[–] exolyte 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
It's my first time watching, I haven't really seen any realistic action anime, so Black Lagoon feels very different for me. It's not a genre I particularly like, but so far I'm enjoying the anime.
The crime setting is pretty interesting and they successfully created an underworld atmosphere. The characters are well written as well, especially Rock and Revy. Rock is just an ordinary guy who gets caught up in the crime world. He adapts as shown in the episode where he convinces the nun to give them weapons, but in the end he's still a pretty normal guy. Revy is the polar opposite which makes the interactions between the two really good. I hope we get to see more development/backstory from Revy in the second half.
The one thing that does annoy me though is that the only ones who seem to know how to aim a gun are Revy, Dutch, Chang and the maid.
[–] Unpronounceable 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago (edited ago)
Fucking phenomenal anime. I had totally forgot how good this is. The dub is fantastic. This is the first and probably only anime I like the dub better than the sub.
[–] tulongest 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago (edited ago)
Just finished a 12 episode marathon right now. Coming into the rewatch, I have completely forgotten what the anime was about so it was like I'm watching it for the first time.
As unrealistic the fights may be at times, it was enjoyable seeing bullets fly and blood spattering in every episode. Sometimes, I wondered how Revy and Dutch can just stand at times and not get hit while they easily take out their moving targets.
In these 12 episodes, we see how one corporate employee by the name of Okajima Rokuro ended up in the hands of some pirates, realized how boring it is to be in the corporate rat race all your life, and how he threw away that boring and integrated himself into the piracy world, despite how he differs from his blood-stained companions, to become "Rock".
Unlike most MCs from other anime, Rock doesn't magically become OP with weapons or combat. This is quite useful to have in a pirate organization that consists only of brawn and a tech. He brings his business sense that he gained from his previous life as well as a harmless appearance from diplomatic reasons. We can see in episode 5 how useful his traits were, when he ran the job with the tanker practically by himself, albeit there was no combat involved. Rpck can also use his appearance to be purposely left as bait (to be kidnapped) to enemies to gather intel, while having Revy to rescue him. This wasn't shown in the anime but it could be a method that the Lagoon Company can use to gather intel for their clients.
Another things I really found interesting was the writer's use of my native country, the Philippines. It's not really a country that is brought much attention in other media and some people don't even know it exists. That being said, in episode 1, when Dutch mentioned that they were being chased by the Philippine Navy (not Filipino Navy as it was subbed as), I bursted out laughing. The Philippines have one of the crappiest navies in the world with US Navy scrap ships. But it was quite refreshing just hearing my country and places in it being a major part of the setting in the anime.
I'm looking forward to Thursday night when I can marathon the second season and find out what's next.