Gangsta.

If I can describe Gangsta in one word it would be... disappointingpieceofshit.
A title that's so half-baked that it's truly deserving of a tailor-made portmanteau.

And if you're one of the fortunate individuals who hasn't watched Gangsta yet then HALT, do not pass go, do not collect $200, stay away! As for the rest of the poor souls that suffered through the pilgrimage viewing that is Gangsta, on with the review.

Gangsta, a title name that immediately invokes imagery of money, sex, power and violence, and as luck would have it, a very appropriate namesake as well, as we're given just that in spades. This is a ... story that takes us to the deepest depths of society's bustling underbelly. Where law and order is traded in for carnage and mayhem. Where a wrong step can easily become your last. And where maturity is handled with as much subtlety as a Grand Theft Auto game. When it comes to try-hard entertainment, Gangsta has catapulted itself into another league but for all the wrong reasons. With content that can only be described as a pubescent teen's wet dream, it somehow managed something that's nigh impossible; taking a gratuitous amount of "adult" subject matter and making it all tepid in nature. A show stuffed from head to toe with lurid material yet invokes nothing, failing at even becoming lowbrow sleaze. For everything that Gangsta could have done it ended up doing nothing at all. Narratively, it also introduces a myriad of questions one after another but never once provides an answer for any of it, making this a double-edged sword of bad meets worse. With nothing to excite or stimulate you, this anime has mastered the art of blue balling.

The story follows the lives of three characters: handymen for hire, Worick and Nicolas, and former thottie, Alex, as they navigate their way through everyday life in the godforsaken hellhole of a city named Ergastulum that they call home, while also fighting off their own personal demons along the way. Because of Worick and Nicolas's line of work, they often find themselves caught in the cross-hairs of the city's perpetual battles to maintain power and balance. These inner-city civil wars are overseen by crime syndicates with the main source of conflict often tying back to a subgroup of humans named Twilights: people with genetically enhanced strength that could perform physical feats that far exceeds average humans while under the aid of certain drugs. They're basically pill poppin x-men. And as one would expect, due to these innate abilities, the Twilights are constant victims of societal discrimination while also serving as living weapons, which is an escalating issue just waiting to keel over.

With such a unique decrepit city serving as its setting and a premise that promises heavy-hitting content, you would think the creators would just run with it. But instead, what we get is a story that meanders around without any sort of uniformity behind its actions, effectively ending before it gets a chance to begin. It's like watching someone with ADD trying to multitask. Characters are constantly introduced only to be left hanging in the open with no explanation as to their overall involvement. Major events that develop in the backdrop would simply never exfoliate. Plot points are brought up to only come to a dead end with no resolution. And all of it leads towards an ending that can only be described as the biggest cock-tease of 2015. With its inability to finish anything, this anime is the spiritual embodiment of Finbarr Calamitous from Jimmy Neutron. It's incredibly half-assed.

And as if to add insult to injury, despite all the over-the-top fights and constant debauchery going on in the city, the show itself remains painfully dull and uneventful. There are long stretches of time where absolutely nothing of relevance would happen. There may be a plot point itself that's "grand" in scope, but the build-up for it is often nonexistent, making it the equivalency of watching paint dry, even if the "paint" looks exciting on paper. Sometimes, when nothing of importance is going on, we're given an introspective look into the lives of our main characters. These are some of Gangsta's better moments as they help to get the audience familiarized to the psyche of the leads, as well as showcasing how they may have landed in their current positions in life. And while these moments may help elevated our ragtag group beyond cardboard cutout status, it doesn't stop the narrative from operating on AOL dial-up speed. The pacing is simply sluggish, even when what's being displayed would have you think otherwise. Story advancement is treated like an afterthought, which doesn't bode well for those that have a genuine interest in where the show would go next.

Thankfully, Gangsta doesn't spread itself too thin when it came to the characters, as most of the content centered around our three main leads. Worick is the level-headed member of the group and also the one in charge of keeping things in order. His quick wit and chill demeanor made him instantly likable. We're given a lot in the way of his complicated backstory that he shares with Nicolas; a backstory that helps thread the duo's connection to each other. Alex, the former thottie, is an emotionally damaged person that spends a majority of the show opening up to her new lifestyle with her two new companions. Despite her previous profession and general skimpy appearance, she's a rather reserved individual that we only learn more about gradually as the show goes on. But possibly the most memorable of the three that chews up all the scenery he's in is Nicolas himself.

