(L) Black Lagoon Season 3 (OVA)

[mdauben]

I just finished watching Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail and I have to say, after watching the whole thing I ended up rather... disappointed.

I'm not quite sure why, but it just didn't have the same feel as the original series. I guess part of that is the ending was such a downer. In the last episode:

Spoiler for Last Ep:

• Revy has flashbacks of being raped by her father(?) when she was a child.
• After all his manipulation, Rock's big plan (whatever the hell it was) didn't work.
• Roberta ended up as a horribly maimed cripple.

In the end, as much as I enjoy the original two seasons, I doubt I'll be watching this OVA ever again.

EDIT: Having read back a couple pages in this thread and seen that the manga ended without the last of my spoiler comments, I like the anime even less.

[Xagzan]

Originally Posted by FoxxFireArt

I follow Hiroe on Twitter. He's talkative one, bu hasn't said much about the series. I just wish he'd spend less time on Twitter and more time writing Black Lagoon.

It doesn't change the fact that none of that happened in the manga.

Believe me I know. I've read the manga all the way up to the current chapter, and this is really the only part of the anime I've checked out. I'm glad it doesn't happen in the manga, but it's still miffing it happens at all, in the anime, and for no good reason at that, given how her limbs were fine in the scene before. And if she never really does appear in the manga again, chances are she'll never appear in any new OVAs, and people who only watch anime will think that's her fate.

I mean, I've been watching some anime with a friend of mine, he doesn't read manga and barely knows anime, just likes some of the ones I've been watching. I was thinking of eventually getting BL (god that's such an unfortunate acronym for me), but with this, now I'll have to go out of my way to explain that's not what happened to her, explain I don't know why they changed it or how she lost the limbs in the first place, all when the anime team could've just made that unnecessary.

And even without that factor, it just rubs me the wrong way, as it seems to have the majority of people whose opinion I've seen. For me at least, again I think it's because a large part of Roberta's appeal in this arc was her sheer invincibility. When you have women like Revy and Balalaika, and then you have a character come in who is more rabidly frightening and physically beast than anybody else - now that's impressive. But to suddenly at the very last second of the ova see her so completely shattered is like a blow to that perception. It's disheartening. I think it was a stupid decision.

[User68604]

Whats wrong with Roberta being like that?

She's lived a hard life filled with violence and cruelty. One thing about her though is that once the head of the Lovelace family took her in, she started to change. She began to repress her old life, and live for something new.

I see nothing wrong with how things ended. If anything, I'm glad she can finally end her reign as the "terminator" and can live in peace with Garcia. It is better of this way than to have her go out in some glorious Tony Montana style and just...die. At least things are somewhat resolved and concluded with this ending.

And if you guys are still not satisfied, last time I checked, there's still at least four female characters in the series that I would never want to meet in real life.

[Xagzan]

When did I say anything like I didn't want her live in peace and change? My only complaint is she didn't have to be so brutally defanged/amputated to do so. She wasn't in the manga, and it sucks that she was here. It wasn't even explained why she lost the arm and leg between scenes.

[Nightengale]

The way I see it, it feels like Madhouse was injecting some degree of 'sensibility' to the arc.

Shane's slight restrictions of his team to snipe Roberta in the manga... made no fucking sense, for one. In the OVA, Shane was shown that the only person holding back and complying to Garcia's request is himself and still gives accurate leadership in engaging Roberta.

And to an extent, I liked it that Roberta was struggling against the US Special Forces. I didn't like how badly she got de-fanged, but it was also ridiculous how literally no one in the special task force did any damage whatsoever to Roberta, despite being portrayed as a group of highly capable and experienced elite soldiers in the manga.

Yes, I know it's the Terminator Maid and she's supposed to be invincible, but even Arnie gets massively beaten up in all movies. I still like Black Lagoon to not turn Roberta into Steven Seagal.

Rock's plans and foresight were also given significantly greater amount of detailing in his thought process... significantly so. Whereas previously, the most we could do was infer from an estimation of how he managed to think out the scenario, we are engaged to his deepest analysis of the situation.

[FoxxFireArt]

Originally Posted by Nightengale

The way I see it, it feels like Madhouse was injecting some degree of 'sensibility' to the arc.

They lost sensibility after they had her bite a knife in half with her bare teeth. It's just that the degree that they defanged the most powerful fighter in the series was so over the top to be obscene.

