Nov 29, 2022
He wants a 'Yee' to his 'Haw', but he keeps on getting the 'Hell' to the 'Naw'.
In a time when the strong made the rules,
in the wild west,
there once lived a Sheriff who lived by the bullet,
that couldn't invite a single woman to the ballet.
The story is plain and simple.
- The Sheriff wants a woman,
- he makes a move,
...
- but there's already a conflict around her,
- he reminisces on his father's wisdom,
- he solves the conflict,
- but he loses the woman.
"He wins the battle but loses the war", yes.
The plot is grounded in this formulaic technique, which allows it to explore various scenarios. Conflicts range from "infiltrating enemy bases and train chases" to "asking for dates and buying/hiding porn." And like with most episodic stories, the characters are what make this manga enjoyable. There are as many characters as there are pages, so let's focus on the key ones.
"Elmore Evans"
Our main character. He spent his entire infancy and adolescence learning the art of gunplay from his father in order to become a lady-killer. While he has no bitches, he does have bullets in his gun and expertise in his hands. He's rumored to be the finest gunslinger in the wild west, but that reputation is causing him all kinds of problems in his love life. Everyone thinks he's a 'sigma male', yet his sigma ends with his gun.
"Phoebe Oakley"
A bounty hunter and Evans' childhood rival. She and Evans are both birds of a feather. Both are well-known, the best in town, and have no expertise in romance but act the part. More than half of the manga centers around these two, who clearly have feelings for each other but are too hesitant to declare it due to their rivalry.
"Kurt Evans"
A former sheriff. When it comes to the world of gunslinging and the art of charming ladies, he represents wisdom for Evans. Kind of a womanizer. But, unlike Elmore, he actually gets from bitcheS. He's basically a walking encyclopedia of "How to be cool and get bitches," the one father/uncle that many guys wished they had when they were younger. Kurt even left his family and became a nameless gunslinger to live by the 'Rule of Cool' code after making Elmore a great sheriff.
"The Narrator"
Yes, the narrator is omniscient throughout the manga. If it weren't for the narrator's repeated quips and comments during character monologues, the manga would be half as funny. As the manga unfolds, the narrator becomes increasingly important.
The artwork is rather good. It isn't as good or as realistic as Gon. However, it performs its job well, communicating character emotions with a pretty typical background effort. There's a fair amount of gun action here and there, and that's it.
The story follows this old-school approach to dealing with romance, as in there's an admirable cheesiness in the way it treats its subject matter. While it is pretty corny and dumb, there are some surprisingly valuable moments every now and then.
The protagonist represents the hopelessness of many males regarding their love life. He follows the wisdom his father paved for him, he fails, but he takes another shot as you dive into the next chapter. He fails again but he's never hopeless about what he did but is focused on what's in front of him, a lady wide and open, and whatever it takes he takes the shot.
The story, however, suffers from what every episodic (most slice-of-life) story suffers. Progress.
One thing that the episodic format achieves is to show that even living a 'normal' life, progress can still be achieved, that's how life works and how many of us live.
This manga is pretty light-hearted but that shouldn't be an excuse for a lack of progress. Nearly 150 chapters have passed by, and we've yet to see a change in behavior or development in characters and are just fooling around with misunderstandings. What's frustrating is that we the reader, are the only ones who will be suffering from their foolishness, when they just live their lives like normal. The characters don't grow either, it's like they took the "Past in the Past" quote way too literally.
Another technical problem is the over-interference of the narrator. Sometimes the narrator just explains what we've seen, the situations are hardly complicated to do that so it's just an unnecessary comment that takes excess time to read.
And unfortunately, the translation is not done yet. There are currently more than 90 chapters that need to be translated and I can't find any English-translated volumes to buy online (there seems to be a Korean translation of vol 1 though if that helps anybody).
Who should read this?
It's the wild west, and while not completely accurate, it does have those vibes. So read it if that interests you.
Or, if you're a fan of dumb romCOM, or 'clearly in love but are not realizing it' love stories, then try this.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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