Okajima Rokuro’s life takes an unexpected turn when he’s kidnapped by pirates in Southeast Asia during a business trip with a secret disk. Unfortunately for him, he’s taken hostage in hopes of a ‘ransom bonus’ only to find out his company has discarded his life. Sick of being treated like a nobody and disgusted by being tossed aside, he resolves to start his life over as a member of the pirate crew who kidnapped him.
Black Lagoon is an interesting popcorn anime in that it’s fast, dirty, and fun. Each episode is filled with non stop gunfights, swearing, and the shameless tomboy Revi. I enjoyed it enough to marathon the entire 12 episode first season in one night. The animation is superb and the plots are more or less interesting, however if it lacks in any area it’s that it lacks an overall story. It can be a bit too episodic, and nothing much comes of the ominous company and the boss shown in detail at the beginning.
Thankfully a season 2 has been released which hopefully clears some of these issues up, but you can just feel that this is an incomplete manga adaptation. On the other hand, I really grew to like the characters, and it’s great to see that Rock (Rokuro) actually develops a spine. His calm, calculating nature along with his showdown with Revi made the series believable for me. I will definitely watch season 2.
