I Invested in an International Conglomerate & Went from an MMA Champion to Becoming the First-Ever American Yakuza #5 is a comic written by Chris Moses and Anthony Stokes with pencil and inks by Damiano Restivo and colors by John. Masashi chases after Xavier after he witnesses what he did. This is a crime family comic that has less drama but more action than the rest of the series as it is very destructive and violent. The main here is Xavier Watanabe, he is a former MMA-fighter who got caught in a Yakuza riddled-web of betrayal, secrets, and deceit when his best friend(and member of this messy family) Tenshen died. Masashi was Tenshen’s cousin and he is the future head of this Yakuza family due to his cousins giving up their claim o the throne in different ways. This story picks up where the last one left off which was with Xavier witnessing Masashi kill someone. After these two make eye contact with each Xavier runs off and Masashi chases him while holding a sword. This takes place in Japan. The violence here is environmentally destructive and bloody with some hard-hits. This is fast-paced and it has the tone of a final fight in an action movie between the lead and the main villain. This is very violently intense with some dramatic undertones. The dialogue is very light with some mid-battle statements and questions. There aren’t any word-heavy pages here. This is a thrilling issue that wraps this series up with a revealing and brutal showdown between its two central characters.

            The art here is drawn in a modern detailed style with some thick out lines and a very strong focus on shading. This has an overall realistic color palette but it almost has a sort of low saturation, sunset-like filter. Besides an extremely quick shot of some trees this takes place entirely in a part of the inner city devoid of natural scenery. The primary locations here are the city streets and parking lots which are all outdoors. Backgrounds tend to be gradient colors with a significant number of action lines. The expression level here is around average as we’ll mostly see fight/impact reactions. Anger and determination are the main emotions here along with some sinister smiles. Faces have a high amount of detail down to the teeth so it is strong looks all around. Swords and vehicles are the main weapons here. The violence here is bloody with some brutal attacks but there isn’t anything gruesome or gory. This is pretty much one long action scene with the occasional lull and a mostly unconfusing but somewhat stilted flow.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes, if this is up your alley.

“Would I like this?”

If you like crime family(specifically Yakuza) stories that star a Black man and a Japanese man and features heavy vengeful violence then this is for you.

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

PG-13. Violence, blood.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“You’ll never get it, dumb American.”

 

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/xionstudios/american-yakuza-the-finale-acts-1-5/description

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 20

Violent Pages: 13, for 65% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 0, for 0% 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 – 2

“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 –

“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.”