English Dub Review: No Guns Life “Traces of Crime”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

With Tetsuro back with them (and sporting a new voice box), Juzo gets a new client, Emma Kurtz, who wants to find her missing second husband, Edmund. Edmund is an over Extended like Juzo, and someone Emma married after her first husband Theodore died in the war. However, Edmund eventually runs into Juzo, confusing him for a different Gun Slave who was out to get him. Once the misunderstanding is cleared up, it’s also revealed that Edmund is actually Theodore after becoming an Extended, but he just wanted to stay with his wife after the war. But Juzo tells him not to worry about the other Gun Slave, as Juzo killed him long ago.

OUR TAKE

Oh okay, I guess we’re doing another one and done story, though this is definitely an improvement over the last one, that’s for sure. It feels a lot more in line with this story’s themes to have another war veteran Extended trying to protect those he loves as a parallel to Juzo than some perverted old man trying to justify his weird uses of the technology. In fact, it almost feels like a second draft of the last one, as it ends in an oddly similar with Juzo saying some innocuous but chillingly framed things about his time killing other Gun Slaves. Almost makes you wish the previous episode just didn’t happen, and by almost I mean definitely wish that because that one falls apart on its own merits even without comparison. But even putting that aside, this is certainly a good outing for the show as it wraps its third quarter, showing more of this story’s range for light hearted but heartfelt stories about those who come back from war changed but still remain the person they’ve always been. Even with Juzo not remembering his time before becoming a Gun Slave, we can still get the sense that he would probably have been the guy he is now, just without the giant gun on his face.

We also get some follow up with Tetsuro and his new secret mission to get Juzo to go berserk in finding other Gun Slaves. We still don’t quite know how in league with Spitzburgen Tetsuro really is, but it seems he’s going along with the plan at least for now. This is probably going to take us into whatever the plot will be for the rest of the season, likely culminating with the resolution of everything and perhaps some personal lines being crossed. If it does go that route, it would certainly be a bittersweet note to leave Tetsuro off on considering how he was found in the first episode. Going from the kid who couldn’t even walk or talk to gaining both of those things back, only for him to be an agent of the enemy. Again, we’re not super clear on how much of his memories have returned or how much of what Wachoski said was true, but it’s still sad to see these two friends on opposite ends of this conflict. And that’s forgetting Beruren’s involvement in all of this, since they seem to have dropped off the plot for the moment despite the OP and ED promising more fights between Juzo and Seven. More to look forward to I guess!