BLACK LAGOON

DESCRIPTION

CAST

ANIME ActionBLACK LAGOON: The Second Barrage
MANGA ActionBLACK LAGOON

REVIEWS

• 

  Limitless

  90/100
  Black Lagoon is rated E for Everyone

  First of all, I want to make one thing clear. This show is fantastic, but it's definitely NOT for everyone. If you can't handle over-the-top ultra-violence, common sense dictates you won't like this show very much. I have a couple of friends that fall into that category and since I wouldn't recommend this show to any of them, I can't recommend it to you either. However, if you do like some gore in your anime, you've hit the jackpot by stumbling across this amazing gem.

  Black Lagoon explores the harsh reality of the world we live in. It’s not fantasy or sci-fi, in fact, it doesn’t feel fictional at all. I can legitimately see this story happening in real life, so I kind of feel bad for finding it so entertaining. It's no surprise it's maintained such an enduring reputation, even after all these years. Even regarding the base premise, the show presents something fresh and exciting as it follows a rag-tag group of smugglers that terrorize the southern Asian coasts, offering plenty of unique villains to cross with.

  

  Black Lagoon opens in the middle of the action, with the protagonist Rokuro Okajima aka "Rock" stranded on a boat with two guns in his face. Having been snagged as the courier middleman in a backroom deal of his uncaring corporate overlords, Rock finds himself marooned in the south China sea, hitching a ride with pirates as his old company hires mercenaries to retrieve his cargo at all costs. Therefore, Rock quickly realizes his company intends to leave him for dead. Upon seeing a kind of mad freedom in the way his new pirate acquaintances live their lives, he ultimately decides to stay with his former captors. And so Rock joins their captain Dutch, the mechanic Bennie, and the psychotic gunman “Two-Hands” Revy on their gritty adventures, stealing loot and transporting contraband and occasionally running up against some less than savory individuals of the criminal underworld.

  

  Black Lagoon plays out as a series of multi-episode arcs, whether it be a heist or a gang war, or even a death-match between Revy and a terminator-esque housemaid named Roberta. No, I'm not kidding about that. The crew also comes across a ship full of actual Neo-Nazis at one point too. Things are never simple for the Lagoon company as you'll soon see, since basically every job they take inevitably devolves into a complete shit-show. Though Black Lagoon is full of details alluding to the various characters' tragic pasts and grudges, violent absurdity tends to be a prominent trait of the show's run. How much you'll enjoy this material will ride very heavily on your appreciation for over-the-top ultra-violence as I mentioned at the beginning of the review.

  If you do enjoy that sort of stuff, Black Lagoon is insanely good at it. The show will occasionally build up an action duel in a way that feels a little drawn out, but most of the time scenes charge forward at breakneck speed, varying perspectives and introducing new variables and keeping the audience from ever getting bored. Stories here aren't just a series of direct battles - there are thrilling escapes, high-stakes negotiations, well-laid traps, and all manner of other compelling turns. From the settings to the villains involved to the narrative structure, Black Lagoon rarely uses any dramatic trick twice.

  

  Personally, my favorite aspect of the show is definitely the love-hate dynamic between Revy and Rock. Ever since the very beginning of the show, Revy has always been portrayed as a ruthless and sadistic killer, with little to no conscience to stop her from making poor decisions. Rock, on the other hand, was always a bleeding heart, who ultimately still cares about others despite the hardships he's forced to deal with over the course of the series. Because of this, Rock is forced play the role as mediator whenever Revy goes off the rails, much to her displeasure. Rock's overwhelming urge to find a diplomatic approach to any given crisis is why Revy can't stop herself from trying to kill him every five minutes. Eventually, their relationship grows and they obtain a mutual respect and admiration for one another and that journey is truly fascinating to watch.

  

  Overall, this show is an easy recommendation for anyone who enjoys some good old-fashioned gore, and even offers some fun for those who just love to watch a thrilling adventure in the making. By the end, I can safely say that I was firmly on board with the whole production. If wild action is your scene, Black Lagoon is more than worthy of your time.

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• 

  BlueBlur

  71/100
  Not quite the action spectacle I wanted, but still a fun time nonetheless

  Black Lagoon was one of the first few anime I had heard about when first getting into the medium as it was (and still is) considered a classic series. One of the aspects that stood out to me before watching it was it's dub after seeing many clips. The profanity was a massive draw as most anime don't dub in a crazy amount of swearing. After reading the synopsis, seeing the massive amount of praise and it's status as a legendary action anime I went in with high expectations. And after finishing the first season of this series, can I say that it lives up to those lofty heights? Unfortunately, no, but that doesn't mean that I can't recommend this series still in 2020.

  Black Lagoon's draw comes from its promise of balls to the wall action with a light tone and plenty of swearing. And for the most part, it delivers. Whenever there is action it's fantastic. The gun fights are kinetic with a great sense of style and ferocity in its animation. There's even some great boat chases early on in the series that were a great time. The biggest problem however is the rate at which this show decides to have cool action scenes. For a show like this to work well, at least one per episode would be enough to keep the viewer constantly entertained but for a fair few episodes this season it does not hit that quota, even when there are many opportunities for it to. Now I don't want to sound whiny because it was obviously to conserve budget and because they couldn't adapt every exciting part of the manga into every episode but the amount of uninteresting dialogue kills the momentum of many episodes, especially early on. Honestly, this show is fairly average but with the added bonus of the great action scenes it is elevated. Of course, judging a show purely on its action is absurd especially when the main sources of entertainment for me come from the characters, namely Rock and Revy.

