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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Having reviewed the two halves that comprise Black Lagoon’s main series I feel it’s not necessary to go all out to reiterate what I’ve already said. Roberta’s Blood Trail exemplifies all the positive traits of Black Lagoon, creating a fun story, developing established characters, and letting the bullets fly. Rock’s further development into a conniving psychopath after the death of a girl he cared deeply about in the second season brings out the character the audience wanted him, yet did not want him, to be. His becoming this monster and Revy’s subsequent hate of what he’s become and distaste with the person she’s come to ... actually care about brings out a deeper side to her character and gives us the chance to delve deeper into what made her the way she is.

That being said, the main focus of this five episode arc, as the title suggests, is Roberta. She was an interesting and badass character in the first season that finally gets some more back story and is given the spotlight. Her boss is dead, she wants revenge, and so she gives up her quiet life as a maid to once again take up the gun and become the blood craving dog she once was. There was an interesting juxtaposition between these two lives in the first season that is further explored to greater depth here. Roberta’s insanity renders her unable to see things right and her dependence on drugs makes her unstoppable. Some of the fight scenes in this five episode series are ridiculously awesome because of this seemingly unkillable quality she possesses.

As far as a story arc goes, it holds up better than the last arc of Second Barrage and it definitely puts the focus on the right characters. The problems come with the needless fan service (shower scenes of our two “heroines”) and the animation seemed surprisingly mediocre.

If you liked Black Lagoon, you’ll love Roberta’s Blood Trail because it’s everything you want. It’s in no way perfect, but it is entertaining. And in the end, that’s what counts most.

Video Review of Black Lagoon as a whole here: https://youtu.be/DS0V83HPIu4

Black Lagoon wrapped up its second season in 2006, but four years down the road they switched to an OVA format for the next arc and over the course of about a year put out five expertly crafted pieces of animation that acted as a brilliant end cap to the franchise.

The family from the Maid to Kill arc of the first season is back and things have gone tits-up back home in Columbia. Vowing revenge for her master’s death, Roberta’s ... on a full-blown suicide mission to take down the elite CIA team that murdered her master. The Lovelace family contracts Black Lagoon (or more specifically, just Rock) to help hunt down their wayward maid servant/ terminator and things get crazy as hell from there. Hotel Moskow gets involved trying to settle a decade old grudge against the United States, Chang and the Triad try to settle everything down, not wanting to fumble the tentative peace and control they have over Roanapur, and all while our once quiet bashful Rock seeks to manipulate every single event from the shadows and play each side off the other.

This is beyond a shadow of a doubt the strongest of the three sections of Black Lagoon and it’s likely because it focuses on just one arc. There’s no bullshit., no filler, just an intricately detailed story with interesting characters all with their own conflicting emotions and motivations. If this arc doesn’t strike you with at least something then I think it’s safe to say that you just don’t have a pulse.

By the end of the second season Rock was starting to go off his rocker, admitting to Balalaika, that he’s just in this to see how much control he can have in a given situation. When the OVA series kicks off he’s full-blown maniacal at this point; pulling all-nighters trying to predict what each faction will do and gambling with the lives of those who trust him and innocent by-standers alike. By the end of the series, he’s a much the bad guy as any of the other shot-callers in Roanapur.

Rock’s transformation from nebbish office worker to callous puppet master is one of the strongest aspects of the entire franchise, and it’s sad that most people completely ignore it. Most people seem to ignore this philosophical and existential aspect of the show in favor of all the shooty-fun-stuff and the gun porn, and don’t get me wrong, there’s good reason too; it’s all top notch, but to see this show often written off as the aforementioned “Wizz-bang-shooty-fun” is doing it a massive disservice.

Ultimately, about Black Lagoon as a whole I would have to say everyone needs to give it a shot; if for no other reason than to just get to this arc. Yeah, it’s kind of niche with its crime/drama action-oriented story, filthy language, gun porn, and dark ominous existentialist philosophy flying around, but it has so many different facets to it that I think most viewers will find something here that they like or outright love. I might even go so far as to call it a cult classic and with the manga now ongoing again, hopefully we haven’t seen the last of this brilliant series that holds nothing back. Fingers crossed for a part four.

The Bloodhound lusts for revenge...

We're back with the Black Lagoon and Roberta has literally gone feral for bloodlust and shakes up Ronanpur to the point of the Russian, Columbian's & Hong Kong Triad and the Americans get mixed up in all this.

Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail by all accounts documents Roberta's "Blood Trails" aka. killing list for the revenge of his Master's father and though this OVA is dedicated to Roberta's rampage through Ronanpur, other players like LA aforementioned comes into the mix and plays a little game.

See after the incident in Tokyo, Rock has been in a rather deep stump as it were, unable ... to let that incident go, but with this new incoming hurricane shaking up Ronanpur, Rock gets into the actions, for more reasons than to stop Roberta's rampage, this is also due to the other players, Mr Chang and Balaliaka being the prime examples of all this. Mr Chang wanting to kill Roberta as it's his turf Roberta is playing with while Balalaika has stakes due to Roberta shaking up the Americans and thus in turn Balalaika ALSO wanting revenge against the Americans, so yeah to say that Roberta's rampage kicked the hornets nest that is Ronanpur is a frickin understatement that really just kicks this entire plot into gear.

Rock's development with all this is quite the odd but to be fair reasonable one, as he sinks into the dark underbelly of Ronanpur and tries to outwit Mr Chang, Balalaika and the Americans for Rock to win for once and he'll use ANYONE to get it, if there was a power spectrum change, then quite honestly it's Rock, switching it to HIM with the power while this time Revy becomes the spectator with the events that unfolds, also Revy and rock's relationship once again is rough to say the least with some of the banter that goes on, from the power struggle, perspective and one dragging the other or vice versa.

Roberta's development is more like a regression to say the least but in her motives alone though due to her aimless, bloodlustful focus on revenge, but she gets PLENTY of backstory about her both in motivations and her personal beliefs of her constant cleansing of her sins, though ironic since her rampage causes MANY deaths in the process, a sin she desperately wants to remove, to say that Roberta is not in the right of mind speaks volumes to how slipshod LA's explanations of Roberta is, but expected form a bloodhound out for base revenge.

With Roberta, her master Garcia as well as Fabiola gets some decent screentime as Garcia is probably the ONLY one to stop Roberta's rampage and with that Garcia goes through hell and back with the urban and gurrellia warfare battlefields he traverses to find and stop Roberta and he develops alongside Fabiola to see what a hellhole Ronanpur is but to see Rock's descent into it and Garcia growing as a Master as a result. Fabiola may seem like a satellite character and one of the newer characters form this OVA but she seems like a contrast to Revy with the interactions with her and she got the Black Lagoon out of some spots at times as well so she's not exactly a throwaway character either.

The animation once again done by MADHOUSE, well it's Black Lagoon's aesthetic all right with all the crazy gunfighting and the like we've seen but amped up in a ways, almost like a theatrical movie a la Rambo with how fluid and fast paced the action is. Character designs are of course up to standard as well as the backgrounding,. Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail being an OVA was actually the best thing due to how gory the animation does get and they don't do no censors here so if you get squeamish, well Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail goes there with that but to be honest it only enhances how batshit insane and visceral the action becomes in Black Lagoon. Madhouse did it again really.

Voice acting, well we have the entire cast back and that is just awesome, with the one new character worth a mention of Fabiola voiced by Satsuki Yukino was nonetheless blended well with the other voice cast really, major MVP's goes to Daisuke Namikawa as Rock and Michie Tomizawa as Roberta.

Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail is another great installment to the Black Lagoon series, fleshing out almost EVERYONE in the process, drastically upping the stakes for everyone if they win or not and this under the premise of one batshit insane bloodhound maid out for revenge and going even more insane in the process of it all and LA was invested and loved every moment of it.

Ronanpur does things to your head...

Before I begin this Review this is going to cover both seasons and the OVA no spoilers. lets start the review the story I thought it was a good the story follows a Japanese businessman named Rokurou Okajima and one day he gets kidnapped by a group of mercenaries or hired guns what will happen next. that is the story with out giving to much away next the action. the action in this anime was fucking great it was unrealistic but if your watching an anime i doubt your going for realism. next the most critical part of making this anime amazing and that is ... the characters no doubt the characters is what made this anime great with out the great characters I would of got bored and probably would of gave this anime an average rating at best the characters were great they had there own personality and they felt like they were actual people and not the cookie cutter characters like you see in a lot of anime. and each of the main characters had a really good backstory. overall the characters is what made this anime so great, next the art and sound I personally loved the art and the sound no problems there. next the negatives it was really hard for me to find negatives and believe me i am hard on anime if you dont believe me read my other reviews. but after thinking for 10 minutes there are only 2 things I can really think of the action in this anime was unrealistic I personally dont care about that because this is an anime but if you care that could be considered a negative and the last thing is the story progression the story really doesn't advance what you get in the first 5 episodes is all your really going to get as far as the story is concerned. Overall one of the best anime I have ever watched so far and I will say this it is important you watch both seasons and the Ova if you want more backstorys I dont really consider them different seasons I think its is just one big season if your curious about seeing what happens next the manga got picked up again last year the manga has 97 chapters on the day I am writing this all the seasons and the ova ends on chapter 76 it picks back up on chapter 77 if you want to read it. Overall great anime This is definitely on my rewatch list.

