Gangsta - Action, Drama - Anime Review  

Alot of your criticisms are valid but I feel like you missed the point of the anime. This anime has a lot of tragedy but the point of it isn't the focus on tragedy because it doesn't really focus on tragedy. It's focus is the normalization of corruption and violence in communities plagued by systemic poverty and oppression. Alex is the voice of the audience because even with her struggles she cannot bring herself to normalize what is normal to Warrick and Nick. However, when we see things from the perspective of Nick and Warrick who have built their lives on survival. You can see while they both have morals those morals are only utilized when it isn't antithetical to their own survival. They don't have any ideology of reforming what is bad because they have trained themselves not to ask about the system rather they work to survive within it. Gansta is an anime that doesn't carry a lot of exposition. It trusts it's audience to be able to figure out the characters and the reality they live in. However, if you pay attention it does make sense. The story masterfully reveals it's world and its characters little by little, but it doesn't give you closure because it's characters don't get closure. It's a story told exclusively from the perspective of three people who may not be thinking extensively about the grand setting of their reality because they are trying to survive. That's how poverty works and that's why the story lacks a focus on the bigger picture and even a detailed explanation of it's setting or twilights. The characters don't fully understand the powers that be, why should you? As for the characters I feel that for a 12 episode anime with a continuing manga they were well flushed out. Warrick is beset by his own guilt about his families death. He feels guilty because he is still close with nick even after Nick killed his family, and he knows he should feel bad about nick killing his family but in reality he doesn't ,his guilt is provided by his lack of guilt. Warrick cares about Nick but thinks that nick only protects him because Warrick is nicks contract holder. I think this adds to Warrick's guilt because he thinks Nick's killing his family is his fault and it hurts him to think that Nick doesn't really care bout him because if Nick doesn't care about him maybe no one ever has. Now none of this is directly explained in the anime but if you pay attention when you watch this show you will see this conflict unfolding. I agree we don't see enough of Nick but if you read the manga his character arc starts pretty soon after the anime ends. Also like in the section of the manga this anime is based on the anime takes place in the part of the story where the story is providing Warricks characterization. By not giving you much characterization for Nick you are confused by his character just like Warrick. Remember this is a story told exclusively from the point of view of it's characters. As for Alex I think you kinda missed her character a bit. It took me a while to realize why I was okay with the fanservice centered around her. I am never okay with fanservice. I'm a woman who, like you, hates the toxicity of the way many anime treat women. So why was I less annoyed by this anime then others? Well because the fanservice here isn't really fanservice. As I watched I realized that the only time the "camera angle" objectified Alex was when the men around her are seeing her for her body (except for the gag when Connie grabs her breasts). The angles are a personification of the male gaze and Alex's lack of equality. The times Alex is objectified can be put into three categories. When she is about to engage is prostitution, when she is about to be sexually assaulted, and when it's Warrick's gaze on her (notably lacking from Nick's gaze). Because Alex is in dangerous situations in the first two the audience feels a sense of dread and discomfort in these scenes; the male gaze is under criticism. Even Warrick's male gaze is under criticism because while he isn't a danger to Alex, he tunes her out when he is focused on her physique. Notably the male gaze doesn't exist outside of these moments and Alex is allowed her own characterization. On the drug addiction thing the story does explain that celebrar isn't like normal drugs and we shouldn't expect it to function like a normal drug but I am too lazy to explain how it works. The story does show a good understanding of how drug addiction works though when Alex starts coming off the drugs her pimp gave her. She struggles with a mixture of withdraw and PTSD . She exhibits multiple signs of withdrawal including restlessness, dilated eyes, anxiety, paranoia and eventually hallucinations. These are symptoms of withdraw compounded by PTSD. As someone who has seen withdraw multiple times I know for a fact these are accurate. On an individual basis I really connected with this story and got where it was coming from as a person who grew up in systemic poverty and in an area where people had endured a lot of oppression. I thought the twilight's were well written and could connect well with them. As I watched this I thought that the woman who wrote the manga must have either grown up in poverty or had an abnormally exceptional grasp on how it works. I don't think it's a perfect story or even a great one and i felt a lot of your criticism's were valid but you missed all of the story's substance. I wish I could have gone more in depth about the stories characterization of poverty but I don't have the time. Maybe give it another shot if you are inclined to after watching my TED talk :).

