Mad★Bull 34

Mad Bull 34 was… dumb. Really, really dumb. And I loved almost every minute of this high pace, low brainpower disaster. Crooked cops with a (debatable) heart of gold isn’t new. Nor is partnering them up with a small, shy cop as a counterbalance. But Mad Bull 34 does something uniquely charming with the character interactions that makes it seem a lot more genuine at times than most other “bad cop” series. Sleepy is a big, loud, violent cop who’s more than happy to pop someone’s head if need be, juxtaposed to his tiny partner who’s very by-the-book. These two morons are the heart of the wholeseries, and 80% of your major players are established within 5 chapters. The art is solid in that late 90’s style that reminds me of series like FOtNS and Riki-Oh. Very distinct main characters even if a lot of the antagonists (mostly either pretty boy slick rich guys or dirty gangbangers) are kind of generic and hard to differentiate at times. There’s.. a story somewhere in here. But that’s not why you’re reading this. You want to watch Sleepy punch a hole through a guy’s chest before quickdrawing a shotgun cowboy style and blowing someone’s head off. The overarching story is vaguely present, but it’s really just a framework to introduce new, weird characters to try and kill Sleepy. Mad Bull 34 is a series that plays it very safe in a lot of ways. A lot of this is stuff you’ll have seen if you’ve read Heat or anything even remotely having to do with the criminal underworld, but Mad Bull does it in such a goofy way that even when I saw the whole chapter coming ahead of time (it can get real easy to predict real fast) it managed to crack me up. This is my first review so forgive me if it’s rambling on, but I really liked Mad Bull 34. It doesn’t do a whole lot new, but it nails the tone it’s going for incredibly well and blends some genuinely emotional moments with some of the doofiest gags I’ve seen yet. If you want a buddy cop series that’ll have a stupid grin on your face more often than not, give Mad Bull 34 a try.