Editor's Sidebar: Where we hear directly from VIZ editors about series they're currently working on. 

Gangsta is a sweet, light, wholesome series about the power of friendship.

Yeah…no, it’s not.

It’s a noir, hard-hitting, heart-clenching series about the power of friendship.

Set in an AU European city cum quarantine zone, the story is about genetically manipulated individuals known as “Twilights” or “Tags.” The result of an abandoned government program to create enhanced soldiers, the Twilight population has been confined to the city of Ergastulum (Latin for “prison”) where they live out their shortened lives dealing with prejudice from normal humans and intermittent persecution from the state. 

Ergastulum is controlled by four big mafia families, and many of the Twilights end up working for one of them, or for the Guild, an independent mercenary organization.

Into this scene enter our main characters, the Handymen. Worick Arcangelo is a part-time gigolo and full-time chain smoker, a handsome charmer handy with a gun and in possession of an eidetic memory—that is, he can perfectly remember anything he sees or experiences. 

Nicolas Brown is a Twilight armed with a grouchy attitude, A-ranked combat abilities, and an almost total lack of self-preservation. Deaf-mute from birth, he’s closed himself off from most people but is fiercely devoted to those few he lets in. 

The bond between these friends and partners is the core of Gangsta, and as the series progresses we see how their friendship is established, evolves, and is tested by the powerful outside forces impacting both their lives.

Although you can read Gangsta just for the awesome sword (and gun, and fist, and knife, and…) fights and fantastic art, what makes this series special is the depth of its characters and the way Kohske skillfully draws you into caring about their stories and relationships.

One of those stories is that of Marco Adriano, a Twilight lieutenant in the Cristiano mafia family, and Constance Raveau, a “Normal” human shopkeeper. (A gun and munitions shop, but still.) Although romantic relationships between Twilights and Normals aren’t completely unheard-of, they’re still pretty rare, and it’s clear that the bond between Marco and Constance is unusual in lot of ways. 

Marco’s backstory, including how he and Constance came together, is explored in Gangsta: Cursed, a five-volume spin-off series from the main story. If you read Gangsta and thought, “This is fun, but I could really use some more violence and bloodshed,” then Cursed has got you covered. 

It can be a tough read at points—poor Marco goes through a lot as a kid—but it’s a very satisfying one, with a happy (or at least happy by Gangsta standards) ending.

Gangsta and Gangsta: Cursed are now available in print and digital, both offering one of the highest action-per-pixel counts in manga. Dig in.