Review of Ikebukuro West Gate Park

The anime that is in every sense of the word, akin to Durarara!!, yet the majority of the people make the assumption/mistake that this series was a rip-off of the former. In actual fact, this show came FIRST (debuted in 2001), and the former (debuted in 2004) was merely inspired from it (that was leaps better in every way). If you're watching this show, please take note of this pointer. I do have a legitimate worry for people and studios trying to capitalize on decades-old source materials that were lost in time. If you remember the 2 shows that aired in Spring 2020: Yesterday wo Utatte(produced by Doga Kobo, based on a manga) and Kitsutsuki Tanteidokoro (produced by Liden Films, based on a novel), both were late-90s source materials that if were adapted right and close to their original magic, could usher in the new revival of old-school adaptations. Sadly this wasn't the case, with the former getting a rushed adaptation (for the 2nd half) and the latter being better in its original material (because it's so boring to watch). Fast forward to Fall 2020, and Doga Kobo is back with adapting another early 2000s classic: Ikebukuro West Gate Park (or IWGP for short), written by Ira Ishida and based off a novel, a live-action TV series and a manga (that was a loose adaptation of the live-action TV version).

But what is this show about, you ask? In a nutshell, as mentioned in the beginning, think of it like Durarara!!: the crime-ridden city of Ikebukuro, where majority of the city is ruled by violent gangs and frequent clashes of turfs for the taking, only less refined. The MC is the city's gang mediator-cum-troubleshooter, Makoto Majima (who's living together with his single-family mother). A 20-year-old guy who often sees himself getting caught in frivolous acts of crime from seemingly both related and unrelated cases, and has ties with the gang that has a majority stake of Ikebukuro: the G-Boys, lead by his old schoolmate, the goofy and serious two-faced Andou "King" Takashi. In this aggravating city where crime does not pay, the single-family supporting son must tread through the vast wilderness of violent outbreaks that range from rival factions to sporadic situations, and even requests from strangers and close friends requiring protection to loved ones being victimized for revenge in the process, solving these various cases and resolving them faster than the local police could, before more lives are lost.

Now here my problem with this adaptation: Ira Ishida's material undoubtedly gives off the old-school vibe, but to adapt the 4 volume manga seems like a waste in comparison (as akin to just watching the 2000 TV version instead, albeit with a few differences). So, I'd presume that the scriptwriters made up their own version of IWGP by composing entirely new story scripts to reflect the modern-day standards of Japan in the classic episodic story format, and truth be told, the execution is both hit-and-miss. There are some instances where the episodes are really good (I love that one story where they focused on Japan's treatment of foreigners), but the rest were just the same-old cardboard cut-outs of unlinked, repetitious self-contained stories with mindless rival gang fighting over turfs that maintain the power balance of the gang environments (if you don't count the episodes featuring another formidable gang: the Red Angels). If you're looking for a story to be worth investing your time into, this show will most likely turn you off from its episodic format as there are little overarching plots (that span 2-part episodes at max).

Unfortunately, there is little to highlight about character development, as most of them tend to be 2-faced: neutral, or (un)necessarily triggered. For the few (like Makoto's mother), they do have personality and past histories to back their hard-lived environments and growing-up circumstances that shape their "organizational behaviours" to both friends and strangers through kinship, but sadly those are far and few in-between for a setting like this (that I'd really like to see more of). Most of the gang members (between both G-Boys and Red Angels, save for the respecting leading duo of King and Kyouichi, along with troubleshooter Makoto) are one-note, and is about what I'd expect of the typical one-note bad rap of gangs that are in for the violence and overflowing revenge.

Doga Kobo's in-house director Tomoaki Koshida is back from Senko-san to direct this series, and the visuals are just about as expected: replicating Yesterday wo Utatte's old-school palettes of art and animation to match, only this time, adding the dark mystery vibes that are associated with drama-type shows, and I have to give some good credit to the studio for a pretty good and consistent production from start to finish. Sure, there isn't as much Sakuga that you can cherry-pick with some decent action, but at least the action was solid, no questions asked. Good job Doga Kobo, double thumbs up.

The music...is another hit-and-miss department, I'm sad to say. I remember watching the horribly-made adaptation of "Junji Itou: Collection", and THE PINBALLS's OP "Shichiten Battou no Blues" (that screams "ISOLATION DOPE!!!") was so freaking excellent, it has remained memorable to me (even to this day). So to my amazement when "Needle Knot" came out, it was...OK at best. The same "in-your-face" bombastic quality signature of the group, but kinda missing the "OOMPH!" factor somewhere in between. A good effort, but nothing close to the quality that was once hearkened. And what better way to reflect the gang setting through the rapping ED by INNOSENT in FORMAL, but to be frank, the more I hear this song, the more I relinquished it as pure white noise. Their 2nd ED song "Omou mama" on the other hand, it's a calm and collected, but fantastic sounding song that I'd wished had appeared more. Maybe it's my personal preference of a bias to have heart-warming songs that are in stark contrast to dark and mystical shows like this, but in this case, along with the fine line of different story plots, this payoff really worked well.

In a season full of many average-to-decent (and few great) shows, this show I can only classify this as part of the middle-road package of being decent. Nothing eye-popping really stands out (other than the lore of gangs/crime aspect), and since this show hasn't had a clear direction (other than both start and end points), it's easy to be distracted by boredom, even if you tell yourself to "stick to the end". Let this sentence ring true: "If it ain't CGDCT (which is Doga Kobo's work ethos), you're gonna be hung about a 50-50 chance of watching a good or bad show." Nevertheless, for the 3 of you who likes gang/crime settings like Durarara!!, this is the show for you, otherwise, give this the unquoted 3-episode rule treatment.