Heartwork: Love Guns

A wrong briefcase at a train station is all it takes to upend the ordinary life of university student Yuu Asakura, and everything changes. Inside: a gun, a stack of cash, and a videotape outlining an assassination job meant for someone else entirely. The original owner is a professional hitman, and now Yuu has his weapon, his money, and his mission — plus a mysterious partner codenamed Angel who shows up expecting him to follow through. Here's the wrinkle: the gun isn't just a gun. It has a corrupting influence over whoever holds it, nudging them toward violence in ways that feel less like a choice and more like a slow unraveling. Watching an ordinary guy get pulled into that darkness is where the real tension lives. This is a 3-episode OVA from 2003, adapted from a visual novel, and it leans hard into noir atmosphere — morally compromised characters, a moody soundtrack built around tracks like 'Symphony of Destruction,' and a visual style that mixes cel animation with 3D CG backgrounds in a way that gives it a distinct, slightly gritty look. If you've seen A Kite or Mezzo Forte and liked that blend of action and dark psychological edge, this fits that same space. It's not a slow burn exactly — the setup moves quickly — but the weight of what Yuu is becoming lingers underneath every scene.