Happy Monday BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers! I hope you had a kickass weekend and are prepared to make this week epic. As always, this segment is where we talk and analyze all things Japanamation. Today I’m reviewing the anime Gangsta.

Summer is decidedly over with, which means pumpkin flavored everything, beautiful trees, and dozens of anime wrapping up their twelve to thirteen episode run. Gangsta was an anime that had an incredible amount of potential, but suffered from many of the same issues that hinder other works when they are adapted from one medium to another. Namely, pacing, story delivery, and sequel lust.

Gangsta could have been a great anime, however it is bogged down to mediocrity due to the rapid changes in the narrative’s speed. It seemed like some episodes tried to cram as much story, exposition, and action into a twenty two minute time slot as possible, while other episodes spent far too much time focusing on events that contributed very little to the overall story. On a more personal note, I particularly found issue with this anime’s pacing because the bloated segments typically focused on characters that I did not particularly enjoy or find interesting.

I also take issue with the way the anime delivered exposition and told some of its story. I will not spoil anything, but there is a moment that the anime builds to over the course of several episodes through flashbacks. When it finally reaches that moment and depicts the climatic scene, it is shown in muted colors with the majority of the event taking place off screen. Needless to say I was disappointed. Actually, this is about the point where I felt the series was beginning to go downhill, around episode six.

The series’s decline continued to the final episode of the anime. I would normally refer to this episode as the anime’s conclusion, expect nothing is concluded. It is very obvious that the show wants to get a second season to elaborate upon many of its dangling story lines and cliffhangers. However, there is no way to know for sure if Gangsta actually is going to get a second season, which means that I just watched twelve episodes of build up for nothing. There are no resolutions, no pay offs, and really no coherent endings to speak of whatsoever. I part of me desperately hopes that the series does get another season so that I can get some closure, however another part of me hopes that they do not and that they suffer for making me care about these characters, only to leave their fates in limbo for god knows how long.

This review actually turned out to be way more negative than what I intended. Gangsta has some problems, but it is still a pretty good series that dares to be different from the formulaic structure of many other modern anime. It is different and I have to give it credit for that. However, I cannot in good conscious say that it is a great anime, because it did way to many easily avoidable things that piss me off way too much. I would still recommend that people watch Gangsta, just maybe not as enthusiastically as I would have after just watching episode three or four.

Alright, what do you guys think of this review? Are you going to watch Gangsta? Am I a terrible human being and are my opinions crap? Let me know in the comments down below and be sure to sure to give this post a like while you are there. As per usual, you can subscribe to BaddaBing BaddaBlog via email in the upper right tab. Be sure to check out and like the official BaddaBing BaddaBlog Facebook Page and check me, @LucasDeRuyter,out on Twitter. Have a great Monday everybody and a wonderful week.

BaddaBing, BaddaBye