The eighty-first second comic: #654 Tekkon Kinkreet: Black & White

It's hard to say sometimes to what extent lofty ambitions should count versus the execution. Tekkon Kinkreet: Black & White creates an interesting world in which two orphans, called Black and White in the translation I had, live a violent existence in their attempts to survive a brutal world. It's clear normal life goes on around them, but they sleep in a car, surrounded by junk they gathered, and deal with the seedy parts of the city. This gets heightened as the yakuza moves in to get its own control on the city. They have to change as their environment changes.

It looks good, with a harsh and artificial art style, but the writing isn't quite there. I don't quite care enough about the characters, but that feels undercut anyway by the rapid cuts between characters and locations, which means you never get quite enough time to get to know them. It's unclear quite what they want, especially for anyone other than the main two. Sure, it comes together in the third act, but the build up fails and the pay off isn't quite satisfying enough for that reason. It's a good set up, but it feels like it's missing a step somewhere.