Badou’s in trouble again. He’s found some of the ‘Lost Children’, rare genetic experiments left from the past – but so has the mafia. It’s up to Heine to bail him out, but the Stray Dog has his own problems now that the enigmatic Giovanni is back on the scene. Meanwhile, Naoto comes to the Underground searching for the killer who wields the same strange black sword as hers. And so their paths begin to converge in the dark and dangerous heart of the city.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 192
Imprint: Viz Media
Publication date: 07/09/2009
Illustrator: Miwa, Shirow
Dogs: Bullets and Carnage
By Shirow Miwa
Review by Mida
Dogs is a punk, viscerally violent adventure that roars through its claustrophobic underground setting. Heine, a gunman with supernaturally fast healing and Badou, a tobacco-addicted, chronically unlucky informant, are set at the centre and the rest of the story orbits around them as they try to uncover both the mysteries of Heine’s origins and what lurks at the edges of their crumbling city.
A clear star of this series is the excellent art. Miwa renders gunfights so vividly you can feel your teeth rattle from the recoil. There is a real sense of motion to these fights and because one (or sometimes more) immortal is involved, they can feel less of a ‘life and death’ situation and more a type of communication, as though each gunman is screaming at the top of their lungs at the other. Characters are distinct, each with their own quirks. Heine is brooding and gruff while Badou is a touch inept but always survives his scrapes. Even the background characters are packed full of charm (my favourites are the two bickering chefs; I hope they get a holiday soon). Miwa is also an accomplished character designer for games such as Fire Emblem and his experience really shines through.
This is a series worth going back to again and again. The tiny details and hints of foreshadowing are so satisfying to discover. Tragically, Dogs has been on hiatus since 2015 but there is more of an ending to be found here than some series that have finished for good.
If you have read – and loved- Gachiakuta or Fool Night, or are a fan of punk, fast paced and action-packed manga, this is well worth a read.