While not crucial to the overall material, one unique inclusion that Gangsta deserves credit for is giving us a main character that's Deaf. As of the time of this writing, there has never been a Deaf lead in an animated TV series before. For the most part, Deaf characters are usually reduced to taking up insignificant roles, like the brief uncredited scene in Mobile Police Patlabor: WXIII, or even worse, they're used in a way that screams tokenism, placed in the story to rack up sympathy points instead of being treated as just another person. This is the first time an anime has placed a Deaf character center-stage and treated them as a person, never once resorting to excessive victimizing. This can help open up dialogue for a better understanding of Deaf culture for those that were previously oblivious to it, making it a progressive move on Gangsta's part.
Having taken ASL (American Sign Language) for two years myself during high school, there are mannerisms and behavioral patterns that are commonly recognized among any Deaf community, regardless of if it's abroad or not. And I can say that Manglobe did a commendable job in portraying that (for the most part). Of course, there are limitations to what they could accomplish, due to the fact that it's an animated feature and not live-action. But with all things considered, the translation came out better than I would have expected.

And while Manglobe deserves respect on that front, it doesn't mean everything was smooth sailing for the presentation as a whole. If anyone has familiarized themselves with the studio's catalog, their creative output has always been plagued with inconsistencies. With many instances of distorted character models and janky choreography, Gangsta was far from anything you would call prim and proper. Where the show did shine was with its overall tone and atmosphere, the likes of which swept over every aspect of the audiovisual output, creating a sense of uniformity that melded the characters and narrative together. This wasn't much of a surprise given that director Shukō Murase was responsible for bringing it to life. His trademarked style, blending neo-gothic aesthetics and vogue-like character models to create a kind of occult aura—as prominently showcased with Ergo Proxy and Witch Hunter Robin—bled its way into Gangsta, if only to a lesser degree to adjust to the show's more "urban" outfitting. Murase brought his A-game once again, gifting Gangsta with a tone befitting its content. A directorial facelift that it desperately needed. While that didn't make the false sense of maturity that the show was hiding behind any better, it certainly made it more palatable as a viewing experience.

To help heighten the atmosphere even further, the music was brought to life by Tsutchie, who's famous for his work on Manglobe's fan-favorite, Samurai Champloo. Instead of drawing back to the Hip-Hop/Trip-Hop genre fusion of his work on Champloo, Tsutchie embarks down a sonic path that's more EDM inspired. Being nowhere as heavy-handed as Parasyte's take on the genre, Tsutchie took a far more stripped-down approach. Those that are fans of the more house/drum 'n' base aspects of EDM would find something to enjoy with Gangsta's musical choice. The opening theme "Renegade" by STEREO DIVE FOUNDATION was a nice J-pop/EDM track that kicked things into high gear for each new episode. Despite its niche sound, it's an opening that has easily received broad appeal due to its melody, glitch-pop flavoring, and midway breakdown. The ending, while also nice, was a more morbid song that wrapped up the episode nicely but didn't really serve as something you didn't want to skip after a few listens.
All in all, the music was a fine fit and worked a lot better than expected for a show that tried to have a more dreary depiction. But for the brief glimpses of actual merit that Gangsta may have had, it's immediately snuffed out when you begin to factor in the issues it was plagued with. No little amount of good it had could outweigh the ton of bad that saddled it down.

There's really no way around it; Gangsta was a flop. With each new episode, the show found itself struggling to stay afloat. What started out with audiences crossing their fingers for that eventual "Aha" moment to kick in, quickly fizzled away into disinterest as it slowly trudged towards the chopping block of its final episode. And with no solid conclusion in sight, Gangsta took what little potential it was holding onto and proceeded to run it into the ground, as it faded to black and people began moving on to the next best thing, erasing the thought of its existence from their memory.

Enjoyment: 5/10

I have a rather complicated relationship with studio Manglobe. On the one hand, they've created some of my most beloved shows (Ergo Proxy, Samurai Champloo and House of Five Leaves) but on the other, they're responsible for some of my most detested ones as well (Deadman Wonderland and Karneval). But instead of falling into either category, Gangsta lands somewhere in the middle ground for me, with the studio's other works like Samurai Flamenco, The World God Only Knows and The Sacred Blacksmith. Shows I don't quite like but don't hate either. They're simply titles that fell short of the mark for me. It's really aggravating seeing what Gangsta ultimately became, given all the untapped potential it was working with. But the overall lack of purpose in its plotting and the abrupt ending has assured that it'll be more loathed than remembered with fond memories. But perhaps the most disheartening thing about this show is that it serves as Manglobe's swan song since the studio went bankrupt and disbanded right after finishing this show. They were my personal favorite studio, so it's sad seeing them go out on such a sour note.

