History YMMV / BlackLagoon

** The title song, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOmNWL5nzE4 "Red Fraction"]]. GratuitousEnglish WordSaladLyrics or not, it's awesome.

* SpiritualAdaptation: Before ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'', this has been considered the best manga and anime made by Creator/QuentinTarantino.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: One of the main ideas of the manga is the idea that a person must adapt to the environment in order to survive, even if it requires him to be cruel and cynical. In support of this, whenever Rock tries to be sympathetic or peaceful, story punishes him.

* SpiritualLicensee: Before ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'', this has been considered the best manga and anime made by Creator/QuentinTarantino.

* HarsherInHindsight:
** In the "Das Wieder Erstehen Des Adlers" arc, the Lagoon crew are told the story of a sunken U-Boat near the territorial waters of Indonesia. [[http://archive.is/I1rw3 In 2013, researchers from the Indonesian National Archaeology Center found a sunken U-Boat.]]
** The "Goat, Jihad, & Rock n' Roll" arc dealt with Palestinian terrorists whose leader's son was killed by an Israeli airstrike. In the manga, they were even namedropped as being part of Hezbollah. These episodes aired in June 2006. One month later, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Lebanon_War Israel and Hezbollah went to war.]]
** "Sure Hansel and Gretel's backstory is tragic sure , but there's no way in real life people would be fucked enough to make literal Torture Porn videoes of children"...[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Scully well]] (note: seriously the link contains some disturbing content even if it is just Wiki/TheOtherWiki).

* HilariousInHindsight (Combined with CastingGag): In the English dub, Creator/CathyWeseluck's Garcia has a crush on Creator/TabithaStGermain's Roberta. Later on, both VA's would [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic reunite in another animated show, but as Spike and Rarity]].

* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: One of the main ideas of the manga is the idea that a person must adapt to the environment in order to survive, even if it requires him to be cruel and cynical. In support of this, whenever Rock tries to be sympathetic or peaceful, story punishes him.
** Regardless of how tragic the villain's fate is and how much you sympathize with them, this does not mean that they can be returned to the bright side and make a good person out of them, if you do enough good for them.

** The closing theme to Roberta's Blood Trail is an awesome rendition of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2argX-pcKfs "When Johnny Comes Marching Home",]] played over images of Rock, Balalaika, and Mr. Chang's early childhoods. May double as an EarWorm.

** The title song, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOmNWL5nzE4 "Red Fraction"]]. GratuitousEnglish WordSalad lyrics or not, it's awesome.

* NarmCharm: Most scenes involving Shenhua. Her [[AsiansSpeakeeEngrish broken English]], thick accent and potty mouth are hysterically awful, but she, like so many other women in Roanapur, is so badass that it's hard to care. You'll be laughing one moment and watching her tear Mooks apart the next.

* NarmCharm: Most scenes involving Shenhua. Her broken English, thick accent and potty mouth are hysterically awful, but she, like so many other women in Roanapur, is so badass that it's hard to care. You'll be laughing one moment and watching her tear Mooks apart the next.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic:
** Shane Caxton refuses to give his men order to shoot Roberta when she attacks them. This is supposed to be a magnanimous gesture on his part: Feeling responsible for the death of Garcia's father, he intends to protect the life of another person Garcia cares about. Except this is also ''profoundly, terribly'' stupid. As a military commander, he is responsible for the lives of his men; neglectfully throwing away their lives like that is a legitimate cause for disobedience, if not outright mutiny. Furthermore, if all he wants to do is redeem himself in Garcia's eyes, then he could and should have just give up ''only'' himself. There is no need to involve his men.
** Averted in the OVA adaptation, where Caxton doesn't do this and permits Grey Fox to defend itself. [[spoiler:This alters the ending a fair bit, reducing Grey Fox's casualties and also crippling Roberta.]]

* MisaimedMarketing: Although the anime contains a very large amount of violence and cruelty, including even the killing of children in the second season (who in themselves are crazy incestuous maniacs), in some countries, its localization was sold as a series for youth and adolescents.

