Ranked #657

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)

A manga about Mafias... I had to read that... After I finished with Hitman Reborn, I came across another mafia story so I picked it up and began reading.

Story - 8/10 Funny, entertaining. It's based on a BL game, but so far in the manga, there's not really any BL scenes except for a few scenes here and there. The "BL hinting" scenes in the manga are actually from a scene from each route in the game. Like there's one scene with Bernardo and Gian that occurs if you're on Bernardo's route in the game, and the scene with Guilio and Gian that occurs if you're on Guilio's route... So basicly, the manga gave you all 4 of the scenes... Okay what I said there is a bit hard to follow, but it's alright. But anyway, this manga has just begun. In the game, it does through three stages, Prison -> On the way -> Mafia (They actually have names, but I forget what they're called so I'm just going to go by Prion, On the way, and Mafia) In the manga, it just finished the Prison part.

Art - 9/10 It's a little wee bit awkward from here and there, but overall, I really like the art and shading style.

Characters - 10/10 Contains one of the best characters ever xD The main character, Gian, is a lazy butt of a person who's so carefree and whatevs, and he's a slob too. If you have played/watched/read the game through the bad endings, you'd see that he's not a Gary Stu either, but we're talking about the manga, and the manga hasn't got that far yet. The other characters are a stupid person who can't take a joke, (Ivan) but he's so funny lol. A guy who gets turned on by dead bodies... (Guilio) but he's also funny. A friend of the main character, (Bernardo) that flirts with the main character as a joke, and their flirtings are so funny lol! And lastly, the big guy who's popular with the ladies, (Luchino).

Enjoyment - 10/10 Funny, interesting, not boring at all, really nice to read.

Overall - 9/10 =D

read more

Reading this manga, I was first struck by the clichés: there's the best friend from childhood, the bishie heart-breaker with heart-breaking past, hot-tempered delinquent, psycho-killer--the gang's all here! Or are they? As the manga went on, each character developed interesting twists and depths that delighted and surprised. The plot is the same way: it's a jail-break story, one from a vast collection that all start to sound the same after a while. Lucky Dog BLAST overcomes this hurdle by adding a new dimension in the first chapter--the main character's unexpected promotion--which complicates the characters' goals and motivations to the mastermind's chagrin and the reader's pleasure. In addition to interesting characters and inner-circle intrigue, Lucky Dog BLAST offers an off-kilter sense of humor and a series of mysteries at a steady, page-turning pace. Finally, you've got to love the main character, Gian Carlo. He boasts a reputation as a genius escapee, smooth-talker, and of course, lucky dog. But it's when he talks himself into trouble, when he gets too cocky or has to back-track at top speed that I liked him the best. He's a genius--but he's also extremely human, which is about 90% of why I actually love this manga.

Happy reading! read more