Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail

The move from that of a televised anime series to an OAV format did its fair share of good for the crew of Black Lagoon. By allowing them to work without worrying about censorship, they could get the violence as visceral and hyper-sexualized as possible and create a no holds bar bloodfest the likes of which anime has rarely had before. Going into this, it should be perfectly evident from the name what you’re in for: A tale of carnage caused by everyone’s favorite former guerilla warfare enthusiast maid, Roberta. And boy does it deliver.

Our tale starts with a public bombing orchestrated by a contracted ... group of US Marines killing the head of the Lovelace family in Venezuela, leaving the family heir Garcia orphaned and under the care of his maids. At this point, we also learn of Roberta’s career prior to her joining the Lovelace family as a maid, where she was a revolutionary in a group that ruthlessly killed anyone that got in their way.
After the marines kill the head of the family, Roberta goes to Roanapur for revenge in what is easily the most entertaining OAV series to come out in recent memory.

Roberta’s Blood Trail follows the titular supersoldier maid on her quest for vengeance, involving everyone in Roanapur and several outside forces in a drug fueled battle that could escalate in an all out war to end all that Roanapur is. It’s not a complex story that’ll shake the very foundation of storytelling, but it has its fair share of intrigue, particularly with Rock participating and running the course of actions from the sidelines. Revy and co take a back seat to Roberta as far as plot focus go, and it ends up all the better for doing so.

If this OAV does have a weakness, and it has plenty of noticeable ones, it’s the constant shifts in perspective between the groups going after Roberta and Roberta herself. For two episodes, this creates a narrative that’s spread extremely thin, developing nobody and raising more questions than are answered. You have Roberta on her own, the marines and drug trafficking forces hounding her, Revy and the group of psychopathic mercenaries that she contracts to help her, Garcia and Fabiola on a mission to bring her back with them, Rock scheming while occasionally contacting Mr. Chang and berating him with passive aggressive language, Balalaika and her cohorts…

If you think that’s a long list, that’s because it is, and it gets hard to follow in some parts. Everything gets resolved, but many of the factions seemingly drop off before being brought into the game again just to be eviscerated by either Roberta or Revy and her group.

Even with Roberta as the main character, there’s effort made to characterize some of the bit players a bit more, which in the end does more harm than good. Roberta’s given plenty of time to develop, and that time is relished completely due to the utter insanity of Roberta (Even almost killing her master in a hallucinogen induced hysteria) being an utter treat to watch. However, it’s when they begin to delve into Fabiola’s hypocritical stance against unnecessary violence and Rock’s slow transition from victim to influential figurehead for Roanapur that the cracks start to form and widen.

In a story with such a large number of groups, you’d expect a lot of memorable faces to make appearances. And fortunately, you’re entirely correct. The only three noteworthy survivors of the manhunt for Jane are along for the ride (Za Uizaado, Shenhua, and Sawyer), Balalaika and her crack team join in on the hunt for Roberta, and Garcia is back from Season One to bring Roberta back. Even Eda the corrupt nun is along for the ride, reporting to her higher up as events unfold.

It’s a colorful cast that’s a delight to watch as they shoot, impale, slice, and run their way through Roanapur’s back alleys and slums to find the berserker maid. Even if none are characterized exceptionally well, they lay their parts well as far as entertainment and badassery go.

Black Lagoon has never been one to make a point, but has never been afraid to give the otherwise gleefully murderous cast the occasional moment of somber introspection. It’s these slow moments that really let the gravity of the situation sink in, from Revy’s monologuing about her past on the sunken sub in the first season to Fabiola arguing with her over her corrupt ways.

Even Roberta occasionally takes a break from her rampage to reflect on the ramifications of what she’s doing, or just how her past has caught up with her.

Despite how much they add to the series, I don’t think that these moments are always implemented properly. Very often they’ll follow an intense, engaging fight where the characters won’t even have a moment to clean off the blood that has sullied their outfits. It’s not much of a gamebreaker by any means, but in a show that’s almost fetishistic with the level of action that it uses, it can seem a bit out of place most times.

The only ones that ever really feel appropriate are when Fabiola and Revy butt heads over each others’ personalities. The two have a volatile chemistry that makes their anger fueled arguments a marvel to behold. What’s even better is these escalate each time as they learn that the other isn’t going to budge in their stance.

On the animation front, Black Lagoon’s always been a step above average. The environments always look lush yet sinister, helped by fantastic lighting and keeping things from remaining completely static. The characters are rarely off model and are animated very fluidly. It helps that the violence is done very smoothly, making the bloodbaths that give the fights life even more enjoyable than they would be if done even just a little more poorly.

Being an OAV and thus having a larger budget, things are done to even better effect. With the lack of censorship helping things out even more, the team finds itself able to do stunts with viscera of multiple varieties that would make even the most avid horror fan give pause.

The music is a hard bumping, hard thumping soundtrack of electronica and hard rock, each episode opening with a remix of the delightfully Engrish Red Fraction by MELL and each episode ending with an orchestra version of Johnny Comes Marching Home, pumping you up for the next episode of blood and butchery. The seiyuu cast is appropriate, well rounded, and excellent in almost every case, special mention going to Roberta and Lotton “Za Uizaado”.

The best, or least fortunate part depending on your tolerance for it, is the distinct lack of groan-worthy Engrish. It was amusing in Second Barrage, but ultimately came across as too clumsy to take seriously. By eliminating that entirely, Roberta’s Blood Trail lent itself an air of somberness that Second Barrage ultimately failed to attain in the last arc.

Black Lagoon: Roberta’s Blood Trail is a competent, compelling, and superbly well coordinated OAV that does much to impress. It has plenty of flaws, particularly in the middle with all the different groups after Roberta and the violence never catching a break, but it ends on a very satisfying, open ended note that leaves enough room for more seedy goodness in a possible sequel.
If you like action series or have watched and enjoyed Black Lagoon before, Roberta’s Blood trail will be right up your alley. If not, as long as you have no objection to sexualization and violence in overwhelming amounts, Roberta’s Blood Trail will be well worth your time.

