Review of Black Lagoon

There are times when I am hard pressed to find an anime to watch I know I will like. Most likely this is due to indecisiveness, which admittedly is my problem more often than I would like. However, I also believe my struggles can be attributed to a major point: I know myself well enough to know that no matter how highly praised, artfully executed, or original a series is, if I'm not feeling it when I start watching, then It's probably not going to work out, which brings me to Black Lagoon. Frankly, there is nothing that I could write in this review thathas not been said by the other reviewers thus far, and at the end of the day my comments would be more or less the same. So, instead I would like to give you a few reasons why Black Lagoon IS WORTH YOUR TIME.

Story - Black Lagoon is a refreshing series. The story portrays a world of modern day pirating, crime, and underworld activity that the majority of people have never seen or know anything about outside their favorite forms of media, yet it all seems eerily familiar. There are also not any points where the story gets ahead of itself, or wrapped up in the "epic", which is very satisfying.

Characters - excellent for many reasons, but what I found so great about them is that they are realistic. Unlike many animes, Black Lagoon's characters are representative of people that actually exist in our world in all their different forms. The best example of this is Revy, who has a mouth a sailor would find offensive, enough attitude to go around, and a bite that is worse than the bark. She is completely lovable, despicable, and absurd all at the same time. It makes you wonder - what other kind of girl would be a pirate/mercenary in the crime ridden South China seas?

In addition, character development is done at a reasonable pace, and not every character changes in some way or another - some people stay just the way they are, and who said that was a bad thing? The viewer is not burdened with the often time consuming task of learning every single detail of a character's personality, inner thoughts and struggles, their entire life stories, etc...This does not mean that there is not depth or complexity in each character, in fact, the case is exactly the opposite. It was nice to be able to simply watch the characters interact with each other and their environments.

Art - Really great all the way around. The South China seas is a setting not often explored, and the tropical climate allowed for a color palate that is vibrant, warm, and rich. Animation is fluid, realistic, and really pops. The action scenes are particularly visceral and engaging

Enjoyment - I loved watching Black Lagoon. From the very first minute I was grabbed by the quality animation, unique characters, and impressive action. This anime is great for anyone who wants a mature show that is truly engaging. Fast-paced action and characters that would scare the shit out of you, but would still be great to go shot-for-shot with define much of Black Lagoon. It was refreshing to be able to watch a show that gives you snapshots of a way of life instead of an epic save the universe and change into the person you should be kind of narrative.

Black Lagoon is without a doubt worth your time, even if for an episode or two.