Gun Blaze West (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki.

The story follows Viu Bannes, a young gunfighter on his journey towards Gun Blaze West, the place where the greatest gunmen go to test their strength.

"Gun Blaze West" is considered to be a place of legend where everyone, lawmen and outlaws, would be able to live in peace without fear of violence.

The series begins in 1875 in Illinois with the introduction of Viu Bannes, a nine-year-old boy who wins a gun belt in an arm-wrestling competition.

Viu and Will come across a travelling circus, where the star attraction is a young girl named Colice, who is in fact a native of Japan who had to flee the country after her home was destroyed in the Boshin War.

After Gualarippa was defeated, Colice decides to travel with Viu and Will and accompany them on their mission to make it to Gun Blaze West.

The group then arrives in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and they learn that on July first (half way though the year), a guide will show up to take them to Gun Blaze West.

Viu finds the Armor Baron in a fight with someone named Sarge, whose body is half artificial, called a "super soldier".

Viu wakes up to find that since Armor Baron admitted defeat he has passed the test and earned a new gun.

Gun Blaze West was written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki, who began working on it after the completion of his previous manga Rurouni Kenshin in 1999.

Watsuki became inspired to write a manga about the American frontier upon visiting the Arizona desert and seeing its wild cacti.

[3] Watsuki revealed in an interview with One Piece author Eiichiro Oda, who briefly worked for him as an assistant on Rurouni Kenshin, that he had considered making a one-eyed protagonist for Gun Blaze West.

However, to avoid accusations of plagiarism from the media, Watsuki scrapped the idea when he found out that Oda had early plans to have his One Piece character Roronoa Zoro lose an eye at some point in that manga.

[4] Watsuki intentionally shortened the overall dimensions of his characters in Gun Blaze West, a technique he carried over while drawing children in his next manga Buso Renkin.

[24][25] Carlo Santos from Anime News Network panned the art at the start, saying it felt like Watsuki had no idea what to draw.

[27] Other critics, like Ed Sizemore from Comics Worth Reading panned the main character, Viu, calling him "one note".