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AICN Anime-Black Lagoon Preview

Wanted to love it... by joergn	Mar 20th, 2007 08:57:19 AM
...but to be true, the whole setup is too dark and too depressive for my liking. Most of the characters are sociopaths, psychos, criminals with no moral codexes to live by. So don´t expect any lighthearted fun, cause even the whole series offers a lot of action and thrills and really greatly animated, it misses any character to root for and therefore any heart and soul. You surely can´t compare it to Cowboy Bebop or Samurai Champloo, which offered good entertainment and likeable characters after all.
Loved this anime by greatmoose	Mar 20th, 2007 09:02:36 AM
Seriously, Black Lagoon is one of my top three favorites. This series is fantastic. The characters are great, even if you don't really fall in love with all of them. Oh, and it's got some REALLY funny parts in it as well. The review left that out. Two of my favorite parts (minor spoilers, maybe): 1) Revy continually tells people she doesn't speak "stupid Japanese" (for some reason, I found this uproariously funny) 2) In the next to last episode when Rock becomes a badass, and tells Revy to kill eveybody. That was awesome. Definately check this show out. It's got it all: hot chicks, violence, humor, character, and soul.
I really did love it! by Marc Justice	Mar 20th, 2007 09:09:16 AM
This anime is beautiful. The characters are intriguing and you do get to see what drives Rock and you can actually connect with him in someways. Rejected by the world he wanted to be accepted by (Corporation and all that) he finds himself in a No MAN's land where the law is based on how big your gun and crew is. Hes a smart guy droppped in hell. A bit heavy on the search of one self, this anime still delivers the goods. Action, humour and cool characters. I wont compare it to anything else cuz it doesn't really compare to anything else I've seen. Truer then Bebop and more compeling then Shamploo in my opinion. Although, all great animes.
2 For and 2 Against by SakeDickens2006	Mar 20th, 2007 10:17:44 AM
I have to say the daisy dukes really do it for me.
You were right last week, Scott... by Cletus Van Damme	Mar 20th, 2007 11:18:13 AM
...this does look good. I will definitely check it out.
I still can't believe by Fecal Debris	Mar 20th, 2007 11:49:20 AM
that no one is discussing this photo yet http://tinyurl.com/yrwd2p
Black Lagoon is excellent! by Johnno	Mar 20th, 2007 11:54:59 AM
I don't think comparing it with Bebop works though, because it's like this series is the antithesis to Bebop. These are badass characters that must maintain their level of badassity for survival or else they're fucking dead. It's the tragic idea of setting aside the morality of the situation, but Rock is always there sitting on the borderline and being the commenting observer between the general world and the hades of Roanapur. In any case, this series is pure entertainment with extremely memorable characters and moments! As Scott said, it doesn't dig deep enough to uncover more of the characters and only sets up the idea of general familiarity with glimpses into the closet. Characters don't grow or change so much except in how they relate to one another. The whole thing is mostly concerned with Rock and how he learns more about this world piece by piece, something the other characters are already familiar with. It adds a sense of realism, like you are Rock and learning and reacting in the same way he would as best he can. But I feel really sure there'll be more and I damn well hope so! The moment the full boxsets and hopefully thinpacks of these are out, I'm picking them up. If you know any people who are traditional action movie fans or the likes of Rambo and Commando or Walking Tall but not into anime because they're not into space opera or fantastical martial arts and other too physics defying action and robots, this series will serve as a great intro!
Darn you Mike Bay by SingingHatchet	Mar 20th, 2007 12:07:00 PM
Oh, and Anime gotta eat! Okay, maybe not.
I haven't seen it by veritasses	Mar 20th, 2007 12:59:17 PM
or read the article yet but I just wanted to say I appreciate the liberal sprinkling of screen shots.
@crayotic by joergn	Mar 20th, 2007 01:46:10 PM
My problem with BL is that there are just bad guys, no good guys you could relate too. Ok, there´s rock but he´s nothing else than a crybaby. And I felt more than a little bit ...unconfortable to see the characters go on a manhunt for two children (even they are killers as well) in season two.
