Giovanni and Heine lock horns for what looks to be the last time!
Creative Staff
Writer/Artist: Shirow Miwa
Translation: Alexis Kirsch
What They Say
Boasting furious action, switchback plotting, magnetic characters, and dazzling art, Dogs tells the story of four individuals struggling to survive a dystopian urban future by gun and sword and courage and luck.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Badou and Mihai don’t fare well against Beltheim’s mental ability to control people around him. That and a building full of explosives may prove too much for Badou and Mihai in the end. Even if Badou hadn’t been accidentally shot by Mihai through Beltheim’s manipulations, I don’t know if they could outrun a bomb.
Giovanni’s group finally makes their move, attacking the city and unleashing hundreds of gun-toting Dog Soldiers. While not invincible, the Dog Soldiers might as well be, considering they don’t go down very easily. This puts the Hybrid children in Granny’s care in a lot of danger. Heine is there to protect them, but he is quickly pulled into a battle with Giovanni, leaving Naoto and the other Hybrid adults to fend for themselves against the Dog Soldiers.
This brings up an interesting aspect to Naoto’s character as she is almost killed by a Dog Soldier. She seems to be fending off the attacks more than going for the kill. So, despite her apparent toughness and desire to kill the man that scarred her, it seems she has never actually killed anyone. It is an interesting counterpoint to her character. She has been trained to kill people since she was a little kid, yet after all these years she never has snuffed anyone out.
I don’t know if Heine or Giovanni will ever succeed in killing each other, not when they can both regenerate their bodies. In the meantime, Bishop is meeting with the Mayor of the city in the above world. Just more mystery as the Mayor and the Mother of Giovanni’s group seem to be playing some sort of chess match. Of which, Bishop seems to be the only other person with an idea of what’s going on, but he isn’t sharing.
In Summary:
The raw feeling of this series, both in the story and bold artwork, is really appealing. However, the hints about Heine’s past and what ‘Mother’ is planning to accomplish with Giovanni and her Dog Soldiers is beginning to wear thin as it feels like it is getting dragged out for too long. Where the last volume shed light on some of the character’s backgrounds, this volume swipes character development aside to become an all-out slugfest between Heine’s group and Giovanni’s group. All good action, but I’m still waiting to learn what Giovanni’s group is really up to and how it all relates to the Mayor of the above world.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: A-
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 17+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: March 8th, 2011
MSRP: $12.99
