Black Lagoon


Black Lagoon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rei Hiroe. It has been published in Shogakukan's Monthly Sunday Gene-X since 2002, and eleven collected volumes have been released so far. It was later adapted into an anime television series by Madhouse, that aired from April to June 2006 for twelve episodes. A second season, subtitled "The Second Barrage", ran for twelve weeks starting on October 2, 2006. A five volume original video animation series, titled Roberta's Blood Trail, was released from July 2010 to June 2011.
In North America, Viz Media began releasing an English translation of the manga on August 12, 2008. The anime was dubbed and originally licensed in English by Geneon Entertainment in July 2006. Funimation has acquired the distribution rights to the series since a distribution agreement with Geneon in July 2008. Funimation later licensed the OVA, which also was licensed by Kazé in the UK, for release in spring 2013.

Plot

The story follows a team of pirate mercenaries known as the Lagoon Company, that smuggles goods in and around the seas of Southeast Asia in the early to mid 1990s. Their base of operations is located in the fictional harbor city of Roanapur in east Thailand near the border of Cambodia. The city is home to the Japanese Yakuza, the Chinese Triad, the Russian mafia, the Colombian cartel, the Italian mafia, a wide assortment of pickpockets, thugs, mercenaries, thieves, prostitutes, assassins, and. The city also has a large Vietnamese refugee population following the Vietnamese refugees exodus after the Communist takeover of Vietnam in 1975.
Lagoon Company transports goods for various clients in the American made Elco-type PT boat Black Lagoon. It has a particularly friendly relationship with the Russian crime syndicate Hotel Moscow. The team takes on a variety of missions—which may involve violent firefights, hand-to-hand combat, and nautical battles—in various Southeast Asian locations, even going as far as Phu Quoc island of Vietnam. When they are not working, the members of the Lagoon Company spend much of their down time at The Yellow Flag, a bar in Roanapur which is often destroyed in firefights.

Production

In an interview with Otaku USA, Rei Hiroe stated that Black Lagoon was inspired by James Ellroy, John Woo, Quentin Tarantino and Stephen King, as well as hearing about actual piracy cases in the South China Sea in the 1990s.
The "Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise" arc showed that most of the characters throughout the series actually speak English, with the Japanese simply being done for the audience.

Media

Manga

Written and illustrated by Rei Hiroe, a pilot chapter of Black Lagoon was published in Shogakukan's Monthly Sunday Gene-X April 2001 issue and the main series premiered in the May 2002 issue. Chapters run monthly and are later collected into tankōbon volumes by Shogakukan. The first was released on December 12, 2002, and to date eleven have been published, the last in 2018. The series first went on hiatus in May 2010. It resumed in January 2013, before being put back on hiatus in February 2014. In the January 2017 release of Monthly Sunday Gene-X, it was announced that the manga would resume in May 2017; it went on hiatus again in September 2018. The December issue of Monthly Sunday GX revealed that Hiroe would resume the series in spring 2019; however, the series did not resume its publication as planned. In June 2019, Monthly Sunday GX announced the manga would resume in September.
The manga has been licensed for an English-language release in North America by Viz Media. The first volume was released on August 12, 2008. Black Lagoon has also received domestic releases in many other countries; in France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Mexico, Poland and Finland, by Kabuto, Carlsen, Jade Dynasty, Panini Comics, Chuang Yi, Haksan Publishing, Norma Editorial, Grupo Editorial Vid, Waneko and Punainen jättiläinen respectively.

Anime

An anime adaptation of Black Lagoon covering 9 arcs of the manga was produced by Madhouse, Geneon Entertainment and Shogakukan and directed and written by Sunao Katabuchi, with Masanori Shino designing the characters and EDISON composing the music. The series aired for the first time on Chiba TV from April 8, 2006, to June 24, 2006, for twelve episodes. A second season, labelled Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage and consisting of twelve more episodes, ran for the first time on Sendai Television from October 2, 2006, to December 18, 2006. The second season focuses less on character development than the first season and more on the jobs they do. A five-volume original video animation titled Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail that covered the El Baile de la muerte arc of the manga was released in July 2010.
In North America, Geneon Entertainment announced the license to the series in July 2006. In September 2007, Geneon announced that they had ceased in-house distribution of its series. On July 3, 2008, Geneon and Funimation announced an agreement to distribute select titles in North America. While Geneon would still retain the license, Funimation would assume exclusive rights to the manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution of select titles. Black Lagoon was one of several titles involved in the deal.
The first season was released on three DVDs, each containing four episodes, between August and December 2006. The second season mirrored this, being released from January to June 2007. The Blu-ray Disc releases of the two seasons included a total of seven short omake specials, each no longer than five minutes, that depict the characters in various humorous situations. In 2010, the series was released in four, two for each season, boxsets from August to September.
Geneon's North American dub was released on three DVD compilations, each containing four episodes, between May 22 and September 18, 2007. After being released individually, with volume one having a limited edition version containing a steelbook box that comes with a bonus disc with slots for all 3 volumes, the boxset of the entire first season was released December 30, 2008. The fourth bonus disc, available in the season one box set or the volume one steelbook edition, has a 15-minute behind the scenes with the English crew and voice actors, the "Red Fraction" music video performed by Mell, promotional videos, the creditless opening and ending, and Japanese opening. The Second Barrage volumes were released in the same manner, with the box set released in North America on April 14, 2009, case with episodes 13–24 on three discs with English/Japanese audio and English subtitles. The box set/steelbook version bonus disc includes promotional videos and the creditless opening and ending. At Anime Expo 2010, Funimation announced their licensing of the Roberta's Blood Trail OVA, which was later released in 2013. The first and second seasons were re-released on Blu-ray Disc/DVD combo pack on December 4, 2012. A Blu-Ray release of all 29 episodes was released on June 4, 2019.
Geneon USA's English dub premiered on G4techTV Canada as part of its Anime Current block on October 26, 2007 and STARZ Edge as part of its Animidnight late Tuesday night/Early Wednesday morning late-prime Japanese Anime programming block, began airing it on February 29, 2008 to American audiences. The series returned to American television on the Funimation Channel on February 15, 2013. The series began airing in Adult Swim's Toonami block on March 22, 2014. The anime has also aired in Australia on the Sci Fi Channel, in Italy on MTV Italy, in Russia on 2x2 TV-channel, in Sweden on ZTV, on Animax in Spain and Portugal, and in Germany on Animax and Tele 5.

Music

Opening
Closing
As of February 2014, the first nine volumes of the manga had over 6 million copies in print in Japan. The first eleven volumes had over 7 million copies in print as of November 2018. About.com's Deb Aoki listed Viz Media's English release of Black Lagoon as the best new seinen manga of 2008, along with Gantz. The anime series has received internationally positive reviews. With Chris Beveridge of Anime on DVD going so far as to say:
Escapist Magazine contributor Tom Tonthat reviewed both seasons of Black Lagoon separately. Both seasons received a positive review with the stylized action scenes and the strong female characters' being praised, while also criticizing the somewhat repetitive nature of the plot.