Kenichi Sonoda - Gunsmith Cats: Burst Manga

Rally Vincent is back! The sharp-suited, CZ75-packing bounty hunter and owner of the Gunsmith Cats gun shop is now operating in a Chicago that's gotten a little more complicated since her last outing. Alongside her partner Minnie-May Hopkins, the series opens with Rally and legendary ace transporter Bean Bandit stranded deep in Texas after Bean's vehicle is stolen, forced to race back to Chicago with a bounty in tow, a rental car on half a tank, and mob hitmen closing in. From there the threats escalate: a new inspector in from Detroit, a dangerous return of old enemies, and the long shadow of Iron Goldie stretching back across the story in ways nobody anticipated.

Gunsmith Cats: Burst is the long-awaited sequel to Kenichi Sonoda's cult classic action manga, picking up where the original left off and diving back into the mean streets of Chicago with the same kinetic energy, obsessive firearms detail, and sharp character work that made the first series a landmark of late-90s seinen manga.

What made the original Gunsmith Cats a classic was Sonoda's almost pathological commitment to authenticity — the guns, the cars, the Chicago geography, all rendered with a level of reference accuracy that remains unmatched in action manga. Burst continues that tradition without compromise. Nobody drives a car in Gunsmith Cats. They drive a 1967 Shelby Cobra GT500 or a BMW 2002. Nobody uses a gun. They use a 9mm CZ75 or a .45 Colt Lawman with a 4" Bull Barrel. Sonoda's action choreography remains some of the most fluid and spatially coherent in manga, with chase sequences and gunfights that are intricate, fast, and always legible — a rare combination. The fan service is present and unapologetic, as it always was, but it never upstages the craft.

Burst was serialized in Kodansha's Monthly Afternoon from 2004 to 2008 and released in English by Dark Horse in five volumes between 2007 and 2010, reading right to left in the original unflopped format. The original three-episode Gunsmith Cats OVA from 1995–1996, directed by Takeshi Mori and animated by OLM, remains one of the best-produced action OVAs of its era and received a Blu-ray release in 2019 via an AnimEigo Kickstarter. 

Other Notable Works

Kenichi Sonoda: Cannon God Exaxxion, Riding Bean (OVA)  
Comparable Peers: Black Lagoon (Girls-with-guns action manga peer)

Series Details

Japanese Name: GUNSMITH CATS BURST (ガンスミス キャッツ バースト)
English Title: Gunsmith Cats: Burst
Story & Art: Kenichi Sonoda
Original Publisher: Kodansha (Monthly Afternoon)
English Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Release Years: 2004–2008 (Japan) / 2007–2010 (English)
Volumes: 5 (Complete)
Age Rating: Mature (18+)
Genre: Action, Crime, Girls with Guns, Seinen

Comics & manga are assumed VG+ or better unless otherwise noted. No broken spines, no writing, no stickers, and may have light shelf wear. Mid-2000s or earlier manga may have slight yellowing due to the age of the paper. All manga and comics are assumed to be pre-owned.

Only multiple item orders that combine to $120 or more get free shipping.