You forgot to mention that Twilights cannot uprise against normals, since normals are the ones who produce Celebre. Without Celebre, Twilights die. Nic has two eyes. They state directly that when Twilights overdose, that there are many health issues, and that it's killing Nicolas faster. There is even a higher version of the upper that Doc Theo states will cause Nicolas insufferable pain when consumed. Nicolas is nowhere near the strongest rank either. Most Twilights cannot overdose, or they vomit. Some can, some can't. Alex herself goes through extreme cases of drug abuse symptoms, they shove it right in your face! Did you even watch the anime? Did you skim it?

RIP Mangaglobe... Samurai Champloo was awesome.

its so fucking sad that Manglobe got shut down...they have Samurai Champloo, one of my all time fav animes :/

love this fuckin anime this is SAD man

I liked Gangsta. It was an enjoyable series to watch and that's good enough for me.

That facepalm in your thumbnail already sums up your thoughts on Gangsta XD You should include yourself in your thumbnails like you did back then. As for my thoughts on your review, as a fan of Gangsta I completely understand your points and I agree with them. Another problem I had with it is that every Twilight is supposed to have some sort of disorder but almost all of them seemed fine. Even though it was pretty bad I still enjoyed it as a guilty pleasure cuz like you said the main appeal with the series are that its MCs are adults and it takes place in a western setting (also there's the "rule of cool"). That along with the soundtrack lets me sit back, relax, and watch without giving a care about the story (I guess I got Shouko Murase to thank for that, I think he's a pretty underrated director). I'd give it a performance of a 4/10 while my enjoyment is a 7/10.

Hee bro love your channel, btw have you watched ergo proxy? If so why no review? Im currently at episode 10

It's a shame because I can't even blame Manglobe for it being a bad anime. They just chose to adapt a manga that is sub par at best...which was really the biggest mistake in all this.

gangsta is a nice anime I enjoyed it.

I enjoyed watching Gangsta on a weekly basis. Ending was shit though.

In short, don't waste your time with this.

Was that intro a tribute to the AngryJoe Show?

Ive never seen backlash this hard towards something before. Everyone was hyping this up, and after the first episode, everyone put it directly into the trash xD

Gangsta started off really good. but then slowly declined and left us off with a crazy cliffhanger with no hope for S2 at this point.

'One of the few ppl who realise the toxic nature of the anime industry...' Beautiful review, many thanks Bob. I love anime but it's so hard to find stuff that isn't all... Overly sexualised and stuff. Thank.

ah Gangsta, I really looked forward to watching it. then I watched 6 eps, and then I dropped it. and it seems like I did the right thing. R.I.P Manglobe.....

my problem with Gangsta came with the shading. when Nicholas was fighting that boy tag (forgot his real name, my bad) the screen was just pitch black and with conflicting sounds letting us the audience to decipher the going ins and outs of their scuffle. it's really irritating when they continue this pattern in some other fight scenes.

9 seconds into this entire video "they fucked up"

I was only interested in Gangsta because of its name, yet the show even failed to make it feel "gangsta"

Gangsta was a massive waste of potential. I thought the first episode was a pretty good start but everything after that just got worse and worse until it reached it's climax of awfulness with that cop-out ending. Not worth watching by any means.

I rate 7/10 :P. Deal with it. I disagree with many of the points you made

I don't recommend watching this with the English dub, but I don't recommend watching Gangsta anyways. Gangsta gets a 3.8/10. HAHAHAHAHAH. And Bob please watch and review Witch Hunter Robin.

"Fuck you go read the manga" ending. I'm looking at YOU Deadman Wonderland!

Just finished Gangsta, felt like everything took place in a the same back alley to make sure they didn't have to create new backgrounds. Pathetically low quality all round. This has gone down as one of my lowest rated tv series anime.

