Black Lagoon was pretty much totally awesome
There’s honestly not that much more to say. Well, okay, I got a few things. Aside from a persistant issue of not really knowing an appropriate moment to cut to the end credits (it felt sooooo random for almost every episode; like they just set an egg timer to 23 minutes and then would just finish whatver cut they were on and then start the credits), I don’t have any complaints about this show after finishing it. Originally I felt like it needed a little extra something, but that concern shifted away after I got about halfway into the show; it either got better or I got used to its style.
So, I’m excited there’s gonna be a second season, but what I really want to do now is get my hands on some of the manga. I’m really curious, because this anime felt sooooooooo much like the kind of thing I’m used to in Western action comics. For instance, rather than using totally sweet action sequences to display Anime Virtues (like Friendship, Courage, and GUTS) it tends to use its totally sweet action sequences to highlight existential and moral themes. A lot of this is really contrasting Rock and Revy. Rock isn’t really depraved so much as disillusioned, but while Revy seems sorta friendly and we laugh at how she shoots people, the show makes it clear that she is seriously fucked up. The whole thing with the kid in the Meido arc is kinda neat if been-done-a-lot-before because we’re sorta laughing at how she’s going all Terminator, but the kid is seriously terrified that this person who seemed so nice to him is actually a cold-blooded killah. So there’s a lot of emphasis on that facade, and it’s the kind of theme I’m really used to in Western comics / Graphic Novels, but unaccustomed to in anime. So I want to read the manga now. I also want Revy to take off her top.
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Oh, right, I’m supposed to include a screen-cap!
CAPTAIN PICARD!!!!!!
