Review of Black Lagoon

Story: The story focuses on the adventures of a delivery crew who work in a land of crime. There is no overarching story and the series is told in several non-related mini-arcs, each ranging from one to four episodes. This makes the story more of a character driven affair, focusing on the development and changes in the personalities of the characters. The plots of these separate arcs are told well; they are fast paced, yet quite easy to follow, although not exactly Their short lengths stop them from dragging on, and the series uses a good mixture of comedy, action and drama to keep thingsinteresting. Although there are four crew-members of the eponymous Lagoon, it really only focuses on two of them, with the other two fading into the background. With the series focusing on the lives of criminals, its interesting to see how the characters are never clearly good or evil, instead standing in a gray spot between the two. This is shown in how they react to situations and is a breath of fresh air rather than the MCs just being the typical hero-types. The ending of the first series does seem a bit abrupt, with no real closure or any ead into the second season.

Art:
The art in Black Lagoon is clean and the animation is smooth, with no strange choppiness or other issues. The style isn't overly cute, nor is it too realistic, suitable for the action-movie style as well as not seeming out of place when it moves into comedy or serious territory. The backdrops throughout the series are diverse, ranging from open waters to uninhabited coasts to port cities. All of the areas are well detailed. Although well done, the art has nothing truly memorable or great about it.

Sound:
I watched the series in Japanese, although I did rewatch a couple of episodes in English dubbing. Almost all of the voice-acting was great, with very few seeming strange or unsuited to the character. The english dubbing was on par of that of the Japanese, so watching it in either would be a viable choice (although watching all of the seasons in Japanese will create some plot-holes in season two). The sound was generally of good quality with nothing sounding weird/distorted/unclear. The soundtrack was nice, although it was really nothing special.

Character:
This is Black Lagoon's greatest weakness. Although this is a character driven series, there is little in terms of actual character development throughout. There initially appears to be four main characters; the no-nonsense boss, the techie, the hyper gun-crazy woman and the new guy (the four crew of the Lagoon), but you'll quickly notice that two of them (the boss and the techie) are neglected and all of the focus will be put onto the remaining two. This under-utilisation wouldn't be so bad as it would allow more time to explore the other two. Unfortunately, this opportunity is not used very well, and although there seems to be some real changes in how the characters feel and interact, none of theses changes seem to be permanent or make any real difference later on. Characterisation in the series is saved only by a certain side-character, who really does seem dynamic and interesting. Being a frequent character, her presence manages to make the character at least somewhat interesting.

Enjoyment:
The entire series is basically an action-film with an added layer of anime un-realism. There are many references to 80s and 90s action flicks and a lot of the action is over-the-top. Unfortunately, sometimes the action will seem kind of stupid (i.e two character running straight at each other while shooting at each other, yet nobody gets hit even though they get within a couple of feet from each other) and may pull you out of the moment, but these are few and far between.
If you're looking for something casual and fun to watch on a saturday evening that isn't deep, complex and thought-provoking, and is chock-full of comedy and firepower, you'll get some good entertainment out of this.

Overall:
7.5/10 (rounded up to 8)