  Rock is a great lead and acts as the perfect straight man for the group but Revy really steals the show for me (and many others). She’s crass, crazy and a total bitch and I love every second she’s on screen. She’s the perfect nutcase character because of how much life she brings to an otherwise standard show. She works well even in serious moments, which is another compliment I have to give this show. It’s ability to go from batshit insanity one second to a more melancholic, contemplative tone works very well in its favor when dealing with its more interesting characters. Not every show can pull that off well and Black Lagoon stands as one of the more successful ones. The best example of this in Black Lagoon isn’t even in this season, actually the first three episodes of The Second Barrage which is so far my favorite part of this show (along with Roberta’s arc in Season 1).

  So, this review, like Revy, has been pretty bipolar so far so I want to finish by saying that this is a good show that I wholeheartedly recommend to anyone that’s interested but still did disappoint me by inconsistent nature to keep me entertained. Most arcs this season are honestly pretty average, only Roberta’s arc being a notable standout as it’s easily the highlight of this season. Thankfully, despite how middling some of the early stuff is, the cast more than makes up for any major misgivings. Revy is a lovable nutcase and Rock provides some great leverage to the insanity that happens on-screen. The show is also beautiful to look at as well, holding up stylistically better than some anime that came out even this year. A lot of passion went into this anime and you can definitely tell in how well it’s crafted from scene to scene. Wow, this review really is bipolar. I hope this review helps articulate my thoughts on this show because the problems I have with it don’t seem large but definitely affected my overall enjoyment so I’m interested if anyone else had a similar experience. If so, feel free to message me. If you love this show and aren’t happy with this review, contact me as well and maybe you can change my mind on some of my issues. Overall, this is a good show that I recommend but it’s legendary status might be a little outdated now. I wouldn’t call this show a must-watch but it is a good time if you know what you’re in for. Watch it dubbed as well, the voice acting is great and the profanity adds a lot to the pulpy, ultra-violent action that this show is known for.

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• 

  DarkArcher207

  60/100
  Detailed if occasionally disjointed story held together by characters that deserve more.

  Definitely not what I expected. At a high level, the story follows a jaded Japanese businessman as he abandons his old world to become a courier/pirate with the people who kidnapped him. I say that, but really that's not true. Shortly after the plot kicks off, the story settles into a rhythm and changes from that initial idea, instead focusing on the crew as a whole as it engages in various episodic scenarios. Rock quickly finds his place as part of the crew, despite his relative newness to the occupation. Eventually he stops feeling like a protagonist and becomes just another part of the cast; the focus is often elsewhere. These scenarios are generally interesting and fun, pitting the crew against dangerous people and roping them into deeper trouble the more they go.

  I wouldn't say the plot is quite episodic, but generally once one problem is resolved, the next episode pops the crew over to some new group of unrelated people with some other problem to solve, so you get a similar experience; there's no overall plot really, just a series of unrelated jobs. Personally i don't usually care for episodic plots, but it works alright for this anime, and in a way reinforces the theme of not getting attached in this line of work. There's just a lot of loose ends; for example, early on there's a plot device of a cd containing nuclear designs that is never relevant again after that episode. This is not an anime to watch if you're looking for a overarching narrative.

  I think the characters are really well done, and when the show chooses to spend time on them they're fun to watch. Rock starts out as this mellow businessman but quickly starts to assert himself and shows that his cool and level-headed thinking is a boon to the crew. Revy's past is pretty interesting, especially how self-aware she is of it and the person it's turned her into, and her tendencies to play the part of the tormented heroine when it suits her is even called out and I love that, because that's a realistic way that people handle being a bad person that you don't see too often. Dutch and especially Benny don't get much focus, but when they're on screen they have great chemistry with the crew and their various criminal associates. It's fun watching them talk and cajole around.

  My only wish is that the show spent more time and dug a little deeper into its characters. It seems clear that the show is more focused on the scenarios and criminal organizations than the main cast once they're established, with most of the screentime going to big gunfights and providing characterization to the villains and allies surrounding them. It's not necessarily a bad thing if you enjoy those aspects, but I just enjoyed the main cast a lot and wish there was a little more development between them than the 'business as usual' banter that fills the rest of the show. Most of the bond between Revy and Rock, for example, seems to just happen gradually or off-camera after a certain point. On the other hand, the baddies get unusually deep characterization and should be applauded for that. Considering how fast some of them die, it definitely helps prevent them from becoming forgetable.

  It's Madhouse, so of course the animation is good. Not a lot of 'wow' shows but everything is fluid and cleanly drawn, and the art style is also refreshing. Everyone has this certain heft to them that make them feel a bit more grounded than your more typical anime characters.

  The only thing I can't quite wrap my head around is the ||Plot-armored terminator maid and Dragonball-Z-like fight between her and Revy towards the end of the season. For a show that seemed to go out of it's way to be a fairly grounded and realistic show about south-china pirates, it feels pretty out of place to me. Maybe I can chalk it up to being a product of the 2000's, dunno.||

  Curious to see how things develop in the second season. Overall it was a fun action flick that didn't overstay it's welcome.

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