Gangsta.

Robert Murphy


You would often expect that a town would be run and protected by the police and it's government officials but every once and awhile you run across a town like Ergastulum with it's own way of doing things. The city is a breeding den for crime, drugs and violence on a daily basis but is kept in balance by the three laws and the families that run the city behind the scenes. Things here also fall under a special case since the town is filled with people known as Twilights, people with super human abilities that must regulate their life style with special drugs in order to live out their limited life spans. The story follows one Twilight in particular as well as his partners in a "Handyman" agency where they take any odd job that comes their way.

Gangsta. immediately caught my attention as it bore so many similarities to another drug and violence fueled anime Black Lagoon. The shows share similar styles in their environments and their approaches to action, Ergastulum is a vibrant city that offers just about anything a criminal might ever dream off but it is held together by a well balanced system. Nicholas (a deaf Twilight) and Worick (smooth talking ladies man) work in a sort of neutral area of the city where they take jobs given by anyone who pays them but they stay on friendly terms with each of the families that lord over it. Their jobs usually involve showing off a good degree of muscle or taking out some pesky upstart trying to make a big name for themselves in the city. The most recent punk to try to cause trouble leads the two to meet Alex who is a former prostitute with a muddled past due to years of forcefully being made to take drugs, she now joins Nicholas and Worick at their agency until she gets back on her feet.

While the series starts off focusing on the three of these characters and unraveling each of their sorted pasts, along the way the story gets pretty muddled. Nicholas and Worick have known each other since they were both young and their is an obvious history there. Even though Worick is not a Twilight he is still an outcast in his own way and grew up in a tortured household. Alex on the other hand has a whole other situation on her hands as she struggles to regain any semblance of her life before entering into prostitution. This was all compelling stuff through and through especially when you add in the action sequences that present day Worick and Nicholas get involved in. Nicholas is a high ranking Twilight with an A/0 on the Tag that all Twilights have on their person (rankings go D/5 to S/0) so he is capable of amazing feats with his katana at his side. Worick too is just as impressive and while he can't jump across buildings he is quite handy with a regular weaponry, mainly a knife and two suppressed pistols.

I feel that Nicholas also deserves some special recognition for he is the all around draw to the show. Worick is an equally valuable character to the show but he often takes a back seat to the appeal of Nickolas and his skills. There are also some secrets revealed about Nicholas' rank later on which garner some attention but what makes his character appealing most is the fact that he is deaf. I have never seen this sort of thing done before in an anime and you certainly wouldn't expect it to work for a main character. The fact that Nicholas does so much but says so little is a real winner for the story I was watching, it also makes his past that much more interesting to get wrapped up in. Twilights in the present are now protect by the three laws which are brought up time and again but in the past they were used as tools for killing and looked on as freaks. This doesn't ever appear to have bothered Nicholas but it all around his journey is an interesting one. 

About midway through Gangsta. is where we lose sight of all this however and diverging stories begin to flood in from every direction. Many nonessential characters are introduced into the main storyline at an alarming rate and just when you start to get some interest in them they are steamrolled right over in order to keep the story going. Between the families that run the city, the group of armed Twilights that do odd jobs around the city and a number of lesser character, there is just no end to characters bogging things down. This is particularly annoying when the mysterys behind Alex's past start to slowly come to light and a key character is left out in the dark for the remainder of the series. There's also a redundant love story, a lost brother and sister story and numerous other points that the story tends to get lost on. Various and quite frankly awesome action scene are picked up along the way but the story itself is all over the place and by the end I didn't know exactly what was trying to be accomplished, there seemed to be no clear goal for the ending.

Though it gets bogged down it's story and the sheer number of characters it throws at it's audience, Gangsta. had something unique come out of it in the end. The adventures of Nicholas and Worick start of the show with quite a bang and I loved watching the two of them work, Alex also became an interesting partner in the two's lives as she searched for answers to who she is. If the overall story had focused more on the core group rather than getting lost in a sea of characters and side stories then I could have seen the show working out for the better with it's excellent action, backstory and catchy tunes.

Good:

- Worick, Nicholas and Alex were fantastic

- Some enjoyable side characters

- Excellent story and action till the halfway mark

Bad:

- Far too many characters are added and left unexplored

- Story gets lost with all of it's characters diverging interests

Scully Rating: 6.0 out of 10

Black Lagoon: Roberta’s Blood Trail

Zach Goodier

This is a short, but incredibly sweet, OVA series to follow up the anime hit, Black Lagoon.  This, as the title suggests, goes back to one of the fan favorite opponents from the original series, Roberta.  After her master is killed in a South American bombing, she goes on the warpath looking for revenge.  Of course, the Black Lagoon crew gets caught in the middle of things, and it all goes to hell from there. 

