| Black Lagoon #1 |
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| Thursday, 28 February 2008 | |
 In a certain, twisted way, I love comparing a show's PR to the reality of the series itself. Black Lagoon's PR certainly wasn't short on self-praise, and to be fair the show has picked up some good reviews as something that's squarely aimed at an older audience, and proud of it. But that's all just hype - does the series live up to it..?1 - The Black Lagoon Rokuro Okajima's trip to the ocean's just turned sour - the ship he's on has just been attacked by mercenaries, and while they've agreed to let the passengers go, there's one exception: him. It seems he's carrying some important information (his company forgot to point that out to him, naturally), and one of their business rivals has decided it wants that information. But the mercenary group, the crew of the torpedo boat Black Lagoon, soon find out they may have taken on more than they can chew, while Rokuro's about to discover that he finds the mercenary life appealing...   2 - Mangrove Heaven Just when they could have been turned to Swiss cheese, the gang's attackers back off - keeping a safe distance behind, they're waiting for the boat to reach the narrows ahead, where they'll have little or no space for evasive manoeuvres. The gang eventually find themselves trapped - a waterfall ahead, and their attackers waiting behind, with their commander enjoying having the upper hand and waiting to see what his targets will do next. With them apparently out of options, though, it's Rock who comes up with a plan to save their skins, using a shipwreck they'd passed a little back the waterway...   3 - Ring-Ding Ship Chase Roanapur - the Port of Immorality, the City of Pleasure, and home port to the Black Lagoon. Which makes it Rock's new home, too, and while they're waiting for their next job to turn up, he gets a chance to have a look at the place. Let's just say it may take him a while to properly fit in. Dutch, on the other hand, has no such problems - half the city seems to know him, and before long he's got them a job, taking a delivery for the Vietnamese military. But the job's not all it seems to be...   4 - Die Rückkehr Des Adlers Towards the end of World War II, a U-boat left Germany bound for the Asian nation of Batavia, carrying a Japanese officer and an SS officer on board. They never reached their destination - a depth-charge attack near Indonesia left the sub on the ocean floor, with no power and only two hours air remaining. On board was the only tableau painting created in Germany since the Führer came to power. Now the Black Lagoon is on their way to do a little salvage work - a Spanish collector wants Hitler's painting, and with the price on offer being more that generous, the Black Lagoon is on the case. But so is a group of neo-Nazis - and that spells trouble...   Right. The Black Lagoon of the title isn't a place - it's the name of the torpedo boat that our anti-heroes use in their operations. At the start of the series, it has a crew of three - Revy, a rather cute woman who is very much into ultraviolence and really isn't someone you want to mess with (although there is some charm hidden under the hard surface. Very deeply hidden.), tech genius Benny, and leader of the pack Dutch, who brings a large dose of common sense to the group. The first episode also introduces Japanese salaryman Rokuro, who through a series of unfortunate happenings finds himself joining the crew of the Black Lagoon - they affectionately call him Rock, which he's clearly not as hard as. Truly. Together they take on any mission that pays well enough to make it worthwhile, with legality being entirely a fringe concern. Putting the story to one side for a moment, it's worth talking about the show's presentation a bit. Visually, it's up there with the best of them - between a South Sea setting that gives opportunity for a number of diverse locations (and lets the animators cheat a little by using a plain seascape when the budget's tight, I suspect), and production studio Madhouse's usual gloss, it really looks the part. Weapons fans will love this, too, as there's an attention to detail put into the weaponry on show that borders on the obsessive - it's firearm fanservice, and no mistake. That will have a lot of people drooling all over the show already, regardless of how good the plots actually are - and to be honest, story is Black Lagoon's Achilles heel, for this volume at least. The opening three episodes are really nothing special - a two-part story to introduce Rock and work him into the crew, and one that revolves around an open-sea boat chase that shows off Revy's skills but otherwise is pure filler. The final episode, which jumps back and forward between the present day and the final days of World War II, has much more to it, though, and if it's any indication of what the series is going to be like going forward, we're in for a treat. Even when it's just filler, though, Black Lagoon is far more fun than it has any right to be. The PR talks about it being... "..a refreshingly intense blast of explosive action, graphic violence, snappy dialogue and weapon fetishism that would put John Woo to shame. And it's all backed by a louder than hell musical score to keep things rolling along."...and you know, that description is just about right. It's as shallow as hell, but it knows that, and positively revels in it - it's light, fluffy, and out to entertain simply by being something that you know that, in these politically-correct times, you really shouldn't enjoy. There are some scenes in there that in other shows would have me rolling my eyes and muttering "Yeah, right.." - but in this series, they fit right in. The 15 certificate should be enough to tell you that it's not quite as hardcore as it thinks it is (either that or the good folks at the BBFC are getting ever more lax on me), but for all that it's really hard not to just go with the flow and enjoy this. Don't expect much depth - at least, not yet - and you won't be disappointed. For action fans, it's definitely worth picking up. Promo clips for this release: Clip One | Clip Two | Clip Three | Clip Four  |