[reaper_unique]

Originally Posted by konart

Those pages are from tankobon, they were not included in magazine version of the last chapter. I've send you link to translation of the ch.76 (vol 9 version)

It's great to read that final part of the volume. Rock really has grown, a lot I really hope we get to read more Black lagoon because Rock can still do so many awesome things and even bring the lagoon company/Revy to greater heights

[Xagzan]

If Madhouse wanted more sensibility, they shouldn't be animating Black Lagoon

I ultimately just think Foxxfire is right, it was obscene. And I'd even say the degree to which she was maimed made just as little sense as her being perfectly fine in the manga, especially given the scene prior to the credits. I'd say at most, the loss of an eye and maybe the arm would've been enough.

[konart]

Originally Posted by mdauben

I just finished watching Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail and I have to say, after watching the whole thing I ended up rather... disappointed.

I'm not quite sure why, but it just didn't have the same feel as the original series. I guess part of that is the ending was such a downer. In the last episode:

Spoiler for Last Ep:

• Revy has flashbacks of being raped by her father(?) when she was a child.
• After all his manipulation, Rock's big plan (whatever the hell it was) didn't work.
• Roberta ended up as a horribly maimed cripple.

Spoiler for Rock's plan:

Didn't? Not sure about that, because in manga it looked like it worked - he even got money from Chang

[User68604]

revy

Spoiler:

i was glad to finally see some of revy's backstory (albeit the content was slightly disturbing)

i always had an idea of what it was like, but to see it on screen makes much more of an impact. it really does help in understanding how she came to be the person that she is.

would've loved to see an arc or at least an episode dedicated to her backstory wayyy back in season 1 after episode...7. Following the nazi submarine arc when she divulged a hint of her history to Rock. and after their EPIC fight at the outdoor cafe

alsjdfl i love this series - is there anything like it..

[KiraYamatoFan]

Originally Posted by recover

revy

Spoiler:

i was glad to finally see some of revy's backstory (albeit the content was slightly disturbing)

i always had an idea of what it was like, but to see it on screen makes much more of an impact. it really does help in understanding how she came to be the person that she is.

would've loved to see an arc or at least an episode dedicated to her backstory wayyy back in season 1 after episode...7. Following the nazi submarine arc when she divulged a hint of her history to Rock. and after their EPIC fight at the outdoor cafe

I guess I was also expecting something that bad as well. But to see it, more answers are revealed.

Spoiler:

From the flashbacks we saw in the first series, there was only mention of one murder. But I kept asking myself why the whole 27th precinct NYPD was after her over one dead man. Still, it was logic; you know how US cops are when one of their own is killed, even if the man was a rotten living piece of human trash.

With the recent revelations, all was said IMO: Revy's father was a NYPD cop, he was a drunkard, and her abused her multiple times before she took matters into her own hands. Revy's mother is also nowhere to be found (perhaps she died or rejected her), so she ran out of the country immediately before landing in Roanapur years later.

As someone said earlier, I wish we had a little more about in after episode 7 although hints were already there. That issue could have been sorted out earlier... unless Rei Hiroe keeps it for the very end.

[Xagzan]

By the way, I also never saw a translation of the final pages that were left out of c76 in the magazine. If anyone still has them, could they pm them to me please?

[konart]

Originally Posted by Xagzan

By the way, I also never saw a translation of the final pages that were left out of c76 in the magazine. If anyone still has them, could they pm them to me please?

Done, check your PM

[mdauben]

Originally Posted by konart

Spoiler for Rock's plan:

Didn't? Not sure about that, because in manga it looked like it worked - he even got money from Chang

I got the impression that he found that rather disappointing.

Spoiler for Rock's Plan?:

I thought that perhaps his secret goal went beyond just a "job" for Black Lagoon Company. I got the impression it was perhaps to somehow bust up the drug trafficking though Roanapure, and oust Chang as head of organized crime in the city. The fact that Chang was paying him indicated that if anything his plot actually helped Chang.

Of course, it was all rather confusing so I could well be wrong.

[reaper_unique]

I think his planned was about to work if it wasn't for the CIA suddenly..ehm...deciding to do something about it, or something...

But I don't know if this was in the manga as well, it's been a while since I read this arc.

[kujoe]

A bit late to the party, but that ending prompted a reaction from me.

Spoiler:

To some degree, I can understand that the OVA adaptation seeks to put more closure and finality at the end of this arc, and yet at the same time I feel that it's forced, and a little bit distrubing as far as Roberta is concerned.

Roberta is one of the most powerful and unstoppable characters in the manga. At the end of Roberta's Blood Trail, the last we see of her is when she has setttled down, but maimed and broken—defanged, as others have aptly put it. She is blind on one side and can longer wield a firearm. What was once a gunfighter who could chase down a car, has lost one of her legs. Never mind the fact that how she sustained most of these injuries is a mystery in itself, but I find the idea implicit in her final image sort of disturbing and sad to say the least.

