OVA
Description
Minnie May Hopkins, whose real name is May Hopkins, is a central character in the anime and manga series Gunsmith Cats. She typically goes by the nickname Minnie May, a reference to being as cute as Minnie Mouse. She appears young for her age, with a small stature standing around four and a half feet tall, and has blonde hair and blue-green eyes. This youthful appearance, combined with her deliberate use of herbal supplements to slow her physical growth, often leads others to mistake her for a child despite being a teenager.
Her background is marked by hardship. She ran away from home in Chicago at the age of thirteen and initially survived as a petty thief while disguising herself as a boy named Mel. During this period, she was caught trying to steal from the car of Ken Takizawa, a Japanese-American explosives expert and former mob hitman. He took her in as an apprentice, not realizing she was a girl. After she eventually revealed her true identity, they became lovers, and he taught her everything about bombs and demolitions. When they were forced to flee from the mob, Minnie Mae hid in a high-end Chinatown brothel, where she worked as a prostitute and became one of the establishment's top earners, instructing women twice her age. She eventually left that life when she met Rally Vincent, who took her in and later made her a business partner at the Gunsmith Cats gun shop and bounty-hunting operation.
Personality-wise, Minnie May is generally cheerful and possesses a great joie de vivre. She is deeply devoted to Ken, and her affection for him is a major driving force in her actions, sometimes leading to conflict with Rally. Despite her small size, she resents being treated as a child and strives to be seen as a responsible adult, though her occasional immature behavior, especially regarding her romantic feelings, can undermine that goal. She is obsessed with explosives, treating them with both affection and professional seriousness.
Her role in the story is that of Rally Vincent's partner and the team's demolition expert. She handles the explosive aspects of their bounty-hunting work and also assists with the gun shop. Her key relationships are primarily with Rally, who acts as a protective older figure and friend, and with Ken Takizawa, for whom she carries a long-lasting and intense love. She also forms bonds with other characters who come into their orbit, such as Misty Brown.
Over the course of the series, Minnie May shows development in her personal confidence and her ability to work as a reliable partner. She eventually reverses the herbal treatment that stunted her growth, allowing her body to catch up to her true age.
Her most notable abilities revolve around her expertise with explosives. She is a master bomb maker and demolitions expert, capable of constructing sophisticated devices from scratch or improvising effective explosives from everyday materials. She carries a wide variety of grenades, including smoke, flash-bang, knockout gas, fragmentation, and even novelty party grenades, many of which she modifies herself. She can hide explosives in nearly anything and is equally skilled at detecting and disarming bombs, even able to smell high explosives. Her understanding of the physics of explosions allows for precise timing, such as making a grenade detonate under a moving vehicle at exactly the right moment. Beyond explosives, she has basic firearms skills, a working knowledge of car mechanics, some disguise and impersonation ability, and enough radio engineering to build remote detonators. She typically drives a small Fiat 500 and, when necessary, carries a compact revolver.
Her background is marked by hardship. She ran away from home in Chicago at the age of thirteen and initially survived as a petty thief while disguising herself as a boy named Mel. During this period, she was caught trying to steal from the car of Ken Takizawa, a Japanese-American explosives expert and former mob hitman. He took her in as an apprentice, not realizing she was a girl. After she eventually revealed her true identity, they became lovers, and he taught her everything about bombs and demolitions. When they were forced to flee from the mob, Minnie Mae hid in a high-end Chinatown brothel, where she worked as a prostitute and became one of the establishment's top earners, instructing women twice her age. She eventually left that life when she met Rally Vincent, who took her in and later made her a business partner at the Gunsmith Cats gun shop and bounty-hunting operation.
Personality-wise, Minnie May is generally cheerful and possesses a great joie de vivre. She is deeply devoted to Ken, and her affection for him is a major driving force in her actions, sometimes leading to conflict with Rally. Despite her small size, she resents being treated as a child and strives to be seen as a responsible adult, though her occasional immature behavior, especially regarding her romantic feelings, can undermine that goal. She is obsessed with explosives, treating them with both affection and professional seriousness.
Her role in the story is that of Rally Vincent's partner and the team's demolition expert. She handles the explosive aspects of their bounty-hunting work and also assists with the gun shop. Her key relationships are primarily with Rally, who acts as a protective older figure and friend, and with Ken Takizawa, for whom she carries a long-lasting and intense love. She also forms bonds with other characters who come into their orbit, such as Misty Brown.
Over the course of the series, Minnie May shows development in her personal confidence and her ability to work as a reliable partner. She eventually reverses the herbal treatment that stunted her growth, allowing her body to catch up to her true age.
Her most notable abilities revolve around her expertise with explosives. She is a master bomb maker and demolitions expert, capable of constructing sophisticated devices from scratch or improvising effective explosives from everyday materials. She carries a wide variety of grenades, including smoke, flash-bang, knockout gas, fragmentation, and even novelty party grenades, many of which she modifies herself. She can hide explosives in nearly anything and is equally skilled at detecting and disarming bombs, even able to smell high explosives. Her understanding of the physics of explosions allows for precise timing, such as making a grenade detonate under a moving vehicle at exactly the right moment. Beyond explosives, she has basic firearms skills, a working knowledge of car mechanics, some disguise and impersonation ability, and enough radio engineering to build remote detonators. She typically drives a small Fiat 500 and, when necessary, carries a compact revolver.