History Manga / BlackLagoon

* TheNineties

* MismatchedEyes: Balalaika to an almost subtle degree. Mostly visible in close-ups, the eye surrounded by one of her many scars is slightly paler and greenish (a blunt injury can cause heterochromia).

** FridgeBrilliance: Some shotguns from the 70's and 80's were less unlikely to jam when reloaded sideways since the cartridge could leave the gun more easily. This does not justify actually firing it sideways, but then again it's a [[ShortRangeShotgun shotgun]]...

*** [[spoiler:I think it's safe to assume that they ''didn't'' all die in some sort of unseen ''ReservoirDogs'' moment. The death's were purely metaphorical: Garcia essentially lost his innocence and his childhood, Roberta lost a bit more of whatever was left of her humanity and also lost her original image in Garcia's eyes, while Caxton...well, he'd actually come to terms very well with the moral ambiguity of what he did. Although most of his team was killed by Roberta, so that might as well count as his "death," seeing as he's shown many a time to be willing to put himself in harm's way for their sake.]]

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: Roanapur has a giant defaced statue of Buddha at it's entrance. The narration doesn't even try to be subtle.

** Notable for being a deliberate invocation of DepravedBisexual, as Revy was saying that as ''a threat.''

After a [[ScheduleSlip three year hiatus]] from June 2010 to March 2013, the series has ''finally'' started releasing new chapters.

After a [[ScheduleSlip three year hiatus]] from June 2010 to March 2013, the series has ''finally'' gotten a new chapter.

* NeverASelfMadeWoman: Averted so far. Save for Fabiola and Roberta who were taken in by a wealthy widower, no female character ever mentions a relationship to a man to justify their success, line of work or skills. Their positions in the story were hard-earned and based on their own abilities.

** {{Manzai}}: [[YakuzaPrincess Yukio]] and her kohai try to get into the manzai business... but no one gets this "slapstick" thing, or if there's any such thing as moderation. Knuckle dusters get involved.

After a three year hiatus the series has ''finally'' gotten a new chapter.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Revy's twin shoulder-rig. In real life, shoulder holsters are terrible from a retention standpoint (it's easy to lose a gun kept in a shoulder holster, especially if the wearer moves around much), and drawing from a waistband-level holster is almost always faster and easier, with the exception of drawing from a seated position (which would be why the only people who consistently use shoulder holsters are people who stay in that position, e.g., professional drivers and pilots). They do, however, look ''damn'' cool.
** Eda uses a shoulder holster as well, but it's probably justified by concealing it under her nun costume veil.
** Also, Fritz Stanford's Eiserne Reich Luger Special: gold finish, .454 Casull chambering, massive barrel, thickened grip to accommodate double-stack magazines...... the thing appears sufficiently oversized and overweight for a sidearm simply by the sound of it, and unfortunately Fritz himself is nowhere nearly as bright as any Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger character with a Desert Eagle.

** In episode 2 he comes up with the idea of [[spoiler:launching a boat into the air and firing a ''torpedo'' at an attack helicopter.]]
*** More importantly, it '''''works.'''''

** Hasn't gotten any better for him? I think becoming the MoralityPet to [[DragonLady Shenua]] and [[ChainsawGood Sawyer]] [[OT3 worked out]] pretty well.

** Though to be fair, by the time you get that far in the series, you will ''not'' be fooled.
* CrapsackWorld: Boy is it ever!
** Let's give an example: during the Hansel and Gretel arc, Balalaika, having received the vital clue that the mysterious psychos attacking her organisation are twin children who speak Romanian, calls in the main pornographic distributor in Roanapur asking him to supply her with every child porno and/or child snuff film featuring Romanian twins. She promptly gets ''over '''250''' videos''.

** [[spoiler:Though they had managed to hold off Roberta earlier. Their main weakness was that when they confronted her in the forest, they were trying to take her alive and she tears through their cover quite easily.]]
** [[spoiler:And they put up a much better fight in the anime, by operating under a looser definition of "alive".]]

** [[spoiler:Garcia claims this at the end of El Baile De La Muerte, which I just realized is dance of the dead, for himself, the Major, and Roberta. Although it is more psychological death. Maybe they died for real it was not very clear.]]
*** [[spoiler:I think it's safe to assume that they ''didn't'' all die in some sort of unseen ResevoirDogs moment. The death's were purely metaphorical: Garcia essentially lost his innocence and his childhood, Roberta lost a bit more of whatever was left of her humanity and also lost her original image in Garcia's eyes, while Caxton...well, he'd actually come to terms very well with the moral ambiguity of what he did. Although most of his team was killed by Roberta, so that might as well count as his "death," seeing as he's shown many a time to be willing to put himself in harm's way for their sake.]]

* NoExportForYou: Season Three of the anime, also known as "Roberta's Blood Trail".
** Maybe not. Word on the street is that Funimation is currently planning to dub the OVA with the original cast, hoping to release it in Spring of 2013.
** Played straight for the light novels, though, which can only be ordered from Japan, in Japanese. Some bloggers have published translations, though.

* CheekyMouth: This is averted [[OffModel for the most part.]]

* SmokingIsCool

** The omake where Balalaika raises Hansel and Gretel as her kids is titled [[TheMelancholyOfHaruhiSuzumiya The Melancholy of Balalaika.]]

'''Balalaika''': Sure is.

->''"People are like dice. We throw ourselves in the direction of our choosing..."''
-->-- '''Rock''', ''quoting Jean-Paul Sartre''

* GratuitousEnglish: And Russian, and Spanish, and German... But ''especially'' the English. Not Thai, surprisingly (written script, anyway). In the English dub, Gratuitous ''Japanese'' turns up in the 'translation' scene during the last arc. The Yakuza uses his Japanese seiyuu for the scene, while Rock gets BradSwaile trying to speak Japanese.
** Just what is a "Mass import of ammunition and economic reality"?
** The opening song is chock-full of this trope.