Black Lagoon: One of the Best Mature Action Anime

Main characters Revy and Rock

While on a business trip in Southeast Asia, Japanese businessman Rokurou Okajima is captured by mercenary company Black Lagoon to be used as a bargaining chip. However after being abandoned by his employers, Rokurou has no choice but to join his captors.

Black Lagoon is set in Roanapur, a fictional city in Thailand home to an international motley of criminal organizations. Crime is rampant and the police are corrupt. Rokurou, now nicknamed as "Rock", struggles to keep his values despite the nature of being a mercenary and the immoral city Roanapur that is his new home.

Black Lagoon consists of two seasons and an OVA series- Black Lagoon, Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage, and Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail- but they are functionally one entire season.


STORY

Black Lagoon's story is told in arcs, each arc focusing on a different job Black Lagoon takes up. It's mostly brainless fun involving big gunfights and heavy handed action movie physics, but you'd be damned to find someone who doesn't enjoy that every now and then. For example, the first arc's finale involves launching a ship off a ramp in order to fire its torpedos at an enemy helicopter (following video has no sound).

There is no overarching plot, but the real story of the show is that of Rock's journey as a mercenary in Black Lagoon. Can Rock's ideals survive in a world that requires you to be ruthless and amoral? Will Rock cling onto his old life or embrace his new one? Will he be able to save other people from the cesspool that is Roanapur? Those are the questions within the show that are explored.

While Black Lagoon's story is characterized by entertaining gunfights and badassery there are really powerful tragic moments which punctuate the story that highlight how the cruelty and darkness of the world has changed the characters. I enjoy these moments just as much as the action and it's a welcome change of tone every now and then.

SPOILER

For example:

EP5: The nihilism in Revy's speech to Rock inside the old submarine. We see how she has stripped everything of sentimental meaning- something that has been lost to her because of her rough childhood. Now the only thing left is her greed, the only thing that gives things any value is how much money they are worth.

EP15: The death of the female twin in the end of the vampire twins arc is shocking and tragic. But it can also be viewed as a release from the past that has shaped the twins into monsters, dying as she gazes into the blue sky she has longed to see.

EP24: Yukio, a girl who was born into a Yakuza family, has forced herself into thinking that she has an obligation to ensure her clan's survival, even tricking herself into believing she wants to be a criminal like them. Ultimately when her clan is crushed by Balalaika, she feels responsible for the deaths at her hands and commits suicide.
 

CHARACTERS

The crew of Black Lagoon: Benny, Rock, Revy, Dutch

The real stars of Black Lagoon are its two main characters Rock and Revy, another mercenary in the Black Lagoon company. It's their dynamic that is one of the best parts of the show. Rock and Revy are the antithesis of each other. Rock has no fighting capability, but his intellect allows him to negotiate himself out of hostile situations. Revy relies on her instincts and combat ability over words. Rock retains a sense of right and wrong, despising the criminal underworld that is Roanapur, but Revy has come to accept what she does for a living. They start on a rough note- both despising the other. But eventually they come to terms, even influencing each other, and watching that happen is very satisfying.

SPOILER

At the start of the story, Revy is very willing to kill Rock because of how he questions her immoral actions fueled by her greed for money- like when she loots the corpses in the submarine. She thinks that he has no right to question her because she had a rough upbringing. However after standing up for himself in episode 7, Rock shows Revy that both of them have been abused by people in power (the police who beat Revy versus the employers abandoning Rock) and they reach an understanding.

The characters grow closer to each other over the story, with Revy protecting Rock in volatile situations and being very possessive of him. Rock acknowledges that he needs Revy by likening her as the gun to his bullet. Even their influence begins to rub off on each other. Rock is willing to lie and manipulate in order to get what he wants (to save people from Roanapur), and even enjoys gambling with people's lives such as during Roberta's Blood Trail. Revy's trigger happy nature is kept under check by Rock. If I have any complaint, is that it's very obvious that Revy loves Rock romantically and damn they should've kissed.

An extra bit about Rock: I really liked the way Rock's character played out. I loved his resolve and his ability to standup to people who mock him like Revy and Balalaika. Even though he is unable to fight, he is a badass. I loved how he started being unable to save the vampire twins and Yukio, perhaps because he had not fully embraced Roanapur yet and was still clinging onto his normal life in Japan. Then when he embraces the darkness of Roanapur- when he starts to manipulate and lie to people and gamble with their lives then he is able to save them, which manifests in Roberta's Blood Trail. Perhaps he is not the honest Rock that we knew at the start of the story, but he's achieved his goal of being able to save people. That's character progression.

The other characters in the story are great too- and when I mean "great", I actually just mean they're great because they're badass and demand presence whenever they are on screen- like Russian mafia boss Balalaika, bodyguard-maid Roberta, or assassin Shenhua.

If anything else is to be said about the characters, it's that the rest of Black Lagoon company, Dutch and Benny, get the short end of the stick in terms of characterization. While we get to see the stories of Balalaika and Roberta at length, who aren't even part of the company, we know very little other than a short self exposition for Dutch and Benny. Given the long runtime of Black Lagoon, I'm sure it would've been possible to fit an episode or arc centered on them.

THE DUB

While it might be blasphemous to not watch an anime in its original "intended" form, I am a strong believer that some anime are better off watched in dub. For example, anime that are set in western settings or have western characters typically are better suited to be watched in dub. And turns out that the dub for Black Lagoon is excellent.

Put aside the fact that the English voices fit each character's personality well- the most basic of things a good English dub should do- I love how the dub isn't afraid to use vulgarities. Actually, part of what makes the dialogue in Black Lagoon so great is the swearing! It makes perfect sense for the cast to run their mouths when they're constantly in life and death shootouts. It's also what makes the banter between characters so damn hilarious. Take this for example.

REVY: "My partner has the fucking documents. Do you follow? Understand you? Yes? You got that, Chinglish?"

SHENHUA: "My English not very good because I am pure Taiwanese, maybe you like for me to skin your ass, bitch?"

Also, the English dub allows for foreign accents that you might not pick up when watching the sub. It makes sense to have different accents, considering the show isn't set in Japan but rather the international crime hub Roanapur. Dutch's African-American accent, Shenhua's Chinese accent, Leigharch's Scottish accent, are just some of the accents the show does well. It truly brings the characters to life.

CONCLUSION

Black Lagoon is a damn fun ride. The action is thrilling, but there are also powerful tragic moments in the show which are equally as great. The main characters of Rock and Revy are well developed- their relationship being one of the biggest parts of the show, but it's a shame that the other Black Lagoon crew of Dutch and Benny get little development. I would highly recommend watching the dub, as its obscenities make the banter between characters hilarious and its foreign accents bring the characters to life. 8/10.

Honestly it's such a shame that Black Lagoon had to end. While the ending concludes Rock's character arc well, it feels like the show could've gone on for the sake of its other characters. But the manga isn't finished, so we'll see what the future holds.

-GaryMuffuginOak