SEASON REVIEW: Black Lagoon S01

BLACK LAGOON
Series 1


First season review, folks! Therefore first for the question what the f**k a season review is composed of and why it is here. You may have noticed that in the episode-per-episode or arc reviews, that is, stuff like animation, dub, overall feeling of the entire series and many more things has been left out. That was indeed on purpose because it fits in here, the season review. I will revisit the entire story development along with some few key factors but mainly focus on delivering new information around the episodes themselves. Enjoy.

"Season review, huh?"

Question: In the last review, MarXus did speak about dub and some other stuff. Wasn't he supposed to?
Answer: No, he wasn't. While I do see why he put it there, man I would have done the same thing, it was placed wrong. Harsh words, I know, but stuff like the dub and moreover the intro sequence is part of a season review except for the case that it changes during the series, then it should also be put in the episode's review. Since it was MarXus' first entry for the "Black Lagoon" series (hopefully not his last but knowing how the series will unfold, there will be some big big reviews coming because the arcs are getting longer and his dislike of anime in general except for pieces of art like the Ghibli films which could be only to the extend that real people could not pretend to be a speaking tree that easy :P - not likely), I didn't want to edit the whole thing and instead will sort of comment on his review here. But in general, that stuff is comprised in a season review, so don't look for much of it coming in other reviews which are on their way (announcement!!).

WARNING: This is not a complete season review because MarXus kind of over-explained stuff that was supposed to be talked about in here. So I will mainly focus on commenting on his commentary here, sorry for that but sadly that is the one big problem you have with animes, you just can't talk about acting here which leaves you with the voicing and the animation. Therefore, sorry, coming season reviews of other shows will be different!

SEASON REVIEW

General Things - DUB: While I agree with MarXus that the English Dub is seriously no work of art and fails to get emotions across, he simply leaves out one important thing to know if you talk about shitty English anime dubbing: not a single one is actually good. They're all bad and at that, "Black Lagoon" offers one of or even the best dub I've heard in a long time while, of course, it is still bad. A reason for that is that animes are not your everyday show and it is cool enough that shows still get dubbed instead of only being subbed. But that's some other story.

"Wait, we have NOT been nominated for an Oscar
in Best Animation category?"

Which brings me to the next point, MarXus mentioned already, the animation, mainly of background cards. Yes, real movement would indeed be cool and yes it would also do the show some good but again, he leaves out what is the explanation for that and it's not that the creators wouldn't care for their product, it is the money - and time. Money because you do have a budget, even if you're not in Hollywood, and animation alone is pretty damn expensive. Second, time. That is because animating takes time even if it is just for some little movement and backgrounds that fade away after a few seconds are not considered that important (which they should be, I agree on that) so they're only drawn and then being embedded in the show, not running through the time-sensitive animation process. Which also saves money which is the popular reason why producers do that kind of stuff to a show.
The animation besides the background is top notch and deserves some for that.

Next up on my "naughty list" (yeah, a season pun, damn another, beat that^^), the sound aspect. Yes, sound is as important as actual acting and scenery. Because without sound we tend to dislike even the greatest scenes, I mean, could you actually imagine "Star Wars" without the iconic, great music of mastermind John Williams? The answer simply put is no. Or for the world's sake, I hope it is. While "Black Lagoon" really doesn't offer that much difference and uses its outro music more than once per episode, it feels, you have to give them some credit for having such an awesome-sounding outro music. While season one is not all too perfect to understand the meaning of this outro, it is well chosen and perfectly suited for the show, or Revy that is. (You have to see the Nazi-arc in S01 and then the following seasons and you will grow to admire this music or you actually don't care about a deeper meaning behind everything.)

Moreover, for the intro sequence. Yes, the lyrics here are far from real English and far from anything making sense if you will but let's not forget this is a Japanese show, why I point out that it's Japanese because these guys are crazy about everything related to English stuff which is currently a big trend back there if you care to follow some bands or songs from Japan. You will always notice at least two or three repeating English sentences that don't always make complete grammar sense. They do it because, well, they're crazy about that stuff and it simply is trendy, if you want to put it that way. Therefore, I for one have developed immunity against that sort of thing and I just smile when I hear those lyrics or big mistakes like "Fuck plan" instead of the real German word "Bauplan" because I know they just can't do it better somehow. But for everyone who sees it otherwise, believe me, you're not alone out there. The sequence itself is completely random stuff that should introduce us to the character's faces and shows a little from Revy's past but it's nothing world-changing, so it could also be dropped but since this is the case with nearly every show on television these days, who cares?

Pirating is a serious business, you know.

