Bai Ji-Shin Chang

Rokuro Okajima

Kageyama

Benny

Revy

Verrocchio

Luak

Garcia Lovelace

Roberta Cisneros

Dutch

Wentzel Ahbe

Leigharch

Spielberger

Balalaika

Rowan Pidgeon

Shenhua

Fritz Stanford

Ratchman

Boris

The Captain

Abrego

Lord Alfred

Chin

Okajima Rokuro is a Japanese businessman in a town full of Japanese businessmen. His normal day consists of social drinking with clients and being kicked around by his bosses. He finally gets a break though, as he's sent by his company to the tropical seas of Eastern China to deliver a disc. But his boat gets hijacked by a band of mercenaries hired to retrieve the disc. Rock (as he is newly dubbed by his captors) catches the interest of the only female merc Revy as she thinks he's worth a ransom, taking him hostage. However, the disc that was stolen has a terrible secret that's unknown to Rock, which causes massive confusion and chaos for both him and his kidnappers.

First of all, I want to make one thing clear. This show is fantastic, but it's definitely NOT for everyone. If you can't handle over-the-top ultra-violence, common sense dictates you won't like this show very much. I have a couple of friends that fall into that category and since I wouldn't recommend this show to any of them, I can't recommend it to you either. However, if you do like some gore in your anime, you've hit the jackpot by stumbling across this amazing gem.

Black Lagoon explores the harsh reality of the world we live in. It’s not fantasy or sci-fi, in fact, it doesn’t feel fictional at all. I can legitimately see this story happening in real life, so I kind of feel bad for finding it so entertaining. It's no surprise it's maintained such an enduring reputation, even after all these years. Even regarding the base premise, the show presents something fresh and exciting as it follows a rag-tag group of smugglers that terrorize the southern Asian coasts, offering plenty of unique villains to cross with.

img800(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e0/ae/54/e0ae54774ce9dbff3c41f4af595391ff.jpg)

Black Lagoon opens in the middle of the action, with the protagonist Rokuro Okajima aka "Rock" stranded on a boat with two guns in his face. Having been snagged as the courier middleman in a backroom deal of his uncaring corporate overlords, Rock finds himself marooned in the south China sea, hitching a ride with pirates as his old company hires mercenaries to retrieve his cargo at all costs. Therefore, Rock quickly realizes his company intends to leave him for dead. Upon seeing a kind of mad freedom in the way his new pirate acquaintances live their lives, he ultimately decides to stay with his former captors. And so Rock joins their captain Dutch, the mechanic Bennie, and the psychotic gunman “Two-Hands” Revy on their gritty adventures, stealing loot and transporting contraband and occasionally running up against some less than savory individuals of the criminal underworld.

img800(https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/lagooncompany/images/9/91/Black_Lagoon_C.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130714125818)

Black Lagoon plays out as a series of multi-episode arcs, whether it be a heist or a gang war, or even a death-match between Revy and a terminator-esque housemaid named Roberta. No, I'm not kidding about that. The crew also comes across a ship full of actual Neo-Nazis at one point too. Things are never simple for the Lagoon company as you'll soon see, since basically every job they take inevitably devolves into a complete shit-show. Though Black Lagoon is full of details alluding to the various characters' tragic pasts and grudges, violent absurdity tends to be a prominent trait of the show's run. How much you'll enjoy this material will ride very heavily on your appreciation for over-the-top ultra-violence as I mentioned at the beginning of the review.

If you do enjoy that sort of stuff, Black Lagoon is insanely good at it. The show will occasionally build up an action duel in a way that feels a little drawn out, but most of the time scenes charge forward at breakneck speed, varying perspectives and introducing new variables and keeping the audience from ever getting bored. Stories here aren't just a series of direct battles - there are thrilling escapes, high-stakes negotiations, well-laid traps, and all manner of other compelling turns. From the settings to the villains involved to the narrative structure, Black Lagoon rarely uses any dramatic trick twice.

img800(https://somereviewsite.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/1000px-black_lagoon_e10.jpg)

Personally, my favorite aspect of the show is definitely the love-hate dynamic between Revy and Rock. Ever since the very beginning of the show, Revy has always been portrayed as a ruthless and sadistic killer, with little to no conscience to stop her from making poor decisions. Rock, on the other hand, was always a bleeding heart, who ultimately still cares about others despite the hardships he's forced to deal with over the course of the series. Because of this, Rock is forced play the role as mediator whenever Revy goes off the rails, much to her displeasure. Rock's overwhelming urge to find a diplomatic approach to any given crisis is why Revy can't stop herself from trying to kill him every five minutes. Eventually, their relationship grows and they obtain a mutual respect and admiration for one another and that journey is truly fascinating to watch.

img800(https://i.ibb.co/1zHBxBY/rock-and-revy.png)

Overall, this show is an easy recommendation for anyone who enjoys some good old-fashioned gore, and even offers some fun for those who just love to watch a thrilling adventure in the making. By the end, I can safely say that I was firmly on board with the whole production. If wild action is your scene, Black Lagoon is more than worthy of your time.

Black Lagoon was one of the first few anime I had heard about when first getting into the medium as it was (and still is) considered a classic series. One of the aspects that stood out to me before watching it was it's dub after seeing many clips. The profanity was a massive draw as most anime don't dub in a crazy amount of swearing. After reading the synopsis, seeing the massive amount of praise and it's status as a legendary action anime I went in with high expectations. And after finishing the first season of this series, can I say that it lives up to those lofty heights? Unfortunately, no, but that doesn't mean that I can't recommend this series still in 2020.

Black Lagoon's draw comes from its promise of balls to the wall action with a light tone and plenty of swearing. And for the most part, it delivers. Whenever there is action it's fantastic. The gun fights are kinetic with a great sense of style and ferocity in its animation. There's even some great boat chases early on in the series that were a great time. The biggest problem however is the rate at which this show decides to have cool action scenes. For a show like this to work well, at least one per episode would be enough to keep the viewer constantly entertained but for a fair few episodes this season it does not hit that quota, even when there are many opportunities for it to. Now I don't want to sound whiny because it was obviously to conserve budget and because they couldn't adapt every exciting part of the manga into every episode but the amount of uninteresting dialogue kills the momentum of many episodes, especially early on. Honestly, this show is fairly average but with the added bonus of the great action scenes it is elevated. Of course, judging a show purely on its action is absurd especially when the main sources of entertainment for me come from the characters, namely Rock and Revy. 

Rock is a great lead and acts as the perfect straight man for the group but Revy really steals the show for me (and many others). She’s crass, crazy and a total bitch and I love every second she’s on screen. She’s the perfect nutcase character because of how much life she brings to an otherwise standard show. She works well even in serious moments, which is another compliment I have to give this show. It’s ability to go from batshit insanity one second to a more melancholic, contemplative tone works very well in its favor when dealing with its more interesting characters. Not every show can pull that off well and Black Lagoon stands as one of the more successful ones. The best example of this in Black Lagoon isn’t even in this season, actually the first three episodes of The Second Barrage which is so far my favorite part of this show (along with Roberta’s arc in Season 1). 

So, this review, like Revy, has been pretty bipolar so far so I want to finish by saying that this is a good show that I wholeheartedly recommend to anyone that’s interested but still did disappoint me by inconsistent nature to keep me entertained. Most arcs this season are honestly pretty average, only Roberta’s arc being a notable standout as it’s easily the highlight of this season. Thankfully, despite how middling some of the early stuff is, the cast more than makes up for any major misgivings. Revy is a lovable nutcase and Rock provides some great leverage to the insanity that happens on-screen. The show is also beautiful to look at as well, holding up stylistically better than some anime that came out even this year. A lot of passion went into this anime and you can definitely tell in how well it’s crafted from scene to scene. Wow, this review really is bipolar. I hope this review helps articulate my thoughts on this show because the problems I have with it don’t seem large but definitely affected my overall enjoyment so I’m interested if anyone else had a similar experience. If so, feel free to message me. If you love this show and aren’t happy with this review, contact me as well and maybe you can change my mind on some of my issues. Overall, this is a good show that I recommend but it’s legendary status might be a little outdated now. I wouldn’t call this show a must-watch but it is a good time if you know what you’re in for. Watch it dubbed as well, the voice acting is great and the profanity adds a lot to the pulpy, ultra-violent action that this show is known for.