Of course some prior knowledge through the anime or manga will be beneficial to enjoying it, but I think the idea of a Terminator-esque maid making mincemeat of an entire town of criminals is an interesting enough premise on its own.

It’s a fun, occasionally nauseating watch with more than a little wit helming it, and I for one enjoyed nearly every second of it. And if you’re anything like me, you will too.

[Spoiler Warning]

Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail
The third part of Black Lagoon eps. 25 to 29 after three years 5 OVA, 1 eps. every 2 months and a half, i can't imagine how the people watching at that time felt waiting so long for this, and for this big of a story, it should have been longer and better developed for the time they had.

Story
Just a little better than the previous parts, focused on one single story rather than in three, a story with flaws but entertaining in some way, bloody and dark, sad and disgusting at times, this time focused more in Rock and ... his little change to orchestrate a plan, a plan that i undestood completely in ep. 28 and i knew he wasn't transforming in the likes of Chang or Balalaika, it was a great plan that upsetted the ones involved, but it was the only way and i knew Revy admired and was attracted to Rock, when she gets an explanation from Rock himself about the plan, she got mad because she wants him to save her, just like Fabiola said, she knows he's not like them but he's starting to adapt to Roanapour and she doesn't want that to happen, but like Fabiola said, she's afraid to get closer to Rock because she doesn't want to lose her hope for him; (Eda asks again if they banged earlier in the anime, and she as before changes the subject because she is atrracted to him but part of her reaction is because of what happened in her past) The thing is that he saved people with that plan, something that Fabiola didn't understood or Revy, he planned the outcome of Roberta's outburst to a crazy full of drugs in her system Robot like, immortal (?) Roberta; Rock saved the day and he wanted to clean Roanapour too, happy ending for everyone, but it ended like a normal ep. just like previous parts for a path to a new season/part 4, very good story and Eda's identity and half of her goal is revealed, something that i claimed an answer in Second Barrage. This was a very good story.

Art & Animation
3 years has passed, but little changes been made, almost the same very good animation, but they could made something a little better, but i didn't care that much, more bloody and gorier than before.

Sound
Just like with the animation, still it's very good, great VA, great sound effects, the same OP song with a remix, it sounds amazing with a different video clip, great like before but i was expecting to pause at sec. 36 like in the previous ''seasons'' i couldn't see my cute Revy... oh and a different ED song, just normal, the sound in general is great.

Character
Just like in every ''season'' some characters are missused but still, the ones that are there are interesting, like the comback of the kid Garcia and her new maid Fabiola is interesting and a smartass towards Revy and almost skillful as Roberta but obviosly not like her.
-Roberta comes back, the story is about chasing her to stop the revenge that Garcia never wanted, while we get her perspective too, my mind was changing towards her, because i liked her a lot in the first ''season'' and i wanted them to save her, but then i changed my mind, it was her own fault looking for a revenge that Garcia never wanted and what she was doing was too much, so i didn't care if she was killed later on, but because of Rock i still had hope for her to recover.
-Rock has a bigger role this time, he had to come with a plan that prevented a war requested by Mr. Chang because they don't want U.S. to find out about how things are in Roanapour, but that wasn't his only plan and because of that Rock had to use a different plan, he wanted the opposite of what Chang wanted, it worked but didn't have an effect at the end (that part of the plan at least).
-Revy has a minor role than before, but is there to be with Rock and help him, we even see one of her bewbs while she showers while Rock convinces her to help him, and Fabiola confronts her about stopping Rock's crazy ideas and starts sayig things that Revy doesn't deny but that makes her mad because it's true and then we get to see something that really made me a little mad, it was her flashback that appeared in ''season'' 1 and 2 about her like a kid, this time was complete, i felt more empathy with her and disgusted to see that scene, i was mad, poor Revy, she didn't do anything wrong or bad, that's why she always change subject ot gets mad at Eda when she asks if she and Rock banged (maybe not a big part of the reason) but i didn't wanted to know tho, since the beginning i knew it was a bad childhood, but this one, i wish i didn't saw that part, in other animes it bugs me not to know characters past, but i knew i didn't wanted to know Revy's past, now i hope not to associate that image with Revy.
-Eda is like a double agent, it was a little complicated to know where side she was more related with, but she is a great character now.
There are characters that comes back like that Lotton guy, who is in the wrong bussiness and lives together with the sexy Shenhua and the emotional Sawyer after saving them, they appear again to find Roberta, Mr. Chang is a bastard whose ideals were like Rock's ideals but now he's a bastard and we get to see why Balalaika is in debt with Black Lagoon, the thing is that they don't appear much, because there are little eps. to develop them more but for the ones that are there it was very good.

Enjoyment
I enjoyed a little less this one but still i got a very good enjoyment from it, and this time more because of the story, i just wish it wasn't Madhouse the one distributing the anime, they tend to release only one season in a lot of cases and milk them releasing specials or OVA while people request second seasons, just like the animes that i have seen from them with endings without conclusion and screaming for second season, like Shigurui as a big example, for me that didn't have an ending just like with every ''season'' of Black Lagoon but that's a discussion for other forums.

The quality present in the original Black Lagoon anime series is taken up to a whole extra notch with this no-holds-barred OAV series. What I first thought would be a casual revisiting of a character notable seemingly only for fetish fuel turns into an in depth look into why Roberta earned the name "Bloodhound." Blood has been spilled, and Roberta's out for revenge, and with no television censorship to worry about, this series is free to show Roberta's Blood Trail in all of it's violent glory. The entire crime ring of Roanapur, from the Hong Kong Triad to the Hotel Moscow, to the Italian Mafia ... and the Colombian Drug Cartel, rallies together in a rare display of cooperation to deal with the war Roberta attempts to start in Roanpur against the US Grey Fox Unit. Garcia, the new Lovelace family patriarch, along with a new gunslinging maid, Fabiola Iglesias, have arrived in Roanpur to find Roberta, and appeal for the aid of the Lagoon Company, and Rock specifically, whose misfortune in taking on lost causes is starting to wear heavily on his partner, Revy Two Hands.

