Hello everyone and welcome The Anime Pulse: First Reaction. This is a brand new mini column that I will be doing when new shows being airing each anime season. I’ve picked up a LOT of new shows as most of them seem every interesting. To give a quick run down, I’ll give a general overview of what the anime is about, my thoughts on the first episode, thoughts on the opening and ending themes, and give a YES, MAYBE, or NO answer on whether or not it’s worth watching. So let’s start off with the one that caught my attention the most so far: Gangsta.
General Overview
In a shady city where the mafia, gangs, and people of ill repute wander the streets, sometimes there are jobs the cops themselves won’t even handle. Enter the handymen of Worick and Nicolas. They will do those dirty deeds that others are too afraid to touch.
First Episode Reaction
So right off the bat, Nicolas is portrayed as kind of a dick, standing there ignoring the telephone as it rings, making his partner, Worick, come answer it. Well, it’s not exactly his problem as he is mostly deaf. It appears that Nicolas can hear somewhat, but not completely.
They’re given a job and end up beating up some thugs before turning to an elderly woman who pays them for their troubles. She also asks that they go on another job which is just a quick delivery of some food. They take the job to a young woman at a local shop where we get some more back story on a new gang infiltrating the area and how she’s waiting for the families to take care of it, referring to the mafia.
Nicolas and Worick then meet with Captain Chad of the police, stating that he has a job where he’d like them to clean out a local gang, leaving no survivors. Among them is a photo of a woman whom we’ve seen so far in this episode as a prostitute. Worick asks if they can have the spoils and Chad agrees. They take care of business, but they don’t end up killing the prostitute, whose name is Alex. Instead, they consider her part of the spoils and end up employing her as the one who answers the phones.
I love everything about this first episode. They do some great world building, they introduce us to the two main characters, they add a character to the roster almost immediately, and you get a complete and total sense of what is going on in this city.
Nicolas is going to be the star of this show. Despite being mostly deaf, he is a legitimate badass. He wields a sword and had a vicious streak about him. I’m assuming he has a deep military background due to the dog tags he wears. When people see those tags, they know to run, too, so you know that he has a reputation behind him already. Nicolas has tremendous personality for a character that is limited in dialogue. His actions and mannerisms give you a complete and total sense of what kind of character he really is.
Worick is pretty laid back and quick witted. He seems like he’s made to fit to role of balancer to Nicolas. Skilled with a gun, Worick doesn’t mess around either, but he generally seems like the more approachable one out of the two.. plus with him rescuing Alex instead of assassinating her, you can tell he has a good-natured personality about him despite his line of work.
The show has that same air about it that Black Lagoon and Jormungand had. I love these kind of shows and I’m looking forward to more. My only gripe is that it’s 12 episodes.
OP & ED Impressions
Opening
“Renegade” by STEREO DIVE FORMATION
Okay, this opening is AMAZING. I found myself listening to it over and over again. Heck, I listened to it three times while writing this First Impression. It’s got that pop music mixed with a city feel to it and is kind of a bit upbeat for a show like this, but it works and works well.. in fact, I’d say that its’ a perfect fit for a show like this.
Ending
“Yoru no Kuni” by Annabel
The ending is the opposite of the opening. Very slow-paced, very calm and relaxed. Sounds like your standard ending fare and doesn’t really stick out too much for me. I’ve listened to it a few times and it’s not growing on me. It just doesn’t seem to fit, but oh well.
Worth Watching?
YES
