On May 19th 2017, the manga known as Black
Lagoon written and illustrated by Rei Hiroe is supposed to return. Whether that
means he plans to stay consistent and release chapters until completion or just
return for a few chapters like Hunter x Hunter or Berserk remains to be seen.
Black Lagoon was published in 2002 by Shogakukan and currently has 87 chapters.
The manga also has three anime seasons that for the most part follow the
original source material: Black Lagoon, Black Lagoon Second Barrage and the Black
Lagoon OVA: Roberta’s Blood Trail (29 total episodes). The anime adaptation is
done by Madhouse, so its quality and the dub is superior to the sub in my
opinion.
The narrative is about a group of pirate mercenaries called
the Lagoon Company who smuggle goods in, out and around the Southeast Asian seas. They are from a fictional city in Thailand called Roanapur where prostitutes,
pimps, drug attics, murderers, rapists, drunks and all kind of criminal scum
find refuge. The Lagoon Company do all kind of requests that require all sorts of dubious skills and they do it on their PT boat called the Black Lagoon.
These missions often end up violent bloodbaths and when the Lagoon Company isn’t
fucking shit up they drink and relax at a bar called the Yellow Flag. During a
mission they kidnap a normal Japanese salary man who knows nothing of the
criminal underworld and he’s suddenly thrust into the heart of Roanapur. Dutch
the leader, Revy the gunman, Benny the hacker and now, Rock the Japanese salaryman.
Black Lagoon is an action, drama, military seinen with mature
content and themes. The story structure is pretty simple, the Lagoon Company
take on a mission and then they go out and complete it, then move on to the
next mission. Sometimes they work with Hotel Moscow who is one of the powerhouses
that run the city, run by the Russian Mafia. There are Yakuza and even the Colombian
Cartel in the city. So outside of the Lagoon Company doing their thing, the
city has a power struggle between the higher ups and this all comes together
perfect to create some great, serious crime drama.
The action is one of the best things about Black Lagoon. The
fights, shootouts, military warfare and criminal activity mean there’s never a
dull moment. Most of these people are criminals with an agenda and have no
qualms about taking a life. It helps that the main heroine, “Two Hands” Revy is
an extremely talented gunman and can take out dozens of armed men without even
sustaining a single wound. She’s also without mercy and enjoys killing her
enemies, usually seen with a demonic smile on her face while she slaughters her
opponents. There are even some naval battles, where the Company has to fight
off enemies on the sea.
The anime does a good job; I thought everything was more
than acceptable minus the opening and ending themes. They’re pretty damn lame
and forgettable but the animation is solid. The manga looks great and Rei clearly
gets better and better as the manga continues. I found that sometimes it was
hard to tell what nationality or ethnicity a character was before the story
would tell you at times but the characters designs are polished. You can safely
watch the anime or read the manga but if you want my personal opinion, prioritize the
manga.
The characters are dope too, some of them are just extremely
raw and badass. The head of Hotel Moscow might be the most badass woman I’ve
seen in my life as she is completely ruthless and often loves to start war.
Dutch is a smart and competent leader with many skills in different departments
making him a solid all-rounder though not much is known about his past. Revy of
course, spending her whole life in the criminal element is just one woman you don’t
want to piss of because she will absolutely shoot you. Then there’s Rock, the new
member who still new to all this and retains all his ethics and morals from
when he was working in Japan. There’s even a Spanish maid that is a virtually
unstoppable killing machine.
It might sound like this is just a show with a bunch of
asshole murders but it’s deeper than that. These people all have their reasons
for being in that city with varying pasts. Each one of their pasts perfectly explain
their current personalities and reasons for doing what they do. They aren’t all
bad people, but at the end of the day, they don’t want to die and somehow,
someway, you got to put food on the table. So here they are, doing what they
must to survive. It’s a world where the flesh of the weak is food for the
strong, a dog eat dog world, kill or be killed.
The contrast between Rock and the city is where this story
manages to dive into something deeper contextually. Rock was just a normal guy
and he’s no killer. So he often projects his sense of justice on the crew and
people in the city which often opens up interesting dialogue. How could a
pampered, white collar, working man understand the hardships of people who had
to crawl through the shit their whole lives just to see the next day? This is
especially powerful when his tries to impose his morality on Revy and she generally
responds with nihilist, despair filled answers. But as the story progresses you
see how they’ve slowly rubbed off on each other a bit. It’s actually a pretty
thought provoking story at the end of the day.
In celebration of Black Lagoon’s return I recently rewatched
the anime and reread the manga. It's still as great as I remembered and I recommend you
give it a shot. The action, badass characters, themes and pure kickass rawness
of the show is certain to get your blood pumping and even have you
contemplating becoming a gunslinger. Whether you chose to watch it or read it, get read for a good fucking time.
Nya Hemmingz
