later volumes.

If you enjoy anime, take a look at some of the recommendations by DVDTalk's twisted cast of reviewers in their Best Of Anime article!