This anime's story starts off about four episodes in, so the first few episodes are passable but it's still great to watch them. The story begins where the boss of Buppa's , the big gang boss above all of Tokyo's Tribes, son dies during a betrayal by Mera. The story originally revolves around Kai, the somewhat-not-really leader of the Saru's when his friend Tera is decapitated by Mera, another old friend of Kai's. The story from here sets off into the deepness of Tokyo's underground. From here on it turns into a somewhat WW2-esque story, I'd tell you the rest but I'd be spoling the story. The story for this anime isn't exactly novel, since it sounds somewhat like an old school Yakuza flick, but it's pretty new for the world of anime. The story kept me caputured for quite a long time and is definitely worth marathoning it. The only problem I could find is I couldn't really get into the characters. The only characters that get a big backstory are Skunk, Kai, and Mera.
The art for this anime is quite great, including great tones and shades. Madhouse did a great job of capturing Santa's artwork on the pages. The backgrounds seem like an urban wall and tend to stick out quite well. The big problem is they captured Santa's art TOO well. The lips tend to look awkward and the faces tend to look smashed at times. Still, this is a passable offense and doesn't interfere with the enjoyment. It's amazing how well they designed the clothes and how well they kept up with the trends...even if everyone wore the same clothes for the whole series.
The sound is EPIC. The hip hop in this anime is amazing, including songs by the Illmatic Buddha MC's. I seriously was digging the music and finding an OST for this anime is well worth it. There is a bad part. They recycle the music too much. It seems that I heard some of the songs more than 20 times throughout this anime. Not that recycling is bad, it's just that variety could have been better.
The characters are really vibrant and it doesn't look like there are any stereotypes in this anime. My personal favorites were Haseem and Secretary, but the problem is they didn't get face time. Hell, hardly anyone but Kai, Mera, Buppa, and Skunk got any face time. Tera is supposed to be very important in this series but he hardly shows up at all. The great part about this anime is that you will love or hate every character. This IS a good thing.
I really enjoyed this anime and marathoned the last 5 episodes today and this has officially gone into "MY Favorites". This review was completely unbiased and was based on a normal perspective. Let's wrap this up shall we?
Pros:
- Great music that really stands out from all the other anime.
- Amazing backgrounds with amazing shading and tones.
Cons:
- Faces look awkward.
This anime gets 9 "MERAS!" out of 9.