Rock shared your sentiments joergn by Johnno	Mar 20th, 2007 02:29:51 PM
Those episodes were moments where you really find yourself sympathisizing for the shit the kids went through to turn them into the killers they became. But the damage was irreversable, and plainly something had to be done with the Russian Mafia needing to maintain their stong handed image. In this world, any sign of weakness is an opening to be exploited. Everyone has their ear to the ground and knows who's doing what where. The characters have trained themselves to turn their consciences off when facing a threath, and experience has made them that inconsiderate. It's kill or be killed. Honor has no place here when faced with that situation. Only rarely amongst the elite will legitimate face-offs take place and even then they play dirty. In the face of everything, Rock has a hard time adjusting and it even sickens him to know just how cruel the world can be and even he feels ashamed that he is even adjusting to it at all. (And do note that sadistic stuff like this does indeed happen to children in the real world, so Black Lagoon isn't stretching it so much other than some general exaggeration and turning the kids into the typical anime cute gun toting killer image for entertainment purposes). Never has the show condoned actions taken by its characters and Rock is always there acting as an anchor into morality. And thus turning the questions over to us the audience who find entertainment in the spectacle of violence and in blatant criminals who we applaud and admire and cheer. The Transylvanian kids kind of mirror Revy's own broken childhood that led her down her path, so she isn't feeling any sympathy for them and neither do they feel any of it themselves, Revy will snort and reply, "So the fuck what?" and she refuses to have her past thrown in her face as a pledge of sympathy as she informs Rock in the WWII submarine when she reveals a bit about her past. It's about devils fighting devils. The kids will just smile for they have lost all understanding of a normal life and cannot conceive of anything outside what they've been shaped to know. Death is perhaps the only way for them to be set free of shackles they are unaware of and even enjoy. Most of Black Lagoon is always about that, criminals versus other criminals or shady characters, very rarely do we see the Black Lagoon crew outright killing civilians who are uninvolved in that underground world. When everyone is aware of what they do and the dangers involved and how unethical the situation is, the field is evened, and the viewer need not feel bad about the countless deaths and carnage that take place, it becomes a sport between rival teams, whether pros or amateurs, played in an areas for the most part far removed from the involvement of civilians. The only thing to feel wretched about at the end are the situations and nuturing that made the characters this way in the first place. Particularly at the end of the Second barrage, where despite knowing there's a happier way to escape and end things, that people will still choose revenge and proud honor to death over getting away from it all. Those are decisions they made and that they will unfortunately have to live or die by fully knowing the consequences, therefore the ends they meet warrant no sympathy, but the human condition that places them there warrants careful thought and reflection about the characters and of course ourselves as the viewer adn how we'd handle things when placed in Rock's situation. We can never get directly involved in much of the events and action. Even if we were closer to the action as Rock is it'd be useless to talk such stubborn people out of what they do, they will not hear any of it, so like Rock we are left passive and can only watch teh situations unfold and also realize that somewhere we do find it wholly amusing.
looks good. might nick it by council estate scumbag	Mar 20th, 2007 03:06:41 PM
That's my word from the council estates
Darn, thought it was a Creature of the Black Lagoon by superninja	Mar 20th, 2007 03:54:00 PM
animated. Now THAT would've been cool...
release date by ScottGreen	Mar 20th, 2007 03:58:20 PM
just found out that the release date has been pushed back to May 22, 2007.
Damn you, Michael Bay! by dead youngling	Mar 20th, 2007 04:07:54 PM
Oh, crap! I'm in trouble!
Meh!! Looks like a fuck*n Cowboy Bebop rippoff. by wackmeupb4ugogo	Mar 20th, 2007 04:57:06 PM
Oh, look, submarine. Oh, look girl with big chichis. Oh, look, big gooney looking guy. Oh, look, they huddle around a computer screen. Most anime sucks. But the creators GOTTA EAT. Why should this be different. OH, AND DAMN YOU, MICHAEL BAY!!!!!
Black Lagoon is badass by v1cious	Mar 21st, 2007 01:02:19 AM
how can you hate an anime with exchanges like "do you know what Jesus said in John: Chapter 5? he said don't bring me any trouble bitch". honestly one of my favorite shows of 2006, and the closest anyone's come to Cowboy Bebop so far. more people need to see it.
Comparisons to COWBOY BEBOP are inherently unfair by Harry Weinstein	Mar 21st, 2007 03:41:12 PM
MAYBE once in a generation does something that good come along. I'd totally given up on Japanese animation series (and barely paid any attention to any features other than Studio Ghibli productions) before I saw BEBOP. Once I saw that series and was blown away by every aspect of it, I figured that maybe I was missing something, so I checked out some of the other stuff that was happening. Turns out that, a few exceptions aside, I wasn't. COWBOY BEBOP simply stands alone. My father liking it is no surprise, it's the sort of science fiction that would be right up his alley. That my mother actually watched it and liked it speaks volumes, as she doesn't like animation of any sort, from any country. Except COWBOY BEBOP. No matter how good this is, and I'll have to see for myself, I doubt it's a worthy heir to that particular throne - which doesn't mean it's bad at all. SAMURAI CHAMPLOO was excellent, but it was no COWBOY BEBOP.

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