CHARACTER: 8/10
ART: 10/10
SOUND: 9/10
ENJOYMENT: 9/10
OVERALL: 7/10
!!Since there’s only a short gap between S1 and S2 of Black Lagoon, I am going to be reviewing both seasons here so Warning beforehand for any Accidental Spoilers!!
‘Black Lagoon’ captured my attention from Revy on the poster to good word of mouth. Not knowing what to make of the title or the poster, I was very surprised at what this anime turned out to be. Often criticized for copying ‘Cowboy Bebop’, I was a little concerned at first but this anime distinguishes itself with its world building and characters. Set to a dark yet realistic, cruel, cold, violent and brutal crime infested town that perfectly captures the last place you want to be in this R-rated world. This anime superbly holds nothing back and you get a load of hot girls wielding big guns and firing at everything and everyone! In fact, this anime is all about tits, ass, guns, explosions, cursing and badass chicks! You start with Okajima, leading a boring life who then gets kidnapped by the Lagoon company on a business trip. Upon realizing he’s been abandoned by his own company, he decides to join this group of renegades and gets the nickname ‘Rock’. Even though the anime lacks in story and the plot is pretty much the group doing different missions, it never bothers anyone since what you get is very entertaining to watch! This has some of the best Action scenes, so good that you can’t take your eyes off them! I mean why would I care about Story when I can get Revy killing a bunch of Nazi’s on a ship! The anime also doesn’t shy away from clichés like generic character traits or plot armour for the main characters during battle but it doesn’t matter! ‘Black Lagoon’ totally owns it by delivering non-stop Awesome Action and helps you forget the unrealism of it all.
This is also one of those rare shows where the Female characters not only KICK ASS but completely steal the show! You get a little bit of everything from the characters, with the weak MC who later grow balls to a Computer Geek, Samurai, Mafia, Cartels, Russians, Nazis, Crazy maids and nuns! I had a lot of fun with most of the characters but the Stand out is Revy by a large margin. This foul mouthed, gun blazing, sexy yet deadly Chinese version of Lara Croft is the most interesting character on the show. She’s the kind of woman who will kill anyone that gets in her way and then later drink at a bar as if nothing happened! Her use of the word ‘F***’ was always fun to hear and her ‘No Shit Given’ attitude propels her to the top of many people’s list of Badass female characters. Revy also comes across very sexy regardless of displaying no forms of seductiveness, I mean she rarely shows any sort of attraction to anyone! But those poses she takes while shooting just makes her unbelievably attractive and I for one couldn’t get her out of my head for a while! She’s also involved in a lively relationship with Rock that’s never clearly defined yet both display great chemistry with one another. In fact, Rock becomes more interesting after his interactions with Revy cause otherwise he’s the one who holds back, being the one with morals and integrity. He’s heavily overshadowed by Revy but I enjoyed him a lot too cause he showed tons of resilience for an amateur and even stared down the badass Revy by speaking his mind. Even under the threat of a gun, he was able to hold his ground. We even later see him starting to fit in with the rest of the group which was also to my liking. There are so many great supporting characters here so it’s hard to pick a favourite! You get the nuns from the church, Eda stands out due to her relationship with Revy. Then you have the freaking female terminator maid Roberta who’s insanely good with killing and tracking! Balalaika was another stand out female character, with her connections to the Russian military and the cold and smart demeanour with which she ran the place. She and her crew are responsible for some cool action scenes and I thoroughly enjoyed her arc in S2. Let’s not forget about Chang who’s a male badass in the show but unfortunately, we get very little of him. One nit-pick from my side is that the ladies go through their own tragic backstories, further developing their characters while guys were put to the side. The OVA even shed a glimpse into the past of Revy and you can then understand why she is the way she is but we get nothing for Dutch or Benny.
The OP is as badass as the anime itself, perfectly setting the mood for some hardcore action. For such a standard track, it doesn't warrant you singing along or anything but it definitely gets its job done by pumping up the action scenes. The good use of sound effects for the car chases and explosions further improved the overall effect of those set pieces. And then the dubbing, which is some top-notch stuff. I loved, loved and loved Hendrikse’s portrayal of Revy!!! She so perfectly embodied Revy’s voice with her masterful give and take choice of words and tone that puts the subs to shame! Plus, the characters of the show themselves aren’t Asian so the dubs gave an International feeling to the show which was required. Aside from great characters, we were also nursed with great dialogues, uncensored with profanity and energy! Finally, the animation here is excellent in both the character design and art work. The characters all have a uniqueness to them which’s strongly displayed throughout the show. I never felt like I was watching a generic villain of the week with a different hairstyle or clothing, they really felt different from one another. The highly-distinguished artwork on Revy mannerisms, movements and expressions is further proof of the amount of quality work that went into this anime. And let’s not forget about those action scenes! We have tons of them, ranging from fights on boats to ships to underwater submarine, car chases, bomb blasts and tons of gun battles! Despite so much variety of action, you are never bored with any of them for they are well choregraphed no matter how long they get!
If there’s any anime that can easily be turned into a live action movie, it’s this one! And Quentin Tarantino should direct it if the casting is well done. S1 focuses on the entire team doing many jobs, basically an intro to all characters while S2 dives deep into the politics and power play of the city and its players. Not a bad direction to venture off to but it came at the expense of the Lagoon team for we only get Rock and Revy. Also in S2 I didn’t like the changes with Revy at first. She’s a total badass in S1 but then she changes in S2, showing a cuter side of herself. She lost that edge of gun blazing insanity streak to her and started smiling more, she even started wearing a skirt and i felt like it was just fan service! I was also afraid they were going to just stick her into a girlfriend role with Rock in S2 but thankfully they further played upon the platonic relationship between those two. You could clearly see a more humane side to Revy, realizing theirs’s a sensitive side deep inside her despite all her ruthlessness. It’s also totally believable since Rock is slowly wearing her defences down and Revy is finding herself more relaxed and comfortable around Rock.
In conclusion, the anime has an unsatisfying ending! The story conveniently wraps up but we get NO Resolution from the characters which really pissed me off! I still enjoyed this violent and gritty take on crime mafia and the badass characters that run this city though I would have wished for a more complete ending. It’s still worth your time so check it out!
