Grenadier (manga)

Grenadier (グレネーダー) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Sōsuke Kaise. It was serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's shōnen manga magazine Monthly Shōnen Ace from April 2002 to March 2005, with its chapters collected in seven tankōbon volumes. In North America, the manga was initially licensed by Tokyopop and released in print from 2006 to 2008. It was later licensed for digital release by Viz Media and released in 2015.

A 12-episode anime television series adaptation, produced by Studio Live and Group TAC, and directed by Hiroshi Kōjina, was broadcast on Wowow from October 2004 to January 2005. The series was licensed in North America by Media Blasters.

Plot
Grenadier follows the travels of Rushuna Tendō, an expert gunfighter, and the samurai Yajirō Kojima, a mercenary swordsman. A Senshi or "Enlightened" is one who is skilled to some degree in the use of guns. The series begins with Yajirō and a small army of samurai launching a frontal assault against a fort in an attempt to free their lord, which was taken over by a group of gunners. The assault fails.

Yajirō orders a retreat, but is spotted by the enemy and chased to a small cliff, which he jumps off of to escape. With his pursuers still following, he follows a nearby hot-water stream upcurrent where he finds Rushuna bathing in a hot spring. She seems undisturbed by his presence or her own nudity and hides him in the hot spring with her ample breasts as cover until the enemy passes them by. After this, she introduces herself as a traveler and reveals the ultimate battle strategy to Yajirō; to avoid battle by removing an enemy's will to fight.

Hearing the gunfire of the renewed assault upon the fort, Yajirō leaves Rushuna to rejoin combat. He arrives in time to see the leader of the gunners use a Gatling gun to decimate the samurai. Rushuna also arrives at this point and shows her considerable gun talent and effectively ends the battle by defeating the lead gunner and rescuing the lord by herself.

Something in him changing, Yajirō decides to become Rushuna's partner and travel with her.

During their travels, Rushuna and Yajirō face a mysterious masked figure known only as "The Jester" who is responsible for a weapon called "Enlightened Evil". Then they discover that Tenshi, who sent Rushuna to travel in order to learn the "Ultimate Battle Strategy", had apparently put a price on her head. Joined by a young girl named Mikan Kurenai, a balloon maker, Rushuna and Yajirō make their way to the capital of Tento. Along the way they overcome many of the Juttensen, Tenshi's elite personal bodyguard.

When the three reach Tento, they discover the truth and the final showdown against the Jester begins.

Manga
Written and illustrated by Sōsuke Kaise, Grenadier was serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's shōnen manga magazine Monthly Shōnen Ace from April 26, 2002, to March 26, 2005. Kadokawa Shoten collected its chapters in seven tankōbon volumes, released from June 26, 2003, to May 24, 2005.

In North America, the manga was licensed for an English print release; the seven volumes were released from August 8, 2006, to August 12, 2008. The manga was later licensed for an English digital release by Viz Media; the seven volumes were released from April 21 to September 29, 2015.

Anime
A 12-episode anime television series adaptation, titled Grenadier: The Senshi of Smiles (グレネーダー 〜ほほえみの閃士〜), produced by Studio Live and Group TAC, and directed by Hiroshi Kōjina, was broadcast on Wowow from October 15, 2004, to January 14, 2005. The opening theme is "Kohaku" and ending theme is "Kanashimi ni Makenaide" (悲しみに負けないで) by Mikuni Shimokawa. When the series was later re-broadcast, opening and ending themes were replaced with "Akatsuki no Sora wo Kakeru" (暁ノ空ヲ翔ル) and "Hana no Youni" (花のように) by Hiromi Sato.

In North America, the series was licensed by Media Blasters. The episodes were collected on three DVDs released in 2005. Media Blasters re-released the series on a single Blu-ray set on January 18, 2022.

Reception

 * Manga
 * "If you prefer your action stories free of humor and completely serious then this series isn't for you. But if you like the idea of a skimpily-clad lead female character who reloads her revolver by bouncing six bullets out of her cleavage and loading them into her gun in midair then you should check out this title." — Matthew Alexander, Mania.
 * "Yes, Rushuna is eye-candy and there are plenty of upskirt shots to keep most otaku happy, but she's also a complete badass with a gun. Hopefully future volumes will develop her character more so this isn't all we have to judge her on." — A. E. Sparrow, IGN.


 * Anime
 * "The character of Yajiro is a refreshing change from the typical male sidekick seen in this genre. Rushuna's character is not quite as appealing at the start, but her ties to the underlying main plot, along with the plot itself, have great potential." — Luis Cruz, Mania.
 * "Well, Rushuna seems to have a penchant for baths and hotsprings, which means nudity of the non-explicit variety. There are also a lot of battles and fights, which does lead to red shirt death and bleeding wounds. Things never get really messy, though, so the show is probably fine for teenagers." — Stig Høgset, T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews.