I have just finished the 4 part OVA that is an adaption to the Dogs Manga Series. Now, I have to say that I have not read any of the Manga under the Dogs franchise, so this review is only from seeing the OVAs.
The OVA series consists of 4 episodes, each dedicated to one of the main characters. Each episode reveals the back story or some of it to the audience of one of the characters. The characters are Mihai: a retired mafia Assassin, Badou: A chain smoking free lance photographer with a tendency to be hilarious, Naoto: A sword wielding girl seeking vengeance and Haine: a genetically modified assassin.
The atmosphere of the series is very dark much like Black Lagoon. It labels itself as a action packed adventure but, this defiantly not the best part of the short series. The story and characters itself is the best feature.
Now, the most disappointing part of Dogs is the poor production values, the art looked rather decent until they started moving around. The action was really poorly done with slow editing which made the gun fights seem really fake. The music was really substandard as well, there was one good tune but, it lasts like 10 seconds.
Unfortunately due to underwhelming production values it really compromises the effect Dogs: Stray Dogs Howling in the Dark could have. However the characters and the story telling really intrigued me, and it is this that has made me want to read the original material. Lucky for me, Madman are releasing the first volume on the 10th of January 2010. I will definitely be grabbing this as soon as it is out. As for the OVAs, i give them a 6.8/10