Great directing from Shukou Murase. He is very good at building unique atmospheres in his shows, as Witch Hunter Robin and Ergo Proxy have some of the best atmospheres in the medium. Gangsta. also had a great atmosphere. The writing left a lot to be desired, honestly. It had interesting concepts, and the backstory was really fascinating to me, but I started to lose interest around episode 8, and the series went out with a whimper, much like Manglobe.

Gangsta was not the most hype anime of Summer. *Ahem* Charlotte Gakkou Gurashi Umaru-chan Monster Musume Prison School Rokka no Yuusha Shimoneta All got more fan coverage than Gangsta.

My review of Gangsta: I stopped watching it after 8 episodes because it was boring.

I think the show was pretty meh almost dropped it at times, i think the whole tag system sounded stupid, story didn't go anywhere, characters didn't have that much to them. I think i pretty much agree with you on this one.

Hey Bob. I loved the concept of this show. It felt like the whole thing was forced. I would have loved to see this show put together better, with some character development and a real plot. It felt like the show had so much potential and I hate that they squandered it.

Ummm no hate but you say they should research before doing something but you yourself did not research that 1. Nicolas is not one eyed he is just deaf 2. A/0 is not the strongest tag there is S/0 is. 3.nick can be rekt by many people in the anime I.e Erica, ginger etc.

This is the first video I've seen of your in a while and holy shit have you ever changed man. You're more comfortable on camera, you're funnier and you look fantastic! I still remember your NHK review where you confessed to being a hikikomori. You've come a long way so props to you mang!!

I've watched six episodes and read five volumes of the manga so for, the manga is really dense and you really have to pay attention, otherwise you'll miss something important (or maybe I am just dumb). But the anime, I don't know man, it isn't as exciting as the manga. Something that put me of was the use of sound tracks. Sometimes it doesn't fit well at all or it's just the same sound playing for all the calm situations... However it helps me a little to understand that world and what is happening, so overall it's kind of an addition

So the main reason why the anime had 12 episode because the studio went bankrupt right after. You probably right about Gangsta supposedly have 24 episodes season.

I honestly didn't understand most of Gangsta. Until SamuraiBob explained it out loud. It was also true about character dull personalities. The episodes just leave you hanging. Bits & pieces were good. Just the entirety of the anime. (SHEEPISH GRIN)

Do you like the deadman wonderland manga? Im thinking about starting it and I trust you haha

Damn what a harsh review, I enjoyed the anime, sucks there is no second season.

I thought it was ok, nothing amazing.

It's a shame they only did 12 episodes, I was really enjoying it, I can always finish the Manga, the last episode ended exactly where volume 5 does, which is where I currently am at the moment. But as you pointed out, it is very faithful, so I wouldn't of been missing anything, in terms of what was adapted, if I had only watched the Anime.

Great review as usual Bob, May I also ask what's next on the queue?

Heard a bit of talk around this on youtube reviewer channels. So it was another seasonal hypewagon anime, surprised it has a dub this soon though.

0:00-0:06 "...they fucked up" The absolute sum up of the whole review tbh. Great analysis as always. It's really dissapponting the mishandling of the themes presented, specially the whole medical-drug mambo jumbo nonsense >.< Btw, are you planning to review Charlotte? I'd like to hear your disgust over it

nick HAS both eyes, that's why even though he can't hear his sight and perception is so enhanced .... its only his partner warrick that has one eye.. You wrongly accused them both of this impairment.

what is the name of the music in the opening?

