* ArcFatigue: The El Baile de la Muerte arc. It lasted three and a half years and was comprised of so many {{plan}}s that even fans were getting confused and frustrated at the end. Even the author admitted the arc was dragging.
* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
** Just who ''is'' Eda, really? Is she a goofy, so-called nun [[spoiler: who only occasionally who takes her job as a CIA agent seriously?]] Or is she really [[spoiler: a cold, domineering mastermind whose appearance to others is merely a convincing deception?]] Whatever it is, she's definitely not who she appears to be.
* BaseBreaker: Yukio Washimine. While she's undeniably a BrokenBird for all the suffering she had to endure as the [[{{Ojou}} heiress to a yakuza clan]], some consider her to be a StrawNihilist who justified her unwilling (or possibly willing) ascension to the [[LadyOfWar clan's leadership]] through [[StrawmanFallacy a flawed interpretation]] of fatalism. She was in fact, given every opportunity to absolve herself of the responsibility, but couldn't see beyond her own choices because she kept putting HonorBeforeReason first. Some people think that her outlook on life makes her character realistically flawed but interesting, while others see it as an irritating excuse to sympathize with a {{Wangst}}y teenage girl.
* CompleteMonster: Chaka from the "Fujiyama Gangster Paradise" arc. He makes the [[ThoseWackyNazis neo-Nazis]] look like fine upstanding citizens by comparison.
* CreepyAwesome: [[CreepyTwins Hansel and Gretel]]
* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: The title song, ''Red Fraction''. GratuitousEnglish WordSalad lyrics or not, it's awesome.
** The closing theme to Roberta's Blood Trail (OVA 1 at least, is the only one out by the time of this edit) is an awesome rendition of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home," played over images of Rock, Balalaika, and Mr. Chang's early childhoods. May double as an EarWorm.
** Revy seems to have good taste in pump-up music, putting ''Peach Headz Addiction'' into her walkman before taking down Luac and his crew, and blasting "Guitar Wolf" on the radio while Rock is driving her and Ginji to the Bowling Alley where Chaka and his men have holed up.
* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Roberta.
** Hansel and Gretel have a decent fanbase despite only appearing in three episodes.
** [[{{Samurai}} Ginji]] [[{{Badass}} Matsuzaki]]. Oddly, the other characters introduced in the same arc as him are [[TheScrappy Scrappys.]]
* EvilIsCool: Almost everyone.
* EvilIsSexy: [[MagnificentBastard Balalaika]] is [[HotChickInABadassSuit hot]]. [[DarkActionGirl Revy]] is [[{{Stripperific}} hot]]. [[KnifeNut Shenhua]] is [[ShesGotLegs hot]]. [[CorruptChurch Eda]] is [[NaughtyNuns hot]]. All of the main female characters are, to some degree, evil (as is everybody else in this series). And they are hot.
* GeniusBonus: ''Black Lagoon'' can be said to be made of these, containing varying references to languages, firearms, music (From RobZombie to CreedenceClearwaterRevival) and quite a few about Westerns like ''TheWildBunch'' (one of the characters in which was called [[WildMassGuessing "Dutch"...]]). It also contains a surprising amount of philosophy; themes such as Sartre's existensialism, consequence ethics, nihilism, phenomenalism, and Kierkegaard's "knight of faith" are openly discussed by characters (if not using those exact words).
** [[GunPorn As an example]], take the firefight in the Yellow Flag which serves as Fabiola's introduction. Halfway through the fight, she throws away her [[GunsAkimbo right-hand handgun]] and [[spoiler: breaks out a China Lake 40mm grenade launcher, an exotic weapon which even the denizens of Roanapur don't recognize (witness Revy's reaction). A little research shows that the China Lake holds a maximum of four grenades, and Fabiola doesn't seem to have any spare grenades at hand (or any time to load them, for that matter). Alert readers will notice that Fabiola launches all four grenades during the fight. When she cocks the launcher again to threaten Gustavo, she's ''bluffing'' - she's out of ammo. It partly explains why she needs a stiff drink, and why her knees give out a little later.]]
* MagnificentBastard: Balalaika, Chang and [[GuileHero Rock]].
* MemeticMutation: Amen, hallelujah and peanut butter.
** From the previous scene: "You got [[PrecisionFStrike FUCKED!]]"
* {{Moe}}: Young Balalaika. [[EnfantTerrible Hansel and Gretel]]. Garcia and Roberta. And Fabiola.
* {{Narm}}: Potentially lapses into this whenever Revy decides to go on a philosophical rant.
** But of course, [[spoiler:this is really just meant to show how pathetic and broken she's become as a result of [[DarkAndTroubledPast a very rotten life]]. Her words ring hollow to the viewers because ''she's'' become [[BreakTheCutie hollow]] and is simply justifying her own way of doing things. Rock, naturally, tries to set her straight. Seems to work as she [[CharacterDevelopment eventually stops ranting so much]].]]
* TheScrappy: [[CompleteMonster Chaka]] made number one on a poll of "worst characters" in the manga. Yukio was also on this list, though she's more of a BaseBreaker.
* SelfishEvil: Most characters in the series are casually mass-murdering, torturing, heavy drugs&weaponry-smuggling, meat-slavery-running, etc, SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids, {{Jerkass}}es or {{Straw Nihilist}}s. It's such a thoroughly amoral CrapSackWorld FailureIsTheOnlyOption TraumaCongaLine ensemble, environment, and tone to the show that there is very little whatsoever available in the way of morality, conscience, hope, idealism, or compassion. The closest approximation might be the point-of-view main male protagonist.
* {{Wangst}}: Revy often makes [[StrawNihilist nihilistic rants]] about why everyone were living in a horrible, vicious world. Rock eventually calls her out on it, though.
* WhatAnIdiot: [[StupidEvil Hansel]] and his confrontation with Balalaika. He sees her sitting at a fountain, alone, and it doesn't even occur to him that [[spoiler:she might have a sniper team watching him from a rooftop.]]
** Chaka in the Japan arc. He [[spoiler: KNOWS that Revy's a gunslinger, from a town renowned for its toughness all over Asia...so, to attract her attention, he abuses and mistreats the man she's protecting, hoping to get her to draw her gun]]. Not to mention [[spoiler:his treatment of Yukio, who has a badass protector of her own in [[{{Samurai}} Ginji Matsuzaki]]]].
* TheWoobie: Garcia, Yukio.
** Sawyer, with scars around her neck and on her wrists, and who goes completely catatonic when she loses her audiovox.
** IronWoobie: Rock, Roberta
*** JerkassWoobie: Hansel & Gretel, Revy, Balalaika. Ibraha from the "Lock and Load Revolution" arc also counts.
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