Ranked #658

Lucky Dog 1 BLAST (Manga)

Ever dreamed of being lucky enough to escape from tight situations?

I feel your pain, fam.

But I just found someone who can:
Gian Carlo Bourbon Del Monte (is his name answers to a crossword puzzle?)

He’s a member of the Toscanini Family and he’s stuck in jail (AGAIN {can’t a guy get a break around here?}). Chill guys, I really meant it when he was lucky; he’s escaped from jail so many times it ain’t even funny; so don’t you go thinking I’m just SOME kidder unless...

You want to be startin something, maaaaaaaan.

So back to prison, Gian is bored out of his mind, well until he meets up with almost all the syndicate’s captains who had all been simultaneously set up and is ordered under Omertà to get them the Hell out of there. And now.


Okay first of all, what is up with the main character’s ridiculous name! I mean, he is SUPPOSED to be a badass Mafia member and he’d even convinced ME of his badass-ness but his nickname is ‘Lucky Dog’ [damn unlucky if he has that crappy nickname]! If you want a good laugh just try imagining that this fella is alive now, he would have been picked on throughout most of his life. Examples of awkward questions he will no doubt face: ‘Is your name JEE-ANNE or GUY-IAN?’, ‘Is Carlo your maiden name or is it really Del?’, ‘Can I call you Gee-Gee?’, ‘Do you REALLY only like bourbon, I mean why not give brandy a chance?’ Or better yet ‘is that supposed to be a joke, I mean seriously, what’s your name?’
The only way the author could have made a sillier name was put sledgehammer somewhere in there but in Italian.

I have to be honest; the plot is seriously interesting and the best part: it doesn’t have gays nor a romantic ‘twist’. But still being honest here, the cover sucks. So do yourself a favour and give it the blind-eye and cold shoulder routine because I know you’re gonna miss out big. The author has seemingly sent me a blessing because as of now, the suspense is still building and I love that.

The characters are very tricky. You can just chuck them into stereotypes or actually pay attention and try building personalities and characters. I know you might not be bothered but it’s almost rude to just ignore the opportunity the author has given you since a lot of Manga just go straight for the stereotypes when this story is trying to distance its characters from the same thing. The characters are all captains of a powerful Mafia syndicate and you can tell as the story progresses that every single one of them has a problem even the main character, which is realistic, and I deeply appreciate that.
Logically, you can’t go around being a powerful murderer who has HORDES of subordinates ready to fight at your command and still be ‘fine’.

But alas, the art. Agh, the art. I wish I could just skip this part of the review because MAN, is it a downer. The art slits all hope for style, detail and proportion. It’s not like it’s completely disgusting but… Actually (grits teeth) it is.

*Sigggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhsssss*

If only the illustrator had a tinge more imagination and a shove of effort than I wouldn’t be here forcing myself to be truthful in saying that the art is mainstream and plain.

That finally said...

The truth is, the story ain’t a third as bad as you think and I’d recommend this read because:

a) it’s badass,
b) the character personalities are realistic [AWESOME]
c) the story has suspense and intrigue. [MORE AWESOME POINTS]

What more can anyone want when reading awesome Manga?
Wait.
You know what? Don’t answer that.

I know you’re all sulking because of the art.

*Audience: booooooooo!*

Hey, only God’s perfect!
Give the author some slack, come on! read more

Quick First Impressions:
Prisoners here want to get out of prison mainly because it's their order, and they have a bigger mission outside. Hopefully, their opponents (particularly the cops) won't be that easy (they managed to catch such high ranking criminals after all).

So far so good. I think it's very interesting. Hopefully the manga adaptation will focus more on their escape and their adventure out of prison... rather than on the... disturbing parts (I'm not a a yaoi fan, ya know)