Ranked #68

Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage

I feel kind of weird to be writing a review for Black Lagoon: the Second Barrage after I just wrote the review for the first season. Why? Because I don't really consider them to be two different seasons. It's just a continuation of a series I really didn't expect to be as good as it was the first time around. All 24 episodes are just Black Lagoon to me, and for good reason: Second Barrage keeps up the high octane action that made the first season such a blast. The art is the same, the sound is the same (which is unfortunate we didn't get any new songs added in), and the VA's are the same, thank God. Except something fail happens -- some of them start speaking in English in the last arc, and the pronunciation and grammar are horrible. Actually, the lines were cringeworthy too for Revy, who is supposedly a Chinese American so I would expect better English from her. It was revealed near the end the cast actually speaks English all the time and it's only in Japanese for the audience's sake. Having learned that I'm rather curious how the English dub sounds in some of these later episodes where English, Japanese, and Russian were all used in one conversation. I would have rather they just kept Revy talking in Japanese for the remainder of the show as I saw it, although that makes another character shouting "Hey! Speak in Japanese!" to her seem weird. ;-)

One difference is the story length this time. Last season was a series of 2-3 episode arcs wth a couple one-shot stories added. This season the entire last six episodes are absorbed into a single war between the old guard Japanese mafia and the up and coming Russians of Hotel Moscow, that takes Rock back to his home and to face the past he turned his back on. The "Greenback Jane" arc is easily the weakest of the season (probably both seasons) but is made up for with the first story arc featuring murderous children (yes, deadly lolis) and the epic ending arc.

Like The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, this is one show I was disappointed to see end, and it looks like I wont have to yet, as a Third Season has been announced now. read more

This anime is incredible, the second season makes it even more so. It requires a bit of maturity to watch, especially things like the twin arc.

It's not for the faint of heart, nor the overly sensitive. or those with strong moral backround.

but for those who can look past it, this anime has it all. Action(lots of it) Comedy, and Tragedy; and a great story to go with it.

What I don't like about it, which is just a minor nitpick, is while in the second season more of the plot follows Revy and Rock, they don't expand upon their relationship much. And the rest of the black lagoon crew is phased out of the season more or less. They also fail to expand upon a few more major characters, unless there is going to be a third season.

This knocks it down a bit, but only to a minor degree for me. read more