Black Lagoon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rei Hiroe. It has been
published in Shogakukan's Monthly Sunday Gene-X since 2002, and ten collected volumes have
been released so far. It was later adapted into an anime television series, by Madhouse,
that aired from April to June 2006 for twelve episodes. A second season, subtitled "The
Second Barrage", ran for twelve weeks starting on October 2, 2006. A five volume original
video animation series, titled Roberta's Blood Trail, was released from July 2010 to June
2011. Viz Media began releasing an English translation
of the manga in North America on August 12, 2008. Madman Entertainment licensed the anime
in Australasia and the United Kingdom. The anime was dubbed and originally licensed in
English by Geneon Entertainment in North America; it is now licensed by Funimation Entertainment.
Funimation later licensed the OVA, which also was licensed by Kazé in the UK, for release
in spring 2013.
Plot The story follows a team of pirate mercenaries
known as Lagoon Company, that smuggles goods in and around the seas of Southeast Asia in
the early to mid 1990s. Their base of operations is located in the fictional harbor city of
Roanapur in southeast Thailand. The island is home to the Yakuza, the Triad, Cuban and
French cartels, and a wide assortment of pickpockets, thugs, mercenaries, thieves, prostitutes,
assassins, and Gunmen of all sorts. They transport goods in the 80-foot Elco-type PT boat Black
Lagoon. Lagoon Company does business with various clients, but has a particularly friendly
relationship with the Russian crime syndicate Hotel Moscow. The team takes on a variety
of missions—which may involve violent firefights, hand-to-hand combat, and nautical battles—in
various Southeast Asian locations, even going as far as Phu Quoc island of Vietnam and when
not doing much, the members of the Lagoon Company spend much of their down time at The
Yellow Flag, a bar in Roanapur which is often destroyed in firefights.
Characters
Production In an interview with Otaku USA, Rei Hiroe
stated that Black Lagoon was inspired by James Ellroy, John Woo, Quentin Tarantino and Stephen
King, as well as hearing about actual piracy cases in the East China Sea in the 1990s.
Black Lagoon includes a considerable amount of graphic violence, often involving violent
gun fights and spectacular physical feats in battle. Many of the characters who are
most skilled with weapons are women, thereby bearing a similarity with "girls-with-guns"
genre with the six strongest women in the series adhering to some type of stereotype.
Some of the scenes and dialogue are within the realm of dark comedy, as humorous moments
occur or are mentioned during and after many violent battles.
The character concept, gritty atmosphere and violence blending with black comedy depicted
in Black Lagoon pays a homage to the films by Quentin Tarantino and the Coen Brothers.
The Yellow Flag bar and Mexican standoff scenes in the series pays a tribute to spaghetti
westerns; Tarantino is known for making references to spaghetti westerns in his films. It also
make references to Tarantino's favorite films, such as The Wild Bunch poster seen in Revy's
bedroom in episode 11 of the anime and Revy mentioning My Bloody Valentine in episode
24. The "Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise" arc showed
that most of the characters throughout the series actually speak English, with the Japanese
simply being done for the audience. While the English voice acting in the anime is heavy
in Japanese pronunciation, nearly all occurrences of English lines in the manga are accurate.
However, the instances of Cyrillic script tend to be less so.
Media Manga
Written and illustrated by Rei Hiroe, a pilot chapter of Black Lagoon was published in Monthly
Sunday Gene-X's April 2001 issue and the main series premiered in the May 2002 issue. Chapters
run monthly and are later collected into tankōbon volumes by Shogakukan. The first was released
on December 12, 2002, and to date ten have been published, the last in 2014. After having
been on hiatus since mid-2010, the series resumed in the February 2013 issue of Sunday
GX, which was released on January 19. The manga was licensed for an English-language
release in North America by Viz Media. The first volume was released on August 12, 2008.
Madman Entertainment distributes Viz's release of the series in the United Kingdom. Black
Lagoon has also received domestic releases in many other countries; in France, Germany,
Hong Kong, Italy, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Mexico, Poland and Finland, by Kabuto,
Carlsen, Jade Dynasty, Panini Comics, Chuang Yi, Haksan Publishing, Norma Editorial, Grupo
Editorial Vid, Waneko and Punainen jättiläinen respectively.