All the famous characters make their return in this OAV series, and it even throws in a few new ones, including Fabiola Igelsias, whose impish, yet hot-blooded, tomboyish and proud personality strangely reminds me of Edward Elric from FMA. She brings a much needed, yet strangely believable cuteness factor to the Black Lagoon mythos. Not to be outdone, our protagonist, Rokuro "Rock" Okajima, seems to have caught his stride in the city of Roanapur. Rather than the stumbling and out of place businessman, he's reached a level of stoic compromise with the city he lives in, and manages to score a few badass points with some brilliant strategizing and planning. He stands in stark contrast with Revy, who lives in complete coexistence with the vice of her surroundings, and even craves the adrenaline rush of a good firefight. She stands in even greater contrast with Fabiola, who refuses to sink to Revy's level, and constantly butts heads with her. All of these characters are outdone, however, by Roberta herself, who undergoes a complete transformation (or perhaps the better word is "regression") into her old trench digging, rough and tough mercenary persona who can simultaneously no-scopes and pool-cue 50 caliber sniper rifle while standing on a street sign. Despite the badass exterior, we see her begin to fall to the depraved depths of her own personal hell, popping nervous system stimulant pills and speaking to the ghost of one of her former marks.

The artwork is everything I've come to expect from Black Lagoon - even the filler scenes are a bite above what the average anime series - even those with big studio budgets - have been able to produce. With all 5 OAV's played back to back, the whole series will seem more like a two and a half hour movie than a mini-series. As this is an OAV series, expect to see more blood and nudity than in the series, though in the scene with Rock and Revy in episode 2 in particular, this actually has a much more pronounced effect than it would have under TV censorship.

A remixed version of MELL's "Red Fraction" opens each episode, and ends with a marching band chorus of "The Ants Go Marching," and both have very different effects. While the familiar opening emphasizes the principle characters, it is the ending theme that harkens to Roberta's shadowy past (and really, a lot of characters' pasts) and how they are now marching to the beat of their own drum in a different world while still attempting to stay true to their former beliefs.

I've always been a Black Lagoon fan, so seeing the series get a kickstart such as this is thrilling. Viewers who are unfamiliar with the Black Lagoon series might not be able to appreciate the main characters or Roberta's backstory, but that should not take away from identifying with Roberta herself, or the motivation of the other characters to either stop her or help her. This is very much an adult show, however, and not just in a fan service kind of way - a good deal of scenes are gruesome and downright hard to watch at times, and I wouldn't recommend this show to viewers under the age of 16. But anyone who appreciates war movies, gangster movies, or any kind of shoot-em-up movie will definitely get a kick out of Roberta's Blood Trail.

For me Black Lagoon and Cowboy Bebop are two of my favorite series. The mixture of interesting and human characters, excellent (if over the top) fighting, and underlying and hidden discussions and opinions about life, people, etc. When I first started watching Black Lagoon I fell completely in love with the characters, the differing points of view conflicting, the psychosis, the struggles to understand each other and dealing with a wide variety of backgrounds and histories. And to top it all of was that they felt real and believable. Characters didn't just do things because the story needed them to, but because its what they ... would do based on their particular ethos.

The OVA felt like none of that. Well a lot less of that. Minor character spoilers ahead nothing particularly story related.

My biggest issue was that Rock suddenly seemed to jump off the deep end. In the beginning of the OVA he is still the same person from the series, trying to stand amongst the gangsters and murderers of Roanapur and trying to be a player in things, while still trying to hold on to his morals and ideals from his life as a salary man. Then he just suddenly switches to a mastermind role who has everything in his pocket and in several shots in the OVA is portrayed almost as a villain. Nothing wrong with the concept of an evil protagonist, Black Lagoon is full of them, but the change in Rock is so complete and he shows none of his usual motivations, is he doing this because of what happened in Tokyo in the last season? Is this to try and spite Chang? Or has he just suddenly snapped and dropped his previous ideals? They bring up what happened in Tokyo for a bit at the start and then it's never mentioned or alluded to during Rock's scheming. While the reasoning they provided at the end feels sort of hollow and pointless.

Apart from that Balalaika lost a lot of her bite and felt like a girl raging at the wind, none of her usual "I'll do what you want but I'm going to make sure it costs you". Chang went from being a sort of suave gunman, who had a sense of humor hiding the power and darkness he posses, to a character who just sort of sat in a penthouse smoking and looking pensively at things. Even Revy seemed to be like she was trying to redeem herself and let her ideals be easily run over. It felt like a different Revy than the one in the submarine or in Tokyo.

The main character was also a bit ambiguous. Following Rock at first, viewing the scenario from his point of view, to sort of abandoning him and following Garcia and Fabiola viewing Rock as evil or at least malicious.

This isn't to say that it's a bad series, the gun play is still excellent (and over the top), some of the dialogue and scenes are great. It also provides some good back story (although it didn't really do anything with it as a lot of it is revealed towards the end of the arc and it doesn't feel like the revelations have any impact on the story).

This feels like Black Lagoon light (ironic considering the added violence and sexuality, a good visceral addition that I would love to see more of in the series) the characters just weren't there.

tl;dr
Having the story drive the characters rather than the characters driving the story makes for an exciting series, but one that lacks the usual depth and intrigue of the regular series.

Black Lagoon was a great series to watch with an impeccable original story but this Roberta's Blood Trail ruined Rock and Roberta's character. Although they improved the way the Anime looks but that's about all i can say that is good.

This OVA concluded the Black Lagoon anime series exceptionally well. Phenomenal work of art. Its a bloody masterpiece.

