takes the role of primary antagonist for the remainder of the series. Balmunk leads a gang made up of criminals with superpowers and weaponry based on traditional circus acts and freak show performances, such as fire swallowing and the box-impalement trick. His magical powers include summoning abilities which allow him to create weapons, call upon henchmen and beasts such as tigers, and, in his most powerful technique, create a giant golem named Amantine from one of his own limbs. Balmunk kidnaps Emilio in order to obtain the Ring of the Dead within him, but is defeated by Gamma. Balmunk holds a personal grudge towards Gamma, and knows about Gamma's berserker personality. The history behind their rivalry is never revealed, though he states that Gamma nearly killed him once before. Balmunk and his circus troupe were received positively in reviews, which considered the group a colorful and creepy opposing threat. A scene at the end of volume 2 in which Balmunk offers to return Emilio's body to Wolfina unharmed, but without his head, was cited by MangaCast as an eerie and effective character builder. Anime News Network said his character was a unique application of the circus villains trope that, while not original, is a rarity in Eastern comics, and rarely done so "outlandishly" even in the West. Alexander Gorban considered Balmunk the best-written character in the series, and his arc a "grand circus" of memorable scenes and battles thanks to his personal charisma and the author's resourcefulness in selecting powers for Balmunk and his troupe. Production and release According to Tite Kubo, Zombiepowder. originated as an idea for a samurai manga which would have been titled "Samurai Drive." This initial conception of the story had very little in common with the end product, as it did not feature western elements or the titular zombie powder. It did star a version of Gamma, however, who still bore an over-sized sword and bounty, and featured scifi technologies. With respect to the premise of Zombiepowder., the author stated that the theme was fighting, and a world where the hope for resurrection lay not in god, but obtaining a mysterious substance. Tite Kubo did not comment on his influences for the series, but critic Theron Martin believed its tone, setting, and style drew heavily on the cyberpunk manga Battle Angel Alita, the dark fantasy manga Berserk, and fellow sci-fi/western manga Trigun, and A.E. Sparrow