Not quite the action spectacle I wanted, but still a fun time nonetheless

Definitely not what I expected.  At a high level, the story follows a jaded Japanese businessman as he abandons his old world to become a courier/pirate with the people who kidnapped him.  I say that, but really that's not true.  Shortly after the plot kicks off, the story settles into a rhythm and changes from that initial idea, instead focusing on the crew as a whole as it engages in various episodic scenarios.  Rock quickly finds his place as part of the crew, despite his relative newness to the occupation. Eventually he stops feeling like a protagonist and becomes just another part of the cast; the focus is often elsewhere.  These scenarios are generally interesting and fun, pitting the crew against dangerous people and roping them into deeper trouble the more they go.  

I wouldn't say the plot is quite episodic, but generally once one problem is resolved, the next episode pops the crew over to some new group of unrelated people with some other problem to solve, so you get a similar experience; there's no overall plot really, just a series of unrelated jobs.  Personally i don't usually care for episodic plots, but it works alright for this anime, and in a way reinforces the theme of not getting attached in this line of work.  There's just a lot of loose ends; for example, early on there's a plot device of a cd containing nuclear designs that is never relevant again after that episode.  This is not an anime to watch if you're looking for a overarching narrative.

I think the characters are really well done, and when the show chooses to spend time on them they're fun to watch.  Rock starts out as this mellow businessman but quickly starts to assert himself and shows that his cool and level-headed thinking is a boon to the crew.  Revy's past is pretty interesting, especially how self-aware she is of it and the person it's turned her into, and her tendencies to play the part of the tormented heroine when it suits her is even called out and I love that, because that's a realistic way that people handle being a bad person that you don't see too often.  Dutch and especially Benny don't get much focus, but when they're on screen they have great chemistry with the crew and their various criminal associates.  It's fun watching them talk and cajole around.  

My only wish is that the show spent more time and dug a little deeper into its characters.  It seems clear that the show is more focused on the scenarios and criminal organizations than the main cast once they're established, with most of the screentime going to big gunfights and providing characterization to the villains and allies surrounding them.  It's not necessarily a bad thing if you enjoy those aspects, but I just enjoyed the main cast a lot and wish there was a little more development between them than the 'business as usual' banter that fills the rest of the show.  Most of the bond between Revy and Rock, for example, seems to just happen gradually or off-camera after a certain point.  On the other hand, the baddies get unusually deep characterization and should be applauded for that.  Considering how fast some of them die, it definitely helps prevent them from becoming forgetable.  

It's Madhouse, so of course the animation is good.  Not a lot of 'wow' shows but everything is fluid and cleanly drawn, and the art style is also refreshing.  Everyone has this certain heft to them that make them feel a bit more grounded than your more typical anime characters.  

The only thing I can't quite wrap my head around is the ||Plot-armored terminator maid and Dragonball-Z-like fight between her and Revy towards the end of the season.  For a show that seemed to go out of it's way to be a fairly grounded and realistic show about south-china pirates, it feels pretty out of place to me.  Maybe I can chalk it up to being a product of the 2000's, dunno.||

Curious to see how things develop in the second season.  Overall it was a fun action flick that didn't overstay it's welcome.

Detailed if occasionally disjointed story held together by characters that deserve more.

With a genre that deals with many action set-pieces, a show of this specific genre is usually bogged down into mindless entertainment territory with absolutely no substance to it at all. There have been in the past many action films and TV shows that have shown to become competent in the history of film-making, examples in mind are the works of John Woo, Michael Mann, and Quentin Tarantino. But what if I told you that there is an anime show that encompasses everything that is great about those three directors and succeeds on every possible level? The show in question is Black Lagoon, a show that showcases a blend of mindless Hollywood action and juvenile humor in the best possible sense of the word juvenile.