And in this one, on all counts, the art also added to the overall ambience of this OVA - remarkably so, considering that the previous 24 episodes of Black Lagoon had great art but not as involving or as metaphorically spot on as is the case here. The character of Roberta (The Bloodhound) is developed really well and in fact is the crust of the story. So much so that she is able to bring out the fearful elements of her inner struggles so fluidly (because of the ... art) that she makes Black Lagoon badass by association.

As for story, well... It is concrete, it is lucid, it brings the badass out of Rock, and it is one of those rare moments when you get to see Hotel Moscow be... well... FUCKING HOTEL MOSCOW!! And yet, all the story evolves to, is one of the most fluid endings I have ever come across. And when considering the way the whole anime brought about this conclusion, it is something I appreciate. I don't feel disappointed in the slightest by this anime because it had a damn good story. Especially how it fitted together previous episodes and in-universe elements into progressing the plot points. And it concludes all questions from previous episodes while doing so. Which is something that not only helps the story, but certainly kept my attention running.

The Sound... its awesome. It is simply awesome. And yet it is funny too. There were some moments which were meant to make me laugh because the sound chosen was intended for that purpose and it does that job perfectly.

Characters... Balalika, Rock, Dutch, Benny, Balalika, Chang, Roberta, Garcia, and even the US Army personnel all play their part and are brilliant when doing so. Taking the previous point of questions, all character arcs are concluded in this OVA, and the best conclusion that is made is of Rock - certainly the best I have come across for a character right up there with Top wo Narae! Gunbuster.

All in all, it was an excellent ending to an otherwise badass anime. It achieves top score from me on all counts. And I have no regrets giving it those top scores. A recommended anime and a definitive addition to the roster of anime which should be seen.

Spoilers ahead

The only thing i am gonna give this show a credit for is art
other than that it was all a waste
I am actually quite glad that my previous reviews of black lagoon part 1 and 2 were of similar proposal
and all in all the show in itself sucked, the characters sucked, the director failed to deliver a sense of realism to it(sure everyone can die in the unforgiving hell of Roanapra but not one fucking main character dies how convenient), the tragedy implemented was a joke
and to top it off (U.S) army major actually cares about some stray kid with a grudge due to ... a past operation (what a load of bullshit)
Revy is useless, i honestly don't see why such a character even existed
Rock is so boring he makes you wanna kill yourself while watching
Roberta is just pathetic, (after she kills off nearly all the american soldiers, they let her go because the drama says it is ok)
AND YET she cannot kill neither Revy nor the Chinese (yes it is) woman when she is mad or whatever

totally unreliable story-telling, totally un-interesting scenario, and a major fail for all the action scenes that started with a splash of blood, only to end up in a happy (no worries the heroes are ok) ending

absolutely hated it, I'd rather watch Inazuma Eleven

I am not going to talk about the Black Lagoon characters, sound, art, etc.. because if you are thinking about watching this I assume you have seen Black Lagoon already (and if you haven't then watch it before you watch Roberta's Blood Trail).

Roberta's Blood Trail gives us a chance to experience more awesome Black Lagoon action. As far as excitement goes, it lives up to Black Lagoon. However, when I was watching this is did not enjoy the characters as much as in the first parts of Black Lagoon.

Overall this was still enjoyable (8/10) and I would recommend it if you are looking ... for more Black Lagoon.

God damn I forgot how badass Black Lagoon is. The first two seasons were thoroughly enjoyable, and Roberta's Blood Trail doesn't disappoint.

First of all let's talk about the music. It is excellent. Properly scene accompanying music, in particular, the solo drums that pounds through the action sequences that are as perfect as ever. The music throughout is well balanced against the action, doesn't over stay it's welcome and doesn't invade the moment. Even the intro and outro music is good. We all know this is a rarity.

The animation is great. It's grimey, it's dirty and continues to convey the darkness that surrounds ... the script of this show perfectly. I also feel it's a little gorier than the first 2 seasons which was very welcomed. This miniseries didn't pull any punches when it comes to action. It has great gun play, great hand to hand and great choreography. The animation is spot on, maybe even a little better than the first two.

The only place where it falter slightly is the story. Don't get me wrong, Roberta IS AN ABSOLUTE BADASS, and on that point, I'm not sure there is a show that portray women as absolute basses as well as this show does. The issue is that the actually story and its associated revenge, is a little weak. Despite it being a little weak, Black Lagoon does it's thing and still makes it a very enjoyable watch. This is a first for me as well, I actually thought that a 5 episode season was in fact long enough to convey everything that needed to be conveyed in this arc. Now, I'm very doubtful it will return, I'm sure there is no intention to be honest, yet it ends with nothing to have closure with or return from. It's kind of written to end with nothing. I would have preferred better closure. All in all, it does a great job and it's a great series all in all, Black Lagoon 1 and 2 are a 100% MUST watch in my opinion. This is more of a SHOULD watch.

So i began black lagoon one week ago mainly for the reason that i wanted to see a good action seinen anime. When i finished the First season i was sure that i had made the right choice the same feeling i had when i finished the second season but it was like that this anime was getting a real story and it wasnt only random story arcs for the anime fans to enjoy. Then Roberta's Blood Trail came and really made me to think again what this series wants to offer.

Roberta's Blood Trail continues right where the original show left off so it is ... not just simple an ova but a sequel to black lagoon the second barrage a third season if you like. The story is about the return of the infamous Roberta which wants vegeance after the the patriarch of the Lovelace clan, is murdered.
Most of the characters that you grew to love from the previous series are here and most of them have still their own weird personality except from rock who has really changed and became more matured in order to survive the reallity that he lives in, Roberta has also a good character development which really helps to improve the mood of this anime

Now about the ost, well its still the same (something not necessarally bad i actually love it) but you can still find 5-6 new soundtracks playing throughout the anime.
About the animetion not much to say, its in the same style like the previous seasons but an improvment too.There is also much blood in this ova something that makes this anime more mature and realistic.

Well this ova is a black lagoon sequel but at the same time it feels different because it makes you to care more about the characters and it is more emotional than the previous series and at the same time more bloody and this why i love it and recommend it to all black lagoon fans

With this OAV series being focused around Black Lagoon's El Baile De La Muerte arc from the manga, the return of Roberta in crazed revenge easily had the potential at creating the best material to be seen from the series thus far. For four out of five episodes, the series does well at delivering its stuff. Roberta's carnage that she tore throughout Ronapour in the show's first season was but a small sample of how crazed she could be in committing to what she considers a just cause. Here in Blood Trail, the death of her elder master causes her to snap and each appearance ... of her onscreen does well at depicting how crazed the woman had become, especially as she becomes more mentally unstable as events press on throughout the series. The woman brings her crazed revenge to the streets of Ronapour which does more than enough to make the middle section of Black Lagoon enough of a treat as she clashes with the American military, Ronapour's resident thugs and even some creatures from her past before becoming the Lovelace family maid.

Roberta doesn't get all the focus of this OAV as a few prominent characters also get their focus in the form of Rock, Roberta's young master Garcia and new character Fabiola Iglesias. The role of the three characters throughout Blood Trail is trying to prevent a tragic outcome involving Roberta, though each have differing motivations for their actions. Rock finds himself internally struggling throughout the series over how to avert another tragedy in Ronapour like what happened with those he met during the second season of the series while clearly realizing just how deep he has fallen into the snares of Ronapour's criminal activity. Garcia and Fabiola, being personal confidants of Roberta, are trying to make sure she is still alive despite being used by others within Ronapour in dealing with the Terminator maid and Garcia finding himself wondering how he can save Roberta from her mental instability towards the later half of the series.

The title's biggest weakness clearly comes from its final episode. With pacing seeming a bit rushed, some inconsistent developments involving Roberta and a confusing resolution concerning Roberta's fate, this episode could get fans fuming with how Black Lagoon's woman of war seemingly gets humbled by the events of this sloppy finale, especially with how different the events were laid out in the manga.

On the visual end, Black Lagoon takes its well-detailed environments and character designs plus fluid, intense actions scenes from the first two seasons and takes things up a notch with the OAV animation budget. There are plenty of insane, fluid action scenes to get out of this season kudos to Roberta shaking things up and the quality of settings and character designs are noticeably up a notch with more defined and clean details. The show's soundtrack retains the high-octane musical selections of the first two seasons, including a remixed version of the Red Fraction OP used for the first two TV seasons.

Overall, Roberta's Blood Trail mostly delivers with offering a good amount of the best material you can expect out of the Black Lagoon franchise to date with its intense action scenes and focus on multiple characters effected by Roberta's actions. The subpar final episode of the series does kill its overall quality to a degree, though what is offered by the earlier four episodes still makes the show worthwhile enough to check out if you are a Black Lagoon fan.

If you’ve finished ‘The Second Barrage’ chances are you will be hungry for more. There isn’t any real sense of completion to the second season. I don’t know whether this was intentional or because they wanted to leave the show open for a possible third season. So in this sense the OVA does technically give a resolution. We also find out the full story about Revy’s past. It was already previously mentioned that she had a difficult childhood so actually showing what happened doesn’t add anything to her character. Revy was interesting because of her wicked sense of humor and unapolagetic way of living. ‘Roberta’s ... Love Trail’ just ends up making Revy seem like a victim of circumstance rather than a warrior.

This OVA came out in 2010 and is considerably more visually impressive then the original anime which aired in 2006. Presumambly this is due to advancements in animation software. Shading and lighting was used a lot more extensively in the OVA, from lens flare to carefully lit shower scenes. Talking of shower scenes there is some fan service. Like all fan service it’s completely pointless and ends up detracting more than it adds.

The plot focuses on Roberta who happens to be in my opinion the most absurd out-of- place character in this entire anime. Roberta is a gun-toting maid who serves the Lovelace family. In the OVA she goes through an identity crisis due to memories of being a guerilla fighter in a South American Country. Unlike Balalaika’s time as a solider, Roberta’s feels contrived and hard to believe. I get that they wanted the OVA to focus on another character, but they literally picked the worst one. They could have gone with the nuns from ‘The Church of Violence’. We could have seen more about how their illegitimate business operates. We could have looked at how Mr Chang manages to rule the Hong Kong Triad and deal with the delicate political problems as they arise from operating such a high level gang. Or we could have just gone with some random 2-bit Roanapur gangster and used his journey as an excuse to explore the City a little more. My point is they had plenty of choices yet still picked the worst possible character and gave her the worst possible arc. Whilst the OVA doesn’t feel like an outright cash grab is still comes off as shallow.

Black Lagoon Omake
If you must have more Black Lagoon but don’t want to ruin the story with an unsatisfactory ending then I’d suggest watching the Omake. It’s a series of anime shorts featuring the characters from the main show. The Omake clearly doesn’t have much of a budget behind it so the animation is limited. But seeing Benny end up as an internet troll or Revy turned into a gun-toting magical girl helps to make up for this.
There was no official English release for the Omake, but you can find a fan-subbed version of the series on YouTube.

Original Review:

http://thatsterror.com/anime-review-black-lagoon/

Black Lagoon is among the few anime titles released within the last 9 years I can look back on fondly. While the series on occasion can dip into the ultra fantasy with females appearing to be much stronger than what they should be. I simply cannot ignore the other things that grabs my interest on a high level. One of its main draws for me has been the tonal consistency and mature direction it manages to pull off on occasion. I enjoy its dark humor most of the time, and admire that it doesn't attempt to jam in random and absurd comedic moments simply to ... "lighten up the mood". Many anime titles just annoy me as they attempt to please everyone which leads to severe genre clashing and Black Lagoon just isn't like that. Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail continues to follow that path, and it's the third season of the series that takes place in OVA format and contains episodes 25 - 29. Although these episodes can stand on their own; I still highly suggest that new viewers pick up from the beginning, because I feel it's necessary to know these characters.