Overall: 4/10

Gangsta is yet another title from the 2015 summer season that had potential but quickly dissolved away into nothingness. With plot points that went nowhere and characters that were never given reason to exist whatsoever, Gangsta squandered its run-time with too many issues to get a pass. And when taking into consideration what could only be the biggest cock-tease ending in years, there's no solid defense that could protect Gangsta from getting the ax.

Despite a few extraordinary contributions, the pulp crime genre is one that anime does not do particularly well. I felt compelled to write this review of Gangsta because of the many unwarranted comparisons to Black Lagoon. Gangsta is nothing like Black Lagoon, and it will be especially disappointing to watch with such an expectation.

If you want to watch pulp crime involving heists, car chases, and briefcases full of guns, cash and drugs, well that's not this anime. Gangsta has no grounding in real world politics or criminal activity. In fact, the mob families seem uninterested in any actual criminal activity, outside ... of episode 1, and some mobsters, like Miss Christiano (the Tohsaka Rin of mafia bosses), seems so goodhearted as to be a downright pillar of the community.

You may be disappointed to find that Gangsta has no relationship to reality at all, set in a fictional city with a past that does not fit into our real-world history. Many of the characters are superpowered humans called Twilights, and the story arcs are driven by the existence of Twilights and how humans interact with them - as opposed to something that is more grounded in real world situations and groups- like say, looting a Nazi submarine for fun and profit.

Gangsta is also not a fast-paced action-movie roller coaster, but rather has languid pacing. This could make for a fine noir tone, but except for Nico, Worrick and Alex's flashbacks, Gangsta has neither good writing nor execution.

The entire series felt disjointed and fragmented, with the characters aimlessly shuffling through one poorly animated, forgettable vignette to the next. Conflict built up from episodes 9 to 11 ends anticlimactically, with an final episode that fails to resolve the remaining plot threads.
It was very difficult to maintain any interest week by week, let alone care about minor characters that suddenly begin to "matter."

Gangsta has no soundtrack to speak of, which only makes the show an even more low-key affair and frankly, the OP is better than some episodes.

The artwork begins on the cheap side of average, with uninteresting backgrounds, and suffers increasingly egregious off-model shots in both fight scenes and dialogue (such as episodes 8 and 9). Poor art can be forgiven if other elements fall into place, but that is not the case here.

Gangsta has some clever moments, mostly Alex's character development, Nico's unique character and his past with Worrick. But the rest of the storylines unfold clumsily with no sense of urgency, drama or resolution.

A comparison between Gangsta's 12 episodes and Black Lagoon's first cour reveals the difference in quality. The last episodes of Black Lagoon's first cour tie into and build upon themes of belonging that are raised beginning with episode 3, and ends on a self-contained high note with arc resolution and character development for its female and male leads. All things considered, maybe it's lucky Manglobe's storyboarding team have just managed to stumble the show as far along as they have, unlike Bones and their handling of Blood Blockade Battlefront earlier this year.

Gangsta is probably better compared and contrasted with Darker than Black. Both Darker than Black and Gangsta feature superpowered humans that work in the criminal underworld as a result of their superpowers. Darker than Black offers noirish story arcs rather than action movie pacing. Ultimately, both Gangsta and Darker than Black are about pleas for acceptance of the different and marginalized (Darker than Black's "Contractors").

However, Darker than Black features clever writing and compact, film noir storylines while Gangsta does not. Darker than Black grounds its science fiction elements in real world politics, locations, and organizations, enough that character motivations and situations make sense despite the vague handwaving of how people acquired their powers. It's a much better execution of a similar sci-fi/crime hybrid concept.

Since when did Shounen with dark colour tones come to be categorized as Seinen?

Tell me if this sounds familiar- a guy unloved since childhood, hated even by peers and teammates, has an incredible power within him and lives his life as a weapon. He finds one person who shows him compassion/kindness and treats him as a human rather than a living weapon and actually loves him. The Weapon becomes indebted to the kind one for life and stays unquestionably loyal to him. The Weapon while being an efficient cold-blooded killer in all respects still has a child-like personality simply because he can play with ... children or get scolded by the elderly. He is committed to the "greater good" and even though is often faced with foes much stronger than him pushes himself to his limits to win and save the day.

