Black Lagoon Anime Review
Black Lagoon originally started as a manga series written by Rei Hiroe and featured in Monthly Sunday Gene-X. The anime was released in 2006, adapted by Madhouse. It features two 12-episode seasons, Black Lagoon, and Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage. Black Lagoon also features an ova/miniseries called Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail. This review will cover the anime, seasons one and The Second Barrage.
Black Lagoon is primarily an action anime, but more of a gritty crime drama in the vein of Cowboy Bebop. The comparison of these two is actually fairly accurate, as in many ways, Revy from Black Lagoon is much like Faye Valentine. Black Lagoon features many gunfights and action-packed scenes, with the characters getting themselves into increasingly dangerous situations.These action sequences are very intense and Black Lagoon makes no attempt to make it subtle. Helicopters, rocket launchers, explosive and weapons of every sort -- this is something a military buff, action junkie or even gun collector can really enjoy.
The setting and plot of Black Lagoon, admittedly, is not very fleshed out. Character development and details were not abundant, but this is not quite the focus of the series. It is very apparent from the first episode that the importance of these elements in Black Lagoon is focusing on what's here and now. This does not necessarily take away from the anime as a whole, but there could be more of these things to add depth and allow the audience to bond with characters. These things can be said to be accomplished in Black Lagoon using other methods, however.
The characters are something I can really enjoy and identify with in Black Lagoon. Rock is the character meant to show some progress as the series moves on, going from a docile, carefree businessman to a calm, collected, but still aggressive negotiator. His role in the company on board the Black Lagoon is questionable at first, but this solidifies episode-by-episode. The more interesting character, in my opinion, is Revy. She presents a very dynamic and conflicting side to Rock, and their interactions are very entertaining. She has a personality not often seen by female characters, and possibly anime in general -- bold, confident, impatient, short-tempered, and even violent. Balalaika, however, is the character the audience is truly meant to sympathize with. The few details revealed about her really serve to invigorate the watcher's interest, as she goes from a background character to one of the most central driving points of Black Lagoon.
It can be said that Black Lagoon is shallow, gratuitously violent, and whimsical with it's plot and characters at best, but the entertainment value is not something to be dismissed here. I found Black Lagoon to be a very contrasting story of it's type. The action crime drama genre in anime may have it's requirements set in stone, but Black Lagoon seems to have overloaded them by offering the watcher a distracting but satisfying display of shootouts, fights, and action sequences. Over all, you won't find a character you can sympathize with as much as Spike, you won't stumble across a tragically scarred individual such as Vash, and may not even give a crap about who lives or dies at all. One thing is clear, though. You will root for Revy and Rock, you will want them to succeed, and that means all the guns and explosions you could ever ask for!
6/10
