Gungrave is, hands-down, the best anime series I've had the opportunity to follow this year. Based on an obscure PlayStation 2 game of the same name, the story chronicles the rise and fall of two childhood friends, Brandon Heat and Harry MacDowell, two lowly street punks who join the ranks of Millenion, a Mafia organization that runs the city they dwell in. Driven by youthful exuberance and ambition, Brandon and Harry both rise quickly in the organization. It is clear during their ascent in Millenion that the two friends' paths are diverging. Brandon becomes the most feared "sweeper" in the organization, but all he wants is to be able to protect the people he cares for: Harry, Millenion boss Big Daddy, and Maria Asagi, the only woman he loves. Harry becomes overly consumed with his ambition to rise to the top of Millenion and it threatens to destroy everything both he and Brandon have worked so hard to protect! Gungrave is the brainchild of Yasuhiro Nightow, the creator of Trigun. The animation studio in charge of producing Gungrave is the venerable Madhouse Studios. The show is supported with an awesome soundtrack by composer Tsuneo Imahori, who used to be a member of Yoko Kanno's "The Seatbelts", the band responsible for all of the memorable jazzy tunes from Cowboy Bebop!
