Black Lagoon Review

Black Lagoon? An anime with gunfights, swearing and main characters that love drinking as much as I do? I think I’m in love……

You know the drill, potential spoilers ahead, so beware. I’m also reviewing both seasons in one single review, cause I’m bad like that.

Plot Summary:

Black Lagoon (or “Burakku Ragun” if you go by the Japanese title) follows the crew of the eponymous ship, as they explosively evade the law in order to make a living. The main protagonist is Rokuro “Rock” Okajima, a bored-as-shit business man for a company in Japan, at first a captive of the Black Lagoon, later a crew member. The Series mainly deals with him trying to adapt to both being a criminal, and his new surroundings in the blood-stained streets of Roanapur.



One hell of a job interview....



As the series goes on, the three original crew members, Benny, a former MIT student who somehow managed to piss off both the FBI and the mafia and was subsequently rescued my Revy, Dutch, a former Marine who served in Vietnam, and Revy, the outrageously violent heavy drinking kick-ass woman of the group (and my personal favourite) grow to accept Rock as one of their own, though not without some heavy hostility from Revy towards Rock.



Now THAT'S a hostile work environment! (I promise that's the last workplace pun)



The story is told through multiple arcs detailing a different job or situation that the crew of the Black Lagoon finds themselves in.

The first arc concerns Rock’s abduction, his companies betrayal, and subsequent joining of the Black Lagoon.  While not the most amazing arc ever, it lays the groundwork for the series, and is still enjoyable to watch.

The second arc is only one episode and just presents a standard betrayal and shoot-out, though it does let you see more of Revy’s over-the-top gunplay, so no complaints there.

The third arc concerns the crew in a battle against a ship full of Neo-Nazis to be the first to retrieve a lost painting from a sunken U-Boat, with more character exposition and fantastic gun battles, this is where the series picks up its pace.

The fourth arc takes place over a single episode and is one of the few to not feature people being blown to hell, though it does come close to it. This episode is still very good however, as it not only shows Rock’s surprising criminal business savvy, but also shows Revy’s growing acceptance of Rock.



Awwwwww, just have sex already.



The fifth arc is one of the most insane, with the Lagoon crew fighting off a homicidal maid, sent to retrieve the young boy they are transporting for the Columbian cartel.  The gun-fights in this are incredible and get the blood pumping, mainly due to the fact that the maid, Roberta, possesses weapon skills on par with Revy.

The sixth and last arc of season one concerns the Lagoon crew transporting information on the terrorist group Protectors of the Islamic Front to the CIA.  While not amazingly different to the other arcs in the series, it does introduce us to Shenhua, who’s knife skills and lack of proper English (Revy’s nickname for her is “Chinglish”) are a nice source of entertainment.

The second season of Black Lagoon opens up with a bang, with Roanapur being terrorised by two Romanian Child Serial Killers, in what proves to be without a doubt the darkest (And my favourite) arc in the whole series. This arc certainly doesn’t shy away from showing some incredibly gruesome violence, but it is all the better for it.

Holy Shit Dude......

The Next arc entails the Lagoon crew protecting a counterfeit-money maker (I can’t be bothered finding out the actual term, I’m hungover and tired, gimme a break) “Greenback Jane”, as the other residents of Roanapur fight to bring her to the mafia. While this is still an enjoyable arc and in no way a bad couple episodes, it is still the weakest arc in the entire series in my opinion.

Finally the last arc brings us out of sunny (Shitty) Roanapur, to the snowy lively streets of Tokyo, as Rock is hired to be interpreter for Balalaika, head of Hotel Moscow, the Russian mafia presence in Roanapur, with Revy accompanying him as bodyguard.  This arc proves to be a good sendoff for the series, nicely mixing explosive action with humbling tragedy.

My Somewhat More Personal Thoughts On This Anime:

Black Lagoon proves to be quite a well-told, high-octane anime with a story that transforms potentially one-note caricatures into three dimensional characters.  This is boosted by some incredible voice acting in both Japanese and English dub, though I personally recommend the English dub, as there are no occurrences of engrish, which while it may be hilarious, lowers the quality of the Japanese dub in my opinion (In the words of balalaika in episode 24 “Absorutry atrocious”).

The action in this anime is definitely the highpoint though, with bullets flying like it’s going out of fashion, and everything that can explode, most often does just that.

FUCK YEA AMERICA  ROANAPUR!

The opponents that the black lagoon crew face though are definitely not your standard cannon-fodder, well, most of them anyway.  Among the people that are in the crosshairs are Neo-Nazis, The Yakuza, Pirates, an amazingly deadly maid, homicidal Romanian Twins, and a swordsman who LITERALLY CUTS BULLETS IN HALF!

Mad Skills Daniel-San

However this anime is not just about over-the-top gunfights and bloodshed, there is a fair amount of comedy in this show, however dark the comedy may get. Sometimes the comedy is presented through the characters i.e. a slutty nun, a military trained maid etc, and sometimes it’s through humorous situations, like here:

They’re actually watching porn on a monitor right now, which Revy comments on, saying “Is she taking it up the ass?” Ho Ho anal sex! Always good for a laugh!

The visual quality is very good in this anime, with lines being smooth and colours vibrant.  The explosions and gunfights obviously benefit the most from this, with the visuals giving a sense of blood pumping urgency to the action. Though that isn’t to say that the characters aren’t also stunning, all of the human models in this anime are of a very high quality, with special attention being focused on fan-favourite Revy, whose tank top and cut off denim shorts provide some very nice eye-candy for the viewers.

The intense gunplay, combined with the frustrating “will they won’t they” relationship between Revy and Rock ensure that this is a very recommended anime, and a personal favourite of mine.

Score:

Story: 4/5

Audio: 5/5

Visual: 5/5

Overall: 5/5

Recommended Drink:

Rum – Because as Revy puts it in the first episode, “A real man takes Rum.”