If this is supposed to illicit some sort of sympathy from me, I can only recall that joke about maimed and crippled characters as one flavour of moe. On a more serious note, it doesn't really work with me. What's more disappointing is how the ending seems to be a bit rushed. For one thing, those who haven't read the manga might be hard-pressed to know just who Roberta's visitors are at the end. The scene with Rock and Mr. Chang has also not been shown. This arc isn't just about Roberta's bloody road of revenge and quest for redemption, but it's also supposed to posit Rock's potential as a soft but undeniable force in Roanapur. It just doesn't seem so complete with this encounter missing from the ending.

All in all, the OVA series has been an enjoyable ride for me. But it's sad when a good thing ends as they say, and this is true for this adaptation in more ways than one.

[OliverTwist]

I guess I must have watched a different OVA then everyone else, because it showed Roberta getting hit by bullets multiple times in the version I watched. On top of that they're in the middle of fucking nowhere. Loss of blood, broken bones, and infection would all be a major problem before they got anywhere close to a hospital and any of them could account for an amputation.

That said, I thought this arc was missing something overall and didn't enjoy it as much as the first 2 seasons.

[wingdarkness]

^ Black Lagoon is just a really indulgent and over-rated anime in general...IMO the best, or potentially best aspect of the show is the main cast group dynamic, yet it seems the show goes out of it's way to never really let them spend much pertinent time together...

As for the Maidinator, I mean after the 3rd OVA Roberta's uberness looses some steam to me..Although she was still l33t as hell at many moments here, I just fail to render Black Lagoon as anything more than a wannabe Quinten Tarentino-esque kinda shock-value show with not much between the two pieces of bread...Bailaika is merely the bait to make the show appear as if it has an anchor when it really doesn't... I mean I swear to God Rock might become the head of Crime Sydicate one day without ever doing anything but smoking a cig, scratching his crotch, and fapping to his emo-slacker philosophical ramblings...

Overall it had it's sheer cool violent moments, but I just can't look at this series and subsequent OVA as much more than a blip in the end...Especially when I had expected so much more from this show from the start...It's a pretty pretentious show if I'm being honest, but I don't think it wants to be taken that way, so it loses me...

Some good violent action though...

[Xagzan]

Originally Posted by kujoe

A bit late to the party, but that ending prompted a reaction from me.

Spoiler:

To some degree, I can understand that the OVA adaptation seeks to put more closure and finality at the end of this arc, and yet at the same time I feel that it's forced, and a little bit distrubing as far as Roberta is concerned.

Roberta is one of the most powerful and unstoppable characters in the manga. At the end of Roberta's Blood Trail, the last we see of her is when she has setttled down, but maimed and broken—defanged, as others have aptly put it. She is blind on one side and can longer wield a firearm. What was once a gunfighter who could chase down a car, has lost one of her legs. Never mind the fact that how she sustained most of these injuries is a mystery in itself, but I find the idea implicit in her final image sort of disturbing and sad to say the least.

If this is supposed to illicit some sort of sympathy from me, I can only recall that joke about maimed and crippled characters as one flavour of moe. On a more serious note, it doesn't really work with me. What's more disappointing is how the ending seems to be a bit rushed. For one thing, those who haven't read the manga might be hard-pressed to know just who Roberta's visitors are at the end. The scene with Rock and Mr. Chang has also not been shown. This arc isn't just about Roberta's bloody road of revenge and quest for redemption, but it's also supposed to posit Rock's potential as a soft but undeniable force in Roanapur. It just doesn't seem so complete with this encounter missing from the ending.

All in all, the OVA series has been an enjoyable ride for me. But it's sad when a good thing ends as they say, and this is true for this adaptation in more ways than one.

Infection isn't something the animators can just think everyone will assume. It's not clearly evident, like an arm hanging loose at her shoulder would be. It's an explanation that needs, well, to be explained. If it gets infected, they need to say it got infected. It's irresponsible to make fans wonder, "Oh, I guess maybe it could've been infected?" without knowing if they're right. Gives off a bad feel, I say.

[Zwei]

I didn't expect Roberta to get out of it without a scratch, but losing an arm, a leg, two fingers and an eye? Should have just killed her off while they were at it.

It was nice (well, not that nice) to finally see a bit of Revy's past, and as expected, it wasn't a happy one. It kinda reminded me of the OVA anime 'Kite', one of the most controversial anime of its time.