Hell Dogs

More than just a battle of wits and muscles between the yakuza and the police, what strikes a chord with me when reading this manga is how easy it is for the heart and the mind to waver. The cop who became the yakuza sure did it in the name of justice but it is also undeniably true that when dealing with such grueling living condition, all people can turn to is their own selfish ego, whether in the form of whispering childhood dream or the shape of other people. Every character unabashedly pursues their own life trajectory under that principle, making the storyline straightforwardand resonance oddly feasible. Most story like this can fall into the pitfall of being preachy so I highly value this simplicity in action - and I do believe sometimes one's whole convoluted life essentially just boils down to those recurrent little things without our awareness - but the characters in this manga are very much aware and therefore, fulfill their role without much to complain about. The emotions the characters have are also very reasonable and convincing - even the devils have their own family of devils and of course they will have sympathy and affection for fellow devils who they can relate to and feel at ease with, duh. So witnessing the warmth from those sentiments lurking into the heart of the cop-turned-yakuza and slowly but naturally taking hold in an innocent way no different from how school friends develop their friendship is really fascinating. Once getting the hang of it, I even found it pleasant and comfy as things started to reach the boiling point. (Anai the police has an underrated sense of humour haha). Overall, it's a compact and neat story. Despite handling such a familiar premise, it is not without its own originality in terms of characters and their relationship, coupled with unpretentious and unexaggerated execution of storyline that would otherwise have been soul-suckingly grim.