The main story behind Black Lagoon for those unfamiliar is like this; the series follows the Lagoon Company which is made up of four members: Dutch, Revy, Benny, and Rock. They operate as something like a mercenary group making deliveries and some times work as escorts. They reside in the city of Roanapur, which happens to be about as lawless as a city can get. Rock is clearly a man out of place and spends his time attempting to adjust to his new surroundings and tries to hold on to his ideals, but this becomes tougher as he delves deeper into the world of criminals. This third season also follows Rock's steady decline towards giving in to his negative surroundings.

The main plot of the story follows Roberta; she was introduced in the first season as a near unstoppable killer whom people compared with the Terminator. She was definitely among the cooler characters as she was just armed to the teeth, and began taking out anyone crazy enough to cross her. This time around the gloves are off and she's more vicious than ever.

Fans of the first two seasons must be warned that this portion of the series runs a bit differently. The first season did its job in building up the characters and it was more action oriented. The second season did contain quite a bit of action, but it also focused heavily on the series' themes which were introduced in the first season. The latter portion of the second season was more cerebral and used its characters to push things such as existential beliefs, isolation, and consequences for one's actions. This season does the same and it's a bit more dialog heavy, but I enjoyed it a great deal mainly due to the well development of its characters: Rock, Roberta, Garcia, Fabiola, and Revy. They carry the narrative very well through some very engaging and interesting interactions. While the plot does have its pacing issues, there is so much going on to keep more patient viewers gripped.

The plot follows Roberta as she hunts down Diego's killers whom happens to be an American special forces unit. However, the story is much thicker than that; Roberta's killing of top ranked officials along with bringing her showdown against the U.S. to Roanapur threatens the outlaw lifestyle of the city, which forces the Mafia families to step in against her. There is plenty going on and it all wraps up in an action packed finale. The characters continue to impress in one way or another, as even the American troops whom are painted as bad guys, prove they're far from that title as they display hearts of gold. It's hard to root against them at times, and I found myself conflicted on whether I wanted them to kill Roberta or not. The small war involves plenty of people, and characters from the previous seasons make unexpected appearances.

It's difficult to point out any real highlight in this season. The action can be spectacular but the characters are every bit attention worthy. The writing is delivered very well, and it's kind of tough watching some of these people try to cling on to ideals in a city that destroys ideals. Roanapur brings out the worst in a lot of people and the writing continues to excel in developing this cesspool of a city. In regards to Rock, this is where it becomes very important to watch at least the second season, because it puts his entire experience in perspective. If there's any issue I have with this season, then perhaps it's small cases with the writing as it marches towards being heavy-handed. There is a lot of dialog on some occasions and there's a feeling that it's just eating up time.

The production values are solid all around; the animation is gorgeous with its detailed night time backgrounds, lit up towns, and camera work detailing the action. There are no shortcuts in the action here folks. The shootouts are intense, the close range stabbings and chainsaw ripping combat deliver the bloody goods, and there's very little to no overly cheap fan service. I love my anime like this.

The sound effects are also worth noting and this show should be played loud. The gunfire is cool to hear and this also goes for the rifle silencers; and as usual the soundtrack is rocking which adds to the intensity of the action, and it's used at the right times as well. The voice acting for the English dub is once again wire tight working well for dramatic and hair raising moments alike. The profanity is rolled on thick as usual too. Brad Swaile as Rock stands out again having good chemistry with everyone from the gun toting Revy played by Maryke Hendrikse, to the capoeria fighter Fabiola played by Shannon Chan-Kent.

Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail is definitely worth an anime fan's time. If you saw the previous seasons then give this a shot as well, but expect something a bit different yet not very much. If you haven't seen any of the series I suggest starting from the beginning.

Highs: Well developed story line and outstanding visuals

Lows: More dialog heavy than previous seasons, pacing issues for some

Roanapur is in a state of panic. There are rumours that Roberta, the killer maid from season 1, is back, mentally unstable and out for revenge. To make it worse hot on her heels is the US Army and FARC who are hell bent on putting the Bloodhound down for good. Who can stop her and stop the US Army putting Roanapur's criminal enterprises out of business, Hotel Moscow, the Triad, Colombians or Mafia?

The rumours are true and begins a brutal blood path in which even Roanapur's finest killers are unable survive in.

Roberta's Blood Trail feels like the Black Lagoon the producers wanted to make ... before they had to tone it down for TV. To be honest some of the violence and Roberta's madness is over the top and some of the humour is sacrificed for more violence. However, there is enough left to make Roberta's Blood Trail enjoyable for most Black Lagoon Fans.

For an OAV Roberta is the perfect subject. With her there is enough back story to create something special and give what the public want. There also are several interesting moments in the OAV. For instance, we're able to see what made Revy the way she is, giving Black Lagoon a fitting send off.

Unfortunately the ending doesn't live up to the promise of the beginning. Seeing the whole of Roanapur in turmoil is one of the best part of the Black Lagoon franchise. Seeing Roberta's Blood Trail end in over the top violence is not.

As great as Roberta's Blood Trail is, if more work was done to the story rather than the violence it could have been a masterpiece rather falling short at the end.

Dear God. This was amazing. It's one step up from the second season of Black Lagoon, Bringing Black Lagoon to the top of my favorite anime list. Now lets get into this review. There will be a few spoilers, so consider yourself warned.

The bad. I loved Roberta's character, though one thing bothered me. She shoots her sniper rifles one handed and side ways (I loved that aspect), she can survive nearly 20 RPGs shot directly at her, hitting her (Again, that was cool), and she comes out without even a scratch on her. But she doesn't get out of a jungle, where she has the ... advantage, without loosing a few fingers on one hand, and a whole hand on the other arm. I get that it might be a metaphor for her falling apart and turning to insanity. But still, she has gone through so much more without getting even a scratch. I've noticed that the simplest things tend to harm her the most, such as Revy's fists in a fair fist fight, or lower caliber guns in a jungle setting. I also felt that this OVA would have been better as a full length, 2 hour and 30 minute long, movie rather than an OVA.