I dropped gangsta after watching only 4 episodes it started going downhill in episode 5 and to make matters worse: ends with a cliffhanger

Gangsta. Was doomed from the start since the manga was only at the climax when the anime came out. So what you get horrible shortening of what goes on and a horrible climax ending that will never get a sequel. Also, Manglobe was already struggling so this was probably the project that broke the camels back. Gangsta. Is a victim of circumstance. It shouldn't have been made. Also, Alex isn't meant as fanservice. She's meant to show how fucked up a person can get when abused to an extreme. Her lack of close is due to what she had to wear. What she always had to wear. It's sad that people think she is some form of fanservice when she is not. Again I blame the anime cause the manga explains EVERYTHING better. Also the drugs the twilights take are harmful . Twilights are not expected to live over 30. Nicolas is like 34 so I don't know how the mangaka will explain this, but the drugs are harmful and are addicting and have withdrawals. The anime did horribly explaining this. Cause basically they had to shove everything into 12 episodes. When you do that shit happens. Though.. The OP was pretty damn good.

I loved gangsta

I like Gangsta for what it is but I do have to admit that it has flaws. The ending theme to this anime is one of my favorites.

While this series is shit. They do say that the tag itself it's meant to be "aware of the dog" they are not meant to hide them.

Bob will you do a review on One Outs?

I hope the mangaka gets well soon and manages to finish this story, I really want to know more about these characters and how the events with the families, the anti tag activists, the main characters etc. unfolds. I think the main characters are enjoyable to watch, they don't speak much about things but I like how so much is unsaid, gets my imagination flowing. Because you made a fuss about the eggs, I thought about why this scene is drawn into introduction scene: maybe to point out they have a home and cook (very unusual in their circumstances). You mentioned: why don't they just remove their tags. I wondered the same thing about jews in the WWII, why didn't they just remove that yellow star ? If you argue that jews look different from the others: I don't agree. You talk degrading about the prostitute girl wearing skimpy clothes, I happen to know women who look like that. In the anime, the girl makes me feel cold as she wears the same type of tiny dress in all weathers but I don't mind, she seems a nice person. I personally find that Pinoko girl from Black Jack more offensive as she looks like four, doing the housework and I don't know what else for the guy, saying she's his wife in every episode. I'm watching Gungrave now (because one of the commenters mentioned it being better), which is more of a drama with big themes like loyalty and betrayal, while this anime is about a society in which there's a class system (of slaves and masters), ruled by families who have differences of opinions about how to coexist with said 'slaves'....

I liked it... I was looking for entertainment and I found it. With the unique parts of the show it was very interesting but they wouldn't expand on it. They left a lot of loose string like Alex's brother and her back story. But hearing you talk badly about the show I ain't even mad because your right XD

Was it worth the hype " nothing ever is" that's not what you said in your LOGH review. If memory serves you said " "believe all the hype" so which is true. Not trying to compare the two shows, only drawing attention to that contradiction.

was really hyped by this one the first ep was good and announcing a great show but fuck this ending and we will probably never see the sequel in anime because of the financial statue of the studio.

As a manga reader of this series I was hyped af but it was so disappointing. Started off good but after ep 3 or 4 it just fell flat

Yeah to be honest.. I stopped watching it halfway and don’t really even know why I stopped watching it. I think that was the main problem.

I like you Bob. (That weird?) you bash a anime so hard in the ground it wishes you didn't review anime at all. Suprisingly you do a good job reviewing anime & you thoroughly explain your complaints well. I do think you rate a little low at some times, but keep up the good work!

yeah i stop watching when nike isnt even one of the strongest, like why the fuck are they even calling you for help

i think i watched till episode 8 or 9. it became so bad so fast.i don't even care how it ends and i am glad it was only 12 episodes. so terribad

Hey Bob, have you read the manga Vagabond it's about musashi miyamoto

Didn't know the studio went bankrupt...for the show well the first half was pretty good but I stop watching when they decided to take a break for no reason.

I was annoyed with the anime community overhyping this show like one punch man ain't shit. After the end, those same exact worshippers of Gangsta hated it and I laughed my ass off. Yeah, it's not good. I agree with your points bob. Good review.

what's the name of the outro song?

It's true. If I had a girlfriend & I wouldn't be watching as many Cartoons as I am now, instead I will be watching some dumb girl drama.

Something like drug use was poorly researched? I'ts 2015, not only is there most likely shit like that in japan but we have the internet. It shouldn't be hard to think of or find out about some drug side affects.

