Review of Black Lagoon: Volume 1

Introduction

Anime is in something of a crisis. As part of the usual cycle of popularity, anime grew spectacularly as the media latched onto the next big thing. Companies expanded, licensing costs soared, and more and more titles came across the Pacific, and eventually across the Atlantic too. Customer loyalty is a fickle thing, as is the tendency to drop the latest fad once people get bored. All of a sudden the audiences weren`t there any more (they were getting the shows on Bit Torrent). While the anime bubble hasn`t yet burst completely, it is deflating with an unpleasant raspberry sound. The latest victim has been ADV. As part of cost cutting measures, ADV`s UK office has vanished, to be replaced by a direct distribution deal through LDMS media. Tightening their belts has also meant some urgent renegotiating of contracts, and the bottom line for customers is that new ADV titles have had a two-month hiatus. It`s pretty insignificant compared to Geneon`s woes, who last October pretty much went out of the distribution business altogether, when a potential merger failed. Geneon, a.k.a. Pioneer were the bastion of anime distribution in the most recent popularity surge, and losing them from the marketplace is like losing a major organ. Countless popular titles have passed through their doors, shows like Samurai Champloo, Tenchi Muyo, Chobits, Trigun and Haibane Renmei to name but a few, and to see those titles vanish from shop shelves has been a galling experience for our US brethren. It`s especially worse for shows that hadn`t completed their release cycles and have in effect been left in limbo while Geneon look for new avenues of distribution.

But Geneon are still at work when it comes to licensing, sublicensing and dubbing anime, and one of the last deals that was finalised before the hammer fell, was the sublicense of Black Lagoon to MVM in the UK. Black Lagoon has to be one of the most hotly anticipated anime titles of the year, compared in some quarters to Cowboy Bebop, and it is one that I have been hankering to watch since I first heard about it. Two series of Black Lagoon were made, this and The Second Barrage, and MVM have the licence to distribute both. The thing is that in the US, Geneon went into shutdown before the release of The Second Barrage was completed. Depending on how long it takes for Geneon to recover, we may eventually see the oddity of US fans importing anime from the UK.

The life of a salaryman, or white-collar worker isn`t an easy one. Years of hard competitive education just to get your foot on the first rung of the corporate ladder in a big firm. As the lowest of the low, you get the toughest work, and all the abuse from the higher ups. You spend years of your life, make sacrifices of your family and free time, pledging eternal loyalty to the company, all in the hope that one day, you`ll be the one doing the abusing instead of being abused. Then, while acting as a courier, you`re kidnapped by mercenaries for the sensitive data disc that you`re carrying, disowned by your superiors as an unfortunate loss, get caught up in battles and gunfights with the mercs your company send to retrieve the disc, and start a new job as a pirate. Okay, so that doesn`t happen to your average Reginald Perrin, but it does happen to Rokuro Okajima, in the acclaimed anime Black Lagoon. The first four episodes of twelve are presented here on this MVM disc, along with some interesting extras.

1. The Black Lagoon
All Rokuro Okajima had to put up with was hard workdays at the office and abusive superiors until the fateful day he was chosen to act as courier for a data disc. The Black Lagoon mercenary group waylaid his vessel, and captured the disc. A simple act of piracy grew more troublesome when mercenary Revy decided to make a little money on the side and ransom Rokuro as well. The pirates are just middlemen, and intend to take the disc to the Russian mafia, who will ransom it back to Asahi Industries. Asahi is having none of this, and they hire mercenaries of their own to destroy the disc, Black Lagoon, and throw Rokuro to the sharks. As compensation, he does get a post-mortem promotion though.

2. Mangrove Heaven
Black Lagoon`s leader Dutch has taken pity on Rock, as he is now dubbed, and tech expert Benny is friendly enough, although the fiery Revy is another matter. It`s a baptism of fire though, as they flee from Asahi`s mercenaries. A gunboat versus a helicopter gunship isn`t a fair fight, and they are being toyed with like a cat with a mouse. Things look bleak, but then Rock of all people comes up with a lunatic plan. If they live through this, Rock may just have to update his CV.

3. Ring-Ding Ship Chase
A blind statue of a Buddha stands guard to the port of Roanapur, home of Black Lagoon. It`s a fitting symbol for the city of pleasure, populated by those living outside the law. Rock is still trying to find his feet in a town where everyone tries to get one over on everyone else. Dutch walks the streets, trying to learn the lay of the land following their most recent adventure. It seems not everyone appreciates the fact that he has dealings with the Russian Mafia, who are the newest arrivals in Roanapur, and are shaking up the status quo. Black Lagoon`s latest mission seems straightforward enough, pick up a package from some Vietnamese, but in actuality it is a lethal trap.

4. Die Rűckkehr des Adlers
When Rock happens to mention in passing that he once went scuba diving, it`s enough for Dutch to put a plan into action. There is a U-Boat that is just asking to be salvaged, and a gift of scuba gear has a whole heap of ulterior motive attached to it. At the end of the Second World War, a U-Boat Captain was assigned the mission of returning a Japanese officer to his homeland; only the boat was sunk just short of its destination. At the last minute, an SS officer had joined the voyage, carrying a rare painting, a painting that is in high demand among certain collectors. At the location, Revy and Rock don their diving gear and head for the U-Boat, while Benny and Dutch monitor from the surface. Which is when the Fourth Reich shows up…

Video

Black Lagoon gets a 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer, which is as good as it gets without it being a native PAL source. The image is clear and sharp, detail is excellent, colours are consistent, and I didn`t notice a single compression artefact. It`s a good thing too, as Black Lagoon has some of the best animation I have seen in a television anime. It`s fluidly and dynamically animated, the attention to detail is astounding, especially with the military equipment. This may be the anime of choice when it comes to gun porn, with Revy`s Cutlasses getting special attention. It`s an action packed show, with plenty of gunfights, explosions and chases to be getting on with. The character designs have had a lot of thought put into them, and are particularly effective with a cast of grizzled and battle worn mercenaries. CGI texture mapping comes into its own here, as I doubt the plethora of scars and tattoos adorning some skins could have been possible were they animated traditionally.

