One of the main characters, Nicolas, is deaf, but Gangsta treats his condition with respect. It’s rare that we see protagonists with disabilities in anime, and animation studio Manglobe did a great job of depicting his disability without outright saying what it is or putting it on the backburner. It was actively part of Nicolas’ character instead of some weird abnormality or spectacle. As most of the people the protagonists interact with already know about Nicolas, it was nice that Nicolas nor Worick had to spell out his disability, though Chad does mention that Nicolas can’t hear.
Though we didn’t get to learn much about the protagonists in this episode, Worick’s charm and Nicolas’ silent intimidation pair well, especially when they’re negotiating deals for their next job. As “Handymen” they run a business that takes jobs ranging from delivering packages to murdering members of the mafia. Their encounter with the police at the end of the episode was a great use of their dynamic. When Worick was having trouble justifying sparing the prostitute Alex who was supposed to be included in their slaughter, Nicolas stepped in to lay down the intimidation and force Chad to realize that their business relationship needed to be respected. It was a great tense moment, but the two played on their talents perfectly to keep their control of the situation.
It’s all too often that anime explain in detail everything that is happening instead of trusting its audience to understand what’s going on. One way Manglobe goes against this trend is by continuously hinting at what happened in the incident “last week” and the pact between four mysterious crime families, who I’m dying to know more about. I liked that instead of giving us everything at once, Manglobe continuously drips little bits of information about important events and plot points that will be important later on.
One drop in the water was Nicolas’ status as a Tag. During the impressive
Gangsta does a good job of humanizing issues of those pulled into the drug world, namely in this episode with Alex. We see her several times facing brutality from her employer and her customers. Instead of Alex just being rescued by the Handymen, she gets time to explain her situation and her grief with the system she’s forced to live with.