Black Lagoon Volume 1

Black Lagoon Volume 1

Hawkeye

Rock used to get up for work, put on a shirt and tie, go into the office, work long hours and then go home. He used to suck up to his boss and make a good show for clients. Rock used to be a model employee. That all changed the day the boat he was on for a business trip was hijacked by pirates.

After that incident Rock just wasn’t the same. He couldn’t stand the idea of being used by his boss again. He’d gotten a taste for action so he joined the hijackers team, betrayed his boss and decided that it was time for a change, time for a life of piracy. His companions are Revy a bad mouthing powerhouse of fire power, the strong arm Dutch, and the technological genius Benny. Together they do missions for various clients, making a good profit and having one hell of a good time in the process.

The world itself is an interesting mix of the real life and fantasy, same with the political structure and the story. It’s a very cool idea for a series, modern day pirates taking jobs for mobsters and living in a country that’s made up entirely of thugs, like a modern day Tortuga. It looks like the show is going to be made up of many several episode long story arcs, and I don’t expect to see a big over arching plot among them, however it’s already clear that there’s going to be character development and progression which I think is fantastic. I’m also already growing attached to the two main characters Rock and Revy, they’re complete opposites which makes their interactions particularly amusing.

The art and animation is spectacular, I was truly blown away. The action scenes were innovative and clever, the character designs original and interesting. The lighting was expertly done, adding atmosphere to scenes perfectly. I honestly don’t have a single complaint about the animation in this series, I even tried to nit-pick it to find one!

The sound was excellent. Having seen this series originally subtitled with the Japanese voice actors I was worried that they were going to mess up the voices, especially Revys. However I was pleasantly surprised that all the voices fit the characters, and they didn’t even censor Revys tendency to curse worse then a sailor. I only have one complaint about the sound, which is that horrible ending song. It’s truly awful, and worst of all they play it during the series as well! There were also no extras, I wish Geneon would start putting in extras on their discs.

This series is smart and hip, action packed and interesting, I think I’ve fallen in love with it. Fair warning, this show is violent and there’s a lot of swearing, and I mean a lot. But it was spectacular and gripping, full of characters that have depth and personality. Black Lagoon is 100 percent original, and 100 percent must-see.

Entertainment: 10
This series is so good.

Technical: 8
I hate that ending song with the passion of a thousand fiery suns, also there were no extras.

Overall: 9

DVD Features: Episodes 1-4, English, Japanese with English Subtitles