I agree with evreything you just said Bob Gangsta was bad I got the 2 vols and we'll I won't get anymore because the story and the characters are waste of pointeal it desont matter if you have cool setting or cool themes if you doing nothing with haaa such a waste of time and pointeal

Sad that the anime died out, good protagonists and a interesting story.

I thought it was pretty awful. It was pretty hard to force myself through it.

I liked Nic as a character the rest felt like it never got anywhere

do you like any anime that's made past 2010?

Hmmm not sure what to say about this review, i cant shake the feeling that if this show had never been mentioned and you watched and reviewed it, you would be calling it a contender for anime of the year tbh.... and.many of your recent reviews have had this same feeling for me, but dont take my word for it, if you have time maybe sit through some of your older review and see if your attitude has changed (whether for the worse or better). This is text so i dont know how it may come across, but i honestly like your reviews and hold you in quite high regard (even though your core taste is fairly different from mine) however just being honest, while i think you have technically improved as a reviewer, the point at which you start from seems to constantly shift in accordance with your prior knowledge or experiences with the material (i,e fanbases, hype, request ect) as well as the time period in which it was released (most modern shows i feel you criticize far more harshly then earlier ones). You may think i am completely off the mark and if you do, thats fine....but please do as you continue to review always remain mindful of what outside influences could possibly be affecting your judgement or perception of an anime and try to minimise their effect

Bob try Shin Sekai Yori/ From the new world. It has flaws but I think you might like it. 😊

Your entitled to your opinion my friend I personally found it entertaining for what it's worth

It wasn't an ending. I have so many questions that are not answered. Now I know there's going to be no series 2, I just feel like this was a waste. It had a great setting and a lot of opportunity to open up the story, but it kind of fell on its ass. I disagree about the dub though. I thought the dub voice actors did a very good job.

this reminds me of black lagoon anime

Have you watched Gintama?

I dropped this during the recap episode because I feel like the story is repetitive and going nowhere the first few episodes are decent but i got bored with it and dropped it.

Bob you do know Japan has population problems right and that them trying to have sex appeal is there way of making people want to breed right, and yes I know that does not excuse how badly the story was handled I just thought that you should know that encase you already did not.

Watch`s first few episodes, this is really good :D hope to see where it goes... then it ended up being terrible, didnt help that i watched black lagoon and jormungand during its airing

Doesn't matter it's my fav anime of 2015

R.I.P Manglobe Reason it's dead: Because people cant pay 50$ worth of episodes cass closed

It's a shame really. Gangsta looked promising for the most part. Great review Bob

It would of been good if they had more character backstory

What hype do you speak of? It seems that pretty much everyone was :incredibly disappointed by Gangsta, including myself. At least, out of the people I've spoken to, was not impressed by it.

I am looking forward to your opinion of nitaboh !

Gangsta looked to me like yaoi-bait with emphasis on dealing with the cruel world and past scars, and tbh series like that make me nauseous. Thanks for the review BobSamurai, looks like I was at least halfway right and now know not to pick up this series.

I didn't even get to the 3rd episode, lolz

Should have been more angryjoeshow like for the intro

One of the worst anime endings EVER Bob, you factor in the opening song in your scores?

3/10 "meh series" nothing more nothing less, btw bob do you have any plans to do a review of Ping Pong the animation? is another masterpiece made by yuasa. -Mastergold

my thoughts exactly. I just dropped it after few episodes, lol.

Read Sun Ken Rock. 10x better. Knew Gansta wasn't going to be legit

How many times is anime as a medium going to fail? Literally everything was trash this year!!!!!!

Manga's alright. Have the first 2 volumes.

I haven't seen it dubbed, why was the dub bad, you didn't really go into it.

Bob are you gonna review Madoka Magica?

did u steel the line "they fucked up" from angry jo

yeah...they should have done more research on the fictional drugs that they made up...

It's kinda trying to be Tokyo Ghoul, but fails. I would much rather stick to the manga, anyways.

Hey Bob, for a 20 year old you know how to present yourself well.