Dogs (manga)

Dogs (狗-DOGS-) is a Japanese manga series by Shirow Miwa. The manga was first published in 2001 as Dogs: Stray Dogs Howling in the Dark. In 2005, the series began serialization in the manga magazine Ultra Jump as Dogs: Bullets & Carnage, which continues the storyline. The first part of the series has been adapted into a four-episode OVA by david production.

Plot
Set in a post-apocalyptic world where violence, crime, genetic manipulation and other cruel scientific experiments have become common, the story focuses on four main characters who, through a series of coincidences, meet as they search for a way "below", looking for answers to their individual pasts.

Manga

 * Dogs: Bullets & Carnage: The ongoing storyline that continues the adventures of the four main characters. In August 2008, Viz Media announced that it has licensed the manga series and expects to be releasing it in April 2009. The series took a short hiatus and will return in the March issue of Ultra Jump.


 * Dogs: Stray Dogs Howling in the Dark: The prequel to Dogs: Bullets & Carnage and the first Dogs volume introduces the four main characters and the majority of the support characters in four chapters that are mostly independent of each other.
 * Dogs: Hardcore Twins: This short one-shot chapter introduces Luki and Noki, as they are sent out to capture a former local gang-boss.


 * MMMWorks Annex Featuring Badō Nails: A brief one-shot chapter minorly detailing a brief glimpse into Badou's past.

Dogs Drama CD
The audio presentation of the original Dogs volume, introducing the main characters. It was released in 2007.

Anime
On November 19, 2008, it was announced in Ultra Jump that Dogs would be adapted into a four-episode anime OVA series, produced by David Production and featuring the same voice cast as that of the drama CD. It will adapt the prequel manga series, Dogs: Stray Dogs Howling in the Dark, with the first DVD volume, scheduled for release on May 19, 2009, featuring Weepy Old Killer and Gun Smoker, and the second DVD volume, slated on May 29, 2009 (limited release) & July 17, 2009 (wide release), featuring Blade Maiden and Stray Dogs Howling in the Dark.

Reception
In his review of Dogs, Carlo Santos of Anime News Network says that Shirow Miwa raised "gunplay to the level of art" and believes that the loosely connected characters "provide the backdrop for mouth-watering eye candy". Santos says 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 believes 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 believes 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". Leroy Douresseaux of Comic Book Bin believed 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 believes that Garth Ennis fans and fans of violent anime will like the series. 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 says 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 does entertain the idea Miwa used the technique in a satirical manner and if so, it worked. He praises 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.