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Don’t read any further unless you’re okay with being spoiled for the entirety of Gungrave and/or Gungrave: Overdose/Gungrave G.O.R.E. We highly recommend you watch or play a full playthrough before reading the Wiki. |
Rocketbilly Redcadillac (ロケットビリー・レッドキャデラック, Rokettobirī Reddokyaderakku), "Billy" or "RB" (by Jyuji) is a ghost haunting an electric guitar, partner to Jyuji whom had found and saved him sometime during his travels. He is one the protagonists and playable characters in Gungrave: Overdose. Billy's voice actors are Chis Cook in the English dub and Hochu Otsuka in the Japanese dub.
Appearance[]
Physical Appearance[]
Billy has a peach complexion accompanied by blonde-yellow hair that’s styled into a messy, spiky pompadour, with his eyes being an almost pale shade of grey, weirdly appearing green in certain cutscenes. Billy's head shape is overall almond-like, being somewhat thin and sporting a short, stubby chin. Billy's body type has an overall lean build, having some musculature as seen in the boss fight against Garino, where Billy becomes shirtless.
Clothing[]
Billy dawns a high collar crop-top bright red jumpsuit with what can be assumed to be a grey shirt underneath. The entire outfit has multiple silver buttons and adornments on the chest, waist, sleeves, and kneecaps of the outfit, with the shoulders in particular having triangular emblems on them, as well as padding. This padding can also be seen at his jumpsuit's elbows and kneecaps. On the back of the jacket there are more silver accessories to be found, as well as a large, stylized orange-yellow “B” (most likely standing for “Billy”.) The inner-most parts of the outfit are a blackish grey color, appearing on the sides/undersides of most of his outfit. The feet of the jumpsuit are like boots, being divided from the rest of the outfit via silver buttons on the opposite sides of each foot, while also containing large metal plates at the front of each foot. The feet of the jumpsuit lacks proper soles, instead having a metal plate on the arches of the feet. Billy's lower legs often appear with a transparent gradient effect, signifying the fact that he is a ghost.
Personality[]
“Yeah, I told you that getup of yours was too flashy.” - Jyuji
Billy has a very bright personality. Laid-back, charming and funny, he often gets along with anyone and everyone including enemies. He very rarely ever takes charge unless it’s to de-escalate a situation, preferring to go with the flow of things and take what life throws at him. He’s especially kind to women, being called out by Jyuji for constantly chasing women and being a ladies' man. It’s shown he expresses his emotions through his music, either playing upbeat tunes or sad requiems depending on the situation. Bizarrely, he considers his own grandmother to be the ideal woman.
Plot[]
Past[]
We know nothing of his past or how he died in the past, only knowing that at some point he was in danger and got saved by Jyuji Kabane and that’s why they started traveling together. Billy seemingly remembers his past, occasionally hinting at it in story. Being a poltergeist, and based off of how he speaks about it, it can be implied he died in a gruesome way and left this world with a lot of regrets.
Playable Character[]
The difference when you pick Rocketbilly Redcadillac as your playable character in Gungrave Overdose is that instead of Grave fighting the bosses, it's Billy instead. The only exception is the first encounter with Fangoram, in which if you pick Billy it's Jyuji who stays behind and fights him instead so you can hop on the plane to chase after Garino. This means he is also the one to get injured on the truck and tell the player of Spike's betrayal.
There are certain scenes with special extra dialogue, cutscenes and models such as: Casino Manager, Zell, Bunji Kugashira, Sherry Walken, Don Corsione, Fangoram, Garino Corsione.
Gungrave: Overdose[]
Relationships[]
Allies[]
Beyond The Grave[]
Billy had no clue who Grave was before they met in the Gargoyle Hotel but even then, he was reluctant to attack a man he didn't know was the enemy or not. Over the course of the game, they don't interact very much aside from fighting together. But it's easy to say that Billy holds Grave in a positive light and respects him for his strength and attitude.
Jyuji Kabane[]
Savior, partner, and best friend. Billy trusts Jyuji, and vice versa. It's a mutual understanding that they don't have with anyone else because of the time they've shared together. Billy can sometimes be disapproving of Jyuji's attitude however, especially when he gets needlessly aggressive or blunt with other people. There have been many times in game where Billy would have to hold the rambunctious deadman back from doing or saying something he would regret.
Mika Asagi[]
Billy is extra nice to Mika, both because she's going through a lot and because she's a little girl. He believes that all women should be treated with respect, regardless of age, and that it's a real man's job to provide that kindness. Whereas Jyuji doesn't believe Mika is capable of doing anything, Billy recognizes her hard work and even worries that she pushes herself too hard. After the reveal of where Grave's blood comes from, Billy reprimands Jyuji for how he had been treating Mika.
Spike Hubie[]
Spike and Billy have similar personalities, full of mischief and humor. Being a young kid Billy treats him kindly and gives him the benefit of the doubt. and just like with Mika he recognizes and appreciates the work the younger boy puts in. When Jyuji steps out of line and gets too aggressive with Spike because his buttons got pushed too much, Billy is the one to step in and stop Jyuji to protect him.
