Howling for More Dogs

Dogs
Shirow Miwa

Alright, I stumbled upon this manga a while back. I had never heard of it, and it wasn’t very well known. I’ve seen some more love for this series online lately so I’m going to do my best to spread that love.

What can be said about this title? Dogs is stylish, intriguing, fun to read, and just plain cool. It has pretty much everything that makes a good manga. There’s good art, lots of action without too much gore, humor, a serious solid plot, and there’s even a tiny bit of romance.

Art: The art in Dogs is great. It’s clean, neat, and consistent, color use is dramatic. I’m very impressed with Miwa’s style, I have only positive things to say about it. Many manga-ka will ditch realistic human anatomy in favor of more idealized forms. Miwa doesn’t do this. Ok, maybe his facial expressions are a little out there, but they are so fitting, so perfectly eccentric and so expressive that they really make the manga at certain points. Dramatic lines and dynamic poses make just looking at Dogs exciting. My only criticism as far as the art is concerned is that Miwa got a little lazy/pressed for time in chapter 27 and it wasn’t inked very well, but by the time the tankobon came out, it was all fixed. As such, I really have nothing bad to say about the art, do I?

Story: The story is complex and slow to unfold, so I don’t get what’s going on entirely yet, but that’s part of the appeal of Dogs. All we know for sure is that the world our young protagonists live in is chaotic, violent, morally corrupt and unforgiving; the underground is even worse. It’s clearly set in the future, but it is hinted that some catastrophic event has thrown society into its current state. The story focuses mostly on Haine, a standoffish young man who has been genetically modified to be the ultimate human weapon; Badou, a bumbling, chain smoking, one-eyed PI; and Naoto, a sword-toting chick seeking vengeance. These three are all scouring the underground for clues into painful past events in their lives… which somehow seem to be connected to kidnappings and experiments on genetically modified people. There’s so much I’m wondering about right now, but because the manga is ongoing, I’ll have to wait.

Sorry, these are scaled down from high-res images.

Characters: I haven’t met a Dogs character that I didn’t like. The protagonists are interesting with fully fleshed out personalities, the antagonists are scrumptiously evil and demented. The characters can be ridiculous at times, Badou especially, but for the most part, they seem very real. The psychological and emotional scars the characters bear are ones we’ve all seen in people we know, and maybe even bore ourselves.

I might call that hairstyle a flaw… seriously, pigtails don’t work on guys, Badou.

Other than the three characters previously mentioned, there are a few, as of now, secondary characters who play important roles in the story. There’s Mihai, an ex-assassin, guilt ridden over certain events in his past; Nil, an aphonic, genetically modified girl with wings; Bishop, a blind priest with a gothic lolita fetish ( he can’t even see what goth loli looks like so, I don’t get it…); and finally, Liza, an old woman who seems to have a finger in every pie. Add to the mix the antagonists, all of whom seem to be related to Haine somehow: maniac, gunkata expert Giovanni; the playful Hardcore Twins Luki and Noki, whose arms turn into massive guns; and Einstellsehn and Freuling who are the insane bitches in charge of the experiments run on them. That’s a whole lot of crazy.

Miscellaneous: For those of you who were wondering, Dogs: Bullets and Carnage by Shirow Miwa is currently serialized in Jump. Dogs was the first volume, and there was a one shot called Hardcore Twins. There’s also a side story that falls somewhere around chapter 21 of Dogs: Bullets and Carnage which focuses a bit on the past of one of the characters (who happens to be my favorite). Crazy Dog Show is an artbook in which Miwa and some of his friends did artwork for the series. There are two drama CDs available as well, which sets off alarm bells in my head. Anime… maybe?

Here’s Naoto looking badass.

The Bottom Line: Dogs is just awesome. If you can get your hands on it, read it. It’s just three volumes, so it’s a short read that will not disappoint. The art is wonderful, the characters are great, the story is gripping, and there is nonstop action to boot .

And yes, that is Badou’s crotch on my header. If you want more information on Dogs, I guess Google is your best bet. I hear there is a pretty active LJ community but it’s mostly just fan works and stuff like that. I haven’t really looked into it yet. Anyway, that’s Dogs. Check it out.

Edit 07/20/2008: I fixed the images. I don’t know what’s wrong, as only two stopped working, but they’re all hosted in the same place (outside of WordPress). Bandwidth issue? Hopefully there are no more issues.