Dogs (manga)

Dogs: Bullets & Carnage (stylized as DOGS / BULLETS & CARNAGE) is a Japanese manga series, written and illustrated by Shirow Miwa. A first one-shot series Dogs: Prelude (originally titled Dogs: Stray Dogs Howling in the Dark), was published in Shueisha's manga magazine Ultra Jump from 2000 to 2001. Dogs: Bullets & Carnage started in the same magazine in June 2005. The manga was licensed for English release in North America by Viz Media. Dogs: Prelude was adapted into a two-volume original video animation (OVA) by David Production in 2009.

Premise

Dogs is set in a dystopic European city where violence, crime, genetic manipulation and other scientific brutalities have become common. The story focuses on four antihero protagonists who, through a series of coincidences, meet as they search for a way down to "the Below", looking for answers to their individual pasts.

Media

Manga

Reception

Carlo Santos of Anime News Network stated that Shirow Miwa raised "gunplay to the level of art" and that the loosely connected characters "provide the backdrop for mouth-watering eye candy". He also stated that the "bent-perspective and striking layouts" will dazzle the reader "with split-second bullet-time acrobats". The most striking aspect is how the sparse backgrounds and lack of special effects make each scene more effective because the critical moments have a "frozen in time" quality more effective than a comic book's attempt to capture motion in a still frame. Santos also credits Miwa's ability to "craft a manga storyline about an old man who's the very opposite of a spunky teenage protagonist". However, Santos commented that it is another "pompous, preening '_____ with guns' series" and that it is hard to find any substance of artistry when the Miwa is "cycling through all the usual tough-guy tropes". The characters fall into clichés and the entire series is "cliché city". He stated that the stories are too loosely connected. Even though the characters encounter each other eventually, it is "not the same thing as actually kicking off a storyline together".[14]

Leroy Douresseaux of Comic Book Bin stated the volume is "a stylishly violent crime thriller in the vein of Asian film-influenced movies like Pulp Fiction and The Matrix" and that Miwa's art reflects the elegance such a manga needs. He thought that the characters dress well and that most of characters "sport top-of-the-line hair styles". The series is not empty either. Douresseaux called the series "visually sharp" and said that it bears some weight behind each swing. He commented that Garth Ennis fans and fans of violent anime will like the series.[15]

Manga Recon's Ken Haley stated that although all four stories in the volume were enjoyable and entertaining, the fourth story involving Heine "feels cut off and adrift from the other three" because it incorporated science fiction elements the other three did not hint at. He felt that Miwa's artwork is engaging and the characters designs are interesting and "contemporary with a vague hint of industrial/goth at times". Miwa's use of heavy blacks and stark whites reminded Haley of Shou Tajima, illustrator of Multiple Personality Detective Psycho, although there is no further similarity. He said that Miwa's style is dynamic and the action sequences are "fast-paced and kinetic" because of liberal use of extreme depth cues, an artistic technique which exaggerates the sense of distance. However, the technique does seem a bit overused as it is used in every action sequence, causing it to lose impact. Haley commented that Miwa used the technique in a satirical manner and, if so, "it worked". He praised the lack of backgrounds as they give the stories a "universal feeling" and allows them to be set in any modern-day city. However, the lack of backgrounds means that important setting information needs to be expressed through dialogue. Despite this, Haley is curious to see what will happen next and how the plots will connect to one another.[16]

type	ova
title	Dogs: Stray Dogs Howling in the Dark
director	Tatsuya Abe
producer	Tetsuro Saito Takashi Takano
writer	Kiyoko Yoshimura
music	Kennosuke Suemura
studio	David Production
first	May 19, 2009
last	May 29, 2009
runtime	16 minutes
episodes	4

Premise

Media

Manga

Drama CD

Anime

Reception

External links

References