Black Lagoon was one of the first few anime I had heard about when first getting into the medium as it was and still is considered a classic series. One of the aspects that stood out to me before watching it was its dub after seeing many clips. The profanity was a massive draw as most anime dont dub in a crazy amount of swearing. After reading the synopsis seeing the massive amount of praise and its status as a legendary action anime I went in with high expectations. And after finishing the first season of this series can I say that it lives up to those lofty heights? Unfortunately no but that doesnt mean that I cant recommend this series still in 2020. Black Lagoons draw comes from its promise of balls to the wall action with a light tone and plenty of swearing. And for the most part it delivers. Whenever there is action its fantastic. The gun fights are kinetic with a great sense of style and ferocity in its animation. Theres even some great boat chases early on in the series that were a great time. The biggest problem however is the rate at which this show decides to have cool action scenes. For a show like this to work well at least one per episode would be enough to keep the viewer constantly entertained but for a fair few episodes this season it does not hit that quota even when there are many opportunities for it to. Now I dont want to sound whiny because it was obviously to conserve budget and because they couldnt adapt every exciting part of the manga into every episode but the amount of uninteresting dialogue kills the momentum of many episodes especially early on. Honestly this show is fairly average but with the added bonus of the great action scenes it is elevated. Of course judging a show purely on its action is absurd especially when the main sources of entertainment for me come from the characters namely Rock and Revy. Rock is a great lead and acts as the perfect straight man for the group but Revy really steals the show for me and many others. Shes crass crazy and a total bitch and I love every second shes on screen. Shes the perfect nutcase character because of how much life she brings to an otherwise standard show. She works well even in serious moments which is another compliment I have to give this show. Its ability to go from batshit insanity one second to a more melancholic contemplative tone works very well in its favor when dealing with its more interesting characters. Not every show can pull that off well and Black Lagoon stands as one of the more successful ones. The best example of this in Black Lagoon isnt even in this season actually the first three episodes of The Second Barrage which is so far my favorite part of this show along with Robertas arc in Season 1. So this review like Revy has been pretty bipolar so far so I want to finish by saying that this is a good show that I wholeheartedly recommend to anyone thats interested but still did disappoint me by inconsistent nature to keep me entertained. Most arcs this season are honestly pretty average only Robertas arc being a notable standout as its easily the highlight of this season. Thankfully despite how middling some of the early stuff is the cast more than makes up for any major misgivings. Revy is a lovable nutcase and Rock provides some great leverage to the insanity that happens onscreen. The show is also beautiful to look at as well holding up stylistically better than some anime that came out even this year. A lot of passion went into this anime and you can definitely tell in how well its crafted from scene to scene. Wow this review really is bipolar. I hope this review helps articulate my thoughts on this show because the problems I have with it dont seem large but definitely affected my overall enjoyment so Im interested if anyone else had a similar experience. If so feel free to message me. If you love this show and arent happy with this review contact me as well and maybe you can change my mind on some of my issues. Overall this is a good show that I recommend but its legendary status might be a little outdated now. I wouldnt call this show a mustwatch but it is a good time if you know what youre in for. Watch it dubbed as well the voice acting is great and the profanity adds a lot to the pulpy ultraviolent action that this show is known for.
71 /100
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