The film follows two orphans, Black (クロ, Kuro) and White (シロ, Shiro), as they attempt to keep control of the streets of the pan-Asian metropolis of Takaramachi, once a flourishing town and now a huge, crumbling slum fraught with warring between criminal gangs.

In order to save Black and himself, White has to kill the first assassin Dragon by tipping gasoline and setting it alight, burning him alive.

Alongside the children's narrative is a story is told through the eyes of Kimura (木村), an average man who gets caught up in the yakuza, leading him to have a violent encounter with Black.

Summoned once again by Snake, Kimura rebels and kills the yakuza boss, before attempting to flee with his pregnant wife from Takaramachi.

Written and illustrated by Taiyō Matsumoto, Tekkonkinkreet was serialized in Shogakukan's seinen manga magazine Big Comic Spirits from the July 5, 1993,[8] to the March 21, 1994, issues.

[12] In North America, the series was renamed Black & White, and start publishing in the first issue of Viz Media's Pulp in December 1997, along with Strain, Dance till Tomorrow and Banana Fish.

[27] The film featured the following cast: A stage play adaptation, starring Nogizaka46's former member Yumi Wakatsuki as Black and Mito Natsume as White, ran at the Galaxy Theatre in Tokyo from November 18–25, 2019.

He noted Matsumoto's influence by French comics and writing, and how he was able to create a "truly remarkable story that mixes Japanese sensibility with a European look and pace".

Brady praised the series for its unique and expressive artwork, stating that it is more like something seen in independent American or European comics than in standard manga, also comparing his style to Western artists Brandon Graham, Corey Lewis and Bryan Lee O'Malley.

Garrity added that it also got a strong story, and the two central characters are "surprisingly lovable and touching", and that their "odd, clumsily affectionate, ultimately powerful relationship" is the core of the manga.

[33] Sandra Scholes, of the same website, wrote that the art is "rough and rugged, much like the character's personalities", but that "there is room for fun in this huge epic novel of life in neo-punk Japan, its sprawling place, urban people and slightly dodgy nightlife", making it a "one off masterpiece".

[34] Joseph Luster of Otaku USA, felt that the brotherly bond between the protective Black and the endearing White was the heart of the manga.

Aoki was less enthusiastic about Matsumoto's artwork, and wrote that his dreamlike vision of a Japanese city "chaotically" defies the laws of perspective, and it is like "Las Vegas on acid".

Nonetheless, she affirmed that the main appeal of the series is its story and "how it touches the heart"; "two orphans become symbols of a struggle between opposing opposites: innocence and corruption, hope and cynicism, imagination versus reality".

[36][37] Chris Beveridge, writing in Mania, declared: "While it may not be what anime fans have come to expect for a traditional film, the end result is something that while predictable is surprisingly engaging.

[41] It was also named Barbara London's top film of 2006 in the annual "Best of" roundup by the New York Museum of Modern Art's Artforum magazine.