MARIO

“When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.”

Story
Masashi Kishimoto, the name hardly anyone does not know, started working on the mafia one-shot manga "Mario" even before "Naruto". The manga is set in New York. Gangster Mario, son of a Sicilian Mafioso and a yakuza, is assigned to work in a tandem with the silent killer Saori. Both cope with the first mission with flying colors and their next mission is even easier. However, they still have to find out that they are just a plaything for the upcoming fight for power in one of the criminal gangs.

Character
Mario’s background explains his attitude towards life perfectly well: he enjoys sushi, pasta and wine, he does not care about breaking the law and killing people because of his childhood, and this also influences his life philosophy. "Women are nothing compared to money, a suitcase with money is the only burden that I will never get tired of carrying." Saori, the second protagonist from "Mario", is secretive, multifaceted and, as it becomes clear towards the end of the one-shot, has a romantic nature. Saori also keeps all her “colleagues” at a distance and reacts negatively to any gesture and any word addressed her.

Overall
All in all, I would not say that this one-shot is amazing, it is just good. It looks like “Mario” is something that Kishimoto could not depict in “Naruto” and it is fine. However, it would have been much more interesting, had Kishimoto time to continue “Mario,” but it cannot be helped. With that being said, it is not that bad to kill some of your free time.

A very stylish, exuberant one-shot which has really left me wanting more. Certainly theirs a world of difference between Mario & Naruto, in terms of artwork, setting, dialogue. Still Kishimoto has shown us his great understanding of western organised crime, and has managed to create an interesting array of characters in the process. Kishimoto has demonstrated his boldness with lots of brash and blood covered pages, which are very delightful to look at. Mario is very well written and Kishimoto has really outdone himself this time. It’s likely that Mario will leave you hoping that Kishimoto makes the transition from one-shot to serialisation.