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.

Warning possible Spoilers

I think the thing that surprised me the most about this OVA series is that it was more intense and hectic compared to the first two seasons.

The story begins with the assassination of Garcia's father so Roberta goes on a mission to avenge his fathers death by finding the people who killed him which brings her to Roanapur, Garcia along with his new maid Fabiola asks the Lagoon crew for help to retrieve Roberta and bring her home.
What I really enjoyed with this part of the Black Lagoon series is that it starts off like another normal situation for the Lagoon crew, ... but even in 5 episodes the story paced incredibly well from turning into a hunt and into a massacre, it was intense, thrilling and goddamn suspenseful seeing Roberta killing anything in her path so she can accomplish her mission for avenging Garcia's father.
It felt even darker than the last series too the way people died was pretty damn gruesome and even some of the injuries that some of the characters attained was pretty messed up too especially for Roberta who lost quite a few body parts by the end of this show.

Once again the characters were as good as ever, the show certainly focused on Rock quite a bit once again since he is continuing with his internal battle of his morality and at some point the show even made him go to the dark side like the way Revy and the other criminals are mainly because he has become so used to the corruption and violence of Roanapur and it really brought out the terror in his character, but luckily he didn't stay that way forever.
The same can be said for Revy who's character had changed a lot in the second season was again changed further with the conversation that she had with Fabiola who said that Rock is someone she cares for because of his determination to help people and if he became like her she would lose that person she cared for which shows that Revy has changed a lot from the beginning of season 1 thanks to Rock.
You also get to see how messed up Roberta is and what this OVA showed was absolutely terrifying, she even use's pills just to make her stronger and more immune to pain which makes her go insane and delusional even seeing things that haunted her which even made her to believe at some point that Garcia wasn't even real which almost got him killed, Roberta can also be very creepily deceptive because she even tricked one of the enemies to have sex with her only to kill them with a special Gun belt so this OVA truly showed how much of a scarred, mentally unstable and deadly person she really was.
The show also focused on Garcia and the new maid Fabiola who is another deadly maid hell she stabbed a guy in the nuts with a shoe knife, but their combined effort to try and help Roberta showed they had heart and really cared for Roberta's well being and that meant even sacrificing themselves to get her back which almost did happen because Garcia took a bullet just to make her see straight again.
Again though Dutch, Benny and some of the other main criminals were put on the sidelines true it isn't about them, but it would be nice seeing them do something for once instead of being put aside.

The artstyle once again remained amazing, compared to the first two seasons it certainly increased the gore meter because like I said a lot the injuries or the way some people died was pretty damn gruesome especially when it came to Roberta's skills which definitely showed when she was fighting her enemies like for example during the final episode the ways she killed some of the American spec-ops guys was damn impressive and the injuries she sustained herself were pretty gruesome too.

The Action continued to blow me away the firefights that happened with Roberta and pretty much everyone around certainly turned into a war zone and I have to say well done because the gun battles in this OVA felt more thrilling and tense compared to the first two seasons which I have to give credit too. There was also a bit of fanservice in the mix too since we get to see both Revy and Roberta nude which probably gave the fans something nice to look at, I wasn't really bothered hell I enjoyed myself it just came out of nowhere for me.

Overall this was a great OVA and nicely continued the Black Lagoon story and hopefully one day there will be a season 3.....maybe, if you're someone who watched both seasons and is expecting hectic action then come and see this.

If you're not fully able to take on the weight of the world put on display here, that very much being the weight of our world, and the evils perpetuated in it; I wouldn't advise you to watch. But those who are will be able to enjoy the powderkeg set up for us in the prior two seasons. As the rot of Roanapur not so steadily reveals the kind of people and more specifically Rock turns out to be when they start to let go of the notion of pursuing people as ends versus means.

Roberta's Blood Trail is among the most tightly written and ... directed pieces I've seen within the medium, with naught even an ounce of fat to shave off. The viewer is kept locked in a state of tension wondering whose goals are or aren't possible to achieve, and thinking if one can do a truly good act within the city of the dead.