#1 Too many characters, no story
Ergastulum is really more of an internment camp than it is a proper city. An elaborate trap, constructed to house the so-called Twilight. They are societal rejects who possess all manner of supernatural abilities, but are dependent on special drugs to stay alive. The only people willing to share a city with the likes of them are the lowest of the low. Thugs, mercenaries, thieves, prostitutes; you name it. Gangsta follows two men who work as independent problem-solvers in this city. Though they regularly double as trouble-causers as well.
Gangsta is a supernatural crime drama mainly revolving around these two protagonists—Worick and Nicolas—navigating Egastulum's dangerous ecosystem. They'll take jobs from the police as well as from the mafia. Sometimes even acting as intermediaries between the two. While this is an interesting premise to draw people in, Gangsta does a poor job at managing the scope of its story.
Through their work, Worick and Nicolas end up meeting an endless slew of characters. There's 4 mafia families, the police, independent groups and individuals with considerable influence. On top of that there are constant flashbacks, which introduce even more characters. It never stops adding more pieces to the puzzle, so it can never truly start assembling it. Instead Gangsta keeps teasing that shit is definitely about to go down any minute now... Just after they finish introducing this all-new faction and every member within it. Hope you don't forget about any of the 50 other characters in the meantime.
#2 Nothing even resembling an ending
Adding insult to injury, Gangsta doesn't even attempt something resembling a conclusion. After 12 episodes of lore dumps and character introductions, finally something resembling a central conflict comes into view. Just as it begins to set those events into motion; the series ends.
I am not underselling anything there. Just as tensions begin to rise and we're about to get into some serious action, the show stops in the middle of a story. Nothing has been achieved, the characters haven't grown or fulfilled any personal ambitions. The best it can do is offer a weak cliffhanger implying that Worick and Nicolas are really in for some trouble now. A pathetic attempt to hype people up for a season 2 that doesn't exist.
Manglobe promptly bankrupted themselves before the blurays of Gansta even finished releasing, with nobody seeming keen on picking up the pieces. Usually the source material could offer desperate fans the resolution they so crave, but not so here. The Gangsta manga has been on indefinite hiatus since 2018.
#3 Drab visuals all the way
Gangsta is a rare case where the anime somehow has less color to it than the manga it is based on. Okay, now I am exaggerating a little. Though it's not very far from the truth either.
In attempting to sell the destitute conditions of Ergastulum, Gangsta goes all in on grey, browns, and beige. Presented in a variety of murky hues, often with awful lighting to boot. Sleep-inducing is what it is. And if you've seen other anime like this, then you'd know that it doesn't have to be that way. Gangsta is most often likened to Black Lagoon albeit with a supernatural bend. Yet Ergastulum has nothing on Roanapur. A city far more rotten than what we have here, but which is made lively by how it is presented.
Gangsta didn't have to look so drab in the pursuit of selling the desperation in its setting. These were lazy shorthands that mix with the already mediocre animation to create a particularly unappealing anime.
#4 Clumsy handling of sensitive topics
Anime that tackle sensitive real-life issues can be very interesting, but theirs is certainly no easy path. It takes a delicate touch. Something which Gangsta does attempt, but also where it inevitably runs into problems.
This is most obvious in Alex. She is one of the city's many prostitutes, who is abused by her pimp and customers alike. Worick and Nicolas rescue her from that life, seemingly on a whim. Only to find out that just killing one pimp doesn't resolve her problems. Alex was forced to take drugs to keep her dependent, leading to withdrawal symptoms and erratic behavior. She also has unresolved traumas that the drugs were suppressing. Which now threaten to boil over as she begins to remember more and more of her past.
These are solid ideas that make Alex into the story's emotional core, but it also feels perverse. The protagonist saving the one prostitute they like and keeping her around as something of a pet. On the one hand the anime wants to frame her issues as a source of drama, but on the other it can't stop showing off how hot Alex is. The camera and characters drawing constant attention to her sexiness, while she herself is also constantly reminded that she is a whore. Even characters she has never met before are keen to point out her past as a prostitute, no matter how pointless or what their overall opinion of Alex is.
Prostitution is also ultimately just a springboard for the series' real oppressed group: The Twilight. They too are dependent on a drug and they too are mistreated by society. While such parallels could be effective, Twilights just never really make sense as a concept. They need constant lore dumps to explain what Twilights even are, but ultimately they are just normal people whose powers—if they even get any—can be effortlessly hidden. Sure they have disabilities and need medication, but... so do I?
Perhaps the senselessness of their discrimination is the point. Perhaps they are just a vehicle so that Gangsta could have action scenes with dudes flying through the sky, catching bullets between their fingers. The show ends before it can actually get its ultimate point across, rendering whatever commentary it was going for pointless. The same unfortunately applies to Alex, whose development had only just barely started before it was abruptly cut off.
#5 Ridiculous edge
All of the above may give you the impression that Gangsta is a fairly serious anime. The grey visuals, (attempts at) mature themes, and protagonists in their thirties certainly seem to suggest that. Except Gangsta also wants to be an edgy action series about mass-murdering teenagers with superpowers. Oh no.
We waste so much time building up this self-serious crime drama about systemic oppression. Only to then change gears and now the actual threat of the story is half-naked 12-year-old in trenchcoats. The kind of shit that Kingdom Hearts thinks are awesomest character designs ever, incidentally with dialogue that is about on the same level. It is genuinely cringe-worthy to watch at times.
More like this...
Black Lagoon: Violent crime drama in a near-lawless city.
Canaan: Terrorism involving people granted superhero-like powers by secret experiments.
Yuki Yuna is a Hero: Supernatural drama story heavily involving characters with disabilities.
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