History Manga / BlackLagoon

This series has also become notorious for going on hiatus, to the same extent that it is regularly compared to ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' and ''Manga/HunterXHunter'' in terms of how frequently the updates start and stop. There was an [[ScheduleSlip almost-three-year hiatus]] from June 2010 to March 2013 before the series started releasing new chapters. As of February 2014, [[HereWeGoAgain there were no new releases]] except for May 2014 when Volume 10 of the manga was released in Japan (American release date April 2015)... which not-so-coincidentally covered up to all the then-released chapters. Chapter 88 finally dropped in May 2017, more than ''three years'' after the previous chapter. The manga then went on hiatus ''again'' in August 2018 after Chapter 101 was released... [[HereWeGoAgain which was just enough material to compile Volume 11 together.]] Publication resumed in September 2019 with Chapter 102.

* CasualDangerDialog: Happens quite a bit, rather justified given the nature of the series.

* "Lock 'n' Load Revolution" features a hapless Bulgarian who decides to sell guns in the middle of Mr. Chang's territory [[spoiler:as a side hustle to delivering documents to the Islamic Front]]. By the time Chang's thugs force him to give up the goods, the Bulgarian is minus an eye—and one of them is shown crushing something suspiciously round and white inside a ''garlic press''.

* EvilVersusEvil: You're either a mafia leader, an apathetic criminal, an asshole, or a complete psychopath, or Rock, and even he's steadying becoming more and more evil.

** It should be noted that Hansel is ''literally'' [[AnAxeToGrind axe-crazy]]. He kills people with a battle axe almost as big as he is.

* VillainousCrossdresser: Hansel and Gretel are very good at swapping genders, and more disturbingly personalities, to the point that there is literally no way to tell what their true genders are. All we really know is that the "Gretel" carries the [[{{BFG}} Browning Machine Gun]] and [[AnAxeToGrind Hansel carries the Axe]].

* RareGuns: Let's see...
** First off, we have Eda's gun: a Glock 17L. The interesting thing here is that although the Glock 17L is a rare gun today, it had just been introduced around the time that the series takes place (early-to-mid 1990's). Likely justified in that [[spoiler:she's a CIA agent and has a lot of resources at her disposal]].
** Then there's the Luger used by one of the Neo-Nazis. Its modifications already make it rather unique, but what truly makes it a rare gun is that it's an Artillery model Luger, which are uncommon among the few thousand or so Lugers currently in circulation.
** Roberta has a SPAS-12, which she conceals in a parasol.
** Revy uses an APS Assault Rifle during the Neo-Nazi arc. This is a gun designed to shoot ''underwater'', and was given to her as a gift from Balalaika. Needless to say, they're pretty hard to get ahold of, as it's strictly special issue by the Russian government. Its use is justified though, what with her and Rock going diving. It isn't that surprising that Balalaika can get her hands on one when you know she has the clout to get diplomatic immunity despite being a gang leader.
** Yolanda's gold-plated Desert Eagle has been previously mentioned, and it should be noted that a regular Desert Eagle has a price tag of close to $1,600 (as of 2013) when new. A custom job with gold plating and engraving could push the price tag up to twice that amount.
** Fabiola uses a China Lake grenade launcher in the bar room shoot-out. At this point in time, there are only ''four'' examples in existence, with only one open to the public and the remainder locked up in private collections or armouries.
*** On that note, the MAG-7 shotguns she uses in that same fight? Very rare South African weapons. Even moreso considering they were first produced in 1995, which is the same year that the El Baile arc takes place. The Lovelace family must be extremely well-connected for her to have what would have been state-of-the-art guns fresh off the assembly line...

* ThoseWackyNazis: The neo-Nazi group from episodes 4-6. The actual forces of Nazi Germany seen in the flashback were portrayed as more affable and humane (save one). This is mostly because they were only German soldiers, and not actual party members. The one exception is an SS officer, who is played as a fanatical JerkAss.

** "WHAT? My application to the [[AngryBlackMan Black Panthers]] was denied AGAIN?!"

* BustChart: One of the illustrations in the official artbook of the series, ''The Book of Venom'', features all of the female characters in lingerie lined up from the smallest chest to the biggest, and it also displays their cup sizes. Ironically, for all of the attractive women and fanservice in the series, the bustiest characters are easily the least attractive - Flora, the overweight mistress of the Yellow Flag's upstairs brothel, and the elderly nun Sister Yolanda, whose cup size is omega.

* NiceHat: In at least one flashback, Balalaika and some of her comrades are shown wearing spiffy sky-blue berets that mark them as members of the Russian Airborne Troops, while Gretel sports a nice black sunhat with cloth rose when she [[spoiler:disembarks from the Black Lagoon.]]

* LetsFightLikeGentlemen: Downplayed. Revy and Roberta agree to settle their score with a fistfight, but the only rules are no weapons or time limit.

* RetiredMonster: A retired SS officer by the name Alfred turns out to be the one behind the plot where both Lagoon Company and some neo-Nazis were going after the same treasure. Setting them up to fight each other was his way of testing the neo-Nazis. Since they all ''died'', they don't get a passing grade. He also had fond, first hand memories of plotting with other members of the nazi elite [[note]]given the context, it is unlikely his mention of the 'Wansee' means ''the'' [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wansee_Conference Wansee Conference]] that was a turning point in implementing UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust: The last attendee died fifteen years before ''Black Lagoon'' is set (and the only one named 'Alfred' did so in 1945) and the meeting did not involve paintings or hiding away Third Reich money. However, the Wannsee palace was used for various meetings by the Nazi elite all until the fall of Berlin[[/note]] and is an unabashed racist.

