Review of Gangsta.

I actually went in to "Gangsta." with low or almost non-exciting expectations, but it turned out that I quite liked it - a lot. I have not read the manga, so I can´t say if the adaptation is good or not but after this I will for shore pick it up. It´s clear that it´s a build up to a second season, with this season ending with some major cliffhangers and no rounding up of the story. You will probably know just from the title, synopsis, genres and opening if "Gangsta." is your cup of tea or not. It´s quite a give away of theshows content. Why did I like it? I will get down to that know.

Story: 8/10
The story isn´t anything unique or world changing, but I find the story enjoyable. It´s a mature type of story and story telling and the cast isn´t in their teens, but grown ups who seem a lot of shit in their 30´s. The set up is a fictional city ruled by four gangster families, the police force and the government. Unlike our world the gangster families actually is a solid and appreciated society foundation. They have different fields of operations, and are collaborating to have some kind of civil order. When put like that it´s sounds like it´s kind of peaceful, but of course it´s not. The city is full of low lives, murderers, rapists, prostitutes, mercenary´s, corruption and genetically altered super humans. The super humans are called "tags" or "twilight's", and they possess intensified speed, strength, smell, eye sight and so on. They have tags around their necks (there of the nickname "tags") with their name and rank - the rank tells how strong they are (of course). They are feared, hated and/or looked down on by most of the society. The "tags" are contracted to "normal's" as they call it, and they are dependent on specific drugs to survive. 22 years prior to the show, a anti "tag" organization and rebellion occurred and the tolerance between pro tags and no tags are still very fragile. This lay way for a all out war at any time. I like premises like this in a story, it´s easy to build on and can cover multiple subjects at once. The plot is simple enough in it´s base, but can come out confusing - but the trick is to follow the connection between all of the characters and organizations (and believe me it´s quite a few). In all this we get some normal life to life aspects of the characters as well - I enjoyed does really much. It´s seinen so it´s a lot of nudity, violence and blood (clue: title Gangsta). The show contains a lot of dialogue - everything from your every day to day talk, to business, to more heavy subjects. I think it gave the show a more life like atmosphere. It´s very few comical moments in this piece, but the few that´s accruing is actually pretty funny. An extra good point that should be praised is the visualization of Nicolas and Woricks past. It wasn´t a whole episode dedicated to it, but you got to know it in some smaller bits and pieces here and there throughout the whole show. It didn´t take away the attention from the story line, it was used in a manor of getting to know them and their current person at the right times - nicely done in my opinion.

Art: 8/10
The first word that comes to mined is - suiting atmosphere. The art and animation is quite good, nothing flashy - but good. The thing they have managed to do is creating a very suitable atmosphere to the plot and it´s characters. It´s not bright and shiny, but it isn´t all dark and hell either - the color panel is spot on. Backgrounds are nicely displayed with personal and environmental details. I liked it a lot. I´m really a fan of the character designs, they are a bit ruff - as they should be in a show with the title "Gangsta". All characters have personal traits and features that makes them easy to recognize. And some was a totally new visual experience for me - like Nicolas character design, which I grow very found of. The action scenes are in my opinion quite good - not the best I seen but really enjoyable. Fluid motions, pretty nice angles and well displayed techniques. The gun scenes was pretty damn good as well.

Sound: 7/10
The soundtrack isn´t anything I´m personally is a fan of but again, suiting for the show´s atmosphere. We get some jazz influences, some more hard core music and some times even a bit sweet music. I think that in most cases the music fitted the scene and helped create the atmosphere and emotions it was intended for. The OP was actually a very up beat funky pop song. But it fitted the visuals and wasn´t bad at all - I quite enjoyed it. The ED was a slower guitar and piano piece - nothing memorable but not bad either. Overall the sound effects was very good, nothing to complain about from my end. The VA´s (I watched the dubbed), did their job very well in my opinion. If you have watched your fare share of dubbed anime you will recognize several of them. A bit surprisingly is that the voice actor of Nicolas (who is deaf) was my favorite. He did a great job of portraying the slightly muffled speech that deaf people can have.

Character: 9/10
The characters was the main thing that really made me enjoy "Gangsta." so much as I did. They came out as very human to me. They are flawed and marked buy their past, just like you and me. It´s quite a lot of characters involved in the plot, so the main focus is of course on out main cast - Nicolas, Worick and Alex. But that didn´t stop me from starting to feel something for all of the supporting cast. In the end I was like "please dont let him/her die, it would be really sad if that happened" - for all of them. I have seen shows twice it length, and almost felt nothing for the main and supporting characters. So that´s a pretty damn good job for a only 12 episode show, with a lot of characters in it.
The show´s stars is with out a doubt Nicolas and Worick. As a main duo they are excellent. They have great dynamic, interesting personalities, a different way of doing things, and was enjoyable to watch in every situation. They are called the "Handymen", due to that they make up the only 2 employees in their mercenary company. They fix all kind of things for pretty much any one - everything to paint a house, to body guarding, to killing people. They have their moral codes and their loyalty´s, that´s whats makes them so likable (even if they are cold blooded killers). Worick also has side job as gigaloo, a job he has had since he´s was 14 (yeah, shock). As i mentioned before Nicolas is deaf, and there for has very few line. So one could think that his person would be hard to distinguish compared to the all the other character but it´s the opposite. He could be one of the most unique main characters I seen. He´s lack of lines only makes everything else he does so noticeable. He body language, his facial and eye expressions is very specific and makes him stand out. Cred to the show to have a deaf main character and taking it´s time to include sign language. The sign language aspects is actually a quite touching part of the show - for example Alex studying and trying to learn it so she can communicate better with him. As far as character development it wasn´t anything major. The plot, the amount of characters, and the time frame didn´t allow that. It wasn´t anything that bothered me at all, it was plenty to just get a hang of the characters personalities and getting to know them. One that actually was given a bit a development was Alex. She starts out as a very mistreated prostitute with hollow eyes and lack of life lust. After her pimp is killed by Worick and Nicolas (in business not connected to her), she´s moving in with them and becomes their secretary. It´s was actually quite touching to see her slowly open up to and trusting them. She´s starts to see some positive things in her life for the first time in along while. Alex past has given her mental traumas (PSTD), that are hunting her as well at the same time. To see how she had to deal with that was very realistic in my opinion.

Enjoyment: 8/10
Due to that I went head deep into Gangsta with little to no expectations, I was really happy to find that I enjoyed it so much as I did. I think it´s was interesting, exciting and even touching. The small gestures of kindness really shined in this other wise pretty dark and ruff story. People actually live in similar environments, and I can absolutely see a realistic connection between the characters and IRL versions of them in their way of reasoning and acting. I´m definitively hoping for a season 2 and will dig into the manga now.

Overall: 8/10
Did "Gangsta" consist of a fare share of good action? Yes. Did it contain believable and moving drama? Yes. Did it contain blood, gore, violence, sexual allusions and other grown up subjects? Yes. Was it done in a good manor? Yes, mostly. I was never bored, annoyed or to confused. It´s was overall a good experience and I found some new characters that I really enjoyed. I´m very curious to how this develop and looking forward to rest.