Review of Gangsta.

Gangsta is one of those action anime that is more grounded in reality when compared to its competition. There’s no Mech’s flying all over the place, no one is literally throwing fire or lighting around the joint, and there’s no incest vampire twins or a terminator esque maid trying to kill the main cast. Sorry to disappoint you. The Short Version: (+)Different location other than Japan (Yes that’s a good thing.) (+)Tiny cast of characters gives them opportunities to be fleshed out. (+)OP tells you exactly what to expect. (+)They made a deaf person intimidating. (-)Subtle storytelling doesn’t equal good storytelling. (-)Apart from the OP the sound isn’t really that special. The Story(7/10):
A problem that anyone could have with an action anime with an overabundance of story-telling, is the possibility of sacrificing screen time that could be used for badass fight scenes, as opposed to bland exposition. That’s why Gangsta tells its story more by slipping the details of the world into the background. For example, a radio will be playing as the main characters are talking to someone else about something, and if you pay attention the radio will let slip some details about the world and Twilights.

I’ll put up a warning right now, don’t expect this show to come flying out of the gate with action and blood and ALL that good shit you came to see. Don’t worry there’s plenty of blood in the first episode, but to be honest (and this is probably just me) the show is boring for the first half or so, and then the second half of the show happens and HOLY SHIT. Let’s just say that some of the questions you had in the first half are explained and that the shit collectively hits the fan at the speed of a fighter jet. Now I come to the weak part of the story, the ending. The ending tells you one thing and one thing clearly. Go read the manga, because these endings suck the story is getting a 7 instead of an 8 from me.

The Characters (8/10):
This is one of the two reasons I like this anime. The characters, especially the main troupe of characters, are great. Now to do what I normally do and give a quick description of each main character.

Worick Arcangelo: The brains behind the Handymen, lifetime ‘friend’ to Nicolas, and has something similar to total recall.

Nicolas Brown: A-Class Twilight, and most intimidating deaf person I’ve ever seen.

Alex Benedetto: Ex-whore and secretary to the Handymen.

There are a few side characters that grabbed my attention but these three are the main reasons you will be watching this show. The interaction between Nicolas and Worick tell how close they are, and how long they’ve been working as the Handymen. Worick and Alex have cute little exchanging, but it ultimately feels like Worick is teaching Alex how to survive in this world she’s now a part of, and when Nicolas is with Alex he’s a bit distant but later on he starts genuinely caring for her, and I thought one scene between the two of them in the later half was rather sweet.

The Art and Sound (6/10) & (7/10):
The art is the other reason I like this show, while not the most fluid stuff you’ll ever see, it does a good job considering what the shows content is. Blood comes in buckets and the Twilights fight like I would imagine people who are hopped up on performance enhancing drugs would fight. The character designs are alright, the only problem is apart from a variety of suits, there’s no real unique designs anywhere, the only design that caught my attention was Alex’s because of her two……distracting.....mounds.

The sound is kinda meh honestly, apart from the OP there’s only one other moment that I really enjoyed the sound. The voice acting was standard across the board, but special mention to Nicolas’ voice actor. Good job mate, you made a deaf person sound scary as fuck, and all of the sound effects for fight and such are what I’d expect from an anime from 2015

What do you think of this anime?

I think I might buy this when I can, but only if there’s a second season otherwise no, I won’t put money into it.

Would you recommend this anime?

Yeah I would, if you like shows like Black Lagoon for instance that this show will definitely be your cup of tea. If you’re more into the light-hearted-moe-slice-of-life shows, you’re probably not going to enjoy it as much.

Goodbye my brethren, see you in the next one.