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BLACK LAGOON The Second Barrage
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Animation - 9.3 |
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Sound - 8.6 |
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Story - 8.3 |
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Character - 9.3 |
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Value - 9.2 |
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Enjoyment - 9.6 |
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Average - 9.1 |
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| Average |
9.2 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| The series revisits the Black Lagoon company while refocusing more on the missions rather than the characters. Incredibly strong sequel that does not fall to the sophomore slump.
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Cataphract |
(2007-05-10 16:34:45) 2007-05-10 02:04:09 |
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| Average |
7.0 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
6 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| The Second Barrage is no more than a continuation of the first twelve episodes; the only difference, literally, is that "The Second Barrage" shows up in the opening credits. That said, despite the fact that the first half of Black Lagoon kicked ass, the second has a few more flaws that impede it from living up to its predecessor. The mini-arcs aren't as well executed and lack the depth their predecessors had. They aren't *bad* persay, just lackluster.
As to not draw things out too much, the animation is just as outstanding as the first season, save for two things. The first is a little bit of cheating; though I didn't dock points for it, I noticed quite a few scenes where the animation was clearly rushed to save budget. More a nuisance than anything, but they did irk me. Second, and more importantly, was lip synching. Especially in the last arc, there were many spots where characters had their mouths shut for half a second after they had started talking. It was a mark of shoddiness that could have been easily avoided. All in all, though, same kick-ass animation as before.
Of all the things that bugged me, though, was what they did with the Seiyuu. Japanese voice actors should NOT be given English lines, most especially in the quantity that appear here. Not only is the pronounciation absolutely horrendous but the grammar makes my ears bleed. They were going for the whole realism thing with Rock as translator I guess, but it was a very, very bad mistake. This probably attributed a lot to the aforementioned lip synch problems too; the voice actors are damn good in Japanese and should have been kept that way. One more thing on a more positive note: they streamlined the ending theme in more appropriately in the second half. At least they got that right.
As I mentioned before, the second slew of mini-arcs are okay but lack the polish of the first four. They do, however, carry much more serious undertones. The twins, for instance, created quite a few knots in my stomach. The writers do an excellent job at weaving their horror together with tragedy; no matter how sick and twisted they are, their past is just as horrific. It showcases the idea of pure evil breeding pure evil which certainly doesn't leave a pleasant taste in your mouth. The second arc wasn't worth mentioning, as it attempted to be funny but didn't really work. Last in line, however, the third did an excellent job at polishing off Black Lagoon, setting the stage more for a beginning than an end. I have a great deal of respect for the amount of realism (philosophically speaking) that was chosen to be expressed here. You're exposed to a dark face of mankind and there is simply no glossing it over.
As far as characters are concerned, the last arc is really where it's at. A year has passed since Rock's first encounter with the Black Lagoon, and the changes the characters have experienced are shown here. Rock's struggles with himself and his own beliefs come to a rather unexpected climax. He flaunts an enormous amount of growth and depth which is foiled very well by Revy. Undergoing changes herself, the emotionless badass facade disappears somewhat as we're exposed to a much softer personality. Despite tough words, she begins to subconsciously show a feminine side toward Rock which was not previously seen; for instance, her style of dress and larger tendency to smile. This does an exceptional job at portraying Revy as much more human than she tries to present herself to be.
Overall, the first and third of these three arcs carry on the first season's legacy rather well. Aside from the animation and voice acting problems that I mentioned, I was very impressed. If you enjoyed the first season this is a must, as it wraps up Black Lagoon nicely as is but also leaves potential for a sequel. It's got a few more quirks than the first but still retains its previous finesse.
Recommended.
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| Average |
9.5 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| And to think I almost missed this....
I stumbled on this series by accident but was sold fast.
From the cool intro song on the sound is excellent. Same goes for the animation, and it's not only the fighting scenes which are excellently done.
Story? Well....Against a backdrop of a harsh 3rd world reallity of mobsters, corruption and shady deals our heroes try to make a living delivering things.
And if that that sounds like the good guys might be bad guys themselves. Well they are, and uncompromisingly so, which is a good thing. The conversations are at times a thing of beauty especially when Rock and Revvy get into it.