The characters are more of the same, with one new face: Fabiola.  She’s an apprentice maid, and basically serves as a younger, warmer version of Roberta.  She has most of the punch without the feeling that her soul got scared and ran away a long time ago.  She is the one that contacts the Black Lagoon company to get Roberta back.

Even Death knows to give this chick a wide berth. 

One thing I loved about this OVA series is that it brings Rock further down to the level of the low-lives and all around bad people that we’ve seen in the main series.  Rock is more willing than ever to get his hands dirty, if only in the figurative sense.  He’s a mastermind, at heart, and we’ve seen that since he first planned the counterattack against the mercenary gunboat.  However, this does mean that he is less of the “good guy in a den of wolves” since he starts showing his teeth, too.

Our feisty little maid is a regular ball of fire.

Another major point of interest is the addition of more back-story for Revy.  You learn more about her past, and can finally understand how a girl like her got to be so rotten, yet still on some level have a heart at times.  This show accentuates two of the most dangerous women in anime, and both are given a great deal of attention, and their pasts are more defined than ever, giving you an insight into what makes a person lose their soul. 

It's all hands on deck, your favorites are sure to be back from the regular crew.

The story all works well, and even though it’s only 5 episodes, you don’t feel like it was rushed or stretched, the pacing all comes together rather well, with enough excitement to keep your interest without pushing things along at an unnatural pace.  The only real problem is the ending might not leave everyone satisfied, but it felt appropriate.  If you liked Black Lagoon, this is more of what you loved, plus a little more story behind the characters.  Despite being an OVA, this didn’t feel at all like it didn’t belong with the main series, which is rare.

Good:

-More Black Lagoon action and excitement, ‘nuff said.

-Adds more to the characters and brings Rock further into the den of wolves than ever before.

-Roberta is awesome, who better to revisit in the series?

-Intro remix is the best thing since... Well, I included it, so you know.

Bad:

-Short, which only really has an impact if you want to buy it for your collection.

Scully Rating: 9.8 out of 10

Jormungand (Season 1)

By: Robert Murphy

Having recently purchased and begun to experience the joys of HuluPlus, I’ve been welcomed to a massive world of anime that I’ve wanted to watch for the longest time and now can watch with ease. An anime I stumbled across recently is Jormungand and it really struck me for two reasons; the action which gave me a very Black Lagoon type of feel to it and the second was it turned out to be from the same guys, small world right? The story follows the exploits of an abnormally young weapons dealer named Koko Hekmatyar and her team of mercenaries who protect her in her often dangerous dealings with warlords, war torn nations and other weapons dealers. The other main focus is the young boy solider Jonah who is the newest member to her crew of wolves in sheeps clothing and proves to be a perfect fit despite his appearance. What follows is a slue of adrenaline filled episodes with gun fights, incredible fights and kickass weaponry so strap yourselves in everybody.

An impression that I got from Jormungand as I watched it was that it was much like watching Balalaika as she controls her squad of highly trained forces and destroys anything in her way. That is just what it’s like watching Koko and her team throughout the show as each one of her team is exceedingly skilled in one way or another and would make you regret ever going after their boss. Although Koko herself isn’t nearly as intimidating as Balalaika she is definitely not a girl to be messed with even without her teammates as she is an incredibly gifted arms dealer and brilliant tactician when it comes down to it. As the story progresses we learn a good deal about each characters life and abilities that they bring to Koko’s team and they all prove to be quite engaging characters the more you learn about each of them. This proves to be true most with Jonah who you learn hates weapons dealers but has to use weapons himself and is really impressive with them as you see within ten minutes of the show as he takes out two armored jeeps with ease.

Now so far I may have made it sound like the show is nothing but non stop action but it isn’t, the story and episodes are evenly paced and wrap you up with a something new each time you go into it. It seems as if there is no shortage of people looking to take out Koko as she is a very gifted arms dealer but she does have her principles and will not be messed with. Whether someone is taking a hit out on her or an arms deal isn’t going quite as planned, things are always very heated and lead you to meet many characters throughout the series. Also we get a few back stories about Koko’s team especially Jonah who has had a hard young life that’s led him to being the way he is now. We get a good back story for many of the characters and one I particularly enjoy is Valmet’s who is the tall eye patched woman infatuated with Koko, extremely infatuated. An issue is that Jormungand has a lot of build up and a lot of shaping out for its characters and it makes you feel like there is so much more to come. Now before I close things out id like to give a tip of the hat to the amazing soundtrack that the show has for its viewers, its something I don’t usually notice or point out but it is so prominent and is filled with so many enjoyable beats I feel I had to mention it.