Audio

An action packed show needs a suitably expressive soundtrack, and my preference of the DD 2.0 Japanese doesn`t disappoint, with plenty of directionality to the sound design, especially when pro-logicked up, while keeping the dialogue clear and audible. Translated subtitles are provided of course, along with a signs only track. For the full surround experience there is the DD 5.1 English track, and it`s an excellent experience that gives punchy punctuation to the action sequences, has the show`s soundtrack reverberating and is a significant step up from the stereo. I`ll never be a fan of English dubs, but Black Lagoon`s is near passable, with some impressive performances. I think the English language actor chosen for Dutch is perfectly cast, and if some other performances are a little too typical of dubs, they don`t detract from the show.

It`s a shame there isn`t a Japanese surround track though.

Features

The oft-repeated litany of jacket picture, animated menu and trailers gets another airing. This time the trailers are for Witchblade and Elemental Gelade.

You get the Music Video `Red Fraction` by Mell (I`ve Sound). It`s the 4-minute promo for the theme song to the show.

Most substantial on this disc is the Making Of Feature, which lasts 16 minutes. You get to see the English ADR department at work, with input from the ADR director, the writer of the English script and the actors. It`s an interesting look at how an anime is adapted, and how localisation helped enrich the characters for an English speaking audience.

The end credits for each episode are in Japanese, so it`s useful to have a translated end credit scroll for all four episodes tacked on at the end.

Conclusion

Wow! And I mean that most sincerely. For the first time in quite a while, I have sat through an anime disc with a sheer grin of utter joy plastered across my face, in absolute awe of a show`s excellence. In fact, I quite resent reviewing it, as it meant having to occasionally pull myself away from the TV to take a couple of notes. I`m quite jealous; I wanted Black Lagoon all to myself. Incidentally, it`s nothing like Cowboy Bebop. It may be just as good, but this is a completely different story, as well as a wholly different tone, but it not only lives up to the hype, it exceeds it, and by quite a fair margin.

Black Lagoon is an action series pure and simple, unapologetic about its violence and brutality, profane in a good way, and astoundingly good fun. At the heart of the show is the usual fish out of water premise, with bemused white collar worker Rokuro Okajima turned into Rock, mercenary and pirate. At this early stage it`s charming to see him in the white shirt and tie, regardless of if he is doing Black Lagoon`s accounts, or delivering an ultimatum to a piracy victim with traditional Japanese politeness. Black Lagoon has the sensibilities of old school 80s action movies, happily exaggerating action scenes beyond the laws of physics, but making for great visuals. Also there is no pandering to the PC crowd, innocent bystanders are fair game, and in one scene, Revy has no qualms about taking a human shield, and then putting a bullet into the back of his skull when done with him. There is a casual, matter of fact attitude to the violence that is refreshing in a genre where the pet dog usually survives to the end of the movie.

This is a world of antiheroes, with no black or white to its morality. It`s all down to the mercenary`s` code of honour, and with Black Lagoon being the least two-faced of the bunch; it`s easy to see where the audience loyalties will lie. The characters are certainly appealing, with Rock our way in to this seedy underworld, as a white-collar worker with a new vocation. We follow him from limp and submissive businessman to totally out of his depth with Black Lagoon. But he does show a spark of that personality that thrives on adrenaline, when he comes up with the plan to defeat the gunship in episode 2, and it`s that same spark that convinces Dutch to recruit him. Dutch is another excellent character, a Vietnam veteran who is now in business for himself. He has considerable screen presence, he`s tough and mean, yet has a fun loving side, and treats his crew like loyal employees. The least well-developed character of the four at this point is Benny, Black Lagoon`s tech geek, and most prone to retina burning Hawaiian shirts, but he looks to be developing into the show`s Q. But the scene, no the whole show is stolen by two-fisted, gun wielding Revy, one of those characters that insinuates herself into your consciousness in her first scene, then refuses ever after to leave it. She`s a force of nature, with the personality of a psychotic imp, utterly lethal with her weaponry, and just as likely to kill you as kiss you, and most likely will do both. She manages to look absolutely hot while dealing death too, and gets off on the destruction she causes. She`s also utterly likeable, and easily the best thing about the show.

The relationships that the four are beginning to develop are the strength of the show, with the mentor student relationship between Dutch and Rock standing out. More impressive is the friction that arises between Revy and Rock. Having to interact with pampered city-worker Rock makes Revy uncomfortable, as it raises questions about her own past, the shattered upbringing that made her who she is, which is why she is so ready to give him a rough time. On the other hand, while Rock is initially, and quite understandably terrified of her, he quickly begins to regard her utter fearlessness with awe. The moment he finds that he is impressed with her ruthlessness, is when he begins to question just who he is becoming, that he can accept such violence so easily. It`s certainly more than the average action show ever bothers to ask, and the fact that Black Lagoon is asking it so early indicates that character growth will be a big part of the episodes to come.

It took me five minutes to fall in love with Black Lagoon, and by the end of the disc, it had matured into full-blown irrational obsession. I am now fighting the urge to camp out on MVM`s doorstep, just to urge them to hasten the subsequent releases. That the disc ends on a cliffhanger just makes matters worse. I want more Black Lagoon now! This will probably be the best new anime of 2008, if you buy one anime this year, make it Black Lagoon, and with MVM`s new R.R.P. of £15.99 for all single volume releases, you have even less of an excuse not to.