by Dark Horse between May 2, 2007 and April 14, 2010. Anime A three-part anime adaptation was created. This adaptation is an original story for the characters but includes several references to the manga storyline. The OVA was licensed by ADV Films (currently known as Sentai Filmworks) who released the first episode in North America on February 20, 1996. There was a choice of either subtitled or dubbed VHS, as well as a bilingual Laserdisc. A special edition was also released of the subtitled version, along with a 40-minute making of documentary. ADV then chose the series for their first release in the United Kingdom. The first volume was released on June 3, 1996 as subtitled or dubbed VHS and also included the documentary. A DVD release of all 3 episodes and the making of special was released in North America on March 27, 2001 before being rereleased as part of ADV's "Essential" range with a lower price on April 13, 2004. On December 3, 2017, AnimEigo announced that they acquired the license for Gunsmith Cats, and that they will host a Kickstarter campaign to produce a Blu-ray edition for the series. The Blu-ray shipped in 2019, with AnimEigo announcing that "the Gunsmith Cats Explosive Edition Kickstarter was our most successful yet." The anime adaptation was directed by Takeshi Mori. Although Mori was interested in cars, he had no knowledge of guns and had made an effort to research them for the production. He made sure the story was interesting to prevent the anime from focusing only on the guns and cars. The music for the anime was composed by former Weather Report drummer, Peter Erskine. During production of the anime adaptation, members of the staff made several trips to Chicago to scout locations, including visits to a Gun Shop and a Police Academy. During these trips the staff were able to handle and fire real guns for research, something not possible in Japan with its gun laws. A Shelby Cobra GT-500 was recorded in Hollywood for sound effects purposes, and almost all of the other sound effects were recorded using Foley. The anime adaptation was broadcast on the Encore Action Channel in September 2000. The series was also referenced in the Nintendo 3DS game Project X Zone 2. Reception The series was nominated in the "Best American Adaptation of Foreign material" category of the 1997 Harvey Award. In Manga: