“Grimgar: Ashes and Illusions” is a captivating fantasy tale that will no doubt attract RPG video gamers and action/adventure anime fans. With several volumes of the light novel having been published, one can only hope that more episodes and seasons are created because this is one anime series that I would love to watch more of. Recommended!
Image courtesy of © 2016 Ao Jumonji, OVERLAP/Grimgar. All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: Gangsta.: The Complete Series
ORIGINAL TV AIR DATE: 2015
DURATION: 12 Episodes (300 Minutes)
BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, English and Japanese Dolby TrueHD5.1, Subtitles: English
COMPANY: FUNimation
RATED: TV MA
Release Date: May 16, 2017
Originally created by Kohske
Series Director: Koichi Hatsumi
Directed by Shukou Murase
Series Composition by Shinichi Inotsume
Music by Tsutchie
Character Design by Yoichi Ueda
Art Director: Masatoshi Kai
Chief Animation Director: Yoichi Ueda
Animation Production by Manglobe
Featuring the following voice talent:
Junichi Suwabe/Ian Sinclair as Worick Arcangelo
Kenjiro Tsuda/Brandon Potter as Nicolas Brown
Mamiko Noto/Felecia Angelle as Alex Benedetto
Ami Koshimizu/Jad Saxton as Constance Raveau
Aoi YÅ«ki/Bryn Apprill as Nina
Atsumi Tanezaki/Clifford Chapin as Mikhail
Hideyuki Umezu/Greg Dulcie as Uranos Corsica
Hiroyuki Yoshino/Greg Ayres as Doug
Junji Majima/Ricco Fajardo as Emilio Benedetto
Kaito Ishikawa/Aaron Roberts as Cody Balfour
Kana Ueda/Alexis Tipton as Loretta Cristiano Amodio
Katsuhisa Houki/Mark Stoddard as Daniel Monroe
Koji Yusa/R Bruce Elliott as Domenico Arcangelo
Mari Yokoo as Georgiana “Big Mama
Masako Isobe/Rachel Robinson as Joel Raveau
Mikako Komatsu/Jamie Marchi as Ginger
Satoshi Mikami/Robert McCollum as Dr. Theo
Sayaka Ohara/Colleen Clinkenbeard as Beretta
In the city of Ergastulum, the area is full of thieves, whores and murderers. And as for the police, they are corrupted and chaos is king.
This is the setting for the manga series known as “Gangsta.â€, written and illustrated by female mangaka Kohske.
Debuting in 2009 with the short story “Postman†for Shonen GanGan Magazine, “Gangsta†has been running in “Monthly Comic Bunch†in 2011 and a total of seven tankobon volumes have been published in Japan. Along a spinoff series titled “Gangsta: Cursed – EP_MARCO ADRIANO” which three volumes have been released in Japan so far.
In 2015, a 12-episode anime series from Manglobe was released in Japan and now, the anime series was released in the United States in May 2017 courtesy of FUNimation.
The series director is Koichi Hatsume, director is Shukou Murase, series composition by Shinichi Inotsume, character design by Yoichi Ueda and art direction by Masatoshi Kai.
“Gangsta.†begins with a prostitute being assaulted outside a building. Meanwhile, inside a building are two owners of the business known as “Handymenâ€, Nic and Worick, two men paid to take on assassination or difficult jobs that police or big business can’t handle.
As Nic and Worick are completing a job with the elder businesswoman inside the building, they see the beaten prostitute going inside the building.
The Handymen are then called for business with the police department and are sent to go after a gang leader named Barry Abbot (the man seen beating on the prostitute in the opening pages). Both Nick and Worick are hired by the inspector to eliminate him and his gang (including his prostitutes) as they are doing business in the restricted zone. They work out a deal that they can take whatever they can in return for killing them.
As Nic and Worick go after the gang and eliminated everyone including the gang leader known as Barry. They run into the prostitute and give her the opportunity to escape. But instead, the prostitute named Alex comes back and instead of killing her, they decide to take her (as in agreement with the inspector) and make her as part of the Handymen as one of their employees.
Meanwhile, as Alex continues to work for the Handymen, she tries to figure both Nic and Worick out.  Is Nic an ex-mercenary, does he talk at all? Why does Worick wear an eyepatch?
One day, Alex sees a newspaper article about a massacre of the Arcangelo family 20-years-ago, all were killed except a 13-year-old boy who was 13 at the time. And the perpretator, said to be a boy hired as a mercenary by the family. And Alex begins to wonder, can the two boys be Worick and Nic? Is Worick the missing boy that was never found?
