Black Lagoon - Season 2

The American release of Black Lagoon's second season was delayed when Geneon USA went under, but the license was eventually picked up by Funimation, allowing us to see it. It feels more or less like the first season did, with a bit of a darker tone and less focus on characters. Considering how I said after the first season that I'd prefer more craziness and less developing personalities, that seems like a good thing, although I can't really say I liked this run a whole lot better. It's still entertaining, violent, and wacky, it just never reaches what I see as the potential for that sort of show, settling into a respectable "Hey, this is pretty good" vibe.

The first storyline of the season is the oddest, with two creepy, androgynous twins causing some trouble for some local gangsters. They seem like something out of another show, filling that insanity quotient well but not really gelling with the rest of the cast. There's another story about counterfeiting and being the target of every hit man in the city, and then the show's longest plot yet as the two leads go to Japan to help with a deal between the Russian mob and the Yakuza. It's likely the most serious the show has gotten, and might be the best subplot they've had, so I'm not sure what exactly it is I want from Black Lagoon after all. A third season is coming, and I'm casually looking forward to what happens next.

Black Lagoon - Season 1

Black Lagoon will probably end up being a pretty popular anime. It definitely has a similar feel to Cowboy Bebop, if Spike was a girl and they used a boat instead of a space ship. It's an action show, and it pulls it off pretty well. It starts with the relatively interesting cast of characters. Revy (I'm sure that's a botched Japanese shortening of her real name, Rebecca) takes the place of the action hero who does everything and saves her weaker comrades, and is a bit typically hot-headed. She does have a somewhat interesting past, although it isn't gone into too deeply and we end up getting stuck with a few over-long monologues regarding her life philosophy. The protagonist is really the kidnapped businessman who they nickname Rock and co-opt into their group. He doesn't really know his way around weapons or combat, but he's helpful in other ways. Dutch doesn't have that much going on but is likable as the boss who keeps Revy in check, but can still get things done himself.

Black Lagoon's first season has some nice crazy action scenes and ridiculous scenarios (fighting Nazis underwater!), but I honestly wish it was a little crazier. It's entertaining, but it does spend time developing character, when I really don't care that much. The concept of Rock being a normal guy thrust into a new and dangerous world is fairly intriguing, but they don't do enough with that to actually justify the time they DO spend. This is a show about an entire city filled with cutthroats, mercenaries, and deadly maids with umbrellas that deflect bullets, not a normal guy trying to cope. He's fine as a character, but I could have done with more explosions and blood. It's plenty of fun as it is, but I think a lot of anime would benefit from taking their concepts a bit further.