Blog

By Kohske. Released in Japan by Shinchosha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Comic @ Bunch. Released in North America by Viz Media.

One of the things that most manga fans who follow publishing closely have found is that manga readers tend to be loyal to genres rather than authors. Sure, Natsuki Takaya may have written Fruits Basket, one of the best-selling shoujo manga of the last ten years, but other similar titles have proven less stellar, and there’s no rush on anyone’s side to license Hoshi wa Utau or Liselotte to Majo no Mori, her post-Furuba work. On the other hand, when you see a title with vampires that sells, manga publishers go and find other vampire titles. (Oddly, this doesn’t work with other non-Naruto ninja titles, which tend to bomb. I wonder why.) In any case, Dogs and Black Lagoon have done quite well for Viz, but both have ‘caught up’ to Japan. Dogs is now a yearly title, and Black Lagoon is at the mercy of its author’s ‘whenever’ schedule. Clearly another similar title is needed. And so we have Gangsta.

Gangsta apparently takes place in “Ergastulum”, which judging by the decor seems to be somewhere in Southern Europe – my guess is “fantasy-world Italy”. Our heroes are mercenaries for hire, who do bad things but have good hearts deep down. Which does not stop them, however, from doing bad things. Each has a tragic past – Worick seems to have been from a rich family at one point, till he was kidnapped and lost one eye. Nick, meanwhile, has it worse – he’s a Twilight, which gives him superior strength and agility, but at the cost of lifespan and getting close to anyone – he’s a pariah. Oh, and he’s also deaf, which doesn’t seem to have anything to do with his Twilightness. The manga starts when they’re hired to wipe out a gang in town, and end up sparing one of the prostitutes in it – Alex, who becomes their new secretary. She’s the naive newcomer in this manga, needing Worick to explain things to her. Indeed, her lack of knowledge about ANYTHING in the town is suspicious in itself.

Gangsta has a very solid first volume. Its art is decent, its plot is better than its art, its characters are better than its plot, and its aesthetic is best of all. The series tends to hit all the right beats. As I noted before, its weakness may be Alex’s need to have the plot exposited to her, which can come across as blunt exposition at times, but it’s so odd I’m prepared to reserve judgment till I see more volumes. Of the two mercenaries, I’m possibly more sympathetic to Nick, but that could just be because he doesn’t speak much – while Worick’s constant chatter always seems to hide darker undertones, as we see towards the end when he brutalizes another prostitute with his harsh words. I also liked Nina, the teenage nurse at a local clinic, who shows that this isn’t just an ‘everything is awful’ world, but is allowed to have happy, innocent kids – even if they are under constant danger of being threatened and kidnapped.

This seems to be the first major work of its author, Kohske, who is female, by the way. I always like to note female creators, especially on titles like this and Dorohedoro where it may not be immediately obvious. In any case, Gangsta is definitely an M-rated title, but if you enjoy titles of this ilk, it’s definitely worth a try, and I will happily get the second volume.

By Ryo Suzukaze and Satoshi Shiki. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Shonen Sirius. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics.

(This review is based off an advance copy provided by the publisher.)

If Attack on Titan: Junior High as the inevitable lighter, fluffier gag manga spinoff of the main Titan series, then this one is even more inevitable. A prequel set far back enough so that it features no one we know, yet providing some much needed context and perhaps even a few explanations that might carry over into the new series, while still remaining its own title. That said, it remains to be seen how successful it will be, as this is very much Vol. 1 of a longer work, and we’ve just barely gotten started before things are all over.

Just like its spinoff partner, Isayama did not write or draw this. The author seems to be known for writing tie-in novels (and indeed, this manga is based on a spinoff novel that Vertical will be releasing later in the year). The artist is likely more familiar to old-school manga fans. Satoshi Shiki did a Daphne in the Brilliant Blue manga that Tokyopop released, as well as Kami-Kaze and the really old Viz title Riot, which came out back in the ‘flipped, 32-page comics’ days. The art here is pretty and serviceable, with its leads being attractive and likeable. This puts it miles ahead of Isayama, who has gotten better as he’s gone along, but whose art is still his weakest point. Of course, just because the leads are pretty doesn’t mean bad things don’t happen – some of the grotesque shots of people getting eaten by Titans (and the aftermath) are just as bad as the original.

The basic premise is that, about 70 years before the AoT series proper, a child is found in the puked-up remains of people who had been eaten by Titans, one of whom was a pregnant woman. The baby in her womb miraculously survived, right in the center of the undigested pile. Found by the Survey Corps, he is immediately described as “the child of a Titan”. And promptly locked away for the next 13 years, feeding on bugs and tiny scraps and living a horrible prisoner’s life. It should be noted that Kuklo is not large or monstrous or anything – Child Of A Titan is a metaphor that has carelessly been allowed to become real.

Most of this volume is setup, showing us what life is like inside Wall Sheena, the innermost wall that the cast of the main series haven’t really had to deal with. The answer is that it’s filled with rich smug jerks, including a spoiled brat son who will grow up to lead the military one day, and takes delight in beating the shit out of his prisoner who doesn’t even know enough to fight back. The only other likeable person in the entire series is Sharle, the smug jerk’s younger sister, whose seems to be the innocent, human face of this series and who will no doubt die horribly at some point down the line.

Most of this first volume is setup, showing us the world Kuklo and Sharle live in, and setting up their journey to escape and find answers. It runs based on its mood, which is dark and grimy (the one place that Isayama’s art might have helped… at times this world feels a bit too clean compared to his own.) Certainly a title worth getting for Titan fans, and we’ll see how many volumes it can make it through before inevitable tragedy has to happen.