One of the more interesting series to come out of the Fall anime season has been No Guns Life. A cyberpunk series set in a massive metropolitan city, it follows Juzo Inui, a man who literally has a gun for a head.
But while No Guns Life is clearly willing to have fun with the idea of mechanical enhancements, it’s also not afraid of using it’s setting to tell dark stories about mega-corporations run amok. Like most series, NGL runs down the entire cast in it’s intro, and this list will help newcomers figure out who all the crucial characters in it are.
12 SCARLETT GOSLING
One of Juzo’s neighbors, Scarlett is a nice younger lady who pretty blatantly has a crush on Juzo. She lives with her father, an older man that’s a talented mechanic and frequently cleans up and adjusts Juzo’s gun hardware. The two have been seen together more often than not, but while Scarlett lives with her father, she hasn’t picked up his talent. Juzo’s been cleaned up by her before and had complaints about her processes.
11 CHRISTINA MATSUZAKI
What’s a hard boiled detective without a troublesome landlord? That’s probably a bit much, as everything we’ve seen of Christina tells us she’s a decent (if overly affectionate) lady. She’s put up with all the trouble Juzo is as a tenant, ignoring things like broken doors and windows. More importantly, she’s even proven fine with bringing food to Juzo and his friends and sharing it with them.
10 SEVEN
Everything we’ve seen from Seven so far indicates he’s going to be quite the tragic character. Which is saying a lot considering this universe, where everyone has some kind of issues in their back story. Seven, much like Juzo, is a Gun Slave Unit—he’s been transformed into a full-body Extend and resembles Juzo in looks. But unlike the detective, Seven appears to be rather childlike in his mentality, even constantly eating lollipops. He’s also under the control of Beruhren, something Juzo would never allow for himself.
9 PEPPER
Yet another member working for the Beruhren Corporation that seems to be everywhere in the world of NGL. Pepper works with Seven, keeping him under control and working to operate his gun functions.
To do this, she has the “Hands Unit” Extension, which allows her to control a Gun Slave Unit’s power. She also has a miniature version of Tetsuro’s Harmony, though unlike his, hers can be unequipped at any time and simply works as a collar around her neck.
8 MEGA-ARMED TOKISADA
The gaudy Mega-Armed Tokisada is actually the very first Extend, who chose to undergo a full-body Extension because of the war. This worked out in his favor, as unlike most other Extends he’s actually become quite popular because of his work, and the world considers him a famous hero. He was largely used to help test out other Extensions that would go into military units later. Since his time in the war ended, he’s become a powerful businessman and a major part of the second arc of the series.
7 COLT
One of the character’s who’s most recently appeared, Colt is an immigrant from another country. He’s trying to support his family, so he has extensions that aren’t exactly legal. His goal is to pay for an operation for his mother, but at the moment it’s unclear if he’s going to be an ongoing member of the cast or someone who simply appears for a brief arc before vanishing.
6 HUGH CUNNINGHAM
The most despicable character we’ve seen on the show thus far. For most of No Guns Life, we just see people doing their best to survive in a world overrun by corporations and power-hungry oligarchs. Cunningham is the agent of those oligarchs. The first time we see him he’s threatening Juzo over his favorite cigarettes, and he insists that everyone is a cog to serve the machine of the company he works for—the Beruhren Corporation.
5 KRONEN VON WOLF
A cocky member of the EMS, the organization responsible for watching Over-Extends and making sure they don’t cause too much trouble.
Kronen is distant, but capable, taking out an Over-Extend without any help on his first appearance with specialized needles which are able to stop an Extend from moving around. He doesn’t trust any Over-Extends, and has issues with how much Olivier seems to give Juzo leniency. Nonetheless, the two are forced to work together in the series’ second major arc.
4 OLIVIER VANDEBERME
Olivier is the director of part of the EMS, working in Juzo’s area. A bit of a Miss Fanservice, Olivier seems to carry a torch for Juzo...or at least teases him like she does. Still, their relationship isn’t merely friendly, as Juzo has called on her for help and she frequently allows him to operate as an Over-Extend more than someone else from the EMS (like Kronen) might. As a result, he frequently does work for her on the side that neither of them can talk about in public, but needs doing nonetheless.
3 MARY STEINBERG
Initially, Mary is introduced as the only person Juzo might have a close relationship to. They maintain a connection because Mary is incredibly talented when it comes to operating on Extends, and she actually functions as a back-alley doctor for those who can’t afford more efficient help. She works within the Kyusei Pit and is known by many, though she seems to carry an affinity for Juzo as a friend because she’s always helping him out of certain jams.
2 TETSURO ARAHABAKI
The first case we see Juzo take involves Tetsuro, a young man who’s supposed to be the son of a CEO for Beruhren. For reasons unknown, Beruhren used him as a test subject for a new Extend they’ve been developing known as Harmony. Harmony allows Tetsuro to control any other Extend, as the cost of losing control of his own body. Beruhren’s desire to maintain control over Tetsuro lead to them damaging his body parts so he couldn’t escape, which requires Extend “doctor” Mary to get him working legs and arms.
1 JUZO INUI
Our lead protagonist. A ton of people might not have noticed this, but he has a gun for a head. Aside from that bit of information, we know that Juzo is an “Over-Extend”, the kind of human who’s alterations have given him offensive capabilities. He’s a hardboiled detective who gets nervous around pretty women and has a smoking habit because his cigarettes are specially medicated to ease the pain he feels from his extensions. Originally a member of the military, Juzo has decided to become a “Resolver” to cut down on Extend issues in his area. Since running into Tetsuro, he's had to deal with nothing but trouble.