Those that hunt and those that are hunted.
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Kohske
Translation/Adaptation: Christine Schilling
What They Say
As Erica stalks through Ergastulum, leaving a trail of dead in her wake, Delico copes with the heartbreaking news that this most dangerous Hunter is actually his long-lost little sister. After a lifetime of separation, he’s determined to rescue her—one way or another—but a fragile sibling bond may not be enough to counter the merciless force of destiny.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The end of the previous volume of Gangsta left several character’s fates up in the air, chief among them Worick. Maybe not surprisingly he survived his fall from the second story and the knife wound, but he’s out of commission for the time being. As for Doug, we discover that twilights have a very different and tragic outlook on their short lives.
Alex is once again taking a back seat to the action. Considering that the events of this volume all happen in a very short period of time that’s not surprising. She spends most of her time looking after Worick and then Nic, who reassure her that even though she thinks she’s being selfish they don’t share her opinion. She even gets a chance during the one blissful moment of downtime to sing on stage again.
However this volume isn’t so much about the handymen as it is Delico and his mission to retrieve his sister. He attempts to accomplish this only with the help of Yang, but Nic picks up on what’s going on and the three men take to the streets. Erica is a force of nature, a whirling weapon of death who is at the heart of the massacres happening. When Delico finally comes face to face with her she doesn’t appear to recognize him. It’s at that point the retrieval mission turns into a seek and destroy one. If he can’t snap her out of it, he’ll take her out of it.
Erica isn’t alone, the spritely Mikhail fills the role of the obnoxious but deadly child. He’s almost like a cockroach in the way he can take a beating and keep going. To square off agains the two Nic doses himself with an experimental upper from the good doctor, a drug he’s been researching. It works but the come down from it doesn’t seem worth the cost.
The bait and switch betrayal that lies at the heart of this war is one that cuts deep. It makes sense though, why be the king of shit mountain when you can get a ticket out of hell? The actions which follow it are even deeper. Even with all of his conditioning I find it hard to believe that Delico would turn his weapon of a friend, unconsciously or not. The repercussions of his actions are likely taking him out of the game for awhile, but it looks like everyone has been sidelined for the time being. The agents of chaos that are Erica and Mikhail are taken off the board, leaving only the nearly forgotten Destroyers and their hostage the remaining problem for the time being. As for Constance, she doesn’t take being held hostage lying down, but her fate as of the end of this volume will be at the forefront of your mind when you hit the last page.
There are just a few pages of extras, the usual height/age chart, the author’s comic strip, and some information of the dog tags the twilights wear.
In Summary
Gangsta remains one of the finest action series coming over from Japan right now. Crisp action, heart-wrenching drama, a great cast, it’s just a very well done series. Just when it looks like everyone is going to catch a break the situation goes from bad to worse. With loyalties in question everywhere and Pavlovian responses driving the sane to act without reason the chaos in Ergastulum is spiraling out of control. There are small glimmers of hope, but everyone is caught in an endless struggle with a growing body count. With most of the main cast nursing some serious injuries I can only hope there’s a small moment of respite before everyone attempts to rush back out to another battle where the only winners are the people who aren’t getting involved.
Content Grade: A –
Art Grade: A –
Packaging Grade: B +
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: May 19th, 2015
MSRP: $12.99
