Review of Gangsta.

I want a Second Season of this. GANGSTA. takes us to a modern day city, that is reminiscent of Italy, which is run by four families each involved in something that would normally be illegal but has been deemed "acceptable" and is overlooked/aided by the police in order to maintain "peace and order". Our two main characters, Nico and Worick, are "handymen" who are hired by these families and the police to carry out activities that no one else wants to do, such as murder and intelligence gathering. Worick wears an eye patch from a prior injury, has a photographic memory, and has perfect aim with apistol. He's also a high-end prostitute in his free time. Nico is deaf and part of a sub-class of people who have super human abilities but are reliant on a certain drug to stay alive. His weapon of choice is a sword and he's skilled at reading lips and seeing great distances. Both are over 30 and actually look it (a rarity for a lot of anime).

The two are assigned to kill everyone involved with a newly formed gang that is disturbing the "peace" and involved in drug running and prostitution. While on this job they come across a prostitute, Alex, who works across the street form where they live and whom they have watched be abused for quite some time. They decide to spare her life and she comes to live with them and work as a secretary of sorts (someone needs to answer the phone).

The next episodes are then full of character development and world building. The first half is well paced but the second half seemed rushed and kind of disorganized. The last 3 episodes came out of nowhere and introduce a lot of new plot concepts with very little explanation. Instead of rushing towards season two I wish they would have spent a little more time on the plot points introduced early on (and saved the hunters for season two entirely).

I also like that the characters are very diverse in age, gender, background, and race. It makes the world more believable and interesting, especially since a lot of different characters get background stories and multiple interactions with the main cast. It's also nice that good and bad aren't always clear cut. Not everything the main characters do is agreeable but it's not done to the point of being antiheroes either. You never really have a clear "villain" and the main cast aren't exactly "heroes" (though they're certainly likable).

The art style is both clean and gritty which works well for the story. Music is kind of electro/pop with a touch of teen-angst and is fun to listen to. Opening and ending's visuals are sort of misleading as to the series contents but are catchy.

Overall I would recommend this series and would watch it again.