Now onto the good. Well, first is Roberta's character in this one. I love the haunting voice that she pulls out when she wants to scare her victims shitless, she has made it onto might top ten Femme fetale list, and my top then most terrifying anime characters list, hell, most terrifying fiction characters list. Right below Hannibal Lector. The fact that she is smart enough to use her body to trick her opponent and using a belt buckle gun as a weapon was genius. She also so damn badass, who else shoots 50 caliber sniper rifles one handed, who else can punch chainsaws and completely destroy them, who else can punch through somebodies skull (Other than Mike Tyson). Well, moving away from my rave on Roberta, I also want to mention the soundtrack, there was only an edited version of the original opening for the opening credits, but the edits did suit this OVA. Then using that military marching songs at the end made it feel like a war was being fought. The art was amazing like always, the character development was amazing with all the characters, and the story of this arc was amazing.

Final Verdict:
Watch the second season first as they reference the final arc of the second season quite a bit and it would be confusing other wise. But the creators of Black Lagoon keep on bringing out better and better seasons.

I've talked about Black Lagoon once before. For those of you who don't remember, it's an action series about a group of mercenaries. Dutch (who wears sunglasses at night), Revy (who shoots everything), Benny (who does machines) & Rock (the rookie). The first series aired in 2006. This OVA was released in 2010-2011. Judging by the title, we can safely say it puts the focus on the killer maid. So, let's look at Roberta's Blood Trail and see if it's as good as the first series of the anime was. Please tell me it also has an absurd engrish theme tune.

Story:

We open with a political ... event in Venezuela. Naturally, the United States can't stand not interfering with South American politics, and they bomb it. This results in several people, including Roberta's master, dying. She swears revenge and disappears from the mansion, taking a big gun from her lord. This prompts her young master to go after her with another maid. The trail takes them to Roanapur where they solicit the help of the Lagoon Company to find her and bring her back safely. Can they save Roberta and when will America stop bullying small South & Central American nations? Possibly and only when Trump's ill-conceived tax plan gets them so far in debt they can't afford to be dicks.

The biggest problem with the OVA is that there's a lot of time spent on set up. Black Lagoon has never been a series with particularly strong writing. It works by quickly setting up a situation and then giving you some stupidly awesome action. That's where it shines. Having long segments of Rock playing strategist or of Roanapur politics isn't particularly compelling. Nor is the planning on display very good. It's one of those scenarios where he basically knows exactly what's going to happen and what he needs to do because he read ahead in the script and not because of any actual cleverness. The politics aren't exactly robust either. A lot of it is X owes Y a favour because of Z or group D thinks E because of some really shallow reason. And I do understand that it's Black Lagoon, it's not supposed to be complex or clever. My issue is that they're wasting large chunks of time putting on a thin façade of cleverness and complexity and the segments are boring. It's also a little odd that they include flashbacks of events from Revy's past that we already knew everything we needed to know about. It's like their only purpose is to pad out the whole thing.

I will credit the OVA for having a strong sense of tension. It builds suspense off of what's going to happen to Roberta and whether or not she can be saved. The OVA does do a really good job of illustrating exactly what obstacles she's facing and how daunting they are. The segments showing her descent are really effective. It's definitely at its best when it keeps the focus on Roberta.

Characters:

The OVA gives us more of the Lagoon company but the main character focus is on Roberta, the things she's been through and how they've impacted her. Which serves to make her a really compelling character. It also tries to illustrate how much Rock's grown as a member of the Lagoon Company via all of those bland “strategy” scenes and by having a conversation where he talks to Revy about what he hopes to accomplish. That aspect works significantly less well due to the aforementioned problems with those scenes.

Art:

Black Lagoon is one of those series that illustrates just how good Madhouse's art can be. The lighting works really well. It can be a little dark at times, but it's never excessive. The action sequences are excellent. The various guns and backgrounds look really good.

Sound:

There are some really strong performances in this. Toyoguchi Megumi is as good as ever. Namikawa Daisuke does his role well. Tomizawa Michie, Ikura Kazue & Yukino Satsuki are amazing. The opening theme tune is a remix of the series' regular theme and, unfortunately, one that isn't very good. Aside from that, the music is nicely done and quite good.

Ho-yay:

There's a lack of ho-yay in this series. Not that there's much romance whatsoever.

Final Thoughts:

The biggest issue with Roberta's Blood Trail is that it has some long, dull scenes that don't convey what they're trying to very well. However, when it keeps the focus on Roberta, those who consider her family and their situation it's pretty damn great. It might not be at the level of the first series, but it still manages to be a good viewing experience. Next week I'll review Flying Witch.

Here's a summary for all the hectic folk with not enough attention span to read something longer than two sentences -
Story: 9 ; Art: 10 ; Sound: 9 ; Characters: 9 ; Enjoyment: 10 ; Overall: 10
Best girl: Roberta (obviously)

Still here? Great.

Black Lagoon in general is an exciting thriller, revolving around a group of pirates and their "wacky" adventures in the South Asian seas. This OVA is a sequеl, exploring the vibrant story of the beloved Terminator maid Roberta and aims to be a more fulfilling (temporary, because the manga is still ongoing) ending to the overarching story of these series. And boy, ... does it deliver!
Now, I'm sure you're at least slightly familiar with the content at hand and what you really want to know is if it is good or bad. Well, there is just one answer really:
IT'S GREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAT!

Roberta's Blood Trail's story is flawed, but its awesomeness and badassness cover the holes to a great extend. With a well-executed pacing and engaging themes, this OVA stands out from even its own parent series. There is a great flowing contrast as well - whenever you get "the feels" from all the nihilistic and depressing events (and let me tell ya, this anime has plenty), there is always a fun over-the-top action scene to cheer you up. If you like movies like Pulp Fiction and Seven (there really isn't an adequate anime comparison that I'm aware of, except Jormungand, which was inspired from Black Lagoon) you will have a great ride with this 5-episode OVA.