Black Lagoon's story mainly focuses on our four main characters and their adventures together through plot arcs that tie in through the chemistry that helps make them grow with each other. There isn't a deep, complex plot. It's about as cliché as any Seinen action show in the past decade. That may seem like a negative when you put it that way, but sometimes they are used to good effect when you have competent writing to flesh out your characters and set-pieces. Black Lagoon is a definite exception to this rule; it pulls off even the most ridiculous plot arcs that could easily be looked at with eye rolls and a laughable premise. One glorious example is just how dark and witty the dialogue writing is that it hits the mark on every scene it creates within the show's framework. It gives Black Lagoon a spark of creativity in its witty black humor that makes its unique personality deviate itself from other shows like it in terms of writing. It never gets old because it's not repetitive in how it's delivered by the characters sparingly and not done on almost every scene in each episode. It makes the jokes work more effectively with clarity and sensibility.

When you talk about the characters in Black Lagoon, the one character you must acknowledge the most is the one and only Revy. She's the prototypical "girl with guns" character that spouts off adolescent language and a dark past that shadows over the overall tone of the show to not only become a dark comedy but a dark one altogether. So how is Revy different from any other female character in a "girls with guns" show? She does have similar characteristics that could be pointed out as being standard or generic to other characters like her. But it's because Revy is Black Lagoon. Her presence in the world of the show is very charismatic and alluring. It demands your attention by not only her design, which is by far one of the sexiest I've seen in a long time, but by her character background and her hilarious dialogue. As I said before about the writing, the writers give Revy a ton of material to shine on-screen when she goes into these well-put-together action scenes and her funny, snarky remarks at any of the characters. There is even a Tarantino kind of quality to her where she is this sick woman who only cares for money and violence. Still, she's also portrayed in a sympathetic light when she explains why her mentality is the way it is from her troubled past. They don't necessarily go in too much further this season, but it is a high starting point to a fantastic character.

With Revy out of the way, the other characters may not have as much depth or even characterization as our larger-than-life heroine, but that certainly does not mean that they are wrong in any way, shape, or form. Our main hero, nicknamed Rock, does have some of the same levels of charisma as Revy, and how he doesn't come across as a weak-willed character as most characters of his archetype typically are. It isn't as if Revy's presence overshadows his own because he doesn't have much personality. Rock carries the show by himself quite well and even together with Revy. The chemistry between the two is unique in how they always are at odds because of how different they follow life. In the end, they still view each as part of a team, whether they want to or not. No scene involves them immediately becoming friends overnight, the show takes its time to build them up as a team that has to trust each other, or they might end up in a bad situation. It's written intelligently by this very fact. The two other people in the group, named Dutch and Benny, aren't given much to go around as complex characters, but this does not automatically make them evil characters. What little background they bring to the table for them is still much appreciated in how they even offer some great scenes with each other.

The antagonists are hit and miss in how little depth some of them have when they seem. One, in particular, involves an army of Aryan neo-nazis that look more like fodder characters that don't get a lot of deep characterization. While I can forgive it, given how it's portrayed in an action show,  it would've been more than it already was. The one that does hit the mark is a Roberta maid who is given some context for her intentions in being who she is. Despite her strange Terminator-like persona, the show handles it very well, which wasn't given much explanation. Then again, the show is nutty enough to let it pass as just another Black Lagoon style of logic put in for good measure.

For the animation style that Madhouse put together back in their swell days, it still definitely holds up as a great visual treat. As I've mentioned in the beginning, the action scenes are done with absolutely fantastic visual flair and technicality inspired by John Woo's works. Although not perfectly seamless in how slick the characters move, it is spectacular to see how the animators put their hearts and souls to not cut any corners whatsoever in detailing every aspect of Revy and the rest of the environment on her sights gun. The violence and carnage in Black Lagoon are not necessarily as gory or blood-splattering as many would argue. There is no question that it celebrates its slaughter, but it's not done in a way that is so blatant or in-your-face that it gets tedious or loses its momentum in how effective each shot counts. Some do fit in that class, but for the most part, it handles its violence with admirable precision and intelligence that make every scene brimming with fascinating acts of carnage that is more exciting to watch than just rolling your eyes in boredom. There are even some neo-noir elements in the case of how it handles the violence and how it cuts immediately away from Revy shooting a man in the head at close range. The show has some great camera angles that make the scenes have a profound impact on them.

