Pumpkin Scissor takes place in a world similar to earth around the time of World War 1. The story takes place in a country known only as The Empire and begins as a year's long war with the Republic of Frost is ended abruptly. We skip to about 3 years later with the Empire falling apart. A new section of the military has been created to help deal with the post war infrastructure issues. This new division is called Section III: Pumpkin Scissors. Their primary goal is what is called 'war relief'. They go about helping people displaced by the war and its conclusion. They help the legions of destitute and homeless and try to repay the people for the cost they paid with the long war. They are also charged with fixing any problems that come about from a land that only knew how to fight a war for so long. Pumpkin Scissors is a small division that garners little respect. It is only made up of 5 members in the beginning of the series, well 6 if you count the dog, Mer-kun. The member are; Captain Hunks, the commander, Alice L Malvin, Oreldo, Machs and Stekkin. (I forgot some of the first names, or they were never given). Alice is the second in command and she is the 3rd daughter of one of the royal houses and the heir to the family title. She is fiery and holds an unabashed sense of duty and justice, she considers her work as a solider separate from her job as royalty. Oreldo is a commoner, ex-street kid who sticks behind his comrades at all costs and tries to get laid by every woman he meets. Mach's is the timid, nerd type character who wasn't really expanded upon, background wise. Stekkin is the ditzy, assistant to Captain Hunks as well as being Mercury-go-kun's handler. Mer-kun, the 'rescue' dog is mostly for comedic relief due to his tendency to bite people's heads.
The initial story arch finds Alice, Oreldo and Machs investigating a case of ex-soldiers acting as bandits and harassing a small village. This is one of Pumpkin Scissors main job responsibilities, putting rouge veterans in line. In the village they run into a giant, ragged looking solider named Randal Orlando. He ends up becoming involved in the fight against the bandits and proves himself such an important asset to their future ventures that Alice forces him into their division. Randal was a member of a mysterious and unknown division called the Anti-Tank Troopers. They were trained to fight against tanks as foot troopers wielding only a hand held anti-tank gun. Their training and their weapon force them to attack the tanks head on, in close range. The ATT soldiers were also equipped with a mysterious lantern that emits a blue light when activated. The lantern effects the solider in an unknown way, causing him to be resistant to pain and some damage while making them a single minded killing machine. This greatly increases the soldier's effectiveness against their tank opponent.
With the addition of Randal to the ranks of Section III they find them selves involved in dangerous missions and treasonous intrigue. As they investigate more incidents within their jurisdiction they begin to unravel a deep seeded plot involving advanced technology being disseminated to rebellious nobles. There is a plot brewing around the country, headed by an unknown organization, which threatens to put the government and military in an upheaval. The more they investigate, willingly or otherwise, Section III finds it's self up against resisting parties in the government. The plot also seems to spill out into the general population and soon Section III steps in to quell riots before they can grow. They are rushing to find the source of the military hardware that is being distributed that outclasses the militaries own, as well as softening the noble-peasant relations, as the country remains in debt and despair since the war ended.
I enjoyed this series, the underlying story was intriguing, but my biggest complaint is its incompleteness. At the end of the final episode nothing was really resolved or even understood. Section III was still unaware of who was responsible for the weapons and general organized resistance. The viewer is aware of some of the parties, but not to the purpose. There has to be plans to do more for this series, unless it was prematurely canceled. The final episode did kind of have a final episode feel, but without the resolution. The manga may still be going in Japan and they might be stalling till more of the story is developed instead of doing filler episodes. So until then I will leave it as this; the series is good, has some intelligent story lines and some interesting plots. The characters are multi dimensional, but unfortunately only half of Section III was really detailed. Captain Hunks, Machs and Stekkin still have unknown histories. So I hope for more of this series and a completion of the story line. So check it out if you can and enjoy this good military/adventure drama series.
The initial story arch finds Alice, Oreldo and Machs investigating a case of ex-soldiers acting as bandits and harassing a small village. This is one of Pumpkin Scissors main job responsibilities, putting rouge veterans in line. In the village they run into a giant, ragged looking solider named Randal Orlando. He ends up becoming involved in the fight against the bandits and proves himself such an important asset to their future ventures that Alice forces him into their division. Randal was a member of a mysterious and unknown division called the Anti-Tank Troopers. They were trained to fight against tanks as foot troopers wielding only a hand held anti-tank gun. Their training and their weapon force them to attack the tanks head on, in close range. The ATT soldiers were also equipped with a mysterious lantern that emits a blue light when activated. The lantern effects the solider in an unknown way, causing him to be resistant to pain and some damage while making them a single minded killing machine. This greatly increases the soldier's effectiveness against their tank opponent.
With the addition of Randal to the ranks of Section III they find them selves involved in dangerous missions and treasonous intrigue. As they investigate more incidents within their jurisdiction they begin to unravel a deep seeded plot involving advanced technology being disseminated to rebellious nobles. There is a plot brewing around the country, headed by an unknown organization, which threatens to put the government and military in an upheaval. The more they investigate, willingly or otherwise, Section III finds it's self up against resisting parties in the government. The plot also seems to spill out into the general population and soon Section III steps in to quell riots before they can grow. They are rushing to find the source of the military hardware that is being distributed that outclasses the militaries own, as well as softening the noble-peasant relations, as the country remains in debt and despair since the war ended.
I enjoyed this series, the underlying story was intriguing, but my biggest complaint is its incompleteness. At the end of the final episode nothing was really resolved or even understood. Section III was still unaware of who was responsible for the weapons and general organized resistance. The viewer is aware of some of the parties, but not to the purpose. There has to be plans to do more for this series, unless it was prematurely canceled. The final episode did kind of have a final episode feel, but without the resolution. The manga may still be going in Japan and they might be stalling till more of the story is developed instead of doing filler episodes. So until then I will leave it as this; the series is good, has some intelligent story lines and some interesting plots. The characters are multi dimensional, but unfortunately only half of Section III was really detailed. Captain Hunks, Machs and Stekkin still have unknown histories. So I hope for more of this series and a completion of the story line. So check it out if you can and enjoy this good military/adventure drama series.
UPDATE: This series was licensed in North America by ADV and is know owned by FUNimation. There has not been any further animated efforts with this title. The manga does appear to still be going in Japan and has been licensed in North America by Del Ray.
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