Black Lagoon review - 73/100
Black Lagoon is an anime about a company guy who gets kidnapped by a bunch of modern pirates. Hoping to be rescued by the company, his company ditches him and leaves him to die. After the kidnapping is over, this guy claims that he is so angry with his company and he has no other place to go, so he joins the pirates instead. He as a company guy has a lot of trouble to change himself into a villian, but to be frankly, he uses his own abilities to help his new company "Black Lagoon" out of some trouble. They live in a violent city, Roanapur, and this anime follows his story and the kinds of jobs and situations. The pirates run a delivery company in that city. It might be a bit weird for us to see, for example "The Churce of Violence" with nuns carrying guns, everyone getting excited for a manhunt for a lot of money, and all kinds of maffia all over the world who gather there. There is no justice in that city, and that’s where Black Lagoon the anime starts.
There are a couple of things that can hold this anime together, because Rock can be a bit annoying once in a while. The first thing is the gunwoman of the company, Levy. She is just pure evil at the first sight and she can kill anything on her way. It’s really nice to see her in those gunfights because the fights are really well made, and it can be an enjoyable time for us to see. The other things are a couple of side characters. Dutch is the leader of the company and his comments and actions are always fun to see. And the other is the nun of the Church of Violence, Eda. And god how I had to laugh because of her. But those are side characters and their backgrounds isn’t lightened out at all, and it’s a real waste.
The cases are really something too. You won’t be suprised to see an evil maid who acts like a robot scaring the hell out of Dutch, Benny and Rock, and Levy trying to fight her. You wouldn’t be suprised to see a gunfight at the "Church of Violence", saying that you should come back when it’s the day of judging and blackmailing everyone. Also you wouldn’t be suprised to see Rock again being kidnapped. He is really good at that. Here lies the good point of Black Lagoon. Several cases with Rock, Levy, Benny and Dutch and a couple of side characters, and they are just trying to furfill their job.
However. The second season is more pointed to some side characters like Balalaika, the head of the Russian Maffia. The action is too much, the blood is too much, the evil things are just too much. We have no Benny and no Dutch and no Eda. The creators tried to force Levy and Rock into a situation and then by some kind of a miracle letting them to be saved. The action was too much and too less blackmailing. It was a real shame because the power of Black Lagoon lies in its imposing characters, and the weird cases. And don’t mention the Engrish. I have tried to understand them, but after a few attempts I just convinced myself that it was a language that isn’t be for humans to understand. It’s such a waste. Black Lagoon started nice, but it became worse in the second season.
Ratings: 73/100
