The Gun Smith Cats event in Tokyo took place on September 23, 1995 at Iino Hall in Hibiya.

The event flowed as follows.

• Gun Smith Cats mock radio show
• 15 minute break
• Gun Smith Cats on stage
• Gun Smith Cats OAV 1
• seiyuu talk and presents
• final comments

Gun Smith Cats mock radio show

Minnie May (Araki Kae) asked Rally Vincent (Neya Michiko) why they had to do a radio show. May said that they had just solved a case, so they didn't need the money. But Rally said that Becky would fill her in on the details. Becky (Hisakawa Aya) said that although they solved the case, there was a little problem with the way they did it. There was a lot of damage done by the excess shooting, and also the house was destroyed by the excess bombing. So they had to do the radio show to pay for it.

Then they announced that there will be a video of them made in Japan!

The emcee came on stage, and introduced the three personalities Neya Michiko, Araki Kae, and Hisakawa Aya who would help her with the radio show. Then they called their first guests, Sonoda Ken'ichi and Mori Takeshi.

Q: There is a lot about guns in your stories. Do you like guns? If so, since when did you start liking guns?
Sonoda: I love guns. I loved them ever since I can remember. When Lupin III started on TV, I think I was in first grade or so. I watched it and I really liked the guns.
Q: So how many guns do you have?
Sonoda: 20 or 30 small ones, 10 or so large ones. Also a couple secret ones.

Neya: What made you start writing Gun Smith Cats?
Sonoda: When I first brought in my manga to Kodansha, it got rejected because it was too similar to another manga. But at that time there was an illustration of a girl with a gun. That's how it got started.

Neya: Why did you make it a female bounty hunter?
Sonoda: It's better than a male, isn't it?
[the crowd cheered!]
Sonoda: Because of it the cute seiyuu can do the voices in it.

Araki: What was the hardest thing when you were making the OAV?
Mori: That picky author of the original story (meaning Sonoda).
Hisakawa: Have you done events together before?
Mori: This is the second time. He was the character designer and I was the director.. for Otaku no Video.

Then Mori Takeshi and Sonoda Ken'ichi started talking about each other. They went drinking together a couple days ago, Sonoda Ken'ichi always sings anime songs when he goes to karaoke, and Mori Takeshi doesn't sing any more as he got tired of it.

Then they took some questions from the audience.

Q: What was the first idea, that got rejected?
Sonoda: A battle between an angel and a devil.. but it was very close to Aa Megami-sama.

Q: What is the hardest thing when you are writing the Gun Smith Cats manga?
Sonoda: I can think of the action scenes, but I have to build the story around that. When I think about it on the sofa, I fall asleep a lot.

Q: How long does it take to finish the product?
Sonoda: When things are going well, it takes about 10 days from when I have the story boards until I finish it. [about manga]
Mori: It takes about one month for a 30 minute anime. [about OAV]

Q: Will Bean Bandit appear in the OAV?
Sonoda: I want him to appear, but it's hard to use him. The relationship with him and Rally is complicated.
Mori: There was an anime for him already, called Riding Bean. So Gun Smith Cats will be about these three girls.

Then Sonoda Ken'ichi and Mori Takeshi left. After that there were some questions to the voice actresses.

Q: What do you do on your days off?
Neya: Stay home and rest.
Araki: Sleep. I don't like to go out. My hobbies are all indoors, like drawing pictures, making clothes..
Hisakawa: Right now, I write some songs for my album, or go on a drive. Seiyuu have the advantage that they get days off on weekdays.
[Neya Michiko and Araki Kae can't drive.]

Q: What do you think you would be doing if you weren't a seiyuu?
Aya: People ask me this all the time. I would be doing overseas volunteer work.
Kae: I hadn't really thought about it.
Michiko: I hadn't really thought about it either. But I would like to be a princess for a little while.

Q: Were there any funny stories or episodes during the recording of GSC?
Michiko: Kae-chan was adjusting the mike to her height.
Kae: Usually I check the seiyuu list in the script to see if there will be a low mike. There is so-and-so and so-and-so.. who are about my height.

Q: Have you worked on any anime together before?
Aya: We have worked in pairs before, but I think it's the first time the three of us have been together.
Michiko: That time I did Sailor Moon, we were together.
Aya: Oh, was I there?
Kae: Yes, you were.

Q: Was it difficult doing Rally?
Michiko: Since I don't know anything about the guns and cars, they corrected my accent on some of the words.

Q: Do you have any interest in guns or cars?
Aya was the only one who had a drivers license.
Michiko: I like action scenes. So it wasn't difficult, but fun.

After the question section, they called two people from VAP advertising to talk about the Gun Smith Cats items. They talked about Gun Smith Cats chapter 0 and the Gun Smith Cats image song CD single, that is currently on sale. They said that people who reserved the Gun Smith Cats chapter 1 video or the drama/vocal CD at this event will get a Gun Smith Cats cel!

Then they had a 15 minute break.

Gun Smith Cats on stage

They sang Hateshinai Toiki and Nantoka Shinakya!, the two Gun Smith Cats image songs. There was also a very sexy dance to these songs too!

Gun Smith Cats OAV 1

seiyuu talk and presents

Aya: I did all of the background female voices in this. We were the only three females at the after recording.

After talking about the OAV a little bit, they all talked about the individual things.

Aya: I will have a Christmas concert on 12/24. The ticket is a little expensive, at around 5000 yen.

Kae: I'm doing Miaka in Fushigi Yuugi. Please buy the shitajiki, cards, pencils, and such.. It's only about 300 yen or so.

Michiko: I will be doing a cd drama [couldn't hear the title].

Then they moved on to the presents corner. The presents were: GSC telephone cards, GSC T-shirts, model gun and goggles, and GSC scripts with an original drawing.

Everyone who had attended the event was given a postcard with some character faces on it. They all had to circle one, and that would determine who would get the prizes.

They had two large dice, with the character faces on them. Aya and Michiko rolled the dice, and then they did janken to determine which face would be the winning face. Then they drew the postcards from the stack of people who had circled that particular face for the prize.

final comments

Sonoda Ken'ichi

This is very different from the manga. It's completely original, but I think it turned out very well. Please look forward to volume 2 and 3 too.

Mori Takeshi

There is a very picky creator here, and he's pushing me hard. But we will raise the tension in the next two volumes. There will be a new character in volume 2, so please look forward to it. Thank you for coming today.

Neya Michiko

We all tried very hard at this. I think it's a lot of fun too. Please look forward to the rest.

Araki Kae

Thank you for coming today. I'm not used to events, and this is the first time that I danced in front of everyone. I was very worried. But it turned out well. Thank you everyone.

Hisakawa Aya

Our combination is very good, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the story goes. Please look forward to it. Thank you for a great time today.

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