Others[]
Bunji Kugashira[]
Because of the fact that they're both 'dead', Billy understands Bunji and his plight. When Bunji begs Billy to kill him during his boss fight, Billy easily agrees stating he'd play a special number for him. After he is defeated, Billy asks how the song was and Bunji compliments his music by saying "Yeah... you're not bad..." and thanks him for ending his misery.
Abilities[]
Due to being a ghost, Billy has a unique set of abilities. Being a ghost effectively makes him immortal, at the cost of being unable to interact with the corporeal world. It is implied that Billy's overall condition is tied to his electric guitar, which his spirit is linked to, suggesting that if it were ever to be destroyed or be badly damaged, Billy would properly die.
Billy is shown to be capable of manipulating electricity via his electric guitar, whether it would be strumming out a multitude of electric bolts that seem to home in on his desired target, shooting out destructive orbs of ball lightning, or calling upon a series of thunder strikes, there is a bit of ambiguity to Billy's powers and capabilities. Some of his Demolition Shots involve summoning roses or loudspeakers to assist in his attacks, and it is unknown if this is a part of the fact that he is a ghost, or if this is something only Billy himself is capable of; the same can also be said for his electricity manipulation, as it is never made clear if it is just the guitar that is used as a medium for the electricity manipulation, or if Billy is capable of manipulating it himself.
Weapon[]
BL20000V[]
Billy's spirit is attached to his double neck electric guitar, dubbed "BL20000V" which he uses for combat purposes. The body of the guitar has an overall wing shape, being predominantly sea foam green in color with white accents. It is split into two parts, with the main guitar part only being about ⅔ of a normal guitar. Near the bottom where it connects to the second part, it has a gear set part. The second part is an outward extension in an off-white cone shape, which connects to a rocket-shaped part of the guitar. At the tip of the rocket, there is a long red and white rod that the electricity of his attacks fire out from as he strums the cords. The electricity itself is typically dark blue in color, becoming yellow during his charged attacks, and being a much lighter blue when his attacks make contact with enemies.
Gameplay[]
Billy excels at long-range combat, quickly clearing rooms of henchmen with arcs of homing electricity. His melee skills are subpar compared to his comrades, but makes up for it with having some of the best range on his attacks and Demolition Shots.
Demolition Shots[]
Forward Attack[]
- Level 1: Do Not Disturb - After a brief wind up, Billy performs a heavy strum with his guitar, shooting an explosive ball of electricity forward.
- Level 2: That Girl's Dynamite - Billy begins to shred on his guitar before calling down 5 consecutive bolts of lighting that move ahead of him.
- Level 3: Thunder Love - Billy summons additional parts that will assemble themselves to the dynamo of his guitar, forming it into a massive rail cannon, before Billy fires a large orb of electricity forward, exploding after a set distance, and then erupting into an area of darker-colored electricity for a moment before properly dissipating.
Surrounding Attack[]
- Level 1: Let's Have Some Fun - Billy begins break-dancing while strumming his guitar, unleashing a series of homing bolts of electricity around him.
- Level 2: Roses From Heaven - Billy claps his hands for a moment before striking a pointing pose 5 times, before summoning 8 roses around him, before they all jet out in random directions ahead of him.
- Level 3: Good Vibrations - Billy summons two loudspeakers and begins to strum his guitar for 8 seconds while the speakers themselves emit golden spotlights, all while spinning and moving in accordance with Billy, releasing destructive shockwaves as they move, before Billy himself ends the performance with a heavier strum, complete with an explosion appearing ahead of him.
Bullet-Time[]
- Level 1: Doing It Tonight 1 - Everything begins moving in slow motion.
- Level 2: Doing It Tonight 2 - Lasts longer and makes things move slower.
- Level 3: Doing It Tonight 3 - Much longer and much slower.
Quotes[]
"What sources? You don’t even have any friends!”
You’ve got all kinds of ghosts haunting you, you just can’t see them!”
“She’s a lady, and she’s sad. That means she needs to be treated with kindness.”
''C'mon everybody!''
Gallery[]
Sprite Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- It is hinted in Gungrave: Overdose that he used to be a World-renowned rock-star, though nobody seems to recognize him.
- During the final boss fight, Billy seemingly gets so angry he loses his shirt somehow. This may be lifted from how many charismatic and attractive male musicians will take off their shirts in more wild and passionate gigs that push them to the limit.
- If you activate ALTERNATE CHARACTERS in the menu and select Billy, it allows you to play as Garino instead, functioning as a reskin of Billy with his own voice lines.
- In Gungrave: Overdose, Billy and Grave share a VA (Chris Cook).
- It is possible that Billy is an expy of one of Nightow's other characters, Vash the Stampede from Trigun, due to his extravagantly styled blonde hair and similarly bright red attire.
- Billy has twelve (12) unique sprites in game.
- Billy idealizing his grandmother as the exemplar of the perfect woman further hearkens the unusual romantic and sexual aspects of celebrities, in this case, to classic rockabilly rocker Jerry Lee Lewis.