Gangsta. is anything but gangsta. It is the same old bullshit that shounen anime has championed for generations. The show could have seriously gained from delving into the background of the Tags- why the Cerebrers were invented, how they were used, how the tags were commissioned, who were selected for becoming Tags, why so many Twilights came and settled in Ergastulum, the situation of Twilights outside Ergastulum, why the 3 laws came into being, and the obvious existence of other tags for secret governmental missions. The series doesn't even get into the history of Ergastulum and its crime families, something that would have been crucial to understanding the conflicts which escalate in the later episodes. The Esminets are plain gimmicky stereotypes of characters (btw no background on them either). It keeps on setting up more and more things without any of it adding up to anything. After keeping up the pretense of a plot for 6 episodes by the 7th episode it starts delving increasingly into Shounen territory and by the 9th deep dives into full-on bullshit with the shit getting smellier with each succeeding episode. They even fail to explore the prejudices and hatred people harbor for the Twilights, as if the only threat marginalized communities face is that of direct massacres. And can we get over the romanticizing of the Mafia already?

The character design though is on point, if only at a visual level. So trailers and AMVs should look good.

DISCLAIMER: I did not read the manga. This review should be taken as an anime-only perspective. This WAS my most favorite anime last summer season until it showed its ugly head. What happened?!

The Highlights

Character Development: Great for the first eight episodes
The Hunters: Unnecessary addition which stagnated the show overall
Plot: Evenly paced but desperately needs a sequel
Ending: The most inconclusive ending this season
Artwork and Animation: Often passable but terrible at times

... Gangsta. will always be a shining example of how terrible animation can destroy the mood of the show and why not to adapt a manga which is still on its world building phase.

To be honest, this has the most compelling premise and characters this season which was unfortunately given a very low budget for its own good. The staff has done a few tricks to cover that problem via zooming in and out some of the scenes and the use of still images but it shows its ugly head when the characters engage in action. Character expressions were awful and deformed during close ups and drawn poorly when distant. The fight scenes are dragging and the character movements are really stiff.

A viewer whose priority is the visual appeal will be turned off by how sluggish the animation could be and will find himself dropping this show once he reaches episode 9 which is really unfortunate for Gangsta because of its masterful storytelling for the first eight episodes. Exposition in particular can be a double edged sword as it ruined Fate Stay Night's great moments but this anime showed that it can be used to further enrich the plot while also entertaining the audience. In Gangsta's case, we were not spoonfed by dull narration but the staff decided to show us tidbits of their past and what drove them to what they are right now. Episodes six and seven in particular were the best episodes this summer season which explained what Alex, Worrick and Nicholas were like in the past and man, these are two episodes which seamed heartwarming and cold scenes seamlessly.

While not new in terms of plot, this was executed properly at least for the first eight episodes. The show excelled when it presents the character interaction between the leads and the intricacies of its story when taken to a larger picture. Moreover, Gangsta.'s ambitious when it comes to its world building since its premise was thoroughly explained, from Alex' reason to stay in town to the powers that be whose interaction was fragile enough to exude an uncomfortable feeling when we are watching this show. This however, faltered the show's quality because it has only an episode left to iron out multiple plot line and it failed to do so.

The character interaction is also excellent too. The Handymen plus Alex are quite a pleasure to watch. Their backgrounds were sufficiently provided and man, this is not your typical sad or bubbly flashback. Only a few anime series give detail to all other minor characters while not forgetting the main leads and Gangsta. is one of those. If we are to base Gangsta's merit for the first eight episodes, I have no reservation to say that it was the best anime last summer.

NOW WHAT WENT WRONG WITH GANGSTA?

Given that the artwork is a mess in Gangsta. (see episode 9), the story should at least be complete and compelling. The balance between action and character drama was stable until the end of episode eight then its ugly head showed afterwards.

The inclusion of the Hunters and the sudden shift to focus on the larger events in Ergastulum marred this already flawed show. The intimate relationship it built with its viewers were destroyed the moment we were presented the Hunter's psychotic demeanor and shounen like powers. Their motives for killing Twilights were never explained and they did not add anything to the complexities of Ergastulum. With the abrupt focus in the city and the addition of these characters, Gangsta. was reduced to your generic dark anime. Character interaction between the leads is now sporadic from episodes nine onwards to give way to new characters which we barely know. How can a viewer possibly care for dozens of new characters in a span of three episodes?

The soundtrack is mostly good in this show. However, there are moments when it is weirdly placed. Doug's death scene could be a compelling one due to all the direction the staff has given but was inserted with very upbeat tone which destroyed its poignancy. Another misstep is the sudden cut of the lovely piano piece at the end of episode 5 which is thankfully still an elegant episode by all means.

