Wild Arms. Where's Mashimo?

So I finally got the first Wild Arms: Twilight Venom disc in my weekly rental shipment. As you see in that ANN entry, Koichi Mashimo had his hand in it. It even says in the credits for production: "Bee Train"(which, seeing as it's from 1999, means it must be an early one).

But so far, Mashimo isn't in the credits at all, just the guy who worked with him on "Popliocrois Story" and directed the Bee Train B-Team series "Arc the Lad". Maybe he directs later episodes or something.

That said, I lightened up a bit and let myself be entertained by it a bit. It's manga-based and comes with all the obvious manga trappings in it's artwork and composition. But there's a hint of Sergio Leone in there, and it's not just the Mancini-esque spaghetti-western soundtrack elements. And the characters have a bit of a spark to 'em that keeps them from being completely boring. I've accused plenty of series, Mashimo or not, of not being "high art", and this qualifies it's place in the "not" column as well.

But it's fun. I won't be a priority of mine, but I'll keep the rest in my queue in hopes that a Mashimo-directed one will show up and I can test my theory that I can actually tell the difference... Heh.