Monday, September 21, 2015

Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage Part 2 Episodes 17-20


It’s Revy, Rock and Eda vs ALL OF ROANAPUR!!!  All eyes are searching for Greenback Jane and her precious counterfeiting technology and will stop at nothing to get to her.  All of the crazies are on call and it may be a battle even Revy and Eda cant win.  After that all dies down, Balialika brings Rock with her to Japan to negotiate a terrotiroal expansion deal with the Yakuza, with Revy along for the ride as Rock’s bodyguard.  Will being back home for the first time in a year convince Rock to leave Revy and the Lagoon company behind in favor of a peaceful existence?  And what happens when negotiations go sour between the Yakuza and Hotel Moscow? I’m sure you can guess.

One of the best rides in Anime keeps rolling strong.  After some promising build up with the Greenback Jane story, we got what was promised, an all out war between the Lagoon Company and Roanapur’s finest hitmen and women.  The stand outs were pretty obvious with the sexy Shenhua (have I been spelling her name wrong? If so curse me) giving Revy and Eda plenty of trouble.  There was also that cute Sawyer the Cleaner but her contribution to the entertainment was more than just her giant chainsaw.  Her childish freak out at losing her voice modulator was unexpected and down right hilarious.  Such a carefree chopper of men being reduced to a whimpering baby in a comedic fashion suited the black comedy feel of the series.  That being said I’m glad Shenhua survived her encounter with Revy and Eda and I hope we see her and her apparent new team again.  It’s a shame to think that as well as all of these killers can work together when called for, they are all also ready to kill each other at a moments notice.  But hopefully, comedic and effective alliances like Revy and Eda or Revy and Shenhua can be the exception…though a nice match up between them every now and then wouldn’t be too bad.

It was also good to see The Lagoon Company working this little war as a team.  It’s been a while since Dutch and Benny had anything to do besides sit back and dole out wisdom from a chair.  Dutch’s piloting skills netted some amusing kills for Revy.  Meanwhile Benny’s hacking skills ended up landing him in Jane’s good graces and well the episode isn’t titled “Mr. Benny’s Good Fortune” for nothing.  Oh and what about that surprise revelation from Eda about her being (CENSORED)…does the Rip Off Church know about this?  Will it affect her partnership and see saw friendship with Revy down the line?  Sure more could have been explained but a little mystery doesn’t hurt in this series at all.

Then it was right onto the next arc.  It was only a matter of time before we how the criminal underworld of Roanapur reacted in the rest of the world.  It was a bit of a sort of soft start with Rock returning to Japan for the first time since his abduction by the Lagoon Company.  Having Revy with him was a nice touch.  These two have been a fun pair since Season One and they’ve become less tense and more equal (personally not combatively) around each other.  I love Revy’s obvious take on Rock’s state of mind.  It’s clear she cares a bit about him but yet cant understand why he doesn’t just leave Roanapur and return to Japan.  “It’s made for him,” she says to herself but does she really want him to go?  Will Rock actually go when his job with Balialika and Hotel Moscow is concluded?

One thing is certain though, Balialika isn’t going to sit around and wait for the Washimine family to play nice with Kousaka.  She’s itching for a war in her expansion of Hotel Moscow’s power.  It makes perfect sense Hotel Moscow would play things loud and obvious like in Roanapur but who knows how the city of Tokyo will take to that.  With wild cards like the foul mouthed wannabe Chakka and the silent but clearly dangerous Ginji, it looks like we’re set for some of the most epic action yet.  But then there’s also Yukio, the beautiful young girl set to accept her destiny as the head of the Washimine Clan.  Rock sees a bit of himself and the peaceful life he used to have in her.  I cant see her choice to enter the darkness turning out as well (if you can put it like that) as Rock’s.

It looks like an all out war is about to kick off the season finale of Black Lagoon.  Damn this series and it’s short seasons of awesome epicness.

PS-I wonder how pissed off Revy really was when she learned she had to trade in her shorts and tank top for a winter outfit with a skirt and tights, something a bit more “lady like” for her.  I’m sure her reaction was hilarious.

Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage wraps up next week.

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