The whole series doesn't know a single dull moment. Either the hard hitting action or the crackling dialogues, or the bad characters just being ultra cool kept me watching. Even though the character backgrounds are sketchy at best in the beginning, I loved them all immediately.
There is not a hint of Fruit Basket sweetness or Legend of Galactic Heroes storyline or the emotional depth of Haibane Renmai. This is hard and fast action done extremely well.
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| Average |
9.0 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| my only real criticism of season one was that i would have preferred a more cohesive story arc...a minor point considering how much i enjoyed the series anyway. i was hoping that the second season would address this...which it didn't...but somewhere along the way i stopped caring. the series is really very character driven (flashy action sequences aside)...and the second season focuses much more on the relationship between two of the characters, rock and revy. it's a decision that makes sense...and creates a much more philosophical feel to the proceedings than the first season. the animation is just as solid as the first season...which is to say higher quality than most everything else out there, tv wise.
to nitpick: the only questionable decision production wise was the inclusion of very poor english by the japanese voice actors. i realize that the series is aimed at a japanese audience, but would a japanese viewer really buy that these characters speak english with any kind of competency?
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| Average |
9.0 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| This is a very mature anime as it has some foul language and lots of blood scenes. Its not really meant for kids, it offers lots of gore scenes and really quite a good story line. It takes off directly from S1 so there is little character introduction. The story at most is confusing if you jump into this directly as this one is actually 3 stories and not like the S1 where almost every ep is a story.
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|
isokana |
(2007-01-07 12:53:11) 2007-01-07 08:44:29 |
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| Average |
9.2 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| I started the review of first season by stating that "serious" isn't a word I would associate with Black Lagoon. Well, leave it to second season to prove me wrong.
I just assume you've already seen the first season and skip any introductions.
How this season starts seems to bring little change. We are faced with a couple of 10-year-old kids who slaughter tough mafia soldiers like there's no tomorrow. It's all done with the regular Black Lagoon style and I was pretty giddy seeing this little girl pull out a massive machine gun and start shooting. But then just in few minutes time the whole atmosphere changes. When Balalaika confronts these kids, there's no giddiness left in the world. The reality is harsh, happiness a distant dream and blood flows red from adults and kids alike. The incredible style and attitude that previously served to bring kicks for the viewer, now slap you to face: "You were laughing just now bastard, who's laughing now?"
The Second Barrage follows the first season and offers three short stories. The first one explained before is the strongest of all Black Lagoon. The way the mood changes from cool to grim just shows how well this series is made. You can do anything with the series' inherent style and succeed. The middle arc is a much lighter action bit but still even that shows how the mercenaries of Roanapur are ready to kill their drinking buddies if the price is right. And then the last arc which brings the characters to "real world" (aka Tokyo) and shows very little humor and concentrates very much on Balalaika's ruthlessness and on Rock's position in the underworld. Still the show manages to make Revy look criminally cute in her short skirt and stockings and have some equally criminally cool sword vs gun action. I don't know how the series can retain any sanity but it just does. It amazes me that a series can be balance so well.
I'm really speechless about the mood in the Second Barrage. From time to time it reaches incredible poetic beauty I never thought to experience from this action packed show. The intense dialogs and monologs of the characters are so packed with feelings and meaning that I sometimes had to stop the playback to gather my thoughts. From the characters especially Balalaika and Rock get a fair dose of exposure. I just loved when Rock phoned Dutch at the end and Dutch says: "I feel like I haven't seen you in a million years." At the same time I realized it felt like it was a million years from the start of the last arc. Rock goes through a lot in there and it really makes him grow. Balalaika is a "finished character" so there's no development there but her motives and past are made more clear. From characters I also have to mention that the first arc how flexible the cast is: the four main characters have miniscule roles and still the series works just with Balalaika and the twins.
There's no way the mood of the series to be this good unless the production values weren't in order. And they are. The animation is very good from the lively characters to detailed backgrounds to absolutely gorgeous fight scenes. There are some moments when the animation changes to somewhat clumsy in the last arc but they didn't really disturb me. Voice actors do a terrific job again giving the dialogue the weight it deserves. Opening and ending songs are the familiar ones from the first season and background music continues to support the action and drama. They even put a new ending song for the last episode that further proves how well aggressive attitude music fits the series.
