Review of Black Lagoon

One of the darkest animes I've seen in my life, Black Lagoon portrays quite brilliantly the gritty and obscene lives of mercenaries for hire and the underworld of crime. Casting an academic and otherwise completely innocent person as the protagonist just makes this anime even more explicit and realistic than any other. The story follows a team of mercenaries known as Lagoon Company, who smuggle goods in and around the seas of Southeast Asia. Their base of operations is located in the fictional city of Roanapur in Thailand, and they transport goods in the PT boat Black Lagoon. Lagoon Company does business with various clients,but has a particularly friendly relationship with the Russian crime syndicate Hotel Moscow. The team takes on a variety of missions - which may involve violent firefights, hand-to-hand combat, and nautical battles - in various Southeast Asian locations and when not doing much, the members of the Lagoon Company spend much of their down time at The Yellow Flag, a bar in Roanapur.

The characters in this anime stay in the mind long after the anime is over. The story follows the plotline of Rock, a Japanese salaryman kidnapped in the early episodes by the crew of Black Lagoon which provided the various main characters of Revy, Dutch, and Benny. Rock of course is the gentlelest of the crew as he gradually assimilates after the various bloody mercenary jobs he undertakes. Using reasoned arguments and persuasion, he's the counterpoint to the jaded and oftentimes brutal teammates.

In the last point, specifically to Revy a hardened Chinese lady mercenary whose looks hide a merciless and cold exterior. She likes to systematically take apart the enemy and relishes gunfights. However, later she develops feelings for Rock.

The main point of this anime lies in the fact that the world is cruel, and dark. Throughout the series, Black Lagoon crew takes pay for various dangerous and very gruesome jobs, often paid for by Balalaika, the cynical lady boss of the elite Russian Mafia whose members consisted of basically "Russian SWAT".

The episodes are usually gritty and dark with plenty of disturbing themes and pulse pounding action. In this aspect, the gunfights are simply spectacular and perhaps the best in anime. It is definitely something worth seeing.