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Buronson is a horrible writer; let's get that out of the way. Being a frequent collaborator with Ikegami, who is my favorite artist ever, has caused me to read many of his stories. For the most part, it’s the same rinsed-and-repeated story over and over again, with varying levels of quality, but they are mostly fun to read.

Like many of Buronson's stories, Heat centres around the Yakuza, Japanese mafia, police corruption, etc. Except this time, the characters are just so damn boring. The MC is your typical Buronson protagonist, but he lacks any originality; his motives are... just motives. I honestly don't know how to ... talk about this guy—he is so dull, boring, and has no sense of urgency, even when people he loves are about to be killed, raped, or arrested. By far, he is the worst MC Buronson has written, with actions that are baffling and stupid even by Buronson standards.

And yeah, as far as actions go in this manga, they are painfully stupid. I get it: this is the trademark Buronson x Ikegami experience (with Sanctuary being the exception). Have a cool-looking badass man, make him strong as hell, and let him run loose in an extremely unrealistic, over-the-top action manga that, while it can be dumb, is a whole lot of fun. For the most part, I’m down for that—except in Heat (and possibly Lord, but that's a review for another time).

I dropped the manga at chapter 93. A slight SPOILER: this girl gets kidnapped; she's close to the MC, and the dude who kidnapped her is insufferable. Knowing how Buronson writes, I know where that character is eventually going. Anyways, he doesn't (fully) rape her or hurt her physically (not that much, anyway), and then a few chapters later, after the MC does nothing, he finally beats the dude up and lets him.. go?. Oh, but guess what? He doesn't free the girl, even though he could have easily done so. No, instead she goes back to the dude who kidnapped her ON HER OWN! Make it make sense. I feel like I am just growing too mature for idiotic stories like this, hence why I am not enjoying it. I don't know anymore.

Okay, so if I hate the story that much, why is my score a 5? Well, Ikegami continues to prove to me that he's the best to ever do it. The art is PHENOMENAL. I love the city landscapes he used to create in his older work, and while that was very much improved upon later in things like Begin, Heat still looks fantastic—except for a small pet peeve I have with facial expressions and the face orientation in a good number of the panels.

Some Ikegami fanboys like me might know that he struggles to draw faces when they are facing left. He does it just fine facing right, but when it's done facing left, it needs to be drawn and mirrored. Over the years, I have read enough of his work to start picking up on when that is the case, and for some reason, it is very prevalent in Heat. Since I know about it, I simply cannot ignore it—or my brain decides not to ignore it. Either way, I am not deducting points for that; it’s just worth noting that it's there and it's annoying.

Should you skip Heat? I don't care.
Should you start with Heat? Don't care either.
You should do whatever you want, but I will say that Buronson x Ikegami, they did much better manga together. There is the goddamn masterpiece that is Sanctuary with better yakuza and mafia elements, insane over the top political intrigue and a beautiful heartbreaking ending to make the entire thing perfect. Strain is also a very solid choice.

Anyways, my negative feelings about this manga may entirely stem from the fact that I have read a lot of the duo's works and you might love Heat if this is your first time reading one of their works, but for me, that is not the case. Rant over.

This will be a short review, simply because I don't feel like talking about this manga anymore!

I don't really recommend that you waste your time with this. Just finished it and NO SPOILERS but the ending is extremely disappointing.

The ending is somewhat rushed, keeps a couple of threads loose, fails to convey or achieve anything at all, and left me as a reader simply annoyed and frustrated having waited this long for this to wrap up and having this be the outcome.

Should you read this? No... unless you are a huge fan of Yoshihiro Tatsumi and just want to experience some more ... of their work.

Cool start and interesting story at first and I love Tatsumi for the most part so my score is a 6/10, but again, DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME. If you want to read a Tatsumi work that isn't necessarily very Gekiga, check out Black Blizzard.

Gangsta:Cursed.: EP_Marco Adriano is technically a spin-off manga of Gangsta but might very well be a prequel. They go hand in hand, almost. This mini-review of sorts will be spoiler-free. 

Gangsta stands as a really underrated seinen full of action and lots of intriguing characters. The anime gave it a huge popularity boost, but due to the hiatus and slow release, it unfortunately does not receive that much attention. I am mentioning this because KOHSKE the author and artist of Gangsta, continues to work on the manga, but at a very slow pace. If you follow her Twitter account, you will constantly see updates on how ... far the manga has progressed, etc. 

Being busy with the original manga, this spin-off is done by an assistant of hers, Syuhei Kamo, and it's their debut manga as well, which comes with a couple of minor flaws, mainly in the art department. The art is not as good as the main story, although, be it very close, clearly working as an assistant, they have been able to pick up on KOHSKE's art style, and they did a good job at staying true to it, but it remains a downgrade, be it from the lacking backgrounds or the lesser quality action scenes (that are still pretty good!). 

There is confusion on whether or not you should read this one before Gangsta, and I believe that you should definitely be somewhat familiar with the parent story first, whether it be the manga or the anime. Reading it first will likely confuse you or make you feel a bit left out in a way, and that's mainly due to how fast-paced it is. The plot is basically one massive war that's happening in a city where there's a lot of parties involved, and the author clearly assumes that you have a bit of Gangsta knowledge to begin with because they don't take the time to explain the world to you, or the different fractions, or the gangs involved... nothing at all, which is the second flaw here.

The MC of the story is Marco Adriano, who is a troubled character, to say the least. In this spin-off, they are basically a clueless child, and they are influenced by other characters, and a lot of their actions are done based on what other people told them to do. They are essentially a brainless killing machine for a bit until they finally start waking up, opening their eyes, and seeing the actions that they are committing, experiencing emotions that they haven't experienced before, being at a loss, and possibly regretting their actions. The manga takes time to show and focus on the consequences of their actions, which is very nicely done. It's a bit over the top, and there's a lot of killing, but Gangsta world is dark and violent, and it's called Gangsta, so what did you expect? 

All in all, I am a fan of Gangsta, and the character of Adriano coming from the parent story was intriguing to me, and I am glad I got to check out a bit of the earlier events of Gangsta. We do get to see our Gangsta main characters, and that part is also nice to see, but remains a bit in the air on whether or not it is cannon. 

If you are a fan of Gangsta, check this out; it's good. If you like the parent story, you will like this too. Simple as that.