* CompleteMonster: In this CrapsackWorld, filled with terrible people, none manage to be quite as hateful--or [[EvilIsPetty fundamentally petty]]--as [[PsychopathicManchild Chaka]] from the "Fujiyama Gangster Paradise" arc. A {{Yakuza}} lieutenant with a penchant for DomesticAbuse, Chaka makes his [[EstablishingCharacterMoment entrance]] beating up Rock in an effort to impress Revy. When the battle between the Yakuza and the Russian mob goes badly for the Yakuza, Chaka kidnaps and brutalizes Yukio, his boss's teenage daughter, beating her bloody, and plans to sell her to a sexual sadist as part of his plan to take control of the remnants of the Yakuza. When Revy and Ginji arrive to bail her out, Chaka shoots through his own men to try and get at them, kills another man for daring to try and run away, then runs away himself, leaving his men to be massacred. Childish, stupid, and completely out of his depth, Chaka manages to make an impression only through his complete lack of conscience, loyalty, or human decency.

* CompleteMonster: In this CrapsackWorld, filled with terrible people, none manage to be quite as hateful (or fundamentally [[EvilIsPetty petty]]) as [[JerkAss Chaka]] from the "Fujiyama Gangster Paradise" arc. A {{Yakuza}} lieutenant with a penchant for DomesticAbuse, Chaka makes his [[EstablishingCharacterMoment entrance]] beating up Rock in an effort to impress Revy. When the battle between the Yakuza and the Russian mob goes badly for the Yakuza, Chaka kidnaps and [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown brutalizes]] Yukio, his boss's teenage daughter, [[WouldHurtAChild beating her bloody]], and planning to sell her to a sexual {{sadist}} as part of his plan to take control of the remnants of the Yakuza. When Revy and Ginji arrive to bail her out, Chaka [[BadBoss shoots through his own men to try and get at them]], kills another man for daring to try and run away, then [[{{hypocrite}} runs away himself]], leaving his men to be massacred. [[PsychopathicManchild Childish]], {{stupid|Evil}}, and completely out of his depth, Chaka manages to make an impression only through his complete lack of conscience, [[{{Turncoat}} loyalty]], or human decency.

** Eda, supposedly a flirty criminal nun from the so-called Church of Violence smuggling operation, is [[ObfuscatingStupidity actually a skilled major player]] in her own right. A {{CIA}} agent who also completely dominates the Triad boss Mr. Chang, Eda is in effect the [[TheWomanBehindTheMan true secret ruler]] of Roanapur. On the field, Eda also freely manipulates the hapless Janet Bhai into a safehouse that will be invaded, with enough instructions to escape so Eda can extort her for protection, and later shows that she casually plays all sides in Roanapur while setting up an end to the insane battle maid Roberta's rampage.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: The series is already well regarded in it's native Japan but it also has a very sizable following in the West, especially in America.

* CompleteMonster: In this CrapsackWorld, filled with terrible people, none manage to be quite as [[HateSink hateful]] (or fundamentally [[EvilIsPetty petty]]) as [[{{Jerkass}} Chaka]] from the "Fujiyama Gangster Paradise" arc. A {{Yakuza}} lieutenant with a penchant for DomesticAbuse, Chaka makes his [[EstablishingCharacterMoment entrance]] beating up Rock in an effort to impress Revy. When the battle between the Yakuza and the Russian mob goes badly for the Yakuza, Chaka kidnaps and [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown brutalizes]] Yukio, his boss's teenage daughter, [[WouldHurtAChild beating her bloody]], and planning to sell her to a sexual {{sadist}} as part of his plan to take control of the remnants of the Yakuza. When Revy and Ginji arrive to bail her out, Chaka [[BadBoss shoots through his own men to try and get at them]], kills another man for daring to try and run away, then [[{{Hypocrite}} runs away himself]], leaving his men to be massacred. [[PsychopathicManchild Childish]], {{stupid|Evil}}, and completely out of his depth, Chaka manages to make an impression only through his complete lack of conscience, [[{{Turncoat}} loyalty]], or human decency.

