Now this really is a crazy idea. So crazy it might be truly wonderful at some point. It comes from two/three different sources.
The first is a character in from the manga/anime franchise Hellsing called Rip Van Winkle. Winkle is a Nazi vampire who only lasts one volume/episode, but she has a very special ability that puts most of her cohorts to shame. She has a single bullet for her rifle, and once fired she can guide its course to hit whatever she wants. Her character directly references both the legend of Freischütz and the German opera based upon it by Carl Maria von Weber. The legend of the Freischütz -- or its Slavic equivalent the sčarostrelec -- tells of a marksman entering a Faustian pact and blessing seven bullets. Six out of the seven bullets will hit whatever the shooter desires, but the seventh bullet is completely under Lucifer's command.
The second is a character from pre-Islamic Middle Eastern mythology (very well summarized here). As part of the myth of Ishtar's descent into the underworld, the creator Enki fashions a non-binary gendered being called Asushunamir to rescue the goddess from her captivity. Asushunamir successfully entrances the underworld goddess Ereshkigal and manages to rescue Ishtar, but during the escape Ereshkigal curses Asushunamir and all like them to be shunned and despised by the rest of the world. While she can't undo Ereshkigal's curse, Ishtar gives Asushunamir and all like them the gifts of knowledge, healing and prophecy.
So my crazy idea mashed these two together into..... LGBT Maho soldiers! Wait, hear me out.
So I had three characters in mind within about five minutes. The first was -- obviously -- a woman. When a swarm of monsters is attacking our helpless everyman "protagonist", she apparently causes every radio around her to switch on and start pumping out some mean music. She then produces first a pistol out of nowhere and begins shooting down her enemies, then she eventually gets a long-barrelled cannon and blasts away the mounting hoard. With the final attack, she uses the the cannon's barrel as a prop and spins on it, summoning a gattling gun to blast away the last remnants of her enemies.
The next scene would be later when the woman's incapacitated, and the protagonist is temporarily gifted with her powers; he also triggers a blast of music, and does something similar in a one-on-one bout with a shotgun, six-shooter and a small railgun. His fight is more brutal, simply because his temporary power requires more energy to keep from dissipating, and his opponent is a lot tougher than a simple grunt of the wayward soul.
The next merry character is initially portrayed as the hostile outsider, but he also shares the woman's abilities, only he has a special trick. His own gun can shift form between a pistol and a very long rifle (both single shot only), and he only needs one bullet; he can fire in any direction, and any target selected with his eyes will be hit. Once done, the bullet returns and will be reloaded for the next fire.
And basically, all of these people have an inherent gift; due to their ambiguous gender or non-heterosexual status (to use an archaic term), they have the blessing of Ishtar to be medics for the soul, whose woes are manifested through monstrous beings.
And that's my crazy idea. Vaguely like an anime, but going much further into LGBT territory than any mainstream anime dares go in this day and age without resorting to stereotypes like the onee.
I hope you all have a marvellous New Year. Enjoy!
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