Black Lagoon originally aired as an anime series in Japan in 2006, with a follow-up mini-series in 2010. It tells the story of Rokuro Okajima, a salaryman who is inadvertently kidnapped by a gang of smugglers during a cynical corporate power-play. Rokuro (or “Rock” as he becomes known) decides to stay with the smugglers, and the series traces his misadventures, attempts to fit in, and the gradual changes to his personality and character that follow.

Dark and violent, Black Lagoon is imbued with a psychological depth that charts the landscape of motive, as well as the insidious charisma of evil. It is noted for the quality of its art production, as well as the strength of the two leading female characters – Revy and Balalaika – who, though they conform to some of the tropes of the noir femme fatale, are nonetheless fully realised, three dimensional characters, not hypersexualised caricatures.

© Text Copyright Brendan E Byrne 2019. All rights reserved.