Jormungand proved to be everything I’d hoped it would be when I first saw the preview for it, characters are engaging, the actions incredibly solid, I just can’t believe I didn’t find out about it sooner. The story definitely makes you question whether or not there is any morality in the people that deal in weapons of war or are they all just in it for profit like Jonah believes or are there those like Koko that shake your perceptions up a bit. My one issue as I said was the amount of build up that there is in the first season, it makes me itchy and exited for what is right around the corner in season two.

Good:

Solidly paced and incredible story with very Black Lagoon style action

Characters are engaging and all have compelling back story to them

The soundtrack for the show is worth note as it’s edgy and catchy each time it comes up

Bad:

A lot of hashing out and building up for the second season

Scully Rating: 8.5 out of 10 

Topics: Fan-Service in Anime

Zach Goodier

Anyone who keeps up with my reviews might realize that more than a couple have been noted for what I generally call “excessive fan-service.”  However, I think that this is a topic that should be delved into in more detail, as I shall endeavor to do here. 

This more or less summarizes the issue of excessive fan-service in general.

In general, for those who are new to the anime genre, or those that just want a definition to work with, “fan-service” is a term used by many to describe any attempt to use sex-appeal to gain and keep an audience, and more than a few popular shows make very extensive use of fan-service to give their show appeal.  Now, in a broad sense, almost every anime contains some form of this, whether it be an episode on the beach with swimsuits, or even the typical uniforms that all students wear in the series, some fan-service is not only present, but expected in some way.  However, when I use the term in a negative context, it usually indicates that a show leans too heavily on sex-appeal, diverting attention from the story or characters, and sometimes to distract the audience from some terrible writing.

This isn't an actual clip from Rosario + Vampire, but it does illustrate what the show more or less focuses on.  While it might be tough for a guy to turn away while the show is on, I can say without shame that I had trouble remembering this show a couple weeks after watching it.

Future Diary does fan-service in exactly the right way; they use it to add appeal to the female characters, like Yuno and Minene, without dragging the whole shown down by turning it into a harem or the like.  Other shows, such as Rosario+Vampire make a much more extensive use of fan-service (just note that the camera is almost always below skirt-level around the female characters), and while the show itself has a fair deal of humor, and even the makings of an interesting story, you get so bogged down with panty shots and seduction, that most of the praiseworthy aspects of the show have already faded into obscurity. 

Let's be honest, Yuno is hot, and the show makes no attempt to hide that.  However, it's what she brings to the story that makes both her and the entire show unforgettable.

Overall, fan-service isn’t an evil just because it exists, it's like a spice that can both make and break any series.  I love sexy/dangerous female leads, such as Revy in Black Lagoon, and Yuno in Future Diary; however, these characters are already original, and well-written with a compelling back-story and something to bring into the show before any use of fan-service is brought into the mix, and that’s what makes these characters memorable.  In the other cases, the characters often fade into an obscure mass of low-cut blouses and high-cut skirts.  That doesn’t necessarily make them bad characters, just not usually as memorable.  As long as fan-service is treated more like spice, something to add a touch of here and there, it doesn't overwhelm the rest of the work, and ruin everything else that a series has to offer.

In the News: Black Lagoon is Coming to Toonami

Give credit to the guys who suggested it, and look around to see what other shows have been suggested, you might see something that peaks your interest.

Zach Goodier

Yup, you read that, BLACK LAGOON is coming to Toonami, starting March 22nd.  Hopefully, this will mark the return of some fresh, ADULT material to the Adult Swim Toonami lineup.  I'm excited, because this is a great show (that will be properly reviewed in the coming weeks) and it should bring in a more mature audience for Toonami.  While I enjoy Bleach, Ghost in the Shell, and Sword Art, I'm finding much of the lineup (especially both Naruto and Shippuden) to be somewhat unappealing to me.  Some fresh blood should energize the lineup, and draw in a broader audience.  So if you can, stay tuned to Toonami for more news, and give them your love and support to keep the anime lineup alive.