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Welcome all, to another 2 episodes of Black Lagoon! This week kicks of the final arc of the series, taking us to a land we haven’t visited since episode 1: Japan! This is pretty interesting, a lot goes down, so lets dive right into it.

First up is episode 19, “Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise”. This episode starts us off in Japan right away and I have to admit, it was a little confusing. We went from escaping into the ocean with Jane to Rock landing in Japan with Revy almost immediately. Were it not for some of the connective moments, like Benny and Jane E-dating or Rock first waking up in Roanapur with Sawyer outside his window, I’d have felt like I had skipped an episode. As is, it just feels like a really awkward transition. Still, it’s not like I dislike Japan. It should be a really interesting setting for the series. One where Rock can show just how much he’s changed in the year he’s been away, as well as giving Revy a more… lets say “civilized” city to interact with. There’s a lot of potential here! Black Lagoon just needs to use it.

Continue reading “Black Lagoon – 19/20 [Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise/The Succession] – Throwback Thursday” →

Welcome back, to another week of Black Lagoon! I have another pair of episodes for you, these two wrapping up the Jane arc with just as much fun as it started. There’s a decent amount to talk about, and I want to actually get this up on time for once, so lets dive right into it!

Starting off we have episode 17, “The Roanapur Freakshow Circus”. This picks up right where we left off, with bounty hunters storming the hotel and Eda explaining her brilliant plan. Turns out? I was right! She did plan all of this. In fact, she’s run this so many times that she not only has a specific room picked out, she has signs setup directing Jane right to her alley. Hell, she has a track record of doing this. And you know what makes it all even funnier? The moment Eda and Revy get involved, all of the other bounty hunters immediately back off and demand more pay. Not because they are afraid of them, we see later they gladly fight. More that fighting them simply isn’t worth the paltry 1k they were being paid before. The hilarity! And that’s exactly how I would describe both of these episodes: Hilarious.

Continue reading “Black Lagoon – 17/18 [The Roanapur Freakshow Circus/Mr. Benny’s Good Fortune] – Throwback Thursday” →

Welcome all, to another slightly late week of Black Lagoon! Turns out implementing Deep Q-Learning and then trying to teach it to play Snake is harder than I thought and I lost track of time. Grad school aside, we have a lot to talk about this week. Black Lagoon seems to have heard my issues and done a lot to address them. So lets dive into this weeks episodes!

First up is episode 15, “Swan Song at Dawn”. This episode concludes the Vampire Children arc, and you know what? It was better than I was expecting, a surprisingly effective ending. Not only did Black Lagoon manage to tie things up well, writing the twins out of the story and resolving Balalaika’s vendetta, it even managed to involve Rock and Revy in an arc that, really, they had no business being involved in. On top of that, it also dialed back the sadism I felt was holding the twins back while dialing up the victim angle just the right amount, at just the right times, too sell their scenes. Overall? I feel a lot better about this arc. Now onto the spoilers!

Continue reading “Black Lagoon – 15/16 [Swan Song at Dawn/Greenback Jane] – Throwback Thursday” →

Welcome all, to another week of Black Lagoon! This week marks the halfway point of this watch, as well as the beginning of a new season for Black Lagoon. We have plenty to talk about, so lets dive right into it!

First up we have episode 13, “The Vampire Twins Comen”. This episode introduces a new pair of villains for Black Lagoon and I have to say, my initial impression was… Iffy, if I’m being honest. I get what Black Lagoon is going for with these kids, Hansel and Gretel. A pair of sociopaths molded by the world, hurt by it, victims of it in every way who still have to be put down because of the horrible things they are now doing. Black Lagoon wants us to question just how at fault these kids are, and how our world can ruin a child innocence and turn people into monsters later in life. And we’ll talk about all of that, because that’s solid! But I think Black Lagoon takes it a step to far in its presentation of it all.

Continue reading “Black Lagoon – 13/14 [The Vampire Twins Comen/Bloodsport Fairytale] – Throwback Thursday” →

Welcome all, to a late week of Black Lagoon! This has been a busy few days for me, so apologies for the delay and shortness of the post. I actually didn’t even get to watch the episodes until Wednesday night, and writing this got put off until Friday morning. Turns out everything is starting to ramp up around here. Still, the show must go on, so lets dive into the murky world of international terrorism, oh yeah!

First up, let’s talk about some production. Black Lagoon continues to run into this “Early digital animation era” problem of fidelity. I’m talking pixelated line work and choppy movement. It doesn’t happen often, this isn’t an “Every scene” sort of issue. But it definitely happens at least once an episode, and it’s noticeable. Additionally, this week the English dub also had some… interesting decisions. I’m of course talking about Shenhua and Leigharch. They sound great, their actors did a good job! But for Shenhua specifically, I can’t help but think it sounds… Kinda racist? It’s a heavily stereotypical Chinese accent done by a Canadian woman? I make no moral judgement, I’m not attacking anyone, in fact I absolutely adored her banter with Revy. Just… In the modern day, almost 20 years down the line, it looks, or in this case sounds… questionable. Still, the quality is good, gotta give’m that.

