Intro:
In this review we'll taking a look at Gangsta, the last anime to come out of Studio Manglobe after being bankrupt. The anime brings back early 2000s dark, mature themes like Black Lagoon and Baccano.

Plot:
The city of Ergastulum is filled with prostitutes, mobsters, super natural beings called "Twilights," drug trade and blood thirsty killers. In this intense tale, we follow the "Handymen," a duo who take on dangerous jobs that no one will do.

Characters and The Voices:
Nicolas Brown: A highly skilled swordsmen, brutal in strength, a twilight and is one of the duo in the Handymen. He is deaf and primarily communicate through sign language, but is able to talk a bit. Voiced by Tsuda Kenjiro who is also Lambo from Katekyo Hitman Reborn, Inui from Prince of Tennis, and Kaiba from Yugioh. Dubbed voice by Brandon Potter who is also Sven from Black Cat and Kenji from School Rumble,
Worick Acangelo: He is the brains behind the Handymen that makes up the duo, presents himself to be light-hearted and someone who is more sympathetic. Voiced by Suwabe Junichi who is also Archer from Fate/Stay Night, Takashi from Highschool of the Dead, and Daiki from Kuroko no Basket. English Dubbed voice by Ian Sinclair who is also
Yamazaki from Free!, Zapp from Blood Blockade Battlefront and Kimizuki from Owari no Seraph

Music:
The opening the song is an acquired taste, but I love it very much for it's intense and electronic elements similar to Black Lagoons opening. Soundtrack is from a hip-hop producer named Tsutchie who has done famous music for Samurai Champloo and Cowboy Bebop's movie. The soundtrack also sounded nostalgic and fitting to the shows atmosphere with jazzy-hip hop tracks, intense dubstep battle music, jazz, solemn piano pieces and much more. The music from this show is excellent.

Artwork:
Famously done by the now bankrupt Studio Manglobe who has animated Samurai Champloo, The World God Only Knows, Deadman Wonderland, and Samurai Flamenco. I personally loved the atmosphere of the show when it wanted to be dark, with the music it works great. Action scenes are blood baths galore, brutal and intense to watch. Though sometimes, the physics in the show....odd consistency. Overall, animation wasn't amazing, not bad either.

Final Comments:
The show's dark story, brutal action scenes is definitely a great highlight of this year's anime. It brought back great memories of older shows like Black Lagoon and Samurai Champloo in both of its soundtrack and kind of story telling with a wide array of characters that are in a bustling city. Seeing how the show has a very Western approach, I can't imagine watching this other than Dubbed, personal preference though. Though despite these qualities, the show turned out to be a huge disappointment. First 3 episodes or so were great, introducing the city of Ergustulum and characters. As the show goes on, it presents itself more questions unanswered, more characters put in that take up space. There is no central point in the whole story, a loose string of events that dont have much meaning and especially towards the ending where it didn't build up into anything and again introducing more needless events and characters. The whole premise of the show sounds amazing on paper, it's like Baccano but unfortunately the show was handled poorly.

Tweet Share on Tumblr