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Black Lagoon:
Roberta's Blood Trail
Anime Review
For those of you who think that the original Black Lagoon TV series wasn't bloody enough, along comes Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail, a series so violent and full of spattering blood, I'd swear the digital cel-painters simply got the red paint button stuck on the keyboard and just decided to go crazy.
Roberta, you may recall, was a Maid (or wore a maid uniform to go un-noticed), but she was clearly a top-notch mercenary who could kill in numbers that would make Revy envious. In this story, she really does become a maid to the South American Lovelace family, who are involved in local politics. However, the patriach, Diego, is killed by a American assasination squad who are disrupting a politcal rally.
This sends Roberta over the edge and she goes on a insane quest to take on the American army (or at least the unit stationed in South America). Her unquenchable thirst for revenge takes her to Roanapur, where she lays waste to the town forcing the Lovelace family heir Garcia and understudy maid Fabiola to make a deal with the Black Lagoon company and the Chinese Hong Kong Triad — to work together in order to track Roberta's activities.
 Now, here's where things get interesting, because while Rock started out as the wet-behind-the-ears new guy, he's grown into a scheming plotter, playing the game like a large chessboard, taking gambles with people's lives and thinking far ahead to the end-game while still involved in the opening moves. Roberta takes center stage, using her considerable skillset to keep everyone on-edge, and between the gunfire and blood still manages to be an appealing (if totally insane) antagonist (to everyone).
As the story focuses more on drama than action (although there's no lack of action, trust us!), there's plenty of character development and backstories, but what ultimately keeps you riveted to the screen is the unpredictability of Roberta, as she's simply so unhinged that guessing what's going to happen next becomes part of the fun. And although the series focuses on her, they didn't leave out anyone and the entire team, as well as few other surprise characters get their moment in the spotlight to make themselves useful.
Overall, if you've felt your life was incomplete without more action from the Black Lagoon crew, this dynamite OVA series is right up your alley. As per usual, the animation and action are startingly well-rendered with very accurate looking military hardware and firepower.
Reviewed by Brian Cirulnick, February 2014
Black Lagoon
Anime DVD Review
Rokuro Okajima is a meek, mild-mannered, middle-manager nobody working a dead-end, life-draining, white-collar, meaningless job for a giant, faceless corporation. However; his business trip in South-East Asia turns from pleasure cruise to terror when modern-day pirates board the ship to take the corporate data he is transporting. Grabbed initially as a hostage, he finds that he is expendable (according to his boss), and so, he joins with Dutch, Revy and Benny, who make up the crew of the Black Lagoon, a 'privateer' operation run from a PT Boat that takes on any job offered to them.
 This series pleasantly surprised me. It is much, much better than you would expect. None of the characters are exactly what they would seem from the start, and each evolves into something else along the way. Furthermore, the team ends up playing politics with the Russian, Italian, Columbian and Chinese Mafias, all the while trying to stay one step ahead of the authorities and various others that may want them dead.
The director is clearly having fun — each episode starts serenely, like a peaceful sunrise, and then quickly evolves into complete anarchy. The action sequences are astounding; MADHOUSE is doing a top-notch job on this anime series. Even the end titles are a shocker.
And while "Rock" is the central protagonist, it's obvious to any fanboy with a libido that psycho-bitch, gun-crazy Revy is going to be the favorite and the subject of many blogs. Her dark past is meant to be in stark contrast to Rock's mundane existence.
Black Lagoon combines the dark and cynical nature of Fight Club with the non-stop action of a John Woo film. It also manages to be insightful and thought-provoking without being preachy. All the intrigue and philosophy behind the series is communicated by the action and the staccato dialog. It also presses buttons on the viewer, because South Seas Piracy is a very real threat and it is interesting to see these killers to be human as well.
This anime series is rife with cigarette smoking, foul language and significant bloodshed. It is however, startlingly accurate in the portrayal of the life of a soldier of fortune immersed in the criminal underworld of the china seas. Amen. Hallelujah. Peanut Butter.
Reviewed by Brian Cirulnick, July 2007
Below: Scenes from the Black Lagoon anime DVD.
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Black Lagoon
Manga Review
 After easily making our list of top-ten coolest animes we'd love to be stranded on a desert island with, the manga for this awesome series makes life worth living after all. It goes much more in-depth, as only a manga can (by not being limited to a 22-minute episode), with all the internal politics only hinted at within the series.
The manga also delves much deeper into the moral and philosophical quandaries that are expressed in the anime series. The manga exudes existentialism, essentially asking the reading to accept that values and morality are things we create in our own minds, and furthermore, objects that we assign value to are essentially meaningless, if viewed outside the context of "normal" society.
All this and more as well as a ton of exciting action as Revy blasts anything that moves (while wearing as little as possible), combined with the political struggle between the Russian, Italian, Columbian and Chinese Mafias, all of whom either want to hire the Black Lagoon team, or see them dead and buried.
And poor Rock is in the middle of it all, trying to sort out the insanity of the situation, while also trying to come to terms with many of the philosophical points made during the course of the manga, as he sorts out his own personal demons and learns more about Revy's dark past.
Reviewed by Brian Cirulnick, June 2008
Below: Scenes from the Black Lagoon anime DVD.
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