Black Lagoon Reviews

Anime Info

English titles: Black Lagoon
Japanese titles: ブラック・ラグーン

Type: TV

Episodes: 12

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Apr 9, 2006 to Jun 25, 2006

Producers: Madhouse Studios, Geneon Universal Entertainment, FUNimation Entertainment

Genres: Action, Seinen

Duration: 24 min. per episode

Rating: R - 17+ (violence & profanity)

Synopsis:

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 mercenary 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.

Reviews:

Black Lagoon is an Anime that centers on a group of modern pirates who call themselves the 'Lagoon Delivery Company'. They operate in Southeast Asia, and they basically deliver anything at all as long as the price is right.

Story wise, the episodes are a collection of completely unrelated short stories, showing the different jobs that the Lagoon Delivery Company takes on. The storyline are fairly unique, ranging from a run in with a bunch of wannabe Nazis to delivering papers for a Chinese Triad. Each short story is packed with action and superb gunfights, and the plot speeds along, leaving no time to be bored.

There isn't an 'actual plot' to link the whole series together, but with all the fast-paced action, you don't really miss it. However, there are some recurring elements that tie the series together, such as the belief that there is no such thing as right or wrong, it just depends on how something is justified.

The animation quality for Black Lagoon is amazing, especially during the gunfights. The overall animation is extremely smooth and character movement is fluid, without annoying jerks in the animation. Also I love the angles that are chosen, as well as how they frame certain scenes, as it increases the impact that the animation gives.

The images are also well rendered and extremely detailed, especially the guns. Black Lagoon is rather more realistic than other Anime and features very few exaggerated facial expressions and the like. Heavy attention is paid to details, especially in the rendering of the backgrounds. The animators also play around with dramatic lighting a lot, and this helps to create extremely outstanding scenes.

In terms of sound, the upbeat OP fits the show extremely well, while the ED is a quiet enigmatic piece. A unique feature of the ED is that unlike most other Anime, there is no clean break between the episode and the ED. The ED starts softly when the episode ends, and blends in very nicely.

Most of the in-episode music for Black Lagoon is fast and upbeat, and it fits the situation extremely well, and at times, it helps to create a very tense and dramatic atmosphere, which is very fitting for Black Lagoon, considering the nature of this Anime.

Characters may seem to be somewhat stereotypical at first, but as the series progresses, we discover the many different aspects of each character's personality. Black Lagoon places a lot more emphasis on character development than most gun fighting Anime, and the interactions between characters are interesting to watch.

The main characters are very diverse, each of them having a different set of beliefs and their own strengths and weaknesses. There are no perfect characters in Black Lagoon, every one of them has some kind of fault, and that makes them all the more human, allowing viewers to empathize with them more.

Throughout the series, many minor characters are also thrown into the mix, each of them unique in their own special way. While some stereotypes may be present in Black Lagoon, the characters are still sure to surprise you in some way or another.

I gave this series an overall 10, but I will be the first to admit that it may have been a little biased because I love action. But still, Black Lagoon is an amazing Anime, with high quality animation and a fitting soundtrack. If you are the type who cannot stand long, drawn out stories, then Black Lagoon is the Anime for you. With the fast-paced and epic butt-kicking action, Black Lagoon promises not to disappoint.