However, this is not the biggest flaw of the anime adaptation of Gangsta. If we are going to base the quality of each episode, I still think it is a fine show. It seemed like the staff and the publisher forgot that the manga is still on its early phase but still decided to animate the show. The series ended right in the middle of the large war it created and it caught up with the manga. New characters are barely introduced, the main leads' resolve are nowhere to be seen and the Hunters continue to ruin the show with their shonen-esque attributes. There is no resolution and we were given a finale which is a good episode in its own but a letdown as a series ender.

Will we be able to see the next season? No. It was a shame that this anime was adapted a season too early so we will never be able to see the end of the current arc. The staff could've done an anime original ending but they still stick to adapt this one faithfully until the end which really backfired. Ugh.

Gangsta is an anime that comes with an interesting setting. A few clans fight for power using mostly illegal human mutants. However even the setting is barely explored and the story barely starts, then the show ends and you're left with many fans raging about it and calling it worst disappointment ever. Fear not, I'm here to prove why you shouldn't have expected much from it in the first place.

Most of the emphasis of this show is put on the rule of cool. The action looks great and the atmosphere is filled with testosterone, even when it comes to the women, well, some of ... them. The choice this anime makes however is to have very few information scarcely scattered between action. The way the characters and setting are provided with details is by first teasing some information in episode x, the presenting half of it in episode x+1, and then gradually adding more and more to it in the following episodes. This rule has been consistent from episode one until the last and is extremely inefficient. It was predictable that it won't have any chance to have a good ending. Instead the teasing continued until the end and viewers felt cheated.

However the way it ends is not the only way we can talk about quality in a show. There are some clear ques of why the writing for this one is rather poor:

1. the setting is complex and confusing. There's a vast number of characters but none are properly presented aside from the two main characters. The clans will play a big role in the plot but having such poorly defined characters will end up leading to a confusing plot where you don't know why X character does Y thing, and if you did it would probably make little sense.

2. information is being obfuscated. Some is teased but never given. Some is teased and gradually and inefficiently given away.

3. there's too many things happening at the same time. Pacing ends up being unbearably slow. Plot becomes confusing.

4. there's too many flashbacks and they are inefficient. This also ends up hurting the pacing.

All in all, the main reasons for why this anime is bad and probably the source material as well are not just the fact that the anime ends in a horrible place, but because the writing quality is poor.

How do i put this trainwreck in words? Oh wait, I already did.

When I see the name Gangsta, I did hope for an anime abou Gangster not a show about super power dudes hide under the shadows of dreadful killers.

Manglobe is an alright studio, it has its fairshare of good and bad animes with the later being a bit more. They also seem to love making supernatural shows which didn't help the case of Gangsta very much. Contradictory, it worsen Gangsta, wasted its potential premiere.

In a town where anything can happen as the characters stated multiple times, it did seem like nothing really happened in ... the anime. Nothing significant to the plot, or at least engaging provokes. It did start out fine but gradually going nowhere, even at the end, I don't ever thing there's a show that would left it hanging in the middle like that. It just ends, like the story I've spent 4 hours watching didn't need to continue or something.

By introducing too many characters, our main ones aren't fleshed out enough unless they thought that showing back stories every 5 minutes helped, but clearly it didn't. Many of the side cast feels extremely flat, they're just there so the plot can move forward. And finally as I expected, when I haven't known anything about many characters, the anime ended.

I truly think this is just a waste of time. If I can save your time by reviewing it, don't need to thank me. Just move on.

This anime had so much potential to break out from the pack. It could have been another attack on titan outburst. However there are certain key characteristics that makes each anime a work of art.

Story line- This anime fails to create any clear plot or story for the viewers to follow. There were so many points that they were trying to fit in this short 12 episode anime that it became jumbled and unclear.

Art- The art was decent. It was easy to watch nothing to dark.

Sound- I believe that the sound was also decent.

Character- There was zero character development. They would often do flashbacks ... to create clear understandings of a characters actions. However, they failed to build a character up.

Enjoyment- I generally enjoyed this anime. I watched to pass the time however it was nothing gut wrenching. It quickly came and left.

Overall- I give this anime a 4/10 this anime failed to create a theme that could have been carried through the anime. Each anime became hard to watch due to the fact that there were not clear plots in the story. Character development was also a factor in my rating. These characters just kind of showed up.