The music is about what you would expect from an action show like Black Lagoon. Traditional rock and metal music that isn't very memorable to even try to buy an album for since it's just there to fill up the show's audio production and nothing more, not to mention the shooting and the characters shouting over the music doesn't help either. It does its job well to create a fun dark humorous vibe to the action scenes. However, the voice acting makes the dialogue spice up to new heights. I've only listened to the Japanese voice actors in Black Lagoon, and they all own their roles. The one to mention the rest is Megumi Toyoguchi, who does a helluva performance as Revy by giving her a tremendous sarcastic essence to her voice, making her so alluring and almost sexual. It fits the design of Revy so perfectly that Megumi almost becomes Revy just through her voice alone. Daisuke Namikawa, as usual, does an excellent job voicing Rock and doesn't seem like a novice compared to Megumi's performance, as do the rest of the cast members, with some that aren't noteworthy to discuss.

Black Lagoon is about as silly and stupid as one could get out of an action show that would even make Steven Seagal blush. Not that Black Lagoon quality-wise is comparable to his films, just from a contextual point-of-view. Stupid is usually used to describe something without context or substance when relating a story or character in any medium, but if the show is self-aware of the fact that it is and takes advantage of this aspect. Some genuinely serious moments are found in Black Lagoon, even though they effectively achieve the dark tone that it is known for. Even with that said, it isn't out-of-place or distracting from the show's humor because the narrative's pacing is excellent. All of these make Black Lagoon easily one of the most entertaining and hard-hitting action anime. It treats its audience as grown adults and creates some of the most well-choreographed action courtesy of Madhouse, one terrible aiming lousy guy at a time.

Grade: A

If Tarantino decided to make an action anime, in the best possible way.

Black Lagoon
[Full Review]
MADHOUSE
Objective Score: 9
Personal Score: 9
Season 1 (12) & 2 (12) + Roberta's Blood Trail (5)
Times Watched: 1
Action, Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Awards: Seal of Approval
Recent Changes: n/a
There are few anime with the level of blood, gore, violence, and shear ferocity as Black Lagoon, and the only anime I've seen where the main character doesn’t stay good throughout the entire series.  The story of Black Lagoon is comprised of several small stories that follow the crew of the Black Lagoon as they try and carve out a life for themselves in the lawless land of Roanapur and the treacherous waters that surround it.  Not only are these stories pretty tightly written, but are chock full of brutal and bloody action scenes.  Like I stated previously, this show is insane.  There is a lot of blood and gore in fight scenes, but we also get to see the madness that such carnage brings upon the characters, and this is one of the best parts of the show.  This leads into one of the core themes of the show that I don’t believe any other anime has accomplished this well; that freedom isn’t free.  The gang of the Black Lagoon are constantly fighting just to survive, and while it’s fun to watch them fight, it also helps drive home the desire to be free in a land where that come with a heavy price.  The characters of Black Lagoon are surprisingly layered and complex.  Benny is the least fleshed out of the gang, but he still plays a vital role in the story and within the crew of the Black Lagoon itself.  Dutch is the collected brute of the gang with a history with the head of the Russian mob they get their orders from, and one of the few people that can sympathize with and calm down Revy.  Within the show, there are two standout characters: Revy and Rock.  Revy is the violent and wild gunslinger of the group, and while it’s entertaining to see her skills with a gun, it’s equally as enjoyable to watch her struggle with the life she has been forced to live; especially once she get’s close to Rock.  Speaking of Rock, he is one of the most interesting characters not just in the show, but in all of anime.  While Rock is not my favorite character from Black Lagoon, that title goes to Revy, it’s very interesting and honestly disheartening to see Rock’s fall from grace.  As the series progresses, Rock, the moral center of the group, slowly becomes more and more like Revy; deranged, unhinged, and sadistic, which is a character arc that very few go down.  The action in Black Lagoon is second to none.  Not only is it bloody and over-the-top, but is animated violently with brilliant and deep sound design that conveys the full weight behind every hit.  Coupled with smart storytelling, there is never a moment without some air of tension behind it.  If you liked the classic brutalness of 90’s and early 2000’s anime like Cowboy Bebop or Samurai Champloo, then Black Lagoon has you covered by being even more violent, bloody, and over-the-top with surprisingly grounded characters and tense plots that keep you wanting more.

There are few anime with the level of blood, gore, violence, and shear ferocity as Black Lagoon.

Black Lagoon Series Watch Order

Black Lagoon

Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage

Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail OVAs