Whew! I don't remember the last series where I was so anxiously waiting for the next episode. Black Lagoon is so realistic and so unrealistic at the same time that it boggles the mind quite a bit. It has real, deep characters, it has strong dialogue, it has wild ideas, it has attitude, it has good looks, it has almost anything you could ask for. The second season adds great drama to the series and makes it the second best anime of the 2006, right after Honey & Clover (talk about different kind of series!).
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| Average |
10.0 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| All in all this anime was simply magnificent, and im glad to see that i am not the only one that thinks so. this show is a politically driven existential action drama.
Dont u just love it when an anime breaks into ur top 10 list?? reminds me why i love this medium in the first place. The best thing about the show are the monologues and dialogues the different characters have regarding their actions and convictions.
I swear, this anime is more poetic that it is action... So many great moments of social commentary, as a black man i love seeing social commentary in anime... its always interesting to see how the japanese view other folk. The conversation between the Nazi and Dutch over the phone in episode 6 is just phenomenal. and how the nazi when given a gun still choses to shot Dutch because he's black is just priceless. I also love how Hiroe Rei interweves other issues such as racism, revolution in Cuba, the fall of the soviet union, the war remnants of the middle east, and the tragedy of romanian orphans in the 80's. Simply magnificent.
The sad thing is that some ignorant folk will dismiss this anime as just being action, or no story, or all style without substance... meanwhile the mangaka is not trying to tell a whole story, he is simply using pirates' experiences to give insight on contemporary issues that plage developed countries and 3rd world countries alike and how these issues can break people mentally and emotionally.
Revy a chinese girl from the U.S. who was definitely a gangbanger at too young an age, Dutch a Vietnam vet who can never be the same after seeing such horrors in that jungle. Benny a kid who grew up in the suburbs and messed up with the wrong kind of folk. Balalaika a war heroine who has given up her humanity for power, and Rock a regular guy lost to the world and himself.
The residents of Roanapur are an embodiment of what happens in a society were all our fears and inhibitions counteract. And Rock the hero of our story is the one man in the twilight that can testify on the evil and good of man in a screwed up world.
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| Average |
8.7 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| Having watched this second season of Black Lagoon, I cannot decide whether it is better than the first season. A big plus for this season is that it has more of an overarching plot, and contains various recurring themes, especially in the final 5-6 episodes of the season (about the nature of Rock and "the night", the underworld that he has become a part of).
The story for this series focuses mainly on Revy and Rock, especially once they go back to Rock's hometown in Japan with Balalaika (Rock serves as her translator).
Thus, there is a major dose of Rock/Revy relationship development. The ending is very good, and the entire feeling of the gang warfare between the Russians and the Yakuza was extremely well done. All in all, the story in the second season felt much more coherent than the story(ies) in the first season.
Some new characters were introduced in this season, such as Gin and other members of the Japanese Yakuza, and there is much more focus on Balaliaka, and Hotel Moscow in this second season. Though we don't find out anymore information on Revy's past, we do find out some about Balaliaka's and Rock's pasts.
The development of Rock and Revy's relationship was extremely interesting, as was Rock's struggle between accepting his place in the underworld and nostalgia at being back in his hometown in Japan.
The animation is stellar, just as it was in the first season. There are no flaws to speak of; action scenes are fluid character expressions are perfectly created (especially in the eyes), and the backgrounds are varied and detailed. The soundtrack and voice actors are similarly well done. However, the "English" spoken by Balalaika, Revy, Rock, and others during this season is atrocious. Subtitles were neccessary even during the "English" speaking parts because of how bad it was.
I would definately reccomend this second season to fans of the first, and reccomend this anime in general to fans of action anime. This is an extremely enjoyable anime that I have rewatched many a time, even though it has just barely been finished. I am hoping already that there is a third season or sequel to this entertaining anime.
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| Average |
10.0 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| oh wow. 1st better give it a high score then. i'd have to say read the reviews on the 1st season. was kinda the same. except the plot seem to start to go somewhere. i actually really look forward to the next episodes now. so far, definitely better than the 1st. but the unrealistic infinite bullets and bullet repelants from the protagonists are still there.
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