Continue reading “Black Lagoon – 11/12 [Lock’n Load Revolution/Guerrillas in the Jungle] – Throwback Thursday” →

Welcome all, to another week of Black Lagoon! We’re almost done with the first season, only two episodes left. That means shit’s starting to go down, and I am here for all of it. So without further ado, lets dive into the episodes and my new wife favorite maid, Roberta.

Starting off, one big surprise was that I found myself gravitating back towards the English dub this week. If you remember, last week I said it was good but that I preferred the JP dub + English subs. And I thought that was the case when I started this pair of episodes! But about halfway through episode 9 I switched to English “Just to check” and never switched back. Something about Black Lagoon’s English dub keeps pulling me towards it, makes me want to watch the show that way. Maybe it’s because it’s good enough that I can focus on the action, rather than reading subtitles, without feeling like I’m losing out. Or the crews VA work and chemistry is just so good I can’t help it. Who knows, I’ll figure it out as I go. Whatever the case, I think I’m going to watch with the English dub moving forward.

Continue reading “Black Lagoon – 9/10 [Maid to Kill/The Unstoppable Chambermaid] – Throwback Thursday” →

Welcome all, to another week of Throwback Thursday! This was a great week for Black Lagoon, I enjoyed both episodes quite a bit and I like where the show is going. This is also the English week, where we watch with English Dub just to see how it is. Hint hint, it ain’t bad! So without further ado, lets dive into the episodes.

Starting off, lets talk English dub. It’s good! There’s a bit of awkwardness there with the mouth movements, but that’s just an inherent problem with dubs and not Black Lagoon’s fault at all. As far as our leads, Revy and Rock, are concerned I quite liked them. I enjoyed the confidence Rock spoke with, as well as the anger and aggression in Revy. There were also a number of side characters, like the pimp who offered Revy a “job”, who I think absolutely nailed their roles. Ultimately I prefer the JP voices, there’s a difference in audio quality between the two I believe, and since I don’t speak Japanese there’s less to nitpick. If you prefer dub though, Black Lagoon is definitely very high on the list of “Good English dubs” in my opinion. I would not mind watching the rest of the series in English.

Continue reading “Black Lagoon – 7/8 [Calm Down, Two Men/Rasta Blasta] – Throwback Thursday” →

Welcome all, to week 3 of Black Lagoon! This weeks is the conclusion of the Nazi painting story, filled with blood, anthems, and Revy being a bit upset over it all. Without further ado, lets dive in!

First up is episode 5, “Eagle Hunting and Hunting Eagles”. This picks up where we left off last time, Revy and Rock are in the U-Boat and Nazis are starting to come aboard. For the most part, it’s a lot of fighting over the painting, losing it to the Nazis, chasing after them, regular action stuff. And that’s all great! On top of that, this is the first episode that’s really impressed me with its animation. There’s still some aliasing issues in spots, either from being an early digital production or being upscaled to Blu-ray, but for the most part it’s good. I especially liked the water as Dutch and Benny were dodging some rockets. While the action takes up most of the episode, the real meat however comes in the quiet moments. More specifically, between Rock and Revy.

Continue reading “Black Lagoon – 5/6 [Eagle Hunting and Hunting Eagles/Moonlit Hunting Grounds] – Throwback Thursday” →

Welcome all, to the 2nd week of Black Lagoon! This week we start to explore the wider world, expanding the setting and learning what kind of lives our leads live. There’s a fair bit to talk about this week so lets just dive right into it!

First up we have episode 3, “Ring-Ding Ship Chase”. Honestly this was a really chill episode for the most part, just exploring the group dynamic and introducing us to the city of Roanapur. And you know what? I really liked it. I said last week that Black Lagoon would have to search within its characters for story arcs, that it hadn’t set up anything larger with the intro, and that seems to be what it’s doing here. Black Lagoon is taking the time to show them interacting, getting to know each other, how Rock adapts to this new life. Sure, format wise it’s a random problem without much going on. But it serves as a quick and easy way to introduce us, and Rock, to Roanapur and its politics. It even manages to involve Balalaika, reinforcing her role in the story. That was cool!

Continue reading “Black Lagoon – 3/4 [Ring-Ding Ship Chase/Die Rückkehr des Adlers] – Throwback Thursday” →

Welcome all, to the next season of Throwback Thursday and the first post of Winter 2024! As you can see, we’re covering Black Lagoon! We have a fair amount to talk about, from initial impressions to where I think its going, so lets dive right into it! Oh and real quick, I apologize for this being late, it was a pretty hectic Thursday and I had my last tattoo session so typing was… hard. The entire arm hurts.

Since these episodes are a joint intro, lets cover them both together, “The Black Lagoon” and “Mangrove Heaven”. Right off the bat, and I need you to understand this is me being completely and totally honest… I would let Revy ruin my life. Sure it would only last maybe a month, and afterwards I’d have no idea where I was or how to get home, but it would be a good damn month. Oh right, I’m supposed to be talking about the episode. Overall I think Black Lagoon did a solid job with this introduction? Episode two wraps it up, but I think the way it justified/transitioned from that regular and dreary salaryman life to that of a mercenary was pretty good. I especially liked the color palette swap where everything suddenly got a lot more vibrant, it’s basically the same thing Zom 100 from last year did. Always effective!

Continue reading “Black Lagoon – 1/2 [The Black Lagoon/Mangrove Heaven] – Throwback Thursday” →