![]() Despite the inherent ridiculousness of the setting, all of the characters are believable and likeable. ![]() Fortunately, the OP and non-English voice acting are both great, so Black Lagoon's sound isn't a complete failure.CharactersThe wonderful dialogue serves to create characters that feel much more real than the cookie cutter clichés that have come to dominate most of today's action series. Also, the aforementioned switch to spoken English represents a key misstep in my mind. This slow and depressing instrumental piece is often at odds with the frenetic action that has happened right before it, and serves to dampen the mood of the show. For one, the show leads into the ED at the end of every episode. Still, the character designs and backgrounds are top-notch.SoundThere are a couple of problems with the sound. Some scenes literally consist of two characters running in a straight line while shooting at each other, and are somewhat dull to sit through. Animation-wise, the show looks fine most of the time but seems unsure of itself when it comes to the action scenes. Fortunately, as mentioned earlier, the story usually takes a backseat to the dialogue, which is fantastic.AnimationThe technical aspects of the show are serviceable, but certainly not outstanding. ![]() Some of the episodic arcs work well (in particular, the Twins arc at the beginning of the second season is wonderfully creepy), but others either are too ridiculous to really take seriously or get bogged down in unimportant details. In fact, as a whole, the storyline is somewhat uneven. While all of the English is grammatically correct, it's hideously voice-acted, almost to the point of being unwatchable. In particular, a large part of the normally excellent dialogue is carried out in English. The ending drowns itself in a seeming avalanche of petty plot details that I didnt really care about, and the things that made the first season so great (the black humor, interesting philosophical discussions, and risqué attitude) are almost completely gone. Unfortunately, Black Lagoon is hampered by a disappointing final arc. Through an interesting blend of obscure pop culture references, serious philosophical debate and hilarious one-liners, Black Lagoon has some of the best writing of the year. Put simply, the show's script sparkles with wit and intelligence. One might think that this would slow down an action series, but instead it is easily the best part of the show. In fact, more than three quarters of the show is reserved for dialogue. Without doubt, these scenes are completely brain-dead, but this is not really what Black Lagoon is all about. Villains emerge from flaming wreckage completely unscathed. ![]() Buildings and vehicles explode at the slightest provocation. Minor characters spew streams of automatic fire at the protagonists without so much as scratching them. To be sure, Black Lagoon almost certainly has mindless action in it. However, it is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a mindless action series. If I were to rate the two seasons individually, I would most likely give season 1 around a 7.5 and season 2 around a 6.5.īlack Lagoon looks like a mindless action series. ![]() StoryA note: This review covers both Black Lagoon and Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage, and the score is a composite of the two series. ![]()
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