I Invested in an International Conglomerate & Went from an MMA Champion to Becoming the First-Ever American Yakuza #4 is a comic written by Chris Moses and Anthony Stokes with pencil and inks by Damiano Restivo and colors by John. Additional lines are drawn in the sand after Tenshen’s killer is revealed. This is a crime drama comic that takes place in Japan with brutal action, sinister machinations, and Yakuza family drama. The main man here is Xavier Watanabe, he is a former MMA fighter who has been trying to find the killer of his friend Tenshen. Helping him is Tenshen’s somewhat eccentric cousin Masashi and his assistant Kyomi. Masashi and his cousins are vying for the chance to be the head of the Yakuza after their grandfather’s passing. This story begins where the last one left off with Kenji being stabbed through the chest with a sword by a woman. The woman is revealed to be Akane, the only female cousin and the one no one suspected to be a player in this dangerous game. There is some destructive and bloody violence on display here. The pacing is a bit on the faster side with a climactic tone like that of an action movie. There are many violent moments with dramatic undertones. The dialogue is direct and light on actual conversation with no word-heavy pages. This is an exciting and thrilling penultimate issue that pulls back the curtain and sets our sights on a new villain with clear motives.

            The art here is drawn in a detailed modern style with a strong focus on lighting and shading. The coloring has a low saturation-like appearance with a tinge that can be orange or blue depending on the scene. Outside of some distant trees there isn’t much in the way of natural scenery. The main location for this story is Kenji’s compound with its many rooms, including a dojo. Some of the other places we’ll see include various apartments and even an office. The backgrounds here usually show the immediate surroundings like the shoji walls and furniture but on occasion it’ll just be a gradient color. The expression level here is below average as most of the characters here are hardened and don’t really react to what goes on. For emotions we’ll see shock, anger, and indifference. The faces here have an overall above-average amount of detail with the expressions coming across clearly. Weapons used here are katanas and firearms in addition to explosives. The violence has some gruesome attacks that lead to significant amounts of blood but no gore. The action scenes come in bursts with a good amount of panels leading to a smooth, unconfusing flow.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like crime drama stories that star a Black man and Japanese people and that features bloody violence and the Yakuza while taking place in Japan then this is for you.

“What would this comic’s film rating be?”

R. Violence, blood, gruesomeness.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“This isn’t how it was supposed to go!”

 

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/xionstudios/american-yakuza-acts-1-4-of-our-japanese-murder-mystery/description

***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 20

Violent Pages: 12, for 60% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 2, for 10% of the comic

 

**The levels below aren’t necessarily maintained throughout the whole comic, but they were definitely reached**

 

Violence Level – 4

“Wasn’t no tussling at all.”

“Sometimes you gotta hit somebody.”

“I’m getting charged with how many counts of assault?”

“This was a tournament arc.”

“All my life I had to fight.”

 

Gore Level – 3

“The only thing leaking out your face is tears.”

“Looks like somebody spilled some ketchup.”

“Might need to soak that up with a bath towel.”

“That isn’t supposed to be outside the body.”

“This is a slaughterhouse.”

 

Death Level – 3

“And everybody lived happily ever after.”

“We might have gone to a couple funerals.”

“It just LOOKS like a serial killer was here.”

“Yeah this was a tragedy.”

“Think Gettysburg.”

 

Porn Level – 4

“Everybody kept their clothes on.”

“I guess it was too hot for a bra.”

“Sometimes you got to let everything air out.”

“This is like late night Cinemax in the early 2000’s.”

“Oh. This is porn.”