What about the art you ask? The art is stellar. Unlike in the original series, there are almost no bad quality shots. The attention to detail is astonishing - plenty of the scenes are wallpaper-worthy and flow pleasantly for the eye. The baby "anime eyes" (you know what I'm talking about) have been completely replaced by a fitting seinen-like style and the character art have been given a more gritty-realistic feel to them, putting some of the recent "serious" anime to shame. In short, there is plenty to love and little to hate so far.

Now, the sound - while the OP was cool and the ED - great - didn't seem to leave that much of impact. If fact, I can't come up with a single OST from the top of my mind, unlike with something from Evangelion for example. Still, not been as good as Eva is something most anime suffer from, so it doesn't mean it sounded bad. MELL managed to pull quite the tunes at times and I doubt the soundtrack is essential for the overall enjoyment.

For a character-oriented story, Roberta's Blood Trail and Black Lagoon in general suffers from the Shirobako complex - putting too many characters and forgetting to develop them thoroughly. And yeah, in real life you don't get to know the entire backstory and character of a person from just meeting him twice. But I dislike the fact that the newcomer and wanna-be protagonist Fabiola has her personality explained in a few words in-between constant gunfire and dick-stabbing (you'll see), plus we got just a tad bit more information on Garcia which is a shame. Though some interesting characters from the previous series like Eda, Chang and of course - Roberta - get some great development in an unexpected directions.

With all that said, my personal enjoyment of the series was pretty high, surpassing Season 1 and 2 by a long shot. The main character Rock gets a surprising twist in his personality that honestly made him a lot more interesting for me and all the fucked-up crimes Roberta commits kept me on the edge of my seat for the entire run.
Overall, I'd recommend this OVA to both old and newcomers to the series, with the fans getting to enjoy more of the Black Lagoon experience. If you are faint of heart (or a pussy) this is not for you. But if you prepared for a bloody animated 90s thriller, then you will certainly get your money's worth!

PS: Watch it with dubs, they surprisingly better the overall experience with their constant swearing and Western pop-culture references.

So today I watched Black Lagoon Roberta's Blood Trail, it was good and left me wondering about myself and my own rage. Roberta's Blood Trail is an OVA which takes place directly after the end of Second Barrage.


It tells the tail of the aftermath of a NSA assassination which took out Roberta's master. Now if you have seen the original series you will know that Roberta would have killed everyone in Roanaper if it meant saving her master and his child. With the master dead, she goes after the NSA which have taken up residence in Roanapur for a little while. Garcia and another maid ... end up coming to warn them, what ensues is Rock becoming Light Yagami/Lelouch. He ends up figuring everything out by the 2nd episode and the rest is just him conducting his orchestra from the shadows.


Roberta is hyped up on meds and goes on a complete rampage. Annihilating all that stand in her way, not having qualms about how to kill them. She even seduces the guy that wants her to come to Cuba and she ends up using that to kill him. It is a brutal blood bath with some surprising tactics that are used in order to cause as little damage as possible. Overall it turned out to be a game of trying to figure out what will happen next and seeing fairly innocent people witness the cold hearted brutality of most of the people of Roanapur.


Really this OVA is more of the blood soaked goodness of the original series, fan service for the Gib freaks that we are. So watch this when you just feel like watching psychopaths go on rampages and try to kill each-other.


Ratings:

Story: (new category) 6 It is mainly meant to be fan service for previous fans and thus doesn't have the best story around

Animation: 8 It looked great, but what do you expect from madhouse, hardcore gun action

Characters: 7 No real qualms, they aren't deep characters, they are characters who shoot people; end of story

Sound: 7 It works all throughout, the opening track is not so good in this one as the original Mell opening was great and memorable and this just remixes it

Enjoyment: 7 Honestly I didn't enjoy this as much as the original show, it was good, but felt like some of the humor was lost in this OVA

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Overall: 7 If you enjoy Black Lagoon watch this, if not skip it cuz this is just a minor extension of the show





This post was origionally started May 5, 2015 but remained unposted due to events in my life.

Black Lagoon Season 3, Roberta's Blood Trail

Quick Review with no large spoilers, small details may be exposed though:
Here the crew is back, with a focus on Roberta and her master, and a plan that Rock makes up to achieve his goals. The story is a direct focus and has a singular arc involving Rock and his plans, that does a pretty good job explaining characters in the show and how much of a mastermind Rock really is with his time and concentration. Pretty good character development in this 5 episode OVA, it shows the drain of the characters and the intensity they deal with when ... they encounter problems.

Overall it is a great watch, hopefully the next season of Black Lagoon soon, the studio almost has enough to use for a season 4!

if you enjoy my review don't be hesitant to press that helpful button!

Black Lagoon Roberta's blood trail: a massive disappointment


There were many parts to this story that were super compelling: the 2 main being, well, obviously, Roberta, and Rock.

here, Rock was shown to be a criminal mastermind of sorts, forging a plan apparently so sinister and unpredictable that even career criminals like Dutch and Revi were getting pretty afraid of. This, in my opinion, is a great characterisation for a character like Rock, and was also built up quite well throughout the series, and here he fully embraces his criminal instincts, even using kids as mere pawns. However, by the end it devolves into absolutely nothing. It ... makes the viewer feel incredibly cheated.

Kind of similar with Roberta, but a lot less aggregious. Roberta as a villain this arc was mindblowing. The sheer craziness and badassery she pulls off in this arc is second to none. Initially shown in the show to be very soft spoken but deadly when she needs to, here she just becomes completely unhinged and insane: almost to brutish levels. This particular arc has a lot of violence: and I personally love it. It really gives a sense of sheer horror when she is around

The main issue here is that nothing really happens in the end: the repercussions of such a large scale attack like that seem to be mid. It just left me wanting a lot more: 4/10