Spoilers for the show! You’ve been warned.
In 2015 Manglobe, the studio behind Samurai Shamploo and Deadman Wonderland, released Gangsta, an adaptation of a manga by Kohske under the same name. From Anime News Network, “In the city of Ergastulum, a shady ville filled with made men and petty thieves, whores on the make and cops on the take, there are some deeds too dirty for even its jaded inhabitants to touch. Enter the "Handymen," Nic and Worick, who take care of the jobs no one else will handle.”.
Plot and Characters
I think this description of the show undercuts what it’s all about, trauma and how we handle it. In episode one we meet our two Handymen, Nic and Worick, and they set themselves apart from your standard anime protagonist by being in their mid 30’s with the age clearly showing on their face. We are introduced to the 3rd main character who rounds out the cast, Alex in the opening shot of the episode. Alex is a prostitute who is being abused by her boyfriend/pimp, who is swiftly killed by the Handymen later in the episode, who becomes the receptionist for the duo.

Let’s start with the positives about this show. The first thing that jumps to mind is how the characters’ trauma is handled. Nic is completely deaf and spent most of his childhood abused by the mercenary group which his father led. He also deals with a genetic disease that labels him as a “Twilight”. In the world “Twilights” are people born from users of a drug named “Celebrer”, which grants them increased abilities but causes them to depend on the drug to survive. Nic routinely abuses this drug, causing him to be labeled as a “faker” in terms of his rank. Before the series starts, Twilights are seen as subhuman and we are told they are used as “slave class”, however they are given the same rights as humans 22 years before the series begins. Nic suppresses his emotions and routinely abuses drugs in order to deal with his trauma.

The next character’s trauma would be Worick’s, and this is where the spoilers come in. Worick Arcangelo is actually Wallace Arcangelo, the missing son and only surviving member of the Arcangelo family. Throughout the series, we see flashbacks of his upbringing with an abusive father and sheltered upbringing. He is a bastard son, his mother a prostitute which is father had killed. This relationship with his mother can be seen through what he describes as his “real job”, being a gigolo, which is a male prostitute. Along with that when he fights throughout the series he is shown to have self-destructive tendencies, routinely pushing himself further than he should go.

Alex is given a smaller role than she deserves in the 28 chapters this show covers. The first episode ends with her taking a gun from the ground and emptying it into her abuser, who was already killed by Worick for a job. After this moment of her breaking free from her abuser, she is just made to act as the audience surrogate in every scene. That is until episode 4, where it’s revealed that Barry, her dead boyfriend/pimp/abuser, had dosed her with drugs known as TBs during their time together. These drugs’ withdrawal effects include server hallucinations which appear to Alex as the bloody mangled corpse of the abuser she shook off. However, she is snapped out of these hallucinations when they happen by Worick and Nic. Alex is shown to have the healthiest way of dealing with her trauma, she talks about it. She takes medicine to stabilize the TBs after-effects and is doing her best to move away from her past of being sex trafficked. Near the end of the 12 episodes, it relieved that another effect of TB is memory loss, and Alex actually has a younger brother, who she longs to find and reconnect with. __ Music__ Another positive of this show is the absolute banging tunes on the soundtrack composed by Tsutchie, who previously worked with Manglobe on Samurai Shamploo. The obvious hip-hop and jazz fusion that litters the background of this show works wonders for the fight scenes. I also find myself humming the opening, "Renegade" by STEREO DIVE FOUNDATION, whose distorted vocals scream out and set the tone for the show. Animation The animation is also stunning. Well animated fight scenes and fluid character movements in otherwise domestic scenes make this show a treat for the eyes.

The only negative I can think of for the show is that its pacing is paradoxically breakneck and slower than paint drying. The show is half-season, with only 12 episodes, covering 5 of the released 8 volumes of the manga. The last episode ends and it feels like there’s more around the corner but there’s nothing. Much like other shows of its time, this is one where if you want to enjoy it you have to pick up the manga. However, the manga is on hiatus and has been since September of 2018 with only a single chapter releasing in December of 2019. This is due to the creator being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and being unable to draw the comic. There is a spin-off series called Gangsta: Cursed which tells a separate story that took place before the main manga.

Overall I’d give Gangsta a 5/10 for its concept, characters, and music, but the pacing and ending weigh it down heavily. This is an incomplete world and story, so judge it as you will.