Gangsta:Cursed.: EPMarco Adriano is technically a spinoff manga of Gangsta but might very well be a prequel. They go hand in hand almost. This minireview of sorts will be spoilerfree. Gangsta stands as a really underrated seinen full of action and lots of intriguing characters. The anime gave it a huge popularity boost but due to the hiatus and slow release it unfortunately does not receive that much attention. I am mentioning this because KOHSKE the author and artist of Gangsta continues to work on the manga but at a very slow pace. If you follow her Twitter account you will constantly see updates on how far the manga has progressed etc. Being busy with the original manga this spinoff is done by an assistant of hers Syuhei Kamo and its their debut manga as well which comes with a couple of minor flaws mainly in the art department. The art is not as good as the main story although be it very close clearly working as an assistant they have been able to pick up on KOHSKEs art style and they did a good job at staying true to it but it remains a downgrade be it from the lacking backgrounds or the lesser quality action scenes that are still pretty good. There is confusion on whether or not you should read this one before Gangsta and I believe that you should definitely be somewhat familiar with the parent story first whether it be the manga or the anime. Reading it first will likely confuse you or make you feel a bit left out in a way and thats mainly due to how fastpaced it is. The plot is basically one massive war thats happening in a city where theres a lot of parties involved and the author clearly assumes that you have a bit of Gangsta knowledge to begin with because they dont take the time to explain the world to you or the different fractions or the gangs involved... nothing at all which is the second flaw here. The MC of the story is Marco Adriano who is a troubled character to say the least. In this spinoff they are basically children and they are influenced by other characters and a lot of their actions are done based on what other people told them to do. They are essentially a brainless killing machine for a bit until they finally start waking up opening their eyes and seeing the actions that they are committing experiencing emotions that they havent experienced before being at a loss and possibly regretting their actions. The manga takes time to show and focus on the consequences of their actions which is very nicely done. Its a bit over the top and theres a lot of killing but Gangsta world is dark and violent and its called Gangsta so what did you expect? All in all I am a fan of Gangsta and the character of Adriano coming from the parent story was intriguing to me and I am glad I got to check out a bit of the earlier events of Gangsta. We do get to see our Gangsta main characters and that part is also nice to see but remains a bit in the air on whether or not it is cannon. If you are a fan of Gangsta check this out its good. If you like the parent story you will like this too. Simple as that.