Review of Black Lagoon

Black Lagoon is an anime series based on a manga from 2002. I haven’t read the manga yet, but the series, in what it manages to adapt, is very good. Black Lagoon has only one issue, and that’s the tone of its villains, which varies too much. Sometimes they are almost semi-realistic, like guerrillas or ex-Nazi soldiers, and sometimes they’re crazy characters straight out of a Marvel comic, like two half-vampire twin children from Romania who destroy anyone they encounter, or a Colombian ex-FARC maid with abilities comparable to the Terminator. Now, although the villains vary too much in tone, the series has excellent characterization. Allthe characters carry a burden, they suffer from something, and the hellish, immoral world they live in takes its toll on them. The protagonist, Rock, gradually delves into that world and what it means to cross a point of no return, where there’s no turning back. It shows how people can be like dice—once thrown, they land with only one face showing. Rock, as a protagonist living on that threshold where he hasn’t yet had to make life-altering decisions, spends his time judging those who have already chosen their path. Little by little, he begins to understand the true meaning of his morality and the world he wants to live in.

It’s one of those eye-opening series because it shows that judging is easy, but making decisions when you haven’t walked the same path is not always the sensible thing. Sometimes I think I’d also like to stay in that threshold, right before making permanent decisions. That’s what motivates me so much to be an artist—because if I’m an artist, I can take as many paths as I want from the threshold where I stand. That, and because with Asperger's syndrome and all, sometimes I feel like I’ve remained a child forever. It’s something that might not sound entirely positive, but when a series helps you understand your flaws without completely judging you, you get to know yourself better as a person, and that helps you manage them and work toward your dreams with who you are, without denying your shortcomings or difficulties.