The main character is a being called Grave (his longer name is Beyond The Grave as given to him by the scientist 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. In Gungrave 1, the premise was established that a couple of street punks, Brandon Heat (AKA: Gungrave), and Harry MacDowel, were both taken into a Mafioso-type organization known as Millennion. Harry uses his brains and Brandon uses his brawn, after a series of misfortunes that gave them little choice considering their goals in life. In Gungrave 2, , the series continued their rise into Millennion as they handled assignments of varying natures, making a mark as valued employees worthy of inclusion at the top ranks. With that, I take a look at Gungrave: Undead War (vol. 3), the latest set of four episodes where things begin to get more interesting for the duo of Harry and Brandon.

The episodes this time were 9) Dispute, 10) Conflict, 11) Heat and 12) Kind. While they contained an arc of highly related episodes, they also managed to introduce the premise of bringing back the dead as virtually unstoppable killing machines, something the first episode (and later episodes) alluded to. A mass murderer, Blood War, starts off the volume by getting out of jail after eight years. He is reunited with his associates who manage to bring him up to speed on a process that reanimates the dead for a time. Using this knowledge, Blood War resigns from his position in a well respected mobster group (aligned with Millennion but not directly a part of it) to join the Lightning gang, a far smaller group of crooks that have never been a significant threat.

Blood War has designs on ending the reign of Millennion that weren't spelled out in detail but relate to his past and he employs every available gunslinger in the area to join with him (after changing them a bit) in his crusade. In no time at all, Millennion feels the pressure of the war, something virtually unheard of in the now stable times, and Harry volunteers himself and Brandon as the point men to fix things. Not knowing what secret Blood War has in store for them, the duo meet him in a deserted bar; a meeting that has Blood War spooked about Brandon's abilities. As the episodes progress, we get to see what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object, with chaos reigning throughout the city as a result. The side threads with Brandon and Maria, as well as Harry and his own crew, were less important this time but still had far reaching consequences to the series as a whole and Big Daddy's realization that both men may be just what Millennion needs to lead them into the future is slightly touched upon too.

Call it pacing or whatever you will but the story arc of these four episodes managed to keep me interested where most series start to use filler material to prop up their shows by this point in time. Brandon's increasingly cold nature and Harry's ruthless ambition are laid out on the table proving each will follow their path to whatever end and by whatever means, regardless of consequence. The secondary characters played important roles too as their reaction to events helped frame the background even more than in previous volumes. Millennion is no longer seen so much as a hive mind organization and the sweeping changes, from Harry's schemes to Brandon's own sweep team (True Grave) both point out that while things look the same on the surface, they are constantly in flux as well. Change doesn't come easy in criminal organizations since someone winning means someone else loses and the stage was set by the end of these episodes for a showdown of sorts to come sooner or later.

I'm going to rate this one as Recommended this time since the overall themes present were well handled but not always in a manner consistent with the principles established in earlier episodes. The organization has specific rules and like the suspension of disbelief that fuels a reviewer's look at a show; such rules must be followed. The way some of the confrontations were handled also made me a bit uneasy as it could've been done better but I'm hopeful that the next volume will pick up the pace once again. That said, check out the series in order for the best understanding of what's going on.

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, a videogame preview, conceptual art, and a textless opening and closing.

Final Thoughts: Gungrave has provided me with a lot of entertainment since I saw the first volume and it has continued throughout the show so far. The technical values and overall design have been very well done and the manner in which the show has finally introduced the means by which friends will betray one another and one will be made nearly invincible; leading to the peak of the show without jumping right in at the onset (something other companies might want to consider). I can honestly say that Gungrave is significantly advanced in terms of concept from most of the competition although I realize the coming limitations when the cards are all laid out on the table will be somewhat reminiscent of jumping the shark. Take a look at the show if you want to see what I mean.

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!