So, now for the more actual show-related stuff: 


Revy - She's a badass hottie, I think everyone, at least every straight man, can agree on that. And yes, of course that is used to attract the viewer. Is that wrong? Yes, it is because that way the show runners and writers can distract from missing plot development or other similar stuff by just zooming in on her, well, "personalities". Do I mind? Damn, tough question, yes and no, if I'm honest. Of course, I do have nothing against her looks and I understand that it is needed to attract some sort of demographic but well, I do agree it is (slightly) overused in the series. But nevertheless, her character is the most complex one on the show, so it's not only her assets that keep me 'praising' her as MarXus put it, I believe. But, he is right to do so, why? Because he sadly hadn't had the time to fully catch up with the show yet, so he missed all the good stuff where they were in fact developing her character which does not happen in the season finale he reviewed. What comes as her big mystery is her past. While the show already implied an American city or at least a western city, while I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be New York, and that she had a very rough upcoming which involved guns, drugs, money and even murder, she clearly has problems facing who she really is and Rock is trying to get to her, get her to open up, to change but he fails. And there you're always wondering when Revy will finally talk about her person, her past. This is the big complex situation the series it building up on and if you miss these parts you truly have a problem considering her more than her looks. By the way, there will be more such moments coming in the following seasons.

Character development - The characters most developed over the season are Revy, obviously as I just talked about her separately, and Rock. Rock comes on as the normal guy that just doesn't want anything to do with anything. Then, he sees how no one in the real world seems to care about him and therefore decides to join the crew. While we are being presented two different sides of him during the first series, we also have to differ here on what two sides. One, he is the normal guy who cares as seen in the submarine talk that ended not so well between him and Revy, who, you guessed it, are a love interest, second, he is a cold and distant, through-thinking bastard (see f. ex. the pilot) whom we will get to see more of in the future. Rock is the character we as the audience probably can relate to the easiest way which is right that way because, damn, he is the protagonist here. So, good work here, nothing to complain and for twelve episodes the development is dosed just fine. Dutch and Beny however come very short here which is sad but also good because there is not that much more to them except for Dutch's past which is related to Balalaika who also has a mysterious past we are not being completely shown yet, but that is that little sort of cliffhanger that leaves us waiting for season two. Apart from that, everything seems almost real, so nothing left in this category.

While realism is not a big topic for the show, it stays within its own set boundaries which is a positive point because take a show like "Arrow". There you have a playboy turned superhero, okay that can be realistic, but that he has taken IT courses and becomes bulletproof on an island - yeah, not so much. "Black Lagoon" doesn't go this way and therefore wins a big plus here. Just to say it, this series needs action scenes to survive for a fun show and therefore realism isn't the best choice but you already knew that.   

"Hotel Moscow, b*tch."

The arcs themselves - The show here is following the manga to the bone, if I'm not mistaken. Yes, "Black Lagoon" is a manga adaptation! And therefore you cannot blame the show for their chosen stories because someone else wrote them for them, but to give you reviews, we constantly ignored that fact in the episodes' reviews and we apologize for keeping you in the dark here. But for the stories now: The pilot is of course the introduction episode so it has that feeling around but right afterwards you are being rewarded with Hotel Moscow which will play a by far more important role in S02, thankfully. They were sadly excluded a lot in this season. For example, if they had just left that somewhat last two-parter out and would have instead brought us some Hotel Moscow action, I would have applauded like never before, to use some (bad) imagery here. But of course that would not go along with the manga. The season finale sadly was not such and deserved the rating it got for being just way too irrelevant for anything. Would be the best if we would just forget it ever existed just like the "Star Wars - Prequels" or "Indiana Jones 4" for some people.
For story contents, re-read the particular review(s), thank you.

In case you haven't come around as well to watch every single episode, this season has no consistent season-long arc or side-plot. That will change with the next one. 

The most important aspect of this review is the overall feeling category. And here "Black Lagoon" delivers very strong. You just feel the fun, the short-lived action adrenaline and that is something I really really love about TV shows if they actually can deliver that. If you don't analyze every single bit of the show you can sit back and enjoy it and it is fun, that is exactly what the show was set up as, what it was promoted as, so no arguing here. Perfect job, well done! (Enjoy the fun while it lasts, just sayin'. ;) )


Lastly, for the final and overall rating of season one:

This score combines every single-rating until now and gets a minus or plus added to it for the around-stuff this review was all about. Therefore, the first series of "Black Lagoon" achieves a solid 3.7 rating and gets a clear plus from me for the rest.
SO, THE FINAL SCORE IS... 4 stars.

See you when series two gets reviewed here very shortly from now on, and don't hesitate to comment your opinion on the reviews, we'd love nothing more than that. Happy Holidays.

"Game over, motherf**cker!"