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Black Lagoon 2nd Barrage has started off at the same kind of quality and pace that the first half of the series ended with, but can it keep it up in volume 2? Of course it can! This volume picks up right where the last
one left off, with Jane once more on the run from the mafia. However, this
time it's all going according to Sister Eda's plan and Jane has little choice
but to take the crooked nun's offer of help in return for her counterfeit
printing plates. All is going perfectly, with Eda expecting to ship Jane
out with the Lagoon Company, but unfortunately she neglected to tell them about it.
Although Rock and Revy are with her, Dutch and Benny are taking a shipment out
of port, and have to return quickly to pick up their new cargo. Meanwhile,
Eda, Revy, Rock and Jane hole up in the Lagoon Company office on the docks, but
the mafia aren't going to let them off that easy. Their mercenaries are
closing in, and before long the dock is going to be a warzone! Meanwhile,
Balalaika has a job she wants Rock to do for her. Hotel Moscow has been
invited to Japan by a Yakuza family who are falling from grace, they want
Balalaika to rough up the bigger Yakuza families and shift the balance of power
back in their favour. In return they promise the Russians a foothold in
Japan, which is a market Balalaika is keen to exploit. In turn Balalaika
wants Rock to accompany her as an interpreter, an offer he agrees to (well, you
don't say no to Balalaika...) and Revy joins him as a bodyguard. However,
will a return to his homeland draw Rock away from the life he now leads with the
Lagoon Company? And how will he deal with Balalaika's ruthless pursuit of
power in his own land? |
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As is usual with Black Lagoon, this volume starts with the conclusion of a story from the previous one. Eda's clever plan starts to unravel because of her own smugness, and this leaves Jane and her 'saviours' holed up in a tin shack hoping Dutch can bring their escape route before their pursuers make Swiss cheese out of them. Needless to say the locals get to them before Dutch does, and a pitch gun battle escalates and Eda and Revy are forced to battle not only the gunmen but also the deadly Shenhua. Meanwhile Rock and Jane, their only |
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escape route cut off by a flamethrower-wielding bounty hunter by the name of Claude 'Torch' Weaver, retreat to the roof where they are faced by the creepy chainsaw-wielding nutter Sawyer the Cleaner. The action flies thick and fast, as does the banter and insults, and a wicked vein of black humour make this by far the most entertaining story of the series so far. Lotton the Wizard's entrance had me in stitches, and the parade of colourful characters and darkly comic situations outdoes even Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels. It's also interesting to see a morsel of intrigue appear when one of the bounty hunters recognises Eda, which poses some interesting questions for the final volume.
After this story it's another change of pace as things start to get more
introverted. For the first time in either series, action takes a
back seat as Rock and Revy accompany Balalaika to Japan. Rock
feels trapped, as if he doesn't fit into either the lawless world of
Roanapur or the strict, regimented world of Japan, and Revy recognises
this. She believes he's better off in Japan, but he's
estranged from his family and no longer has anything to tie him to the
country of his birth. The only person he seems to be able to talk
to is a student called Yukio, whom he meets when Revy nearly gets into a
fight with a street vendor. Yukio is a precocious and intelligent
young woman, and she really makes Rock think about his life.
However, things aren't going to plan for the Yakuza who have unleashed a
monster in allowing Hotel Moscow a foothold in their country.
Balalaika isn't going to stop at a simple scare tactics, she has plans
for Japan and no-one, not even her erstwhile allies, are going to stand
in her way. Tensions escalate and things are going to get really
difficult for Rock when it's revealed who has taken over as boss of the
Yakuza now in Balalaika's firing line. |
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After the action that has crammed most of the series to such great effect, it's good to see that the pace can slow without it becoming boring. The Yakuza's faith in honour hits a brick wall with Balalaika, and like all good tragedies you can see where it is going pretty much as soon as all the characters have made their appearance. Again, the story is left unfinished as the volume ends, but at least this time with two episodes to build it up there's more to sink your teeth into. Rock's dilemmas and the quality time he spends with |
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Revy really flesh out his character. He wonders whether he's changed or where he belongs, and it's interesting to see how he has become so blasé about certain aspects of Roanapur. He's not even fazed when the view from his Roanapur window includes someone being hacked to death with a chainsaw, yet he's worried about Revy starting a fight in Japan. It's this odd conflict within his character that makes him interesting, he can't ally the life he now leads with the life he once had, but soon they're going to crash together in explosive fashion. Rock has been one of the series' biggest successes, somehow the creators have made his inclusion on the crew of the Black Lagoon make sense, he's proved his worth despite his early uselessness. It has to be said that there are gripes with this volume, as there will be with any series. For one it's a little less believable then before. I know what you're thinking, yes the unstoppable maid from volume 2 wasn't believable, but at least they explained it just about well enough to get away with it. In this volume Balalaika goes to Japan complete with a heavily armed paramilitary force and starts blowing things up and assassinating Yakuza bosses. There's no explanation given as to how she got them there, or how they can get away with running around in full Army fatigues in the middle of Japanese city without anyone noticing. It's still brilliant, but whereas you'll accept pretty much everything that goes on in Roanapur, it just doesn't work as well when it's set somewhere more civilised. Saying that is picking holes though, as I still enjoyed this volume immensely. Believability aside, Black Lagoon 2nd Barrage vol 2 is still a superb slice of anime action which remains gloriously dark, unashamedly un-PC and unrepentantly foul-mouthed. The English dub is excellent, possibly better than the Japanese, and the characters, music, animation and story is great too. It's an action series for adults who still like explosions, serious gunplay and chainsaw-wielding psychos. Superb as always! Extras: Just trailers, gah! Ratings Feature:
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