Review of Black Lagoon

As this review is coming almost a decade and a half after Black Lagoon aired, it’s quite interesting to see anime of this caliber amidst the sea of stereotypical shonen of today. Set in a place and time ravished in crime and poverty, the show focuses on Black Lagoon, an organization which does various illegal shipping jobs for money, and of course, with their lives on the line. The characters are from differing backgrounds and have dark pasts that manifest in their current psychology, actions, and overall philosophies. Save a new member, a middle class Japanese salaryman, who ended up joining the mercenary group. Amidst jobsof questionable morality and split blood, ideals and principles of the ragtag bunch clash, all the while trying to keep their lives afloat.

Though animation and soundtrack are not too remarkable, the same cannot be said about the effort poured into the world building, attention to details, and character development. Given the intriguing story narrative, it may even prove difficult to keep up if unfamiliar with history, famous personalities, or places. The climactic dialogues were well executed, especially the stark differences in ideologies from a privileged point of view. Even if there were some fictitious elements, such as bullets always hit the target but never the protagonist (almost like a typical James Bond movie), the action and mental struggles of the characters were appreciated.

“Stay cool as a cucumber.”