Kiwi Farms
After losing my thread virginity to RWBY, I decided to rinse myself clean by making a thread about an actual anime that is actually good. Trannies and gentlemen, welcome aboard the Black Lagoon!
Are you a patrician who loves hot action girls? Do you have a thing for ultraviolence and occasional gore? Are you a fan of Nazisploitation? Have you ever wondered what a threesome between Marry Poppins, the T-800 and Antonio Banderas would result into? Are you fond of Yakuza crime drama? Or frankly, have you ever asked yourself what if John Woo and Quentin Tarantino made an anime series while binge-watching 90s action movies and snorting a line of coke off a hooker’s ass? Black Lagoon has this and so much more all covered. Before we set sails for theGrand Line South China Sea, let us get introduced to the crew of the Thousand Sunny Black Lagoon.
Meet the crew. From left to right:
Benny: Benny Boy, as he is affectionately called, is the chill mechanic and computer wiz of the group. Long story short: Imagine more or less if Null was a Jewish Florida Man.
Dutch: The captain of the crew and owner of the titular “Black Lagoon” PT boat. A former US Marine and Vietnam war veteran who went AWOL and started mercenary work in Thailand. Or so he claims…
Revy: Rebecca “Revy” Lee, aka "Two Hands", is the "muscle" of the group doing most of the dirty work and our co-protagonist. Imagine if Max Payne had a crazy Chinese-American daughter with Tanya from Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2. Being blessed with a shitty past and its resulting sociopathy, it was only natural for Revy to become a nihilistic and trigger-happy nutcase. The opening theme, that is easy to dismiss as a funny Engrish word salad, does a pretty decent job at explaining her character and backstory.
And last, but by absolutely no means least, there is our hero Rokuro “Rock” Okajima. Rock is pretty much the reason why Black Lagoon is one of the, if not the best, isekai anime out there by breaking all conventions of a traditional isekai protagonist. Rock starts out as a Japanese wagecuck in a day and age when Japan’s economy was taking it in the ass, and not even in the Greek way. Instead of being sent by Truck-kun into a fantasy world of magic and waifus, it is thanks to his company he ends up in the crime and pirate infested hellscape of South East Asia. And most importantly, unlike most isekai protagonists, Rock has actual marketable skills from his "previous world". Believe it or not, but even criminals and pirates need to do paper work and it doesn’t hurt that he also happens to be a competent negotiator and interpreter confirmed to be fluent in English, Spanish and Russian.
And finally, instead of having a harem of annoying and shallow girls, Rock has developed a very interesting relationship with his co-protagonist Revy. It isn’t necessarily the romantic or even sexual subtext that is the most interesting aspect of their interactions, but rather how their personalities are rubbing off on each other as the series progresses. I’ve even seen people saying that the relationship between Rock and Revy is the true protagonist of the series.
But what is this world Rock has been isekai’d into? Don’t worry! The Kiwi Farms Ministry of Tourism has you covered.
Welcome to Roanapur! A crime infested shithole at the asscrack of Thailand and a perfect foreshadowing of the underbellies of future imperial hive cities. There are many interesting places and people in this fictional town one could sperg about as it fulfils the diversity quota of everything the absolute worst humanity has to offer, but there are a few key players worthy of attention.
Hotel Moscow
If Roanapur was the setting of a Total War game, the Thai branch of the Russian mafia would without a doubt be the OP PLS NERF faction. You see, unlike the other criminal gangs, Hotel Moscow consists of highly trained professionals of a former Soviet VDV paratrooper special force unit that are veterans of the Soviet-Afghan war. Commanded by their former Captain Sofiya “Balalaika” Pavlovna, aka “Fry Face” aka best girl, Hotel Moscow easily established itself through its superior firepower, professionalism and sheer brutality as a dominant faction in Roanapur. In other words, they have the training and equipment to fight and win World War III, to paraphrase Revy. Think of them as more or less the Russian version of the Los Zetas in their formative years.
Sun Ye On Triad
The Thai branch of the Hong Kong based Triad. Its boss Bai Ji-shin Chang, a former cop turned gangster, is the answer to the question of what Chow Yun-fat as John Lee or Tequila Yuen would look like as an anime character. An easy-going Chad who, despite being one of the baddest motherfuckers in Roanapur, prefers subtlety and diplomatic solutions over the brute force approaches of his fellow crime bosses. He has a respectful and sometimes playful relationship with Balalaika with whom he appears to be in a constant contest on who can out-badass the other. Which is quite an interesting fact as initially the Triad used to fight a gruesome war with Hotel Moscow over the reign of the Thai underworld until Dutch brokered a peace deal between the two, putting both gangs on semi-amicable terms with one another. For now…
The Church of Violence
Or the “Rip-Off Church” as it is affectionately called by Dutch. Officially a Catholic church, this organization specializes in smuggling drugs and weapons for which, especially the latter, they are notorious for charging an obscene amount. Needless to say, they are the HappyMerchants.jpeg of the show. Malicious gossip has that the church sometimes (((glows in the dark))).
Sometimes you might be tempted to ponder how Black Lagoon isn’t popular with normies in spite of it being an anime. It is reasonable to assume that it would do gangbusters if it was a live action series. It is a genre busting show that pleases all different kinds of tastes, it has an excellent English dub, a well written and compelling story and amazing and memorable characters. Even the woke crowd should appreciate Black Lagoon for having a cast that is diverse and said diversity being done right. 90% of all the asskicking is even done by the ladies.
