Review of Black Lagoon
Welcome to the city of Roanipur in South-East Asia where the show if predominately based. Be prepared to be hyped by the epic OP and badass duel wielding Two-Hands Revy and when he gets screen time Mr. Chang. Now before I get into the anime WARNING THIS IS A REVIEW OF ALL OF BLACK LAGOON. So this includes Black Lagoon, Black Lagoon: Second Barrage and Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail. Story (9/10) Great The story revolves around the Lagoon Company a transportation company that sometimes do illegal jobs for clients. The story revolves around Lagoon Company members Rock and Revy and the illegal jobs which the undertakesuch as aiding in a kidnapping, fighting Nazi's and hunting down those who are causing trouble for the syndicates of Roanipur in particular Hotel Moscow a group consisting solely of ex-soviet special forces and the Triad who my favourite character Mr. Chang is apart of.
The series consist of small arc each resembling a different job the Lagoon Company undertook. By a small arc I mean each arc is only 3-5 episodes. My personal favourite being Roberta's Blood Trail as revolves around Roberta's rampage through Roanipur as a Yagami Light vs L type battle between Mr. Chang and Rock. As an overall I was quite satisfied with the story with its mixed of epic action and large number crazy and dangerous women in Roanipur.
Art (8/10) Very Good
The animation was overall very good, very consistent but didn't standout that much but that being said it was still quite good and isn't by any means unappealing to the eye.
Sound (9/10) Great
The sound was exceptional the music was amazing in particular the OP which got you hyped up for the episode to follow which never disappointed me. Even the Ending OST was very good it didn't have the hype factor which the OP had but it was very eerie and helped show that a lot of epic action which the OP shows but there is also dark psychological side to it as well. The voice acting was solid in both the sub and the dub though I rate sub slightly higher than the dub. There was one scene though which the sound let itself down with and that one the one time they tried to do a slow motion scene when Mr. Chang is giving them a job is the 9th or 10th episode. this being the main reason why it didn't score a 10/10.
Characters (9/10)
Black Lagoon has a great group of characters. The Lagoon Company consist of 4 members the leader Dutch a decent strategist who knows how to be a badass with a gun when he needs to. Benny the least talked about lagoon member, he is the technical genius of the group not of any help with a gun though. Revy the destructive factor of the group, doing most of the fighting in the group. Being the closest person to rock she gets more screen time than Dutch or Benny and plays as Rocks romantic partner. Sort of. Not really. Revy and Rock are partners. Rock being the brains and Revy being the brawn. Rock who is the protagonist of the show is a former Japanese businessman turned Lagoon Company Sailor. Like Benny he is of no use terms of actual fighting but the most strategic genius of the Lagoon Company and Top 5 in all of Roanipur.
There are many secondary characters like the twins, the people at the ripoff church, the Lovelace family, Hotel Moscow, the Triad and many more minor characters who you don't need to know about. I'll talk about one secondary character Mr. Chang the head of the Triad. I've said his name a couple of times earlier and that's because he is in my opinion the most powerful and dangerous character in all of Roanipur. Being just as good a fighter as Revy if not better and having the strategic mind similar to that of Rock. He ticks all the boxes needed to make it big in Roanipur and by the end of the series we find out that this ex-cop runs the show in Roanipur. Mr. Chang is that good of a character he deserved more screen than he got and an his own arc.
Enjoyment (10/10) Outstanding
This series was everything that I wanted in an anime it was action-pact, gory at times, had mental battles as well and had exceptional characters. This anime leaving me wanting more. I highly recommend this anime to anyone who likes the action genre. If you're looking for other anime similar to this I would recommend Gangsta, it's not as good as Black Lagoon but still will satisfy your action hunger.