But as Alex starts to wonder about the two men that she is working for, the Handymen get involved in major trouble as they must take on a gang that is threatening Dr. Theo and his assistant, Nina.a gang war seems to be inevitable as Corsica and Cristiano are engaged in a battle of outwitting each other and destroy each other’s families with the use of Twilights. But what happens when the Handymen come and Nic must take on another Twilight A/O.
VIDEO:
“Gangsta.” is presented in 1080p High Definition and Manglobe did a wonderful job with this series. Capture Kohske’s world that was featured in the manga, character designs were done very well. Characters are well-shaded and backgrounds are pained and are well-done. There is a slight softness for some scenes, as one can expect from a TV series but for the most part, the anime looks great on Blu-ray and the reds (especially with the high amount of blood) is vibrant.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Gangsta.” is presented in Japanese Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0. Dialogue and music including environment and ambiance are well-utilized throughout the surround channels for the lossless English dub soundtrack. Both soundtracks are well-acted but in terms of channel utilization, with the English lossless soundtrack receiving a 5.1 treatment, that soundtrack has an edge. And as the voice acting is well-done on both soundtracks, for the English dub, Brandon Potter, Felecia Angelle and Ian Sinclair did a wonderful job but also great care was made in trying get Nicolas Brown’s speech right, because he is deaf and Brandon Potter did a solid job with the speech patterns.
Subtitles are in English.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Gangsta.” comes with the following special features:
- Episode 01 Audio Commentary – Featuring audio commentary with ADR Director Chris Bevins, Ian Sinclair (voice of Worick Arcangelo), Brandon Potter (voice of Nicolas Brown) and Felecia Angelle (voice of Alex Benedetto).
- Episode 2 Video Commentary – Featuring a video commentary with Ian Sinclair (voice of Worick Arcangelo), Brandon Potter (voice of Nicolas Brown) and Felecia Angelle (voice of Alex Benedetto).
- Episode 9.5 – A “Gangsta.” recap episode. (Japanese only)
- Promo Videos
- Commercial
- Textless Opening and Closing Themes
- Trailers
EXTRAS:
“Gangsta.: The Complete Series” comes with the Blu-ray and DVD version of the film.
With the release of “Gangsta.â€, we get to see somewhat of a western influence in this manga series by Kohske.
Reminiscent of Frank Miller’s “Sin Cityâ€, where the world has gone corrupt and in the city of Ergastulum, a city overrun by thugs, gangs, mafia, whores and murderers, the police are just as bad and when the going gets tough, the only way for the police to maintain order is by hiring mercenaries, in this case, the Handymen, Nic and Worick.
Nic is the silent, deadly killer with a sword. Worick is the playboy with an eyepatch that is good with a gun and together, they are two men who aren’t afraid of taking on the most corrupt people in Ergastulum. And it’s not a duty done for the sake of morality but to them, it’s money and survival.
As these two men are mysterious individuals and through the eyes of former prostitute Alex, who joins the Handymen as their personal secretary or whatever she can be used for in order to get the job done, even Alex, has her thoughts on both men and their mysterious background.
But in this city, there is no normal. There is no peace. And right now, a major gang war is about to ignite between the Corsica and Cristiano gang. And for the Handymen, they have their hands tied in trying to keep people alive while Twilight A/O’s have been hired to assassinate major gang members but now all of a sudden have become the hunted as anti-twilight groups are infiltrating Ergastulum to kill them off..
Meanwhile, Alex is wallowing in her depression, not knowing what has happened to her young brother that she was unable to protect.
With “Gangsta.â€, we get to see how corrupt this world they live in but how they fit in to all the chaos. There is no one that is pure in Ergastulum, everything is corrupt, a lot of violence over runs the city but there is a sense of kindness for some people and with the Handymen, while killing is their job, the act of kindness of having Alex as an employee is rather fascinating.
Kohske has developed a intriguing series full of sex and violence but also an illustration style that is unique to her style of work. The anime series is respectful to the original manga content and there is a western influence and it will be interesting to see how the story of “Gangsta.†will continue considering there is other stories left for the anime to explore in the future.
And Manglobe and anime production crew did a wonderful job with this series and staying true to the original manga. The anime series looks and sounds wonderful on Blu-ray and there are good number of special features included as well.
Overall, “Gangsta.†is an action-packed anime series about mysterious two assassins for hire in a crime-filled land and a former prostitute who starts working for them. An intriguing and rare manga series to come from Japan, if you are looking for a manga series with a little sex and plenty of violence, “Gangsta.†by Kohske is a manga series worth recommending!
