Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage 003

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Sad to say, the second season of Black Lagoon doesn't go out with quite the bang it deserves. The final storyline runs a marathon six episodes, half of the series' entire run, which is round about one and a half episodes too many. It has its moments, but there's a lot of time spent waiting for some of those moments to roll around.

There's a practical reason for this, of course. Essentially, the makers of the TV series ran out of manga. The storylines that make up the Second Barrage season were the last ones left to adapt in the original comic strip – after the end of the "Greenback Jane" and "Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise" arcs, Rei Hiroe launched into a new plotline so long that it still isn't over after nearly filling two entire collected volumes by itself. Producing 12 new episodes of anime meant padding out Hotel Moscow's war with the yakuza, and the results fall just a tiny bit flat.

This disc is still worth buying, though, if you've enjoyed the series so far. There are some slow streches, some spots where the plot is very obviously running in place. Then there are the parts where Ginji draws his sword. Those are parts that you really want to see.

We left off, at the end of volume two, when everything was about to go to hell. A flagging Japanese gangster family, the Washimine-gumi, has just enlisted the help of Hotel Moscow in a bid to improve its footing in the Tokyo rackets. Unfortunately for the yakuza, Hotel Moscow isn't interested in a long-term partnership. Once Balalaika and her soldiers have their foot (and their guns) in the door, their allies are a distinctly expendable asset.

At the beginning of volume three, everything goes to hell. Yukio Washimine agrees to take over the leadership of her family (never mind that she's barely 16 years old), and the gang launches into an obviously doomed counterattack against Hotel Moscow's commandos. Meanwhile, Rock finds himself caught in the middle – he'd like to work out a solution that doesn't end with either his employers or his new young lady friend dead, but that might be a little too much to ask for.

For a while, the plot works just fine, and the action is more than enough to carry it forward. When Ginji – Yukio's bodyguard – walks up to formally declare war on Hotel Moscow, it's just about the prettiest piece of work with a sword since the end of Cowboy Bebop. Episode 22 (named "The Dark Tower," for all you Stephen King fans) is probably the best extended gunfight of the entire series, and it gives Rock a rare opportunity to dish out a little punishment of his own.

Unfortunately, all of this builds to a climax that happens because…well, see if you can figure out yourself why it happens, since on this end we're kind of at a loss. It's thematically appropriate – a showdown between the two gunslingers, as it were – but the machinations that get us there are painfully contrived. There's a very clear point where the plot suddenly stops, chases its tail for a while, and then darts off in a random direction that happens to lead to a final, bloody resolution.

It's a shame, because before that point, there are some genuinely affecting scenes in this story. As usual, Black Lagoon isn't afraid to pause the carnage for a little thoughtful dialogue – Okajima (he's not exactly "Rock" in this particular scene) has a painfully revealing conversation with Yukio about the bizarre divided life he's somehow found himself leading. The series also drops another couple of disturbing, sepia-toned images of Revy's younger days back in New York.

Some other moments are especially entertaining for fans of old Japanese yakuza flicks, like the Battles Without Honor and Humanity series or Ken Takakura's old noble-gangster epics. When Yukio's ride picks her up in episode 21 – her "ride" being a platoon of immaculate black Mercedes full of scarred, tattooed mob enforcers bowing in lockstep – it's doubly funny if you're familiar with the kind of movies the scene is meant to be sending up.

The setup's only worth so much if you screw up the payoff, though, and the payoff for the end of Second Barrage is disappointing. Luckily, Geneon has a chance to redeem itself – Black Lagoon is getting a third season later this year. Let's hope they have enough manga to work with this time.

If the writing falters somewhat on this volume, Black Lagoon still looks as good as it ever has – Studio Madhouse remains one of the most reliable production houses in the business. This whole disc is mainly done up in pale, muted wintertime colors, and that fits the somber tone of the story exactly right. The transfer doesn't do the picture any harm, either – with four episodes on a dual-layer disc, the picture is as sharp and uncluttered as you could ask for.

8 out of 10

Languages and Audio
In some ways, the dub actually perceptibly improves this stretch of the series. As on the last volume, there are scenes where the original Japanese actors try delivering lines in English, and the results are barely comprehensible, let alone pleasing to the ear. Mami Koyama (playing Balalaika) does the best job – you can usually understand her – but Megumi Toyoguchi, fine actress though she is in her native language, tears most of Revy's English lines to shreds. (True, when Brad Swaile has to deliver a couple of Rock's lines in Japanese, he doesn't sound all that hot either, but that's not quite as much of a problem for American ears.)

The English voice track also has the advantage of being remixed in DTS 5.1 surround, so if your receiver will decode DTS it's a distinct improvement on the basic stereo tracks. (Unusually for an American anime release, there's no Dolby 5.1 track, although the two-channel tracks are Dolby Digital.) You're not missing too much if all you have is stereo, but there's definitely heavier bass and better positional effects during scenes like the bowling-alley shootout.

On the other hand, there's a certain sound to yakuza Japanese that's impossible to replicate in English. Listen to some of the minor low-life characters on the Japanese track and you can hear it – that twangy, sneering accent that seems to turn everything into a cussword. The American actors can get the words right, but there's no way they can match the music, and even if you generally watch the dub exclusively, it's worth checking out the Japanese voice track to hear that aspect of the original dialogue.

7 out of 10

Packaging and Extras
Sadly, this volume rounds out the series by continuing its streak of offering no extras whatsoever. (Not unless you count a couple of trailers for other Geneon shows, anyway.) Maybe we'll get some bonus material if the series is ever re-released as a box set, but for now, this package contains the show and nothing more. It's a nice enough package, though, based almost exactly on the bold Japanese box artwork, and the disc artwork has a cool layered design to it.

2 out of 10

The Bottom Line
It's too bad that this had to be the weakest volume of Second Barrage, and arguably the weakest volume of the series as a whole. (The original series coasted to a stop, in a way, but the last two episodes weren't actively disappointing – they just weren't especially climactic, either.) Once again, though, it has its moments, and the odds are good that we can look forward to better things from the series someday soon.

Black Lagoon Opening

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