***The following may contain spoilers for Black Lagoon. Reader discretion is advised.***
Series Synopsis
Rokuro Okajima (voiced by Daisuke Namikawa) isn’t all that special. An average Japanese salaryman he does his job. Although has become a basic errand boy for his company. As a result, he often has to travel the world.
On one trip to the South China Sea, Rokuro runs into the infamous pirates of Black Lagoon. They plan to take the cargo Rokuro is caring and decide to kidnap him as well.
While a prisoner, Rokuro mingles with the crew of the Lagoon.
Benny (voiced by Hiroaki Hirata) is the group's computer technician. Dutch (voiced by Tsutomu Isobe) is the Lagoon’s captain and is a well-known figure in the area. Last, there’s Revy (voiced by Megumi Toyoguchi). She is the team's fighter and one of the deadliest people on the planet.
Rather than negotiating, Rokuro's company declares him dead. Left with no place to go he decides to stay aboard the Black Lagoon. Taking the name Rock, he has entered the world of pirates, crooks, and killers.
Series Positives
The sheer absurdity that took place in this series was astonishing. You will need to suspend your disbelief while watching. If you can manage that, you are in for one hell of a time.
Black Lagoon was a ton of fun. The entire tone of the series was set within the first five minutes of the first episode. And from there it was full throttle insanity.
The Action
To say Black Lagoon was boring is akin to saying the sky is purple. The actions scenes were all kinds of entertaining. Explosions, bullets, and healthy doses of gratuitous violence. Black Lagoon was completely over the top and it knew it too.
This series was also hilarious. Revy once took out an entire squad of enemy boats traveling at high speeds out in the middle of the ocean by herself. Believability be damned.
Even with such insanity, Black Lagoon never missed the opportunity to poke fun of itself. Then when the show wasn’t doing that, it was usually doing something straight out of an 80's action film.
Like boat chases, shootouts, and heavy artillery firefights. There was even one glorious moment involving a torpedo to the face. That was a nice touch.
The Characters
There were no bad characters. But for this review, let’s focus on the crew of the Black Lagoon.
Let’s start with Benny because I have the least to say about him. Of the crew, he was the support. Other than that there isn't much to say about him. He fit with the group and was interesting enough to make me want to know more about him. However, I’ve got the sickening feeling that if any of the Lagoon members are going to die it’s going to be Benny. I hope I’m wrong.
Dutch was bad ass. We didn’t get a lot of his backstory. Yet he seemed to have been doing this kind of work for a long time. He managed to always keep a cool head and a solid leader. Though he didn't take any crap, he wasn’t unreasonable. Dutch had years of experience, which separated himself from the raw power of his crew.
Rock was a huge surprise. Everything about him should have screamed fish-out-of-water. But he became awesome. He became smooth, articulate, observant, and was no longer easy to intimidate. He could face down people who were one wrong word away from shooting him in the head.
Finally, there was Revy. She had the skills to survive and succeed in this world. She would get the job done. Usually, this involved a large amount of collateral damage.
Of the characters, we got the deepest look into Revy's past. She’s had done a ton of awful things and it did weigh on her. She didn't need someone like Rock to question her choices.
This actually leads me to my next point and season two better not screw this up.
Rock and Revy were not romantic interest to each other. They were companions, nothing more. Because the two leads were of opposite sexes, that didn't mean they had to get together.
Think of it this way. If Rock had been female and Revy male, it wouldn’t have changed who they were or what they did. Though I won't deny Revy looked great, it wasn't a highlight of the series. Likewise, Rock never cared about one of his crewmates had boobs.
Had these two become romantic, it would have been weird. That wasn't what Black Lagoon was.
Series Negatives
There was a scene were Rock and Revy got into a heated argument. It was a great scene and it was a sudden turning point for Rock's character. A result that was for the better. There was only one problem, it was sudden.
Rock found the balls to stand up to Revy. It was cool to see, but he was an ordinary an office worker no more than a month before this point. He was now unflinching on the wrong side of a gun barrel point. This isn't the kind of character shifts stories should rely on.
Details
There were too many pointless details in this show. This ranged from story elements, flashbacks, and even characters.
There was one part where the crew accepted a job to recover a painting from a sunken U-boat. Neat, but did we have to see why the thing sank for half an episode? Also, it didn't help that Revy proceeded to detail everything whe had just seen.
Then there were characters who were given plenty of backstory but did add much to the series.
For instance, you had Roberta (voiced by Michie Tomizawa) the Colombian housemaid. She was an equal match to Revy and the two had a great face-off. Except, I don’t think sees ever going to show up again.
Another example was with Balalaika (voiced by Mami Koyama) the head of the area’s Russian mafia. I have her story is fascinating since she may be even more dangerous than the entire crew of the Lagoon. This was a case where a little more detail would have been nice. I hope this will get some kind of resolution in season two.
Another problem this show had was its use flashbacks. By themselves, they weren’t bad and they gave good insight. Except, why the show thought it was a good idea to sprinkle them throughout actions scene is beyond me. Adrenaline was high and this was not the time to take a break for a little character development.
Final Thoughts
Since there was only a three-month gap between season, I considered making this one big review. Yet everything I’ve seen and with season one being self-contained, I thought better of it.
So, a season two review is not far off. I say knowing I have yet to look at Noragami season two.
As it stands, Black Lagoon was so great. The action was exciting. The characters were fantastic. The humor was dark but hilarious. This was a lot of fun. There are places where the series could still stumble. Yet these are also numerous chances for it to do something outstanding. Here’s hoping for the latter.
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