Black Lagoon, the name itself stood out and caught my attention, and I just knew that I had to watch it. A decision that I do not regret, and neither would you. The Story of Black lagoon Anime is around a notorious gang named Black Lagoon in the fictional city of Roanapur in Thailand. This city is completely taken over by crime and injustice. People live in fear as local crime syndicates carry out their illegal activities without any fear of the authorities. Corruption among government officials is common. Among this mess, the Japanese businessman Rokurou Okajima tries to carry out a business trip to Southeast Asia. When he arrives at Roanapur, he is captured by the Black Lagoon gang for ransom where Rokurou is abandoned by his company. Furious, he joins the Black Lagoon instead and enters the crime world in a new city that he knows little of.
Right from the get-go, Black Lagoon feels like a breath of fresh air. It is rare to find a good action series that is neither a shonen nor some over-the-top mecha anime. From fistfights to bullet hell and everything in between, it has got you covered. It ticks all the right boxes and feels like Hollywood material right from the get-go.
Plot
The setting of Black Lagoon is pretty interesting by itself. An average businessman, Rokurou Okajima, gets kidnapped by the Black Lagoon, a mercenary group, during a delivery job. But instead of trying to get him back, Rokurou’s employers just abandon him and after a few bullet-riddled days, our protagonist takes up the mantle of “Rock”, and joins his kidnappers as their newest member. Black Lagoon is mostly episodic with few arcs 3-4 episodes long. But the lack of an overarching plot should not be holding you back as it’s just as much fun without it. My only issue with it is that such a nature of storytelling could have been put to better use if they had decided to develop the side characters a bit more. The anime has an interesting cast of characters and it would have been interesting to see what they could have done with them.
Characters
The characters are not the strong suit of this anime. Even with such an interesting cast (Benny the Jewish-American and Dutch the African-American and many more), the fact they failed to develop them, even with episodic storytelling, is such a shame. On the other hand, though, the main protagonists, Rock and Revy, shine throughout the series, due to the spotlight being always on them. Their interactions are always enjoyable, sometimes funny, sometimes tense. Also, there is no such thing as too much Revy. She is a loudmouth, short-tempered chick with a knack for dark humor and some real profanities. Every second she is on the screen, she dominates and leaves no room for disappointment. The entire show is worth watching for Revy alone. She is just a plain badass, the kind that is rare in anime.
