Boom, baby!
Black Lagoon is a manga series with enough explosions and firefights to make Jerry Bruckheimer tip his hat. The crew of the Black Lagoon transport group has survived everything from massive gang wars to homicidal Columbian maids. In this installment of their explosive lives, Rock, Revy, and the crew find themselves on the hunt for (and possibly being hunted by) a twin pair of Romanian assassins who’ve come to Hong Kong seeking one thing—to shed as much red Russian blood as they possibly can. Balalaika has placed a high bounty on the heads of these two twisted children (named Hansel and Gretel), and every low-life in the city is on the watch for them. After the gunsmoke clears, the crew finds themselves in another pinch thanks to Chang’s need of their unique services. Rock comes face to face with a question that leaves him possibly reconsidering the path he’s chosen in staying on with the crew of the Black Lagoon. Did the streets flow with Balalaika’s blood? And what exactly happened to Rock that he would consider leaving such an oddball group? Read volume three of Black Lagoon—you won’t be disappointed.
The ink leaves the page and annihilates your senses.
After reading the first installment of this series, I was eager to get my hands on volume three. The simplistic black cover featuring the ever-stoic Balalaika beguiles the intensity within each page of the actual manga. Ninety percent of all the panels are in high detail and panels with blank backgrounds are few and far between in Black Lagoon. The dialogue and action in each panel exists hand-in-hand, rather than having to separate the two with dull plain panels to keep the dialogue flow going. Hiroe’s character designs are such that each emotion is evident without having to create unnecessary panels to emphasize expressions. His use of comic tones for shading and “coloring” is so masterful that if this were a run-of-the-mill manga with few tones, the effects and moods just wouldn’t be the same. And all this action doesn’t come without comic relief. At the end of the book Hiroe has included an extra short comic, placing the characters in alternate settings and roles just for some cheap kicks. (Hansel and Gretel are no less disturbing, though.) Another plus is the character info at the front of the book, and the essential information at the back of the book concerning various groups in the story. This makes for easy catching up.
From the gun slinging anime of yore.
Since the days of Gunsmith Cats, I’ve yet to find an anime that tripped just the right trigger in terms of gun slinging action and thrills—that is, till I got hooked on Black Lagoon. The action seldom slows down and you’re left huddling over the volume like an addict, eager to turn the next page. And its story runs deeper than just guns, cars, and bombs. You slowly begin to watch the seedy underground workings of the Triads and other mob affiliates unfold, and constantly find yourself forming new ideas on who the good and bad guys really are. If you haven’t read this series till now, volume three is easy to jump into and Black Lagoon proves to be an essential part of any action lover’s manga collection.