* BetterThanCanon: Although it has its detractors as listed under BrokenBase, some people prefer the OVA ending for ''Roberta's Blood Trail'' for giving the Grey Fox unit a [[CurbstompCushion better showing]] against Roberta, [[spoiler: where in the manga, she murdered them all with a flintlock rifle without being injured at all]], and for its redemptive final scene where she [[spoiler: [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments meets the family of the Japanese man she killed, who forgive her for killing him]].]]
* BrokenBase:
** The final episode of the ''Roberta's Blood Trail'' OVA. There was one significant detail about it that was different from the manga: [[spoiler:In the anime, Roberta is nearly killed by the U.S. special forces and returns to Venezuela as a wheelchair-bound cripple. In the manga, she was not injured at all.]] This, as well as showing [[spoiler:Revy getting raped when she was still in New York]] caused quite a bit of dissatisfaction.
** The OVA also did not animate two key scenes from this arc in the manga: namely, [[spoiler:Major Caxton realizing and sharing his suspicions that Dutch might be a PhonyVeteran with Benny,]] and secondly, [[spoiler:the final chat between Rock & Chang on the dock after all was said and done,]] leading many to question why such important parts were omitted, although this has yet to be followed up on in the manga.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: Less about appeasing angry fans and more about averting DarknessInducedAudienceApathy, but after the soul-sucking depression conga that was Hansel and Gretel's arc, the [[UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist absolutely hilarious]] [[ButtMonkey Greenback Jane]] arc (which starts with a comic-relief scene where [[ShipperOnDeck Eda trolls Revy about her feelings for Rock]]) seems almost like a make-up present to anyone who forced themselves through it.

* OneSceneWonder:

* AwesomeMusic:

* BetterThanCanon: Although it has its detractors as listed under BrokenBase, some people prefer the OVA ending for ''Roberta's Blood Trail'' for giving the Grey Fox unit a [[CurbstompCushion better showing]] against Roberta, [[spoiler: where in the manga, she [[GodModeSue murdered them all with a flintlock rifle without being injured at all]]]], and for its redemptive final scene where she [[spoiler: [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments meets the family of the Japanese man she killed, who forgive her for killing him]].]]

* BetterThanCanon: Although it has its detractors as listed under BrokenBase, some people prefer the OVA ending for ''Roberta's Blood Trail'' for giving the Grey Fox unit a [[CurbstompCushion better showing]] against Roberta, [[spoiler: where in the manga, she [[GodModeSue murdered them all with a flintlock rifle without being injured at all]]]], and for its redemptive final scene where she [[spoiler: [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming meets the family of the Japanese man she killed, who forgive her for killing him]].]]

* HeReallyCanAct: When Rock is acting as a TranslatorBuddy, Brad Swaille is speaking some very accurately-pronounced Japanese.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: The series is already well regarded in it's native Japan but it also has a very sizable following in the West, especially in American.

** Rokuro "Rock" Okajima himself has [[ProtagonistJourneyToVillain grown steadily darker as the series goes on]]. Proving his tactical acumen in the first few episodes by coming up with a genius plan to wipe out a pursuing anti-tank aircraft, Rock later shows his skilled manipulative side by becoming a flawless negotiator to the point that all the most powerful players in Roanpur [[OneHundredPercentAdorationRating genuinely like and respect him]]. During Roberta's rampage, it is Rock who manipulates Roberta and her master Garcia into a deadly confrontation to end the bloodshed, nearly getting both killed, but ending in Roberta recovering her sanity and leaving in peace. Rock continues to demonstrate his ability to use and manipulate others, even if for [[WellIntentionedExtremist ostensibly desirable ends]], as possibly the single most dangerous and skilled player of the criminal game in the darkness that is Roanpur.

** Eda, supposedly a flirty criminal nun from the so-called Church of Violence smuggling operation, is [[ObfuscatingStupidity actually a skilled major player]] in her own right. A {{CIA}} agent who also completely dominates the Triad boss Mr. Chang, Eda is in effect the [[TheWomanBehindTheMan true secret ruler]] of Roanpur. On the field, Eda also freely manipulates the hapless Janet Bhai into a safehouse that will be invaded, with enough instructions to escape so Eda can extort her for protection, and later shows that she casually plays all sides in Roanpur while setting up an end to the insane battle maid Roberta's rampage.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Roberta's VA in the Spanish dub of ''Roberta's Blood Trail''. The decision by distributor Selecta Visión to replace the fan favourite Marta Estrada from the anime series with the universally disliked Eva Bau (while keeping the rest of the original cast) was as badly received as it sounds.

** Hansel and Grettel. You might hate them for their sadism at first, but your view changes drastically with each bit of their backstory that is told. [[TearJerker And the end of their arc just seals it]].

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: It's essentially a gloriously violent throwback to RatedMForManly 80s (well, technically 90s) action movies in everything but name, and three out of the four main protagonists are American, so it's a no-brainer that this show is beloved stateside. It doesn't hurt at all that the English dub [[SugarWiki/SuperlativeDubbing kicks serious ass]].