The topic of this week's anime review will be Black Lagoon.
Black Lagoon is an anime series created by Rei Hiroe. It consists of two seasons
Black Lagoon and Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage. Both seasons ran in 2006. The manga adaptation is also very successful, selling more than 3 million copies in Japan.
Plot summary: Rokuro Okajima is an ordinary Japanese businessman, working hard and drinking a lot at socializing parties. Assigned the task of delivering a disc by his company based in Tokyo, his boats gets hijacked by a mercenary delivery company named Black Lagoon. They are after the disc he is transporting as it carries sensitive information, sometimes he is unaware of. Deciding that they should not only take the disc, but Rokuro as well, he is used as a hostage for ransom. Things get complicated as the company he works for is much more interested ing getting the disc back than they are about getting him back safely. Sick of his old life and the disregard and apathy he is shown by both his bosses and his family, Rokuro ends up joining the mercenary group under the nickname Rock. He will be forced into an underworld of the Mafia, Neo Nazis, assasins and thrown into an battle with his moral principles in a city of decadence.
Review: Black Lagoon looks like a mindless action series. It smells like a mindless action series. However, it is far from a mindless action series, but one of the best anime shows in the last few years. Although
Black Lagoon almost certainly has action, it follows the plot very well. Minor characters spew streams of automatic fire at the protagonists. Buildings and vehicles explode at the slightest provocation. Villains emerge from flaming wreckage and spew more streams of
automatic fire. An action adventure seinen series with a serious attitude, Black Lagoon is one of the most entertaining titles I ever came across. In fact, more than three quarters of the show is reserved for dialogue. One might think that this would slow down an action series, but instead it is easily the best part of the show. The show's script simply sparkles with intelligence. Through an interesting blend of obscure pop culture references, serious philosophical debate and hilarious one-liners,
Black Lagoon has easily one of the best scripts ever seen in an anime series.
There is a heavy philosophical background present throughout this show. Existentialism is the most dominant. Throughout the show, many existential themes are present. Early on, Revy makes a speech in which she asks Rock to explain what she is holding in her hands. When he attempts to point out that they are a medal and a skull, she attacks this notion, calling them "just objects," and goes on to say that people merely choose to give them value, and that they do not have any true innate meaning. This is very similar to many of Jean Paul-Sarte
's views, and relates to the existential belief that there is no set meaning in life, and that people must choose to find, create, and assign their own meanings. Revy goes even further saying that only money has a meaning and influence in present day. Many of the characters also express atheist views, a common feature of modern existential thought, especially that of Sartre who said that God is just an attempt to put false meaning on things without the responsibility of choice. Also, some minor characters state that being a person who acts not simply for logical reasons, but rather because it gives them meaning in life.
A distinguishing motif of the series is that no distinction is made between the moral question of right and wrong, which ties into the existential belief that "values are subjective." Rather, it shows the events from the different perspectives of the characters and how they justify their beliefs in what is right and what is not, just as how existentialists believe that every person chooses their own values for their own subjective reasons. A good example of this is from episode 5 of the anime, where Revy tells Rock a story from her childhood, revealing how she regards the belief in God and love as "emotional bullshit." While Revy is depicted as being the
tough, uncaring gunfighter, Rock is almost the exact opposite, and a central theme in the series is Rock's struggle for deciding whether he should remain with Lagoon Company - a criminal organisation - or return to his ordinary life of a law-abiding citizen. Especially in the first season, this conflict between Rock's and Revy's views on crime and moral is important. Alienation is present as well, as the characters are alienated from regular society. Free will relates to all of this, especially seen in Rock, who actively chooses to leave his stable life in Japan because it has lost meaning to him. At the same time, he does not want to fully accept his circumstances, or make a true choice as regarding to his own meaning in life, causing him much conflict with Revy. The series also touches on other themes, like modern Nazism, the power struggle between various criminal syndicates, and outright sadistic killing. Communism plays a major role for almost all of the characters as well, with a connection to almost every protagonist and antagonist in the show.
Technically, the show is very good, although not outstanding. When it comes to animation, the scenes look fine, although a few flaws are visible throughout the series. In some scenes there is a lack of detail on distant shots of the characters. However, some scenes, especially when it comes to landscape are beautiful and realistic. The characters are also well animated.
As far as sound is concerned things are working great. The opening theme fits the pace and the mood of the show, while the ending is slower on purpose with a beautiful composition. Consisting of a number of rock and heavy metal beats, with a few techno ones, the soundtrack is very fitting. The siyuu did their job good, and the characters sound very authentic. The mood changes are especially well represented. The main flaw of the audio is, of course, Engrish. Many cultural
references are present, and the voice actors pronounce the names poorly. In the final arc, there are quite a few lines in English, and to be honest, it would be much better if they were in Japanese. The pronunciation is just bad. This is probably the only anime series I watched and came to the conclusion that an English adaptation might be worth checking out. A good voice anting in English would, in my opinion, make this series even better.
Probably the best part of Black Lagoon are it's original characters. The wonderful dialogue serves to create characters that feel much more real than the clichés that dominate most of today's action series. All of the characters are believable and authentic. In particular, the two primary protagonists, Rock and Revy, are fantastically well-developed and serve as primary illustrations of the show's theme of moral conflicts, as mentioned earlier. Based on what I wrote previously, it is obvious that Black Lagoon features some serious and quality character development. Rock and Revy are the two main characters of the series and thus receive the most development, especially Rock who's views and beliefs are very different on the beginning and near the end of the show. Through yelling, threatening and cursing they develop a bond and their relationship grows.
I can only hope that this Black Lagoon will be adopted into a third season, as 2 seasons are just not enough to fully develop the story. The manga is still running in Japan and it is normal to expect there will be a third season at some point in the future.
Overall: Black Lagoon is definitely one of the best series I ever watched and goes into my favorites list. With a good story and great character development, it's one of the more serious works out there featuring philosophical and moral issues and conflicts. A great cross between intelligence and action, it manages to deliver a lot of entertainment. All it needs is another season to close the story.
Story: 9.5
Characters: 10
Audio: 10
Video: 8.5
Overall: 9.5
