Black Lagoon
Black Lagoon is one of the better anime series I've seen in quite some time. It's 24 episodes long, although episodes 13-24 are sometimes referred to as a second season, "The Second Barrage."
Black Lagoon focuses on a three-person team of mercenaries who travel the seas of Southast Asia in a speedboat. In the first episode, they meet up with a man named Rokuro Okajima (later called "Rock"), a mild-mannered Japanese businessman who doesn't like guns. After Revy decides to use Rock as a hostage, he whines to her about how he has finally graduated from college and secured a job at a good company. While loading bullets into her gun, Revy chastises him for his petulance: "Dont cry, dipshit. You've got to enjoy life, or you'll end up wasting it."
Revy is a Chinese-American who had horrific childhood. She's extremely good at gun-fighting, and not afraid to do it. Out of all the characters, she is probably the most vulgar, and often excited to engage in violence.
Dutch is an African-American Vietnam veteran. He is the leader of the group, and tends to direct Revy from the ship. In battle, though, he can be methodical, ruthless, and badass.
Benny is a blond Jewish man who used to do post-graduate schoolwork at a state college in the U.S. Like Rock, he has an aversion to using guns, but he is pretty hardened to the way Dutch & co. does business. He mostly serves the group in a technical capacity.
The team bases their operations in the fictional city of Roanapur, Thailand - a city full of criminals like themselves, be they nuns or Russian mafia.
I think that the series that most reminds me of Black Lagoon is Cowboy Bebop, a favorite series of many people (myself included, and for good reason). Black Lagoon is more vulgar than Cowboy Bebop - there are f-bombs and other inventive uses of language. Also, Black Lagoon is more violent. It'd be awesome if it were ever shown on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, but because it'd have to be edited so much, that could also be sad.
One thing that makes Black Lagoon different from Cowboy Bebop is that it always runs in multiple-episode storylines. My favorites are #11-12, and #19-24.
The first three DVDs are available, but since the US distributing company, Geneon, has gone under, the release of The Second Barrage (along with the re-release of the first three) is uncertain.
While clearly an action series, Black Lagoon is also laced with philosophical ideas (important in such a crime-laden world) and references to pop-culture, reminding the viewer that the series is very much based on reality.
I wish there was more to the anime series, and I'll definitely be checking out the manga, which is still on-going in Japan.
In Anime Club, we watched the first half in English dub, and I have to say that the English dub is very, very good. This is not true of most anime series, so I thought I'd mention it. I feel that, like Cowboy Bebop, Black Lagoon could be a good "gateway anime," so long as the viewer doesn't mind violence and vulgarity. I should also note that the first time I watched the first episode, I wasn't very impressed. I'd recommend sitting down and watching a few episodes before making a total judgment call. If nothing else, the nice animation should help. Also, I really love this opening sequence.
ETA: Here is a bad-ass AMV, although it comes with an explicit warning from me for extreme graphic violence.
Black Lagoon focuses on a three-person team of mercenaries who travel the seas of Southast Asia in a speedboat. In the first episode, they meet up with a man named Rokuro Okajima (later called "Rock"), a mild-mannered Japanese businessman who doesn't like guns. After Revy decides to use Rock as a hostage, he whines to her about how he has finally graduated from college and secured a job at a good company. While loading bullets into her gun, Revy chastises him for his petulance: "Dont cry, dipshit. You've got to enjoy life, or you'll end up wasting it."
Revy is a Chinese-American who had horrific childhood. She's extremely good at gun-fighting, and not afraid to do it. Out of all the characters, she is probably the most vulgar, and often excited to engage in violence.
Dutch is an African-American Vietnam veteran. He is the leader of the group, and tends to direct Revy from the ship. In battle, though, he can be methodical, ruthless, and badass.
Benny is a blond Jewish man who used to do post-graduate schoolwork at a state college in the U.S. Like Rock, he has an aversion to using guns, but he is pretty hardened to the way Dutch & co. does business. He mostly serves the group in a technical capacity.
The team bases their operations in the fictional city of Roanapur, Thailand - a city full of criminals like themselves, be they nuns or Russian mafia.
I think that the series that most reminds me of Black Lagoon is Cowboy Bebop, a favorite series of many people (myself included, and for good reason). Black Lagoon is more vulgar than Cowboy Bebop - there are f-bombs and other inventive uses of language. Also, Black Lagoon is more violent. It'd be awesome if it were ever shown on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, but because it'd have to be edited so much, that could also be sad.
One thing that makes Black Lagoon different from Cowboy Bebop is that it always runs in multiple-episode storylines. My favorites are #11-12, and #19-24.
The first three DVDs are available, but since the US distributing company, Geneon, has gone under, the release of The Second Barrage (along with the re-release of the first three) is uncertain.
While clearly an action series, Black Lagoon is also laced with philosophical ideas (important in such a crime-laden world) and references to pop-culture, reminding the viewer that the series is very much based on reality.
I wish there was more to the anime series, and I'll definitely be checking out the manga, which is still on-going in Japan.
In Anime Club, we watched the first half in English dub, and I have to say that the English dub is very, very good. This is not true of most anime series, so I thought I'd mention it. I feel that, like Cowboy Bebop, Black Lagoon could be a good "gateway anime," so long as the viewer doesn't mind violence and vulgarity. I should also note that the first time I watched the first episode, I wasn't very impressed. I'd recommend sitting down and watching a few episodes before making a total judgment call. If nothing else, the nice animation should help. Also, I really love this opening sequence.
Click to viewETA: Here is a bad-ass AMV, although it comes with an explicit warning from me for extreme graphic violence.