You know a show is good when there is almost no wrong answer to the best girl question. Except for Yukiko, fuck that bitch! Chaka did nothing wrong!
The manga itself sits currently at 11 volumes and104 106 chapters at the time of me writing this. An anime adaptation resulted in 24 episodes with volumes 7-9 being summarized in 5 OVAs called Roberta’s Blood Trail. If you are going to watch the anime, and there is absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t, I highly recommend the English dub.
Are you a patrician who loves hot action girls? Do you have a thing for ultraviolence and occasional gore? Are you a fan of Nazisploitation? Have you ever wondered what a threesome between Marry Poppins, the T-800 and Antonio Banderas would result into? Are you fond of Yakuza crime drama? Or frankly, have you ever asked yourself what if John Woo and Quentin Tarantino made an anime series while binge-watching 90s action movies and snorting a line of coke off a hooker’s ass? Black Lagoon has this and so much more all covered. Before we set sails for the
Meet the crew. From left to right:
Benny: Benny Boy, as he is affectionately called, is the chill mechanic and computer wiz of the group. Long story short: Imagine more or less if Null was a Jewish Florida Man.
Dutch: The captain of the crew and owner of the titular “Black Lagoon” PT boat. A former US Marine and Vietnam war veteran who went AWOL and started mercenary work in Thailand. Or so he claims…
Revy: Rebecca “Revy” Lee, aka "Two Hands", is the "muscle" of the group doing most of the dirty work and our co-protagonist. Imagine if Max Payne had a crazy Chinese-American daughter with Tanya from Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2. Being blessed with a shitty past and its resulting sociopathy, it was only natural for Revy to become a nihilistic and trigger-happy nutcase. The opening theme, that is easy to dismiss as a funny Engrish word salad, does a pretty decent job at explaining her character and backstory.
And last, but by absolutely no means least, there is our hero Rokuro “Rock” Okajima. Rock is pretty much the reason why Black Lagoon is one of the, if not the best, isekai anime out there by breaking all conventions of a traditional isekai protagonist. Rock starts out as a Japanese wagecuck in a day and age when Japan’s economy was taking it in the ass, and not even in the Greek way. Instead of being sent by Truck-kun into a fantasy world of magic and waifus, it is thanks to his company he ends up in the crime and pirate infested hellscape of South East Asia. And most importantly, unlike most isekai protagonists, Rock has actual marketable skills from his "previous world". Believe it or not, but even criminals and pirates need to do paper work and it doesn’t hurt that he also happens to be a competent negotiator and interpreter confirmed to be fluent in English, Spanish and Russian.
And finally, instead of having a harem of annoying and shallow girls, Rock has developed a very interesting relationship with his co-protagonist Revy. It isn’t necessarily the romantic or even sexual subtext that is the most interesting aspect of their interactions, but rather how their personalities are rubbing off on each other as the series progresses. I’ve even seen people saying that the relationship between Rock and Revy is the true protagonist of the series.
But what is this world Rock has been isekai’d into? Don’t worry! The Kiwi Farms Ministry of Tourism has you covered.
Hotel Moscow
If Roanapur was the setting of a Total War game, the Thai branch of the Russian mafia would without a doubt be the OP PLS NERF faction. You see, unlike the other criminal gangs, Hotel Moscow consists of highly trained professionals of a former Soviet VDV paratrooper special force unit that are veterans of the Soviet-Afghan war. Commanded by their former Captain Sofiya “Balalaika” Pavlovna, aka “Fry Face” aka best girl, Hotel Moscow easily established itself through its superior firepower, professionalism and sheer brutality as a dominant faction in Roanapur. In other words, they have the training and equipment to fight and win World War III, to paraphrase Revy. Think of them as more or less the Russian version of the Los Zetas in their formative years.
Sun Ye On Triad
The Thai branch of the Hong Kong based Triad. Its boss Bai Ji-shin Chang, a former cop turned gangster, is the answer to the question of what Chow Yun-fat as John Lee or Tequila Yuen would look like as an anime character. An easy-going Chad who, despite being one of the baddest motherfuckers in Roanapur, prefers subtlety and diplomatic solutions over the brute force approaches of his fellow crime bosses. He has a respectful and sometimes playful relationship with Balalaika with whom he appears to be in a constant contest on who can out-badass the other. Which is quite an interesting fact as initially the Triad used to fight a gruesome war with Hotel Moscow over the reign of the Thai underworld until Dutch brokered a peace deal between the two, putting both gangs on semi-amicable terms with one another. For now…
The Church of Violence
Or the “Rip-Off Church” as it is affectionately called by Dutch. Officially a Catholic church, this organization specializes in smuggling drugs and weapons for which, especially the latter, they are notorious for charging an obscene amount. Needless to say, they are the HappyMerchants.jpeg of the show. Malicious gossip has that the church sometimes (((glows in the dark))).
Sometimes you might be tempted to ponder how Black Lagoon isn’t popular with normies in spite of it being an anime. It is reasonable to assume that it would do gangbusters if it was a live action series. It is a genre busting show that pleases all different kinds of tastes, it has an excellent English dub, a well written and compelling story and amazing and memorable characters. Even the woke crowd should appreciate Black Lagoon for having a cast that is diverse and said diversity being done right. 90% of all the asskicking is even done by the ladies.
You know a show is good when there is almost no wrong answer to the best girl question. Except for Yukiko, fuck that bitch! Chaka did nothing wrong!
The manga itself sits currently at 11 volumes and