* RetiredMonster: A retired SS officer by the name Alfred turns out to be the one behind the plot where both Lagoon Company and some neo-Nazis were going after the same treasure. Setting them up to fight each other was his way of testing the neo-Nazis. Since they all ''died'', they don't get a passing grade. And he also had fond, first hand memories of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wansee_Conference Wannsee Conference]] (meeting of various administrative leaders of UsefulNotes/NaziGermany to implement the FinalSolution) and is still an '''extreme''' racist.

** Taken to UpToEleven levels with Shenhua, whose favorite weapons are twin kukris. On chains. That she is able to throw and whirl with impressive accuracy. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kukri Kukris]] are not throwing weapons — they're closer to a axe/machete hybrid.

* Dutch, an [[ScaryBlackMan imposing African-American]] veteran of UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar[[labelnote:†]] ([[spoiler:[[UnreliableNarrator or possibly not]]]])[[/labelnote]] who serves as [[BaldBlackLeaderGuy the head]] of Lagoon Company and the captain of the ''Black Lagoon''.

** Several groups have popped up (mostly out of convenience), but Lagoon traders is easily the most prominent with the nigh unflappable BaldBlackLeaderGuy, a [[TheCracker laid-back hacker]] in a Hawaiian shirt, gunslinger gal prone to [[AxeCrazy Whitman Fever]], and a Japanese salaryman. Still, they work.

* ShootTheDangerousMinion: Kind of twisted example. A MagnificentBastard [[NaziNobleman Nazi Aristocrat]] tires of the incompetence of his Neo-Nazi followers, so he sends them on an assignment which leads to their coming in conflict with the protagonists. After the Neo-Nazis are all killed by the protagonists, the leader congratulates [[BaldBlackLeaderGuy Dutch]] and tells him YouAreACreditToYourRace. He wasn't necessarily planning on their deaths, but more as a test, which if they didn't succeed, they [[TheSocialDarwinist weren't worth keeping alive]].

** Also, Shenhua. [[KnifeNut She prefers knives]].

* GirlsWithGuns: Nearly all of the major female characters have picked up a gun at some point, and for the ones who haven't, it's only because they're too busy playing with [[KnifeNut knives]] and/or [[ChainsawGood chainsaws]], or are just schoolgirls.

* PantyShot:
** Greenback Jane, [[RunningGag especially in the anime]].
** One of the longest one is during the Toyko arc and from Yukio Washimine after she was saved in the bowling alley. The camera stares at her panties while she is [[BreakingSpeech yelling at]] Rock. It's [[FanDisservice disturbing on so many levels]].
** At least one shot of Revy in her panties when Rock's trying to wake her up to get out of bed. Considering how little clothing she wears normally, she doesn't really care that he sees her in her underwear, and for that matter, neither does Rock.
** Roberta also provides a nice one in chapter 75.

*** And Benny is a flat chested {{Meganekko}} with GirlishPigtails.

* TeaIsClassy: Parodied in the "Boys and Girls" {{omake}}, where a {{gender flip}}ped Garcia, who is ''a lot'' more posh than her original male counterpart, calmly sipping tea from an elaborate teacup while sporting RegalRinglets and wearing a fancy frilly dress.

* StealthParody: ''Black Lagoon'' is a Stealth Parody of the action movie genre. Most of the characters outside of our "heroes" are CaptainErsatz of notable action characters/movies. Hansel and Gretel are ''Manga/GunslingerGirl'' (with bits of ''Manga/{{Monster}}'' due to the amazing crossdressing abilities reminiscent of Johan Liebert, and ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'' due to them being from Romania, Dracula's homeland -- and being called the "Vampire Twins") dialed to 13, Greenback Jane looks and acts (down to the above-noted pantyshots) like she came over from ''Manga/GunsmithCats''. "Babe" ''is'' Creator/ChowYunFat, etc. An amusing note to make is that most of the focus characters and factions are essentially classic 80's and 90's ''villain'' archetypes from action movies of the era, such as post-Soviet Russian crime lords, triads, mercenaries, and a veritable cornucopia of gimmicky minions.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: [[spoiler:What happens when a CharlesAtlasSuperpower human goes up against an extremely well trained special forces? In the anime at least, She. Gets. [[GameBreakingInjury Wrecked]]. Also what happens when untrained and undisciplined Cartels go up against the ''same'' special forces? They get introduced to the CurbstompBattle, with none of them landing any shots on their more skilled and disciplined opponents.]]

** SchoolgirlLesbians: [[http://danbooru.donmai.us/post/show/148472 Fryface-sama]] [[GratuitousJapanese ga Miteru?]]

* {{Crossover}}: [[http://www.mangatraders.com/view/file/152632 With]] ''Manga/{{Jormungand}}'', funnily enough. Not surprisingly, Koko [[LesYay wraps herself around Revy's leg]] before getting her to buy a crap-ton of extra stuff on top of the Lagoon Company's weapons order. [[note]]American MRE rations, a [[Film/TeamAmericaWorldPolice Gary]] action-figure, an exercise set, and a lot of high class makeup.[[/note]]

** FountainOfYouth: Fun fact: Balalaika's [[TheDragon Dragon]] Boris used to be a scrawny {{Bishonen}} [[http://manga.animea.net/black-lagoon-chapter-55-page-24.html before he joined the Russian Army]]. Who's gonna think that a [[spoiler:[[CheerfulChild cute 9-year-old girl who always listens to mommy and daddy]]]] can grow up into [[spoiler:[[MagnificentBastard the ruthless leader of a group composed entirely of ex-Soviet paratroopers.]]]]?

** Roberta also provides a nice one in [[http://mangafox.me/manga/black_lagoon/v08/c075/5.html chapter 75.]]