Black Lagoon S01E08-10 - Bloody Roberta...

BLACK LAGOON
Series 1, Episodes 08-10

So, yeah, it’s me again, back with another review (finally) and once again it is a freakin‘ triple review. Thumbs up. This time, I'm also just doing a "short review", you will see why later and the last review for series 1 will come from MarXus shortly after I will have put this one up, so stay tuned. 

"Short review, eh?"

We start with some company stuff. Basics. The Lagoons get to take some kid on a boat trip but there’s a catch: little boy ain’t so little and sweet you might think he is. And damn, he’s trouble ‘cause his father is one of the 13 family bosses who run South America. Why I re-tell that? Because it will play an important part now and later on. Now, Revy doesn’t care much for Garcia, the boy, which doesn’t come as a surprise to us audience. While Dutch and Rock get the hang that something is not right about the deal, she ain’t so easy to convince. Letting Balalaika do some research, the crew is heading for some drinks to the Yellow Flag, you know, the one bar that is always getting shot and destroyed in the process. But there comes the threat of your life-time: the housemaid.

Yeah, I’m not kidding, she is big, explosive, f**king trouble. But for now, she plays nice. So, big meet-up at the Yellow Flag is in order. 

Who the f**k is Arnie?

Here comes the first epic moment of this arc, the maid acquiring some information. And yes, with a pretty lot of shooting and some serious caliber. And her name is: Terminator Roberta.

I mean, forget Arnie, she’s the real deal. And the Terminator is nothing against her, I mean, she has a case with (not only) a machine gun in it and a deadly umbrella, hello, how awesome is that? Prepare for a bloodbath. 

Episode 9, which is part 2, kicks in right there, after a short flashback and some little replay (the crew arriving at the bar), delivering the very bloodbath. But before that, Revy gives Rock the “when-you-are-kidnapped-I-am-not-coming-for-you”-card (preview for a following episode?). Back at the bar, Roberta is beginning the fight with a decent kill. Following is some very sufficient firepower, to say the least, some more corpses and the Yellow Flag being shot down again. And the maid is kicking serious ass which Garcia did showingly not expect. Well, I think no one expected her to be so dangerous. Now, the first moment of a Revy-Roberta-standoff. And it’s quite tense. And damn, Rock knows how to speak Spanish, where did he learn all that?

Grenade launcher in a suitcase. I am already in love with her character. Which causes Revy to lose consciousness. That has to be a first one. But it wasn’t unprecedented because Roberta is also known as the “Blood Hound”. And from between her legs, yeah, I’m serious, fall grenades which blow up the bar completely. However, Roberta survives the blast and steals a car right afterwards. That, truly, is unrealistic but hey, we all have established until now that the show is not that keen on being too realistic overall. Next up, the Lagoons are under attack by our maid friend with Revy still being knocked out cold. And Balalaika joins the fight. Finally. And by the way, now even the show itself refers to Arnie, funny thing.

Hell, the next thing is pretty cool and jaw-dropping: Roberta, the killing roboter who she clearly is, drives a car on the roofs of Roanapur, yep, on the roofs and then drives onto the street, well, more or less flies down the street to hit the Lagoon car and still being able to fire some bullets at them which indeed hit their target. That simply is… epic. 

"Please turn down at the next roof."

The final installment is all about Revy vs. Roberta but before we get to that, some really cool action scene is there to be watched that lets "Terminator" looks like shit. At the docks, Roberta faces off with our finally conscious Revy in a gun fight before Balalaika steps in and lets them fight in hand combat only which takes its time and its blood. For Roberta, we get to know that she was a freedom fighter once and a soldier. She was then being safed from completely going insane by Garcia’s father taking the position of a housemaid. The fight ends in a draw, shame. But it is deserved, I’d say.
Then, for some background on Balalaika who was also a soldier back in time. And there the arc concludes but it will not be the last we see of Roberta, Garcia and of course the Lagoons.

So, what is there to say about this particular arc? – Since the show is not redefining its own premise every episode the mistakes made and the good things established have been said enough times already to just point them out shortly here. So, please, bear with me. 

"You know, if there's a good score at the end
you get to sleep with me, right?"

First off, character development. Not much new here and to some extent it just seems as the last arc never really happened because we’re back the “all is cool”-feeling of the pilot. Which is not essentially a bad thing, to the contrary, I think it was much needed for this arc to work and honestly, it’s just feels more like the “Black Lagoon” we all got to know from the beginning. So, neither a minus nor a plus here. While I have to say that we are introduced to a little bit more from Balalaika’s past, I would not characterize that as enough to call it a big step. 

Second, realism (or not): while the show is, once again, not that keen on being all too realistic, this arc presented some of the most ass-kicking moments of the entire first series which naturally are all too unrealistic. Like that one moment where Roberta drove the car from the roofs down the street and still had the time and calmness to shoot at the tires of the other car but I’ll let that one slip because damn how amazingly innovative and awesome was that move? This is one of the main reasons I like “Black Lagoon” so much, the action sequences which still haven’t found a worthy counterpart in TV shows. For the rest, it was within the lines the show had established until now, more for that in the last reviews.

Drive safely, one hand on the wheel, the other shooting at people.

If you ask who this arc really focused on, the answer is Roberta, the maid –also well-known as the “Blood Hound of Florence”. She is another interesting character to set foot on the show. Guest starring at first she becomes the main antagonist in the two last episodes and kicks some serious ass. You may have noticed that this arc also poses as a turning point for the action style. It is getting bloodier than before and people, you haven’t seen anything yet. In my opinion, getting bloodier is not a bad thing, especially since the setting of the show is in the most criminal city in theworld, so these two elements add together perfectly. Therefore another plus here. Which also defines her character for now: she is trouble, bloody trouble. When I stated earlier that the episode has no new character development, I meant it, so there ain’t some or few here. But you get to know real good through the flashbacks (see later on) how Roberta and Garcia have a special connection and how she has another special connection to Garcia’s father, the criminal boss who doesn’t seem too criminal. I don’t know if the writers had planned it all along but considering the series is based on a manga, I guess so, but the fact that we don’t get to see too much of the family lies in the premise of season 3, the OVA series which again mainly focuses on Roberta and therefore the family as well. 

Which leads to the big showdown between Revy and Roberta, down there by the docks. While we always have to remember that this is an anime, so choreography is not something that can be reviewed here. But still, the animation is fluently and the moves themselves look real good, just to cover that basis here.

What I left out again (see a pattern here?^^) are the flashbacks we’re treated to. Roberta, Garcia and his father together in their dream house somewhere in South America, man that place looks awesome. Who would not wanna live in that big castle-like house? The flashbacks are presented in a charming, cheerful and relaxed way so that you get the feeling, this is a perfect world. A big plus here. 

If you want a more detailed approach to some aspects I did not include here, re-read the last few review(s) because they do, as previously stated, also apply here pretty well.

Group meeting.

This arc is again one of the more fun episodes in the series and it fully lives up to that extend. Thankfully. While there was less character development, we have had pretty much of that lately, the action parts which clearly define this arc are perfectly animated and except for some sort of realism also well executed. After the Nazi-arc this one is a more than welcome change of scenery that just makes you wish there was more. This time it is all about sitting back and enjoy “Black Lagoon” at its best: presenting a fun ride. So, because of the missing story background it sadly misses the five-star rating but therefore still does a perfect landing on 4 earned stars. 

But still, someone should found a donation fund for the bar owner. ;)