Anime
An anime adaptation of Black Lagoon, produced by Madhouse, aired for the first time on Chiba
TV from April 8, 2006 to June 24, 2006 for twelve episodes. A second season, labeled
Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage and consisting of twelve more episodes, ran for the first
time on Sendai Television from October 2, 2006 to December 18, 2006. The second season
focuses less on character development than the first season and more on the jobs they
do. A five volume original video animation titled Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail
was released in July 2010. The anime was licensed in the United Kingdom
and Australasia by Madman Entertainment. On July 3, 2008, Geneon Entertainment and Funimation
Entertainment announced an agreement to distribute select titles in North America. While Geneon
will still retain the license, Funimation will assume exclusive rights to the manufacturing,
marketing, sales and distribution of select titles. Black Lagoon was one of several titles
involved in the deal. Geneon's English dub premiered on G4 Canada on October 26, 2007
and Starz Edge began airing it on February 29, 2008 to American audiences. The series
aired in Australia on the Sci Fi Channel. The first season was released on six DVDs,
each containing two episodes, between August and December 2006. The second season mirrored
this, being released from January to June 2007. The Blu-ray Disc releases of the two
seasons included a total of seven short omake specials, each no longer than five minutes,
that depict the characters in various humorous situations. In 2010, the series was released
in four, two for each season, boxsets from August to September.
Geneon's North American dub was released on three DVD compilations, each containing four
episodes, between May 22 and September 18, 2007. After being released individually, with
volume one having a limited edition version containing a steelbook box that comes with
a bonus disc with slots for all 3 volumes, the boxset of the entire first season was
released December 30, 2008. The fourth bonus disc, available in the season one box set
or the volume one steelbook edition, has a 15 minute behind the scenes with the English
crew and voice actors, the "Red Fraction" music video performed by Mell, promotional
videos, the creditless opening and ending, and Japanese opening. The Second Barrage volumes
were released in the same manner, with the box set released in North America on April
14, 2009, case with episodes 13–24 on three discs with English/Japanese audio and English
subtitles. The box set/steelbook version bonus disc includes promotional videos and the creditless
opening and ending. At Anime Expo 2010, Funimation announced their licensing of the Roberta's
Blood Trail OVA, which was later released in 2013. The first and second seasons were
re-released on Blu-ray Disc/DVD combo pack on December 4, 2012.
The series returned to American television on the Funimation Channel on February 15,
2013. The series began airing in Adult Swim's Toonami block on March 22, 2014.
The anime has also aired in Italy on MTV Italy, in Sweden on ZTV and on Animax in Spain, Portugal
and in Germany on Animax and Tele 5. Music
Opening "Red Fraction" by Mell
Closing "Don't Look Behind" by Edison
"The World of Midnight" by Minako "mooki" Obata
"Preach Headz Addiction" by Breath Frequency Original Soundtrack
Red Fraction 1:32 Tear Drops to Earth 1:26
Asian Comfort 1:29 Don't Stop! 4:25
Samara Samanda 1:23 A Cold Wind in My Mind 1:26
Make a Bet 2:15 El Sol se Recuesta 4:15
Seasonal Wind 1:20 66 steps 2:25
The World of Midnight 1:48 Dark Side of the Moon 2:06
Tadpole Dance 1:32 Let Me Know Your Name 4:17
After the Rain 1:27 It's an Easy Afternoon 1:24
Behind the Clouds 1:36 The Anthem of the Aryan Socialist Union 1:32
Melting Brain 3:24 The Way to Last Night 1:44
Peach Headz Addiction 3:14 Don't Look Behind 2:06
Father's Chest 1:58 Don't Let Me Join Now 2:02
Foxy Doll 2:07 Rock the Carnival 2:53
Mad Club 1:27 Don't Stop! 3:41
Don't Look Behind 1:39 Reception
As of May 2010, the manga series has sold over 4.5 million copies in Japan. About.com's
Deb Aoki listed Viz Media's English release of Black Lagoon as the best new seinen manga
of 2008, along with Gantz. The anime series has received internationally positive reviews.
With Chris Beveridge of Anime on DVD going so far as to say:
“To my surprise, knowing practically nothing about the show beyond a two minute clip at
a convention, Black Lagoon manages to kick all kinds of ass. In English no less. The
draw of a full bitrate 5.1 mix got me to watch it in English only to find that with most
of the characters being western and in settings outside of Japan it works very well.”
References
Further reading Smith, David F.. "Black Lagoon Volume 1".
Newtype USA 6: p. 146. ISSN 1541-4817. Archived from the original on 13 August 2007.
Douresseaux, Leroy. "Black Lagoon: Volume 9". Comic Book Bin. Toon Doctor.
Scholes, Sandra. "Black Lagoon Complete Season 1". ActiveAnime.
Sheehy, Tim. "Review: Black Lagoon Roberta's Blood Trail". Japanator.
External links Official website
Black Lagoon at Sunday GX Funimation's Black Lagoon website
Black Lagoon at Anime News Network's encyclopedia Black Lagoon at the Internet Movie Database