Black Lagoon

Technically, several Gray Foxes, and I thought the name was a coincidence and not a Shout-Out.

It's amazing how the 2nd episode of the OVA manages to make Rock look much more competent merely through adding a few short scenes of him going Room Full of Crazy over maps.

edited 18th Oct '10 1:12:38 AM by Jhiday

Out of Curiosity, is the manga on Hiatus or something? I haven't seen any evidence of new chapters since 81 and It's definitely been a few months since the last chapter.

The manga's on hiatus till next summer. Even the OVAs have been rescheduled (Ep #3's to be out in January now).

Any hints on what's to come?

Also, Garcia is a Cake Eater?

Ah. Thank you very much for that. The only info I could find was old info where it was supposed to be on hiatus till around October.

There's new episodes out? How do they compare to the first two seasons? I have to admit that I really liked the first season, but the second was sort of a let down. It seemed to turn from "ragtag bunch of career criminals being awesome in the wretched hive to end all wretched hives" to "the Revy and Rock Shoot the Shaggy Dog show". Which made me very, very sad.

^ All I remember is that Fabiola is awesome. What else matters, really?

Well, 2 episodes (out of 5) of this OVA are out. They adapt a massively bloated manga arc (33 chapters, where even the last anime arc got 16) that nearly everyone agrees went on for too long.

There's the core of a good idea in this story (Roberta returns, madder than ever !), but the manga pacing was so terrible that it got lost in the shuffle. The first two anime episodes so far seem to make all the good adaptation choices (compress everything so that the story's much tighter, switch flashbacks and scenes around to make it more dramatic, etc.), but it's still stuck with a plot structure that's basically :

• ep #1 : Exposition !
• ep #2 : Everyone faffles about and prepares for the incoming storm, while absolutely nothing happens whatsoever.

... Which still leaves 3 episodes for the ass-kicking with tons of parties involved, of course.

If you're expecting less Wangst from Rock... Well, prepare to be disappointed, because the chief difference between the manga and the anime so far (aside from the pacing) is that Rock's recent failures weigh much more on the narrative. Especially the Tokyo debacle (the manga had a different storyarc order and had the "Greenback Jane" story in between as a breather arc).

edited 30th Nov '10 12:32:48 PM by Jhiday

The third OVA episode was just released. I still haven't found any subs, but reactions so far seem very positive.

Jhiday, I hope you don't mind me making an entry in Adaptation Distillation that incorporates what you said.

No problem.

For the record, I finally re-read volume 9 of the manga with a decent (official) translation, and it reads quite a bit better. It's still hopelessly bloated though, as those incessant cuts between the various characters' perspectives artificially lengthen it in a very grating manner. Also, I'm now convinced that Rei Hiroe sucks at establishing the layout of his action scenes — the big Battle Royale sequence of this storyarc is very hard to follow because we don't really know where Roberta, the Americans, Revy's group, and the various other parties are actually located relative to each other at each beat. It needed a map or some sort of large establishing shot... and we never got it.

Hopefully that's going to be corrected in the OVA.

Revy Cowgirl 1 2

Bah, I can't help but find that crazy bitch utterly repulsive. I like her voice though...

Oh man I'm on episode 9 right now and it's the most fun I've had with an anime in a long time. I love how everyone is uniquely awesome and how the psycho action girl is actually treated as being mentally unstable.

Is the manga worth checking out?

Honestly, only once you get through the tv series and want to get of the OV As instead of waiting around for them. Otherwise not too much is different except for the arcs are in a different order, which kinda messes w/ characterization a little bit, but all in all not a lot. If you just want to partake in the series again, reading the manga is fine except for the fact that for the first few arcs, they added a little bit.

So yeah, I'd recommend checking out the manga just because, but if you don't you're not missing much.

The action scenes are messier and sloppier than the anime's, though.

I'm on the last episode everyone! Wish me luck!

One of my favorite dubbed animes.

Finished it last night. Gonna have to hunt down the OVA now. Holy fuck, Roberta's back and I know it's going to be awesome.

Robertaaaaa

They need to make a fighting game for Black Lagoon.

(chooses Rock)

Press quarter circle back A A to deliver a Patrick Stewart Speech.

edited 1st Feb '11 3:16:21 PM by Malkavian

Rock would be one hell of a Lethal Joke Character.

Favoured weapon: Bowling pin.

Me, I'd like to play Balalaika.

Would Fabiola be the Sakura to Roberta's Ryu?

I'd be Mr. Effin Chang, hells yes.

Shenhua-Rotton-Sawyer team for me, please.