Dogs - Bullets and Carnage 2

Dogs - Bullets and Carnage II

Company: Shueisha
Based on: Manga
Released: 2008.10.23

Dogs is set in an unnamed, post-apocalyptic European city, where violence, crime, genetic manipulation and other scientific brutalities have become common. The story focuses on four antiheroic protagonists who, through a series of coincidences, meet as they search for a way "below", looking for answers to their individual pasts (description shamelessly taken from wiki. again).

The first drama CD covered the prequel manga, and this second one covers the first volume of the Bullets and Carnage manga.

At the start of the CD Haine (CV: Sakurai Takahiro) and Badou (CV: Ishida Akira) save a bunch of kids from a brothel. After that a lot of things happen at once. Naoto (CV: Itou Shizuka) visits the church where the Bishop (CV: Seki Toshihiko) and Nill (CV: Noto Mamiko) live and they all get into some problems there. Meanwhile Heine gets kidnapped by a crime gang and wreaks havoc there, while his 'brother' Giovanni (CV: Nakahara Shigeru) also wants to meet him and play around while Luki (CV: Kugimiya Rie) and Noki (CV: Tsuji Ayumi). And while all of this is going down Mimi (CV: Shiraishi Ryouko) and Mihai (CV: Ootsuka Akio) get into some trouble of their own. If you are overwhelmed by the amount of names just listed rest assured - it is just as confusing while listening to the actual CD.

While the first CD was pretty easy to understand without any knowledge of the manga the story becomes pretty convoluted in this second CD and it becomes a lot harder harder to understand. This is partly due to the rather large amount of characters and the story telling which shows short scenes from various events occurring at the same time. The result is that you have to pay really close attention to get who is doing what. While I usually like fragmented storytelling, there are so many things going on at once that it becomes a bit too confusing.

Near the end there are two tracks that are a bit more lighthearted. The first is about Zack (CV: Tanaka Kokoro) and Baran (CV: Souma Yukito), two members of the gang that Badou beat to pulp in the previous CD. For some reason Kiri and Mihai took them in to work at the bar. Both of them have fallen for Kiri and swear to protect her and the bar. The second track is about the boss of the same gang being chased around by Luki and Noki. While the two of them are still only little kids they are incredibly dangerous bounty hunters and they turn every hunt into a game of 'tag' (with weapons).

These two tracks are more comical, and also the most comprehensible. As an ending it was a good choice, but it would have been better if the rest was also a bit easier to follow.


Conclusion:
While I can recommend the first drama CD to anyone who likes darker stories, this second one is probably better only to listen to if you know the manga/ anime. Or even better to skip it as a whole.