Artist Tasuku Karasuma tells a cyberpunk story about a postwar city, decommissioned cybernetic soldiers, a mystery that gets stranger at each turn, and a man with a giant gun for a head with No Guns Life.

It has been ten years since the end of the war and the Extended, humans modified into cybernetic soldiers that are living weapons, are far more common place. These individuals come in all walks of life and in all sorts of styles, including arms, legs and such. One of them is Juno Inui, a former soldier of the war who replaced his head with a giant gun. With no memory of his previous life, Inui sets up shop as “Juzo The Resolver”, a sort of private eye that resolves issues involving the Extended. Inui’s life gets shaken up when an abducted child comes into his care named Tetsuro, and he learns that the boy is a test subject for a device that is used to control Extendeds called Harmony. Now it seems that Inui has to wage a one-man war against the Beruhren Corp, a mysterious conglomerate that rose from the chaos of the great war. 

From the very first chapter, No Guns Life gives off a familiar vibe that will be welcomed by fans of Biomega and Appleseed, especially with the art style. But what might keep other readers interested is the world and politics of the series. As the series goes on, we learn that numerous laws are strictly enforced for the population of Extended in the nameless city not just by government, but by the mysterious Beruhren Corp, which we discover it owns every single Extended as property. Finally, the main character might remind readers of another reluctant hero who is missing fragments of his memories: Wolverine from Marvel Comics. Juzo might not want to be a hero, but he might not have much of a choice now that Tetsuro landed in his lap. To quote a bystander in one of the chapters, “The war may be over, but the peace isn’t much better.”

Volume Eight of No Guns Life slated for release on December 20, 2020, and the previous seven volumes are available from Viz right now at your local shop. The first half of the anime series was released by Madhouse last October, with the second part released in April.