Black Lagoon: Stuff We Like!! Quick Review & Commentary

High Octane Action, With Lively Charisma, Juicy Kicks & A lot of F*%# 
Black Lagoon (29 episodes 2 seasons + Ova) 7.89 out of ten

            I figured I shouldn't frequently post Q inductions all the time since by the time I'm finished with them since people will start to draw away since I'd only primarily be doing "Stuff we like" recommendations all the time. Also obviously people probably are looking more forward to my Q inductions rather than just series that I simply recommend or like. But hey, I don't want my readers to expect every post to be an induction, or to get addicted or used to that sense of "high all the time" So from here on out, I'm going to mix it up a lot more & so today, I'd figure that Black lagoon would be another good High octane action series to do some short commentary on.

Black Lagoon starts off with Rock, a Japanese businessman on the job, that sadly gets abandoned and left to the dust by his employers, left in the hands of pirates. After being introduced to the crew of the Black lagoon, he himself figures he'd join their ranks after witnessing the exciting action that they endure day to day. This series is one of the very first to start the 8 B trend (Bullets, Babes, Boobs, Butts, Booze, Blood, Blades and Bitches...8 B's..Bombs..9 B's) so please be advised that there is indeed mature content in this series containing mild nudity, blood and gore as well as mild language, so PG 14 content folks. Black Lagoon was initially released in 2002, so the animation is rather homey and has some vintage to it, particularly when you compare it to more modern works, personally I believe this has been done since and better (Jormungand) though this anime of course offers it's own unique characters and unique premise and after all I'm collector of all things media since I'm a whore for variety so, this one will definitely stay in my collection.

            With a 2002 anime comes analogue production techniques & this is clearly the case with Black Lagoon, so this anime is pretty much an earlier hybrid of both analogue instruments along with digital techniques. SFX and general sound info is also a little rough on the edges, is generic and definitely shows this productions age, even with a Blueray copy, this anime is still prone to these artifacts, this is a case of an anime that only recently translated into mixed hybrid uses of digital production techniques and proves to be a little rough on the edges, which can be seen as clunky and coy at times. Don't misunderstand me though, analogue productions can and have shown the potential to be beautiful, though for me, it's my preference to have mixed techniques, rather than a fully CG anime or a fully digital animated series, many production studios have found a nice balance between the two, in this case I feel they haven't fully adapted and become proficient with such means. Though yes this was released during the very early millennia so I can't be too critical of it's merits. Thankfully though, the more recent releases (Season two & Roberta's blood trail) seem to be handily better in terms of quality.

          More over to the characters though, we only get a meaningful glimpse of only a few characters, despite Dutch & Benny being a part of the Black Lagoon crew, they simply don't have enough individual screen time or meat to give them notable and worthy merit, they only have their use as supporting characters, which is quite sad since our main cast only consist of 4 members & two of them are already relegated to supporting chars. 

Now with Revy, thankfully we a least get a glimpse into her past and who she is, with Rock being the one to actually push that envelope and having a more confrontational relationship with her at times. 

Though sadly, I feel we still need more & the teasers we were given were simply not enough, though they were still interesting and deserved merit. 

We only get to see her feint memories and vague flashbacks of her abuse in Suburban New york and her broken family, but not much more.

I hope when this show breaks free from it's hiatus, that it'll come out with a big bang a give us that saucy and juicy meat we've been looking for, so wait we will.

Both Dubs are quite notable, the english dub is really quite popular as well, as some really enjoyed it's extra charisma and charm (with more F&#* !), though for me I'd probably slightly hand it to its original Japanese counterpart. My impression of it is that the Japanese dub adds slightly more of a sterner solemn tone to the characters, particularly our main two cast members (Rock & Revy). Despite enjoying the english dub a lot, at times the voice acting seemed to over exaggerated and coy, though respectfully, some may appreciate it's more charismatic and more wild way of expressing these characters.  

            The sad thing is, now with the "Roberta's Blood Trail" Ova's (which I'll consider regular episodes) we know far more about Roberta and her inner circle than we do then the main cast, which kind of speaks volumes of Black Lagoon's flaws, we were also given an arc within the main series that explains more of this as well, on the other hand we only got 2-3 episodes of mere mentions and flashbacks from both Revy and Rock's back story combined. Anyways moreover, I'm still satisfied with Rock as character, since he does push Revy's buttons, as intimidating as she is, we do get to see Revy's more caring side once in a while thanks to Rock. Seeing Rock's decent to the underworld & seeing Rock trying to help and save others from the world of crime is kind of refreshing to see, it's him trying to save individuals that still have hope of escaping this path of darkness and the corrupt world of Roanapur with it's abundance of criminal syndicates, gangs and mercs. It's his sense of idealism and perhaps his slightly naive outlook that's refreshing and it's this side that Revy worries about, worrying about him getting consumed by the darkness and being shattered by it, making her more protective of him, coming from someone who has blood on her own hands, experienced abuse and has witnessed the cruel makeshift wild west crime world that the coasts of south east Asia is. It also forces her to reevaluate and question her own morales. This is where some more confrontational scenes happen between the two.

           Thankfully, we do have some incredibly interesting side & supporting characters in the eco system of this show, such as Balalaika and her group of Russian mercenaries (with an interesting story), the Hong Kong Triad, other Roanapur mercs & gangsters and much more, like a shitload, which handily bandaids Black Lagoon's more obvious flaws providing some healthy variety along the way. This anime definitely has a little bit of a slower pace, I felt it had a more smoother, though slower transition through arcs in this series. Though yes, you do need to give this series 3-5 episodes till you start latching on, as it is a slow starter. The plot essentially flows like this, Revy and company sail around the south east dealing contraband, having scuffles and firefights with hostile entities and rivals while transporting goods or making deals and so on. So it follows quite a simple premise, somewhat akin to Jormungand, though less exciting, with slower pacing, though somewhat comfortable feeling. Black Lagoon itself doesn't have any over arching plot line, they simply transition job to job, that's where we are introduced to new faces and interesting situations. Weirdly though, without a sort of progressive motivation or plot, one can feel a little bit unmotivated or slow coming to watch each episode.

           With Black lagoon were given a nice solid amount of content, which it's pacing kind of reminds me of my homey days with Gintama or Bleach and serves high octane action with those handy 9 B's. Though over a decade later we do see some of it becoming more and more coy/cliché over time, of course though, I can still appreciate such an original with respect. If it's a charismatic lively kick you want for tonight, than Black Lagoon should be a series that you should add to your collection, especially since it's nicely re-watchable and easy to digest.

Highly Appreciated & Recommended (Will Be Placed On The Stuff We Like Page)