Ikebukuro is a thriving commercial district by day, but the different gang activity at night can cause issues for those that live there.
Makoto Majima works independently of any gang loyalty to solve various disputes in the neighborhood, often aided by the G-Boys, a strong gang led Makoto’s school friend Takashi Andou. However, when a rival gang known as the Red Angels starts to move in on the G-Boy’s turf, tensions rise between the two factions.
I will always be of a mind that anime could use more gang-related anime stories, and IWGP does well to follow a main character not strictly tied to one side. It is like a detective anime, but not one tied down by the confines of law and order. If you are looking for more anime recommendations like IWGP: Ikebukuro West Gate Park, head on down below.
Anime Like IWGP: Ikebukuro West Gate Park
For Fans of Gangs
Durarara
Tokyo’s downtown district of Ikebukuro is awash in strange rumors, everything from colorless color gangs to a headless rider roaming town populate the rumors.
For Mikado Ryuugamine who just moved there from the countryside, he is but one witness to the district’s slew of strange events.
Is real life Ikebukuro known for gangs? Because it seems odd to have two anime series set there and about small-time gang events.
Regardless, unlike IWGP’s episodic mysteries, Durarara is more like a series of threads. Some of them follow supernatural events, some of them follow mysterious gang events. Both eventually weave together, and both series are interesting in their mysteries.
Tokyo Revengers
For Takemichi Hanagaki, his second year of middle school was when he peaked. He had a small amount of respect as a thug, a loyal group of friends, and even a girlfriend.
Fast forward twelve years later, and he is a single adult that can’t hold down a job. He has even found out that his middle school girlfriend was murdered by the vicious Tokyo Manji Gang.
After an accident, he finds himself back in middle school and discovers that he can travel back and forth in time in order to help change his past and his future.
Both IWGP and Tokyo Revengers are both about gangs of disillusioned young people. However, while IWGP focuses on a number of problems in the neighborhood, not just gang problems, Tokyo Revengers is all about gang conflicts.
The biggest difference between the two is tone. Tokyo Revengers treats gangs more like a shounen anime where you are in it for the interestingly designed, hot-blooded characters who fight others early and often whereas IWGP is more about intrigue and less about street brawls.
Tokyo Tribe 2
Tokyo may seem like a city of individuals, but a number of tribes inhabit it. The Saru run Musashino, the Wu-Ronze have Bukuro, and the Hands are in Shindyuku.
If they stick to their own territory, everyone lives peacefully, but things never stay so for long.
Both series are about the gang events going on in Tokyo. Tokyo Tribes is a little more realistic in its dealings by making the characters look and act like actual gang members rather than slightly idealizing it like IWGP.
If you enjoyed the gangs in IWGP, but wish there was more fighting, Tokyo Tribes 2 is good at that.
K
In this world, there are those referred to as Kings. They were individuals bestowed with great supernatural power and they use it to recruit others to their clan. To protect those members is a King’s great duty.
However, after a murder of a Red clan member, a student is accused of homicide. During the man hunt, the city devolves into full-on war among the Kings.
While K definitely has a bigger supernatural element, like IWGP, K is also about gang warfare and mediating the conflicts in between them.
However, it does get a bit wilder than you would expect not just because of the supernatural element, but because of the overall mystery as well.
For Fans of Neighborhood Fixers
Gangsta
Nicholas Brown and Worick Arcangelo work as handymen, mercenaries that will do anything for the right price.
Working for the mob and police alike, they delve into the underbelly of the city, a place that was once haven for Twilights, people who were augmented by a special drug.
Both series follow characters that live in a hard city where there are problems, and they fix them. The city is a difficult place, but there is a nice sense of community there as well.
However, Gangsta, despite the name, doesn’t have many gangs in it. It is more organized crime and corruption. While Gangsta also has some mystery, unlike Makoto in IWGP, the duo in Gangsta solve most problems through violence.
Heaven’s Memo Pad
Narumi Fujishima doesn’t really fit in at school, but still craves friends.
When another misfit introduces him to a strange NEET girl that lives above a ramen shop, he is drafted into her ultra elite private detective agency.
What is Makoto aside from a private detective who occasionally fixes problems before they become bigger ones?
Heaven’s Memo Pad features a group of people who serve a similar purpose in their city. They investigate and solve problems through talking and occasionally through violence.
No Guns Life
Thanks to the Baruhren Corporation, powerful cyborg soldiers known as Extended now exist. Juuzou Inui is one such Extended with no memories before he was used for war. Now, he helps take care of Extended-caused incidents around the city.
Recently, rumors of an Extended kidnapping a child have spread, and when Juuzou returns to his office, he finds the Extended there with the child in tow. With everyone seemingly out for this kid, it leads Juuzou into a mystery that threatens to unravel everything.
Despite the more technological, sci-fi world, No Guns Life shares a similar sort of noir detective element in which the main character unwillingly gets pulled into bigger conflict because they often serve as a problem solver.
However, Juuzou works as a private detective, so solving mysteries is his job. However, both IWGP and No Guns Life does craft some interesting mysteries.
For Fans of Underworld Politics and Mystery
Banana Fish
During the Iraq War, a soldier named Griff goes insane and starts killing his own platoon. After being subdued, all he kept speaking was the words “banana fish”.
Years later, Griff is taken care of by his brother Ash, a boy who ran away from home and was taken in by mob boss Papa Dino who abused him.
Now, Ash seeks to unravel the mystery of this banana fish, a phrase that keeps mysteriously popping up in his life.
Both series take place in a city where everything seems like it is awful. There are drugs, crime, and most people are miserable in their own way.
While Makoto does his best to better the situations of most struggling people, Banana Fish has a main character that has been turned cold by it. Instead, he is unraveling the mysteries of the underworld and trying to stop the world from becoming even worse for people.
Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens
The city of Fukuoka seems pretty normal, but it is awash in dangerous individuals. In the mix is Banba, a detective investigating hitman companies in the area and Lin, a hitman that is fed up with his lack of jobs.
After being refused pay for a target that killed themselves, Lin is tasked with killing Banba, but instead asks him to team up.
Both series take place in a rather normal looking city that has an underbelly full of crime. You follow criminals as they navigate this underworld for their own reasons to solve their own mysteries.
However, while Makoto in IWGP isn’t necessarily so bad, Lin and even Banba are a bit more on the shady criminal side.
Odd Taxi
Blunt walrus Hiroshi Odokawa drives a taxi for a living which has caused him to get to know his various eccentric customers.
One day, his simple life is turned upside down when a missing person case is tracked by the police back to him. Now a person of interest to both cops and yakuza, he becomes increasingly entangled in this complicated case.
Don’t be fooled by the animal people, Odd Taxi is as gritty and interesting of an investigative underworld mystery as IWGP often is. However, instead of being episodic, it is tracing a series-long mystery thread.
Both series are about those technically unaffiliated with the underworld getting wrapped up and ultimately solving underworld mysteries. However, Odokawa is just a taxi driver, not a fixer like Makoto.
Do you have more anime